Year: 1988
Major Events:
- Actual named events: Armor Wars, Inferno, Fall of the Mutants
- Storm is re-powered and Mantis returns from the dead
- Bill Mantlo finishes a very long run on Alpha Flight, Louise Simonson leaves Power Pack
- Captain America lifts Thor’s hammer
- The X-Universe X-pands with Excalibur and Wolverine series and the several miniseries
- Sharon Ventura becomes The Thing
- Steve Rogers resigns as Captain America
- Steve Rogers becomes Captain America again
- SHIELD is shut down
- Not a great year for Marvel
Important Deaths: None really, but Gremlin was Hulk’s first enemy. Lots of “fake” deaths like Doctor Druid, D-Man, many Elders of the Universe, and Alpha Flight’s Marrinna.
Best New Series: Wolverine. Punisher War Journal comes in second.
Top 10 (or 20) New Characters:
- Venom (Eddie Brock)
- Mr. Fixit (Hulk)
- Typhoid Mary
- Tombstone
- Hobgoblin (Jason Macendale version)
- Microchip
- Dakota North joins the 616 universe
- Speedball. I hate the character, but he’s undeniably a major player in early ’90s Marvel
- The X-Babies
- Gateway
Top 10 Stories:
- Daredevil #254-256
- Hulk #340
- Punisher #10 and Daredevil #257
- Daredevil #259-261
- Iron Man #225-232 (Iron Wars)
- Incredible Hulk #339
- Avengers #298
- Silver Surfer #7-10
- Amazing Spider-Man #298-300
- Incredible Hulk #341-345