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  1. #1
    Incredible Member Graphic Autist's Avatar
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    Default Runs That Live Up To Their Hype

    What comics do you consider runs that have lived up to their status as legendary?

    For example, I had never read Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing until a couple months ago, and I was blown away...it lived up to the hype.

    On the opposite side of the spectrum, I re-read Secret Wars from the 80s, and what a piece of crap. It did seem awesome the first time when I was 12, though.

    I'd love to hear similar experiences.

  2. #2
    Astonishing Member Johnny Thunders!'s Avatar
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    1. Frank Miller's Daredevil. Watchmen and the Dark Knight get all the glory for putting comics on the 'grown up' map but Daredevil deserves just as much credit as any other run out there. The art is truly visionary and the character development is unrivaled. Foggy, Karen, Matt, Ben Urich, Elektra, these are all big characters fleshed out in amazing detail.

    2. Neil Gaiman's Sandman: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Love Stories, Legends, Myths, Epic Poetry, Shakespeare, Allegories, Sandman does it all and does it as well or better than anyone else.

    3. Steve Ditko and Stan Lee's Spiderman... Quite honestly, I barely count anything else as canon and I know I am missing alot.

    4. Mark Gruenwald's Squadron Supreme: If I had only read this and never Watchmen, The Authority, or Kingdom come, I would have read enough.

    5. Will Eisner's the Spirit: 8 Pages of all the story you would ever want or need.

  3. #3
    Spectacular Member 2nd line g's Avatar
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    I'm reading Claremont's Uncanny Xmen for the first time and it certainly lives up to the hype.

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    Incredible Member Graphic Autist's Avatar
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    2. Neil Gaiman's Sandman: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror, Love Stories, Legends, Myths, Epic Poetry, Shakespeare, Allegories, Sandman does it all and does it as well or better than anyone else.
    That’s one I’ve never read, but always hear great things about. I’ll definitely check it out.

  5. #5
    Astonishing Member TomSlick's Avatar
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    Every series mentioned so far should be on the list.

    When I think about legendary I think about early 1990s (due to Sandman) and back into the past, although there are a few runs that came later that I would throw in, like Preacher, Y Last Man, Kingdom Come, Peter David's Hulk and Mark Waid's Flash. I'm tempted to add Ennis' Punisher Max but that might be too, too recent to be considered legendary.

    I also might add:

    Green Lantern/Arrow run by O'Neil and Adams
    Ronin by Miller
    V for Vendetta
    Miracleman by Moore
    Animal Man by Morrison

  6. #6
    Incredible Member Graphic Autist's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TomSlick View Post
    Every series mentioned so far should be on the list.

    When I think about legendary I think about early 1990s (due to Sandman) and back into the past, although there are a few runs that came later that I would throw in, like Preacher, Y Last Man, Kingdom Come, Peter David's Hulk and Mark Waid's Flash. I'm tempted to add Ennis' Punisher Max but that might be too, too recent to be considered legendary.

    I also might add:

    Green Lantern/Arrow run by O'Neil and Adams
    Ronin by Miller
    V for Vendetta
    Miracleman by Moore
    Animal Man by Morrison
    Never read any Animal Man, but I’d say Punisher MAX by Ennis was good, but I didn’t hear a ton of hype. There should be...it made me like Punisher again.

  7. #7
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    It depends really, sometimes its hard to judge creative efforts on the basis of what I've learnt about the creator. As much as I loved Daredevil by Miller, I've seen too much of his politics and subsequent efforts which has coloured my view. I do not see Miller as a truly original creator, I see him as a talented artist/writer who had one good concept and has milked it.

    Ive just finished Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus and that lives up to the hype, and its taken my appreciation of Kirby to another level. Truly groundbreaking creator, who saw the bigger picture and tried to weave a huge/sprawling story. I've loved its combination of spontaneity and wider mythos. It would have been easy for Kirby to rest on his laurels, given all that he had created at that point.

    I will always appreciate creative and original writing. You always expect great things with Alan Moore, although some of his mid-90s work is run of the mill (Supreme is brilliant though). I think Miracleman starts off good, but descends into a bit of a mess. Its a great writer finding his feet, I think Moore ten years later (and not writing in the confines of the British comic format) would have wrote a much better story. Generally with his work, there is so much eye for detail and depth of research in most of his work. He's constantly looking to challenge himself and try new ideas; definitely Watchmen and Supreme exceeded expectations.

    Planetary was so probably the quickest I've read an Omnibus, it was again a very original and well planned story, with some really challenging themes.

    I always enjoyed the X-men, but when I finally managed to complete my collection I really was awestruck with how much evolution the comic went through under Claremont's era. He never settled on a status quo, always changing the dynamic of the team. It would have been relatively easy to say that they had found a winning format and stick with it, as well as the characters, but by the end of his tenure the team were barely a team ( and hadn't been for a long time), new characters were still being introduced and favourites taken out of the team. Its always interesting to hear people say that a particular version of the X-men were great and all others were bad, but that (to me) misses the point of what Claremont was doing.

  8. #8
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    If you are reading 80s Marvel, I would recommend:

    Thor by Walt Simonson
    Fantastic Four by John Byrne
    Avengers by Roger Stern
    Amazing Spider0Man by Roger Stern
    Iron Man by Michelinie and Layton

  9. #9
    Incredible Member Graphic Autist's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rincewind View Post
    If you are reading 80s Marvel, I would recommend:

    Thor by Walt Simonson
    Fantastic Four by John Byrne
    Avengers by Roger Stern
    Amazing Spider0Man by Roger Stern
    Iron Man by Michelinie and Layton
    Those first two you mentioned are legend. Also came out when I was in my early-to-late teens. Just finishing the Simonson Thor Omnibus after not reading these stories for almost 30 years. It held up.

  10. #10
    Incredible Member RumpusMagoo's Avatar
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    Well, I'm currently going through The Great Darkness Saga by LOSH, and I believe the hype there is justified. The amount of world-building Levitz/Griffen was able to accomplish is terrific.

    Also Englehart/Roger's Detective Run should be up there.

  11. #11
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    Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
    Spider-Man by Stan Lee/Steve Dikto and John Romita Sr.
    Spider-Man by Roger Stern and John Romita Jr.
    Fantastic Four by John Byrne.


    Surprised to see the dislike for the original Secret Wars story by the Op though,have read it many times and to me it still holds up as a great storyline.

  12. #12
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    Expectations play such an integral part in any media (comics, film, television) "living up to the hype". Series like Preacher, Y, etc were good and I'd recommend them to anyone, but they didn't live up to my expectations because i was so hyped to read them i guess. I often wonder how differently I'd feel about something with another approach, like blindly discovering it or whatever. This could possibly be rectified upon a re-read, but again, you never get back the first time reading (or watching) experience.

    But to answer your question, series that lived up to or even exceeded the hype imo off the top of my head are Sandman, Lucifer, Scalped, Gillen's JiM, Fraction's Hawkeye and Bendis/Brubaker Daredevil runs (although scalped and dd i came across more or less on my own, so they just turned out really great).
    Last edited by awayne83; 02-13-2018 at 10:13 AM.

  13. #13
    Incredible Member Graphic Autist's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by whiteshark View Post
    Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
    Spider-Man by Stan Lee/Steve Dikto and John Romita Sr.
    Spider-Man by Roger Stern and John Romita Jr.
    Fantastic Four by John Byrne.


    Surprised to see the dislike for the original Secret Wars story by the Op though,have read it many times and to me it still holds up as a great storyline.
    Sorry...as I said, at one point I loved it.

  14. #14
    Extraordinary Member Raffi Ol D'Arcy's Avatar
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    Daredevil by Frank Miller & Klaus Janson
    Daredevil by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli
    Captain Britain by Dave Thorpe, Jamie DeLano, Alan Moore & Alan Davis
    Amazing Spider-Man by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko
    Amazing Spider-Man by Stan Lee & John Romita
    Silver Surfer by Stan Lee & John Buscema
    The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
    Batman Year One by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli
    DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke
    Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum & John Byrne

  15. #15
    Fantastic Member Mormegil's Avatar
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    Infinity Gauntlet is great. But i think you really need to read Thanos Quest to have it completely live up to the hype. Its even better if you read the Avengers and Warlock stuff from a decade earlier.

    Really Infinity Gauntlet puts a nice cap on all the Thanos stuff. They really could have stopped there and you have a very satisfying arc that started back with Iron Man #55.

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