View Poll Results: How'd You Rate The 90s As A Decade For DC?

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  • 10/10

    8 16.00%
  • 9/10

    6 12.00%
  • 8/10

    15 30.00%
  • 7/10

    8 16.00%
  • 6/10

    1 2.00%
  • 5/10

    4 8.00%
  • 4/10

    1 2.00%
  • 3/10

    1 2.00%
  • 2/10

    3 6.00%
  • 1/10

    3 6.00%
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  1. #1
    Astonishing Member Timothy Hunter's Avatar
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    Default Rate the 90s For DC Comics

    The 90's were an infamous decade for comics: The shadow of Image loomed large over the comic industry, injecting insufferable amounts of angst ridden, incoherent storytelling and anatomically incorrect art. However, most would say that DC Comics fared fairly well creatively during the 90s compared to their competitors Image and Marvel.

  2. #2
    Astonishing Member Adekis's Avatar
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    Despite the '90s overall reputation in the realm of comics, DC has a pretty strong collection of stories during that period.

    The latter half of the '80s and the '90s are probably the most impressive run of rock-solid continuity in DC history. I don't think that was sustainable for a lot longer than that, but it's impressive that it lasted for almost fifteen years, with most of the stories being pretty damn good.

    I give the '90s at DC, 8/10
    Last edited by Adekis; 11-10-2020 at 02:30 PM.
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  3. #3
    Extraordinary Member MRP's Avatar
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    I voted 7/10 but it would be more like a 6.5. There was some really strong stuff from DC, but there was a lot of dreck too. DC fared better than Marvel in the 90s for certain, but there were not free from indulging in the sins of the decade. There was a lot of pointless events and cross-overs, a bunch of "extreme" books and art, and a lot of bloated storytelling, but there was more than a fair share of gems put out as well.

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  4. #4
    Incredible Member Menacer's Avatar
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    I was 5-15 from 90-99.

    So I started reading in the 90s and hugely iconic stories came from the 90s.

    Was the 90s truely great? I have no idea objectively... but for me it was a 10 out of 10. Hugely nostalgic... I own a lot of amazing books from that decade.

  5. #5
    Mighty Member LifeIsILL's Avatar
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    Almost every DC character in the 90s had a good run. The only exception is probably Blue Beetle and Superboy.

  6. #6
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    I love the 90s comics. The Batfamily was at its peak then
    "Everything doesn't have to be about fear. There's room in our line of work for hope, too"- Stephanie Brown, Batgirl Vol 3 #5

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  7. #7
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    The 90's is also a glory era for legacy heroes. Wally, Kon-el, Tim, Kyle, Stephanie and Bart all each have their own solo books.

  8. #8
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    DC ended the decade very strong, and hadn’t exactly been napping in the early part.

    I’m giving it a 7/10, on the basis that while a whole lot went right, a few things went wrong enough they deserve to be acknowledged. Yeah, as much as I like Emerald Twilight at the time, it wound up handicapping the Green Lantern franchise for a time when every other franchise was succeeding in growing beyond their initial premises. And yeah, the Hawkman situation was a hilarious failure, and Bloodlines produced exactly one real hit character in Hitman.

    But it was arguably the last real epoch for Superman, saw the Bat Family become a juggernaut, remains a testament to how a well written legacy hero like Wally West can be better hero than his mentor, and saw DC seem to take advantage of Marvel and Image shedding talented writers in exchange for artists by releasing dozens of hidden gems all well worth a re-read.
    Like action, adventure, rogues, and outlaws? Like anti-heroes, femme fatales, mysteries and thrillers?

    I wrote a book with them. Outlaw’s Shadow: A Sherwood Noir. Robin Hood’s evil counterpart, Guy of Gisbourne, is the main character. Feel free to give it a look: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asi...E2PKBNJFH76GQP

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by godisawesome View Post
    DC ended the decade very strong, and hadn’t exactly been napping in the early part.

    I’m giving it a 7/10, on the basis that while a whole lot went right, a few things went wrong enough they deserve to be acknowledged. Yeah, as much as I like Emerald Twilight at the time, it wound up handicapping the Green Lantern franchise for a time when every other franchise was succeeding in growing beyond their initial premises. And yeah, the Hawkman situation was a hilarious failure, and Bloodlines produced exactly one real hit character in Hitman.

    But it was arguably the last real epoch for Superman, saw the Bat Family become a juggernaut, remains a testament to how a well written legacy hero like Wally West can be better hero than his mentor, and saw DC seem to take advantage of Marvel and Image shedding talented writers in exchange for artists by releasing dozens of hidden gems all well worth a re-read.
    What do you mean by this exactly?

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Agent Z View Post
    What do you mean by this exactly?
    That my Post-Crisis introduced butt dug reading Emerald Twilight, but that the principles of “Wipe out the Corps” and “make Hal Jordan a super villain called Parallax who wiped out most of the Corps” restrained a Green a lantern book that’s quality was good enough to suggest that the creative teams would have excelled even more without those premises, and that alienating Hal fans that harshly only led to needless loss of money.

    I mean, at the same time that Green Lantern became limited to one book and as the Guy Gardner spin-off eventually faded away as part of the attempt to leave Kylo with the only power ring, Flash managed to do its own transfer of legacy and launch the Impulse book while supplying a steady stream of other speedsters to other books without rubbing salt in sad Barry Allen fans’ wounds.

    Don’t get me wrong... I’ll still like the Kyle run, I think they did a pretty good job with Parallax overall, and I love the crud out of that Emerald Knights arc where Kyle has to team up with a time traveling Hal.

    But I think that other books showed that expansion, not retraction, was a better idea, and that Geoff Johns’s approach woth GL ultimately validated a lot of comp,aunts people had about that period of Green Lantern... and that it may have played a part in creating the early version of the Silver Age Revanchism that I loathe elsewhere in DC.
    Like action, adventure, rogues, and outlaws? Like anti-heroes, femme fatales, mysteries and thrillers?

    I wrote a book with them. Outlaw’s Shadow: A Sherwood Noir. Robin Hood’s evil counterpart, Guy of Gisbourne, is the main character. Feel free to give it a look: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asi...E2PKBNJFH76GQP

  11. #11
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    I loved most of the 90s but I gave it a 7 out of 10 because of what they did to Hal Jordan.

  12. #12
    Extraordinary Member Captain Craig's Avatar
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    I debated between a score of 8/9 and went with 8.

    The 90s was when I was at my most hardcore DC and I was in my 20s. In the 80s in my Middle/High school years I was mostly Marvel with only Batman as the monthly pull but scattered reads among other characters.
    Nearly every single main JLA character had character defining or re-defining moments that have to this day had an impact on how we see them in mass media today. The cartoons were top notch that only helped fuel interest in the well written books.
    Flash: Wally West under Waid become THE Flash for two generations of readers
    Superman: Death/Return/Electric Blue
    Batman: KnightSaga/Prodigal/Contagion
    Wonder Woman: New Champion/Artemis
    Aquaman: More Savage/Hook hand
    Green Lantern Hal: Parallax/Spectre/intro Kyle
    Green Arrow: shades of DKR lost limb/dead/intro Connor
    JLA: infamous Morrison run followed by Waid and Byrne
    Young Justice(PAD), Hourman, Martian Manhunter(Ostrander), Starman(Robinson), Supergirl(PAD), Batgirl, Nightwing, Azrael, Robin, Hawkworld(ok your mileage may vary I liked it), Lobo and LEGION.

    That's not even getting into Vertigo titles. The 90s were very strong at DC and frankly I think dumped on a bit much as an era.
    Too much focus on Image with their style over substance books. Marvel was weaker but not horrid. Valiant was awesome. Dark Horse was killing it with Star Wars, Conan, Aliens, Predator, Terminator, Concrete, Nexus and Grendel.
    Last edited by Captain Craig; 11-10-2020 at 07:24 AM.
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  13. #13
    Kon-El "The Scion" SuperX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LifeIsILL View Post
    Almost every DC character in the 90s had a good run. The only exception is probably Blue Beetle and Superboy.


    Um no superboy was a awesome series, sure it had some bad issues, and the Ravers series wasn't perfect by any means, but the series was still good.



    Quote Originally Posted by LAWtoyoto 432 View Post
    The 90's is also a glory era for legacy heroes. Wally, Kon-el, Tim, Kyle, Stephanie and Bart all each have their own solo books.

    Yeah it was glorious seeing all those new faces, and fun, actual fun in a comic

  14. #14
    Incredible Member Hol's Avatar
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    10/10.

    Waids Flash
    Robinsons Starman
    Morrisions JLA
    Marz Green Lantern
    Impulse
    Young Justice
    Great Superman stuff!

    Probably my favorite decade in comics. With the last few years of the 80's and first handful of years of the 00's combined and it certainly is.

  15. #15

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    I gave it a 9. A STRONG 9. I was 12-21 during this time and so this was what I grew up on. Though there were times that a Marvel title would come and go in my holds, when I started reading a DC title, it was very rare I would drop it. There was a time in the 90s I probably collected 80% of what DC was putting out. I would say it was strong until around 2003, but then it slowly started dropping in good story and “bang for your buck”. Strong continuity and great stories. I miss that decade.

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