When I thought a little MORE, as is my way, I couldn't just settle on one book. I had to pick five. Usually I'm more decisive, but here, I narrowed it down to five, that have their own reasons.
Don't read anything into the order of how I talk about these, but below is my list. I've decided that I will write about my memories of these books and what I thought. Then I will re-read them and give my reaction to that, to see if my memories of these books are still held with such high regard. I hope I don't ruin them...
My Memory: This was an issue I read early on in my budding comic book nerdiness. Ironically, it is a Fantastic Four book that barely stars the Fantastic Four. This had a 90's ass team of four heroes that were replacing the Fantastic Four. You have Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider and the Grey Hulk. Funnily enough, two of those characters are in my top five favs! I remember that the differences in these characters were really played up and put on display. I forget the reason WHY they were together, but I remember this being a lot of fun. Also, I still love the cover of this book.
Reality: The make up of the New Fantastic Four is definitely as 90's as it gets. I was spot on with what I remembered about that aspect of it. Like I had mentioned, they really play up the differences between all these characters and their interactions with each other. I forgot how aggressive the relationship between the Grey Hulk and Spider-Man was. The artwork by Art Adams was really good here. This issues featured the skrulls, some of the great Fantastic Four villains. Also, this issue showed how much of a dick Reed Richards can be. A skrull replaced his wife and he is playing along, but makes a comment about how he's MORE attracted to this skrull than his actual wife! Watch out for Reed, man. I think this was a fun issue, but if I am being honest, I liked the cover of the issue more than the actual issue itself. I think that is why it has stuck out in my mind.
Amazing Spider-Man #375 (Marvel)
My Memory: Now this memory is very specific. I remember buying this issue when I lived in Germany. I think I had ridden my bike about fifteen minutes away to the small Air Force base and bought this book in a little trailer that sat outside of the BX. I was starting to get into Spider-Man and I was loving Mark Bagley's art on this book. At the time, Venom was like, the villain for Spider-Man. The threat was real because Venom was the one guy who's Spider-Man's spider-sense could not detect. That made him super dangerous. I remember the fight scenes being so dynamic with a satisfying conclusion. The only downside was this was in the middle of an arc where Peter Parker's parents had seemingly come back from the dead. The less I say about that, the better.
Reality: This one does not live up to my memory. I was spot on about the basis of the story. This is an anniversary issue, but it is about as cookie cutter as it gets. This epitomizes the 90's. The Mark Bagley art definitely holds up and it is the saving grace here. This essentially a fight between Spider-Man and Venom. You even get 90's ass characters like Silver Sable and the Wild Pack showing up here. If that doesn't jog a memory inside you, congrats. You escaped the 90's without having to live through this. Since this is an anniversary issue, there are also some nonsense backups that are included. Other than the art, if there is one plus I can say about this issue is that it read fast. Unlike the next issue I'm about to talk about...
X-Men #4 (Marvel)
My Memory: Thanks to the X-Men cartoon, I dived in with both feet into the world of the X-Men. I think I bought this book out of sequence with the other issues and slowly worked my way backwards. In fact, this was one of those rare comics that I had to replace because the condition got so bad that I could not deal. Anyways, that aside, I remember that it started out with a cool scene of some of the X-Men just playing basketball. It was Wolverine and Jubilee versus Gambit and Rogue. This was a point when that romance between Gambit and Rogue was just starting to begin. I remember after a brief fight between all these characters, Rogue and Gambit decide to go on a date. They are attacked by Omega Red, an unforeseen villain from Wolverine's past. What made this book so awesome was the Jim Lee art. This is when he was truly a force of nature in the comics world.
Reality: I forgot how overly worded these comics were back then. First of all, the Jim Lee art was super solid back then. This was when his star was on the rise. There is that fun basketball game between Wolverine/Rogue vs. Gambit/Jubilee. What was annoying is the overtly scientifically way that Beast's dialogue was. He sounds like a guy that uses big words to sound smart. This criticism is aimed at the writers. I don't know what they were trying to prove here, but it is very ham-fisted. It is laughably bad. The action looked good, but man, the writing was not. Unfortunately, this one didn't hold up as well as I thought. It is wrought with 90's schlock.
X-Men #25 (Marvel)My Memory: At this point, I had been reading all the X-books (X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, X-Force and X-Factor), so I was all in. This issue was the big turning point in the Fatal Attractions story line that was running through all the books. It's a big deal because this is when Magneto pulls all the Adamantium out of Wolverine's body! The pain of this was captured in scary detail by the pencils of Andy Kubert. This in turn caused Professor Xavier to retaliate by completely wiping the mind of Magneto. This issue would have long lasting ramifications for the X-Universe for many years. From this story, it is revealed that Wolverine had bone claws all along, not created when the adamantium was added to his body, debunking that long held plot point. Xavier's actions would lead to the eventual creation of Onslaught, another X-Men big bad that would be the thing around 1998.
Reality: This issue is almost a time capsule of what comics were in the 90's. I forgot that back then, you would see characters smoking all the time. There are no less than five different scenes with characters smoking. You see The Thing stepping out of the shower with a stogie in his mouth! Nick Fury is smoking a cigar somewhere on the Shield Hellicarrier. Wolverine is shown smoking a cigarette before going on a mission and Gambit is too! They have done away with all that in comics today. Oh right, the issue itself. Fabian Nicieza must have gone to the Chris Claremont school of writing because this issue is overwrought with dialogue. What did come across is how dire the mission was to stop Magneto this time. The Andy Kubert art was really good, but there were a lot of shots of characters standing around, looking off into the distance. Also, some of the action scenes were framed really weird. The scene where Magneto rips the adamantium out of Wolverine is very visceral. Xavier's reaction to that was just as powerful, as he was a man who was finally fed up. If anything was weird to me, it's the makeup of the team. It's explained, but seemed weird giving all the X-Men running around at the time. Also, Jean Grey is brought along to back up Xavier in what feels really sexist in the way she's used. The 90's man. I think this issue holds up, but like I said, it took a while to read. Ain't nobody got time for that.
My Memory: At this point, I had been out of comic books for about five years. Yes, believe it or not, when I went to college, I gave up comic books, cold turkey. This was a combination of a number of things. There was a horrible clone saga story line going on with the Spider-Man books. Onslaught lead to the Heroes Reborn and so on. So my cousin told me about this issue and I saw that it was only 9 cents. So with that price point, you know the idea is to try and hook new readers. Well, it was so well written and true to the spirit, that I was hooked once again. Mike Wieringo's art was dynamic and the humanizing touches that Mark Waid reminded me of what I liked about the Fantastic Four in the first place. This is the book that jump started my return to comics.
Reality: Yup. My memory of this comic was accurate. It is well written in a way that not many "introductory" type issues are. It uses a clever device of having an outsider join the Fantastic Four to chronicle their daily lives as part of a campaign to improve their image. In comics, there is always destruction by the heroes to save the day, but it's rarely shown the impact of that. The purpose of this PR campaign is to improve their "Q-Rating". What I loved about this issue is how playful the characters are with each other, which shows how much of a family they are and not just a team. Also, it has what I think is the best description of some of their powers that you will ever hear. Mr. Fantastic's stretching is described as the sound you make when you drag your hand over a balloon. The Thing's every action is described as rocks rolling around in a clothes dryer. That's genius stuff. The art is wonderful, but with all this explanation of the characters and their relationships, there is a mystery as to who funded the campaign for the group. It is revealed that it was Mr. Fantastic himself. He feels guilty about the hubris he showed in his experiment that gave them all powers and how that changed their lives. Especially Ben Grimm, which has been a plot point for many years. Honestly, if there was one book out of these five I would recommend to any person, it would be this issue.
So if I had to pick a winner here, it is clearly Fantastic Four #60. It reminded me why I love the Fantastic Four so much. All in all, I think this was a fun experiment. This ended up being Marvel focused, so maybe I will pluck five DC books at some point and go through those.
