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The Neverending Battle Superman: The Man of Steel #22  Writer: Louise Simonson Penciller:  Jon Bognadove Inker: Dennis Janke Colorist: Glenn Whitmore *   The formation of Image Comics may have been the biggest story of 1990s superhero comics, but "The Death of Superman" was the biggest story line of 1990s superhero comics. In terms of publicity, short-term impact, and long-term consequences, there’s no question. But is it a good story? Well, that’s a bit more complicated.   Despite being the first and archetypical superhero, Superman seems destined to fight a neverending battle against being declared irrelevant. After getting passed-by in popularity in the 1960s and early 1970s by the likes of Batman and Spider-Man, he came roaring back with the release of 1978’s Superman: The Movie . This sustained him through the early ‘80s, even as his comic books started to buckle under the weight of 50 years of continuity (and considerable silliness). In 1986 Crisis on Infini...

For Everyone, By Us Blood Syndicate #1  Writers: Dwayne McDuffie & Ivan Velez Jr. Penciller: Trevor Von Eden Inker: Andrew Pepoy Colorist: Janet Jackson * 1993 was perhaps the craziest comic book year of the 1990s, and that’s really saying something.   For one, it seemed like Marvel and DC’s decades-long dominance of the superhero market was over. In addition to Image, there was Valiant, a line of comics based around an updated take on some the 1960s Gold Key superheroes. Both companies - cheered on considerably by the likes of Wizard magazine – became immensely popular and profitable.  This inspired a gold rush of new superhero universes: Defiant, ANIA, Ultraverse, Dark Horse’s Comics’ Greatest World, Legend, Bravura, and the Kirbyverse.   Marvel and DC, having been burned by their attempts at selling new self-contained lines ( New Universe and Impact , respectively), instead went the licensing route. Marvel partnered with Clive Barker for the Razorline books...

A Riotous and Refreshing Retro Recital 1963 #1 (April 1993) Writer: Alan Moore Penciller: Rick Veitch Inker: Dave Gibbons Colorist: Marvin Kilroy * Alan Moore is often given credit for helping to pioneer a mature, realistic, and complex approach to superheroes. His work on books like Swamp Thing , Miracleman , Watchmen , and Batman: The Killing Joke managed to be both visceral and lyrical, both lurid and thematically rich.  It's because these comics combined a surface-level thrill with a literary depth that Moore is also often given partial blame for the rise of morally-ambiguous (or morally reprehensible) and relentlessly dark superheroes in the late ‘80s and ‘90s.  Many who were inspired Watchmen and Batman: The Killing Joke saw only the violence and trauma, and ignored the thematic and structural complexity. And even those who did recognize those latter aspects weren’t always up to the task of replicating them.    Moore himself is often said to have been chagri...

 An Almost Perfect Eighty-Seventh Issue X-Factor #87 Writer: Peter David Penciller: Joe Quesada Inker: Al Milgrom Colorist: Marie Javins * In the early days of my comic book fanhood, it was nothing extraordinary for me to develop artistic crushes. I'd get really into a certain artist for awhile and try to read as much of their work as I could, and imitate their style in my own drawings. But very few crushes arrived as quickly and intensely as the one I had on Joe Quesada. He first came to my attention in the middle of 1992 with his work on a DC miniseries called The Ray . Written by Jack C. Harris, the comic was a revival of a 1940s Quality Comics hero by the same name. I loved it, and Quesada’s art was a big part of that. Hot on the heels of The Ray came Batman: Sword of Azrael , a mini-series written by Dennis O'Neil. Here, Quesada was inked by Kevin Nowlan, a talented penciller in his own right, and the result was gorgeous: solid, fluid, and moody.   (An aside: This mini...