The Best and Worst Anniversary Issues

[FanboyStranger]

One of my favorites would have to be Swamp Thing 50, the conclusion of the epic "American Gothic" storyline. Pretty much every big DC mystic character shows up for this one.

[berk]

I think the stuff that comes after Gulacy is just as good. You get Mike Zeck and Gene Day for most of it, if I'm remembering correctly, and it's really neat to see Shang Chi once he's turned loose from the shadow of Fu Manchu.

The artwork was a bit up and down, though, at least until the Zeck/Day team and then Day solo settled in as the regular artists. Between then and Gulacy, there was a lot of good, and some excellent, stuff, but it was inconsistent.

[Shellhead]

I think the stuff that comes after Gulacy is just as good. You get Mike Zeck and Gene Day for most of it, if I'm remembering correctly, and it's really neat to see Shang Chi once he's turned loose from the shadow of Fu Manchu.

As a Moench fan, I started reading MoKF back in the day, late in the Zeck run. I'm not crazy about some of Zeck's artwork, but I think that he did his best work on this title. And I really enjoyed Gene Day's work and have nearly every MoKF issue from his run. I actually first noticed his artwork in the first edition Call of Cthulhu rulebook and then recognized it in MoKF.

[SJNeal]

One of my favorites would have to be Swamp Thing 50, the conclusion of the epic "American Gothic" storyline. Pretty much every big DC mystic character shows up for this one.

Definitely a great issue!

It's too bad #100 fell into the Wheeler run...

[DonEMC]

Here are some of my favorites: Flash 300, Flash 350, Justice League of America 250 (the return of Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and Green Arrow), Avengers 200, Justice League of America 200, Doom Patrol 50, Master of Kung Fu 100, Rom 50, Spider-Woman 50 (also the last issue) and Action 484, 500 544 and 600.
My all-time favorite is Action 484 with the marriage of Earth 2 Superman and Lois Lane. I think the cover to that issue is also my favorite and the original art to that one is my grail, which I am sure I will never own (but, I keep hoping and trying to find it).

[spoon_jenkins]

In terms of the story, Avengers #100 I thought was a bit of a let-down after a really good beginning to the story in the previous issue. The set-up in #99 was dramatic and tense, the threat to Hercules and the Avengers felt real, at least to the 10-year old reader I then was. But in #100 it kind of fell apart with the Avengers defeating their adversaries with ease. So I'd have to say this issue is memorable to me only for the incredibly beautiful Barry Windsor-Smith artwork.

I also find Avengers #100 to be underwhelming. I read Avengers via the Essential TPBs, and I was psyched for a big story with all the past Avengers. But I feel like it was weaker than the average issue of that time. Also, I'm an infidel who isn't that enthusiastic about BWS art from that period.

[spoon_jenkins]

#350, on the other hand, is giant sized and wraps up a huge story line that had been running since #332. it's a personal favorite of mine:

This is a favorite of mine. Even though I read the issues of that run sporadically, it was still very cool to read the culmination of a storyline. Plus, it had lots of extras, like the 2-page spreads of Cap's sidekicks, the women in his life, and the various people who have been Captain America.

I like Uncanny X-Men #275 - just a multiple of 25, but treated like a big deal. It marked the return of Professor X (well, sort of), and I was really into the Jim Lee run. It had a nice gatefold cover.

Detective Comics #526 (500th appearance of Batman in Detective) is also one of my favorites: many members of Batman's rogues gallery plus great Don Newton art.

[Roquefort Raider]

Actually this was issue 300. A curious thing is that the Legion never got a 200th issue. There was Superboy 200, but the title hadn't officially changed to "Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes" at that point.

Hey, you're right! Superboy and the Legion #200 had the Bouncing Boy / Duo Damsel marriage (which is also a fine reason to hold a special anniversary issue).

[MRP]

One of my favorites as a kid was this one:



Defenders vs. Zodiac, the Scorpio key and Giffen art, plus little extras like schematics to the non-team's hq and such that I loved as a kid. The story may not hold up as well now, but for a kid in the 70's, this issue was spectacularly fun ride.

-M

[Reptisaurus!]

Re: Superman 400

I LOVE that comic!!!!

It is one of the best anniversary issues ever published!!!!

I'd call it the gold standard by which all other anniversary issues will be judged. Harshly.

[The Darknight Detective]

I LOVE that comic!!!!

Who was Superman modeled after for this cover? Victor Mature?

[The Darknight Detective]

My two favorite anniversary issues are Action Comics #500...



... because it detailed Superman's origin, powers and history better than any other issue before it and Detective Comics #500...



... because it has my favorite Batman story ever - "To Kill a Legend".

[LEADER DESSLOK]

Actually this was issue 300. A curious thing is that the Legion never got a 200th issue. There was Superboy 200, but the title hadn't officially changed to "Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes" at that point. The Legion also only got an issue 100 once (in the 1989 relaunch series).

The Adult Legion mystery was first addressed in Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes 247, which was billed as a 247th anniversary. Which refers to the Legion's first appearance in Adventure Comics 247. I don't think by this time the Legion had appeared in anywhere near 247 issues, even when you count up all their appearances in Adventure, Action, Superboy, and other DC comics.

Another significant anniversary issue for the Legion was Adventure Comics 300. Up until then, the Legion had guest-starred with Superboy in a few issues of Adventure, and in other Superman family titles, but this issue launched their own regular series.

One of the worst anniversaries was the 50th issue of Legion of Super-Heroes (the 2005 relaunch series) which saw the regular creative team removed from the book, with an uncredited writer and a new art team imposing an ending on Jim Shooter and Francis Manapul's story arc.

What's going on with the Legion these days? I was so "traumatized" (on OMD levels) by the cancellation of the Legion's first true series (LSH 1-57) and by the "dark and gritty" re-launch I didn't buy another Legion book in over 20 YEARS! I picked up a JLA crossover issue and saw that Karate Kid was alive somehow (?!?) and just shook my head. What's next--in keeping with the "super-hero marriages don't work" garbage what's next? Are Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad still married? Please say yes so I can check out the "Shooter Returns" Legion TRDPBKs!

[LEADER DESSLOK]

Thanks to this thread, I finally bought the Moench/Gulacy run on Master of Kung-Fu, which I loosely define as MoKF 18-50. Spent $113 at a combination of three online sites, with most of the issues in fine condition. Would have happily spent that much money or more on a nice hardcover collection, but that may never be a possibility. I actually contacted the estate of Sax Rohmer a few years back and asked them to work out a deal with Marvel, but never got a response. The estate is holding out for a movie deal that may never come.

Good Grief, I forgot. That's probably why there's no ESSENTIAL MASTER OF KUNG-FU!

[berk]

One of my favorites as a kid was this one:



Defenders vs. Zodiac, the Scorpio key and Giffen art, plus little extras like schematics to the non-team's hq and such that I loved as a kid. The story may not hold up as well now, but for a kid in the 70's, this issue was spectacularly fun ride.

-M

Yeah, I feel much the same way. Haven't read it since around the time it came out, but I remember liking it a lot back then. In fact, even though I was criticising Kraft's Red Guardian story a while back, I thought his Defenders run was mostly a lot of fun.

Thor #200 I don't remember much - was that the Ego story that ended with the Young Gods, or did that come later?

Thor #300 was a worthy climax to an excellent multi-issue Thor epic, although in retrospect I think it set a bad precedent for Kirby's Eternals/Deviants/Celestials by embedding the whole thing in the Marvel Universe.