My Marvelous Year: 1994

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• Rough year.

  Marvels was really good, but the found myself getting tired of the endless narrative. None the less Busick and Ross are always amazing

  I honestly enjoyed the Iron Man run, and the Hulk/Iron Man fight was really fun

  Clandestine surprised me. I knew very little of the series and after reading the first three Im looking forward to going back an reading the rest

  God Cable was awful. Just terribly written and draw. So confusing and unoriginal.

• Re: French-American accents in comics winning villain of the year

  I voted for this, partially due to lack of any outstanding villainy in 1994, but also because phonetic accents written out in comics can be a big obstacle to enjoyment. I can imagine a Southern drawl without having to see Rogue's "ah" or "sugah" all the time. One of the only exceptions is Cosmo from Guardians of the Galaxy, maybe because it is played for laughs much of the time.

• Even though I love the X-Men wedding, if you have to read one thing from 1994, it should be Marvels. It looks beautiful, invoking the sense of wonder that these heroes and villains operating in the real world would inspire. It is a fascinating view of how the average citizens might view superhumans, robots, and other strange life sharing their world.

  Deadpool, Gambit, the X-Men, and Iron Man #305 were all average reads. They get the job done, but they are not very impressive work.

  Peter David's work is hit or miss with me. Some of it is brilliant and inventive, and other times, it feels like the same old tics and quirks repeated with different characters. Of the ones I read, the bachelor party issue and #420 were solid, 3-star stories. The wedding of Rick Jones gets 4 stars. The beginning of it with the getting ready was tiresome, but the rest of it was exactly what I was looking for from a superhero comic wedding issue.

  I know basically where the Clone Saga goes and how long it takes to get there, so I am holding off on reading the actual issues until somebody mentions that there is one of standout quality.

  We are almost out of the horrific early 1990s and into what I consider modern comics (Onslaught and beyond). Hooray!

  • Here's a question: is 1994 the worst year of Marvel Comics that we've read?

    Take Marvels out of the equation and yeesh!! And this is coming from someone who cant believe how much they enjoy the early parts of the clone saga.

• I found 1994 to be one of the worst years we've read in a while. Almost everything was below average or just flat out bad, with a couple of big exceptions. Let's go down the list:

  - Marvels is the big exception to the low quality statement. Just a phenomenal, brilliant, beautifully drawn and paced mini-series. It's such a clever concept, and I love how it handles the time period and the evolution of New York. I also very much appreciate that while it's kind of a love letter to Marvel history, it paints a lot of the super-heroes (especially the X-Men) in a complicated and even negative light. This was the second time I've read it, and despite an ending that I find a bit too abrupt, it was still a joy to read.

  - Deadpool was fine, but nothing notable. I barely remember what happened in it besides the weird Siryn (probably spelled wrong) and Deadpool quasi-romance.

  - Gambit was very strange. I actually enjoyed the bizarre shadow world and factions it created, but I found the storytelling muddled, and my god, those freaking accents (DEFINITELY got my vote for Villain of the Year). This would get a B- from me if I was grading everything.

  - Cable was satisfying only because we FINALLY got answers to Cable's origins that were promised I think years ago. Not a good series of issues or anything, but conclusive.

  - Hulk was, as usual, great fun to read with David at the helm, though I found this run much more disjointed than last year's arcs. The bachelor/bachelorette parties were insane and certainly the highlight, and Mephisto and the villains as wedding crashers was pretty great too.

  - Iron Man was average for what I'm used to with the series in this era. The Hulk "conversation" at the end was probably the best part, though Venom stood out too.

  - I really enjoyed Clandestine, though Alan Davis is clearly more used to drawing than writing dialogue. There wasn't enough here to come to an opinion on the series as a whole, but I dig the characters so far and I feel like the mystery of who all the players are is well-handled. Hopefully we'll be reading some more.

  - Punisher was very much below average to me. Not a super clear motivation for why he went to the country in the first place, the whole story was unpleasant and The Punisher did not come across well at all. That mustache though....

  - X-Men was terrible. Not much else to say. The Phalanx was like a third-rate Brood and the storytelling was super muddled and needlessly complicated. At least the artwork was neat at times, but even that contributed to to the muddled feel. Oh how the mighty have fallen...

  - I've never read any of the Clone Saga, so I'm going into this experience with guarded optimism considering the stigma that the series has; even Marvel Unlimited's Clone Saga section calls it infamous! To my shock, I enjoyed a lot of this first set of issues (though I found the prison section a big slog). I actually really like Ben Reilly's character and how he's sort of a fresh start for the public's feelings towards Spider-Man (though oh man, that costume is so terrible).

  I can see how this could (and I assume will) derail quickly if they start getting too complicated with it, but for now, with more or less standalone stories for both Spidey and Ben, and only one clone (I'm guessing there will be tons of them based on that picture next to the reading order), it's manageable and kind of fun. I'm bracing myself for next week though...

  Looking back at this, I liked less than half of the issues this week, and I'm counting the Clone Saga, which had a bad section in it. Hopefully next year will be better, but I can see the writing on the wall. Onto 1995!

• I've made my votes and I have a few thoughts:

  Marvels is a cut above. Great art and great writing.

  Deadpool was better than last year, but still not great. I can see why Mark Waid expressed regret about the series...unlike other "edgy" characters at the time (Wolvie, Punjsher) the character does not have many redeeming traits.

  I gave Gambit a pass.

  Cable, I tried, I really did. But...phew it was poor. (I don't think I have liked anything Nicieza has written)

  Hulk is always great, 420 is my issue of the year.

  Iron Man was ok, at least it was kinda fun to see all the guest stars.

  Clandestine, my previous comments stand:" great art/ fun read

  I gave the Punisher a pass too.

  X-Men is so unreadable it is sad. (Lobdell doesn't have a much better track record than Nicieza

  Clone Saga...I should know better, I really should, but I tried it again. Better than I remembered, but maybe just cause this is only the start...

• Two decades back in our reading I brought up the topic of when the Silver Age ended. A the same time Mark Evanier (who writes Groo, worked for Jack Kirby and has the best blog out there) opened himself up to questions so I sent him an email.
  He took time to answer the question:
  http://www.newsfromme.com/2016/09/11/ask-me-7/
  He included my email which included a shout out to this reading club...

  • That's awesome! Great answer too :)

• X-Men fans: read X-Men #30, too! It has the wedding of Scott Summers and Jean Grey. Skip Clandestine if time is pressing. :)

  • No no no! Do not skip Clandestine! A rare jem from the mid 90s. I was perusing my collection wondering what we'd be reading and i found those and hoped we get to them.

    • I think Alan Davis is a much better artist than he is a writer. Besides Silver Surfer in a minor role, I did not see anything in Clandestine that made me want to read the series. I look forward to reading your positive comments about the series this week. If I know what people are liking about an issue or arc, I find it easier to enjoy it myself.

      I am also glossing over Cable and War Zone this week for the extreme 90's vibe they are giving me. Most of the rest of the year's choices decent or better.

      • Alan Davis, as an artist, is a much better writer than most of the other "writers" kicking around Marvel at that time. And as an artist he was far superior to any of the Image ilk who ran off and tried to recreate the X-Men. I think that Clandestine was Marvels attempt to give a hot artist a chance to be creative. And he was. The characters came across as fairly typical, with most of the usual tropes. But the art and pacing make this a fresh take on the usual superhero fare. I did not think the attempt to tie it in to the greater Marvel universe worked well, but the actual story, as it played out, was a fun and engaging read.

        • Clandestine actually reminded me a ton of early Valiant comics, except with the Silver Surfer mixed in. I don't think it ever really soars, but i enjoyed it, and Davis' art and layouts go a long way for me

      • I'm reading Cable just so I can say for sure who my hero and villain are at the end of the week, but I'm not enjoying them at all.
        Marvels was an amazing series, and should be read by everyone.