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Death Becomes Him Infinity Gauntlet #1 Writer: Jim Starlin        Penciller: George Perez    Inkers: Josef Rubinstein and Tom Christopher Colorists: Max Scheele and Ian Laughlin * As I sat in a packed theater in the spring of 2019 watching Avengers: Endgame, I was surrounded by a person in a Spider-Man costume and another in Captain America regalia. It was at that moment  that it truly hit me just how far into the mainstream superhero fandom had come.  As I discussed this in the introduction to this project, there was a time not so long ago that superhero comics were not only shunned, but derided.  Now, people are going crazy for a TV show featuring Scarlet Witch and Vision, and my sons play with a life size infinity gauntlet toy. This is, of course, all down to astonishing quality of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But, and as obvious as this is, the MCU wouldn’t be anything without the comics that came before. It’s become sore...

More Heroes for the 1990s   Sleepwalker #1 Writer and Colorist: Bob Budiansky   Artist: Bret Blevins     * After the success of the “Heroes for the 1990’s” initiative in 1990, Marvel repeated it in 1991, introducing seven new ongoing series between March and October. Like the first go-‘round, the slate included a mix of new heroes ( Darkhawk , Sleepwalker ), revived heroes ( Deathlok , Wonder Man , X-Force ), a new series for an old favorite ( X-Men ), and a licensed property ( The Toxic Avenger ). Like the card-carrying Wild Agent of Marvel I was, I bought every single one of them, even The Toxic Avenger , though it’d be a year or so before I actually saw the movie (on USA’s Friday and Saturday night b-movie trashfest “Up All Night”). X-Force and X-Men were the big stories of the year, thanks to their massive sales. X-Force #1 became the best-selling comic of all time in August with five million sold, at least until X-Men #1 broke the record two mon...

Discovering the Distinguished Competition Justice Society of America #1 Writer: Len Strazewski Artist: Rick Burchett Colorist: Tom Ziuko * Though the 1989 Batman movie got me interested in comics, I didn’t actually gravitate toward Batman or DC Comics initially. It was Marvel that first captured my attention and my heart. In fact, I don’t think I even bought any DC Comics until the January 1991 Robin miniseries, and that was just a fluke in my buying habits. I was a Marvel guy all the way until the summer of 1991,when my dad bought me a box of random comics at a garage sale. Included were Action Comics 553 and 554 by Gil Kane and Marv Wolfman, and the Charlton Blue Beetle by Steve Ditko. These glimpses into other superhero universes made me want more. It wasn’t long after that I came across issue #5 of the Justice Society of America miniseries at Jewel/Osco. The cover featured Hawkman and the Flash, and it intrigued me. I soon bought up the first four issues and then the subsequ...