Favorite Era Of Marvel?

[Iron Maiden]

Sure, but for someone who never read any of previous Avengers titles and didn't really have any attachment to previous status quo it was quite a revelation.

I love it because it is new reader friendly, but I can understand why long time readers didn't jive with it.

I think it is the duty of a writer who works on a long running franchise, IP or whatever to at least know the background of the characters they will be working with. This is obviously hypothecial but can you imagine if a new writer wrote a new Harry Potter book and ignored or changed some of the rich history of that property?

[charliehustle415]

I think it is the duty of a writer who works on a long running franchise, IP or whatever to at least know the background of the characters they will be working with. This is obviously hypothecial but can you imagine if a new writer wrote a new Harry Potter book and ignored or changed some of the rich history of that property?

I get the deep history with long running IP, I can imagine how it can become an albatross on a writer's neck and they just decide to forgo it completely.

Of course this can be good or bad, it wholly depends on the perspective of the reader i.e. if the reader cares about cannon vs. a reader does not care about cannon

[JudicatorPrime]

Honestly, you're chosen period is probably my least favourite Marvel period outside of their current output. I guess we all have our own tastes and likes/dislikes.

My favourite period for Marvel is 1966-78. The sheer creative force at work at Marvel during this period is astounding. For me it begins with the the Coming of Galactus and that incredible burst of creativity from Lee and Kirby. It carries through Marvel's late-60's expansion with the easing of their publishing restrictions and into the first new wave of 70's creators.

I also loved Marvel's diversity during this time and their willingness to try new ideas and introduce new characters and concepts. The horror titles that emerged with the easing of the comics code are a highlight (especially the brilliant Tomb of Dracula), as are the more high concept and cosmic tales from writers like Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin. Then there's the sheer satirical craziness of Howard the Duck, the post apocalyptic worlds of Deathlok and Killraven, Don McGregor's iconic Black Panther run, Kirby's Eternals, The Defenders, Steranko's Nick Fury, the martial arts action of Iron Fist and Master of Kung-Fu and Marvel's short-lived black and white magazines.

I don't think there was ever a more creative period for Marvel.

Excellent post and I agree wholeheartedly.

[Aliltron]

The Bendis era for sure brought a lot of great things on the table.
I'll say it was the one era where nearly everything fell into place.
But I'm going to extend it, I'll say the whole decade from 00-09 was a pretty good time to be a marvel fan.
We had New X-Men, New Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man, Brubaker's Captain America, JMS Spider-Man, Jenkins on Spectacular Spider-Man, Slott on She Hulk. And that's not counting events and stories like House of M, Civil War, Dissassembled, Secret Invasion, Marvel Zombies, Planet Hulk etc.
It was a wild time to be a comics fan and while I don't agree with everything Joe Q did, I did feel like he pushed the books in a direction that we hadn't seen before.

The 80's is also a good period. If the 00's has the quantity, than the 80's have the quality. Miller's Daredevil and the Spider-Man stuff that was happening are some of the best those books have ever been.
And while I'm not a massive fan, there's no denying that what Claremont did with X-Men is nothing less than ground breaking.

However, I'm going to go with an odd choice, I'm going to say my favourite era was actually Marvel Now.
It may not be looked at with much love now, but looking back, there were some really great titles.
The Avengers books were probably at their all time best, I doubt we'll see it reach the heights of Hickman and Ewing again.
Superior was the best Spider-Man had been in 616 since the early JMS years.
Jason Aaron had a good Thor run which is still loved to this day.
There was a lot of taking the best from all pieces of media and bringing them together before they actually really did that in Secret Wars.
It has major issues (like the new Nick Fury making no sense and not really ever being used and the fact that a lot of titles felt like cash grabs), but the level of experimentation was a welcome change.

I completely agree about the whole decade and especially Marvel Now (2012) it was a really great time for new readers to jump into books. And yeah, it was probably the best Avengers era imo and probably won’t be matched again. But I’m liking the current era too. Not everything works but the stuff I’m reading, I enjoy.

[Username taken]

The early 80s to early 90s. This IMO is peak Marvel.

Then the 2000s to around 2010. I loved all the stuff with Bendis, Millar, Fraction, Ellis etc.

[Babylon23]

Sure, but for someone who never read any of previous Avengers titles and didn't really have any attachment to previous status quo it was quite a revelation.

I love it because it is new reader friendly, but I can understand why long time readers didn't jive with it.

I can understand this and I can see why this era might appeal.

For me, this was the first time that I felt that there was no connection between the characters I loved and the characters that were appearing in the titles other than their physical appearance. Characters personalities were rewritten and their histories ignored in order to shoehorn them into the plots. It felt forced to me.

Even so, there were some titles that I enjoyed at the time - Incredible Hercules, Captain Britain and MI13, She-Hulk, the Nicieza era of Thunderbotls and a few others.

Today, I'm not reading any Marvel titles. Immortal Hulk was my last holdout.

[charliehustle415]

I can understand this and I can see why this era might appeal.

For me, this was the first time that I felt that there was no connection between the characters I loved and the characters that were appearing in the titles other than their physical appearance. Characters personalities were rewritten and their histories ignored in order to shoehorn them into the plots. It felt forced to me.

Even so, there were some titles that I enjoyed at the time - Incredible Hercules, Captain Britain and MI13, She-Hulk, the Nicieza era of Thunderbotls and a few others.

Today, I'm not reading any Marvel titles. Immortal Hulk was my last holdout.

Incredible Herc, is top tier shit. I can't imagine a title like that being green lit nowadays.

But yeah totally, I bet readers who are fans of the Busiek (and earlier) era were miffed that Bendis plays fast and loose with character history.

My personal opinion is to completely do away with continuity so Bendis' ethos is my kinda vibe.

I've whittled my Marvel list down to almost nothing after Hickman bounced from X-Men.

[FFJamie94]

I completely agree about the whole decade and especially Marvel Now (2012) it was a really great time for new readers to jump into books. And yeah, it was probably the best Avengers era imo and probably won’t be matched again. But I’m liking the current era too. Not everything works but the stuff I’m reading, I enjoy.

The current era is great too.
It’s very underappreciated on these boards in my opinion. There’s a lot of good stuff like Venom, Thor, She Hulk, Iron Man, X-Men etc that just gets ignored.
Honestly the only true bas marvel eras were the mid 90’s and the mid 10’s, and even then good things were still being published.

[Starter Set]

The 70-85 era i would say as far i'm concerned. Most of my favorite storylines are from those years.

[Babylon23]

Incredible Herc, is top tier shit. I can't imagine a title like that being green lit nowadays.

Absolutely agree. The focus has shifted completely away from almost anything that isn't a top tier character.

It also illustrates why I chose the 1966-78 period for Marvel. The range and diversity of books that were green lit was fantastic.

But yeah totally, I bet readers who are fans of the Busiek (and earlier) era were miffed that Bendis plays fast and loose with character history.

My personal opinion is to completely do away with continuity so Bendis' ethos is my kinda vibe.

My head cannon approach to 2000's Marvel was to basically say "my" Marvel universe ended sometime around the end of Geoff John's run on Avengers and to treat most of the Bendis-era as a completely new universe with new variants on old characters, much like the Ultimate universe or Heroes Reborn. These are alternate reality versions of the characters I love. I found that approach made some books more palatable to me.

[Thundershot]

Wow. It depends on the book, I guess.. With X-Men, it was from the Mutant Massacre though AOA, I think. Maybe a bit after that.

Avengers, it was Busiek’s run, no doubt.

Fantastic Four… Simonson/DeFalco and then Claremont. It doesn’t mean I didn’t like later ones, but this was my favorite.

[davetvs]

Probably 2000 - 2010. Morrison's X-Men, Whedon's X-Men, Bendis' Avengers + House of M, X-Force/Uncanny X-Force were all standout runs for me.

[charliehustle415]

Absolutely agree. The focus has shifted completely away from almost anything that isn't a top tier character.

It also illustrates why I chose the 1966-78 period for Marvel. The range and diversity of books that were green lit was fantastic.



My head cannon approach to 2000's Marvel was to basically say "my" Marvel universe ended sometime around the end of Geoff John's run on Avengers and to treat most of the Bendis-era as a completely new universe with new variants on old characters, much like the Ultimate universe or Heroes Reborn. These are alternate reality versions of the characters I love. I found that approach made some books more palatable to me.

True, once Bendis came on characterization changed completeley and has never looked back.

This mentality is exactly how I treat characters, it's the least maddening way to view comic books especially corporate superhero books.

[Captain Craig]

While every era has it's gems some are just more stinkers in one way or another. I disagree with the OP that his stated era is full of greatness, but some gems to be sure.

I came into comics in the mid-80s, really got going full throttle around '88/89. Ironically the Batman movie helped keep me in the comic store but it was Marvel I was really exploring(outside Batman).
My LCS had rows of bargain books on the floor for $.50 - 1.00 and I heavily explored Marvel books of the 70's and early 80's. So much to enjoy.

For me the "make it up time frame" best era would be about 1975 - 2005. The stinker Marvel books for me at that time were largely the one you expect to be great but post-bankruptcy were bad. I'm speaking of Avengers, FF, Thor, various X-Men books and the Spider-man Chapter One. They would get back on track about 2000/2001 but that was short lived cause One More Day was coming followed by writers allowed to ignore continuity they didn't like.

[jwatson]

While every era has it's gems some are just more stinkers in one way or another. I disagree with the OP that his stated era is full of greatness, but some gems to be sure.

I came into comics in the mid-80s, really got going full throttle around '88/89. Ironically the Batman movie helped keep me in the comic store but it was Marvel I was really exploring(outside Batman).
My LCS had rows of bargain books on the floor for $.50 - 1.00 and I heavily explored Marvel books of the 70's and early 80's. So much to enjoy.

For me the "make it up time frame" best era would be about 1975 - 2005. The stinker Marvel books for me at that time were largely the one you expect to be great but post-bankruptcy were bad. I'm speaking of Avengers, FF, Thor, various X-Men books and the Spider-man Chapter One. They would get back on track about 2000/2001 but that was short lived cause One More Day was coming followed by writers allowed to ignore continuity they didn't like.

This i will piggy back off this here for me it was 93/94-2005 But reading back issues i will say you have your time period on point. that was the golden age of marvel.