Year: 1991

1991 is where Marvel comics start to worsen.  It’s much harder to find good stories and interesting characters.  The rankings will reflect that here, and moreso as we get deeper into the decade.

Major Events:

  • Alicia was a skrull!
  • The return of Johnny Blaze
  • Punisher becomes a black man
  • Jim Wilson, Hulks black friend, has AIDS
  • Hulk joins the Pantheon team
  • Nearly every single great Marvel comic from 1990 was written by Peter David
  • John Byrne’s brilliant She-Hulk cover (above)
  • Korvac returns in one of several (bad) “Annual” events
  • The New Mutants series ends and is replaced by the more violent X-Force, and the X-Men rebrand with fancy covers that will kickstart–and then destroy–the collectability of comic books.
  • Spider-Woman 2 and Living Lightning become Avengers.  West Coast Avengers, true, but still…How special is it to be an Avenger now?
  • Speaking of Avengers, Avengers Spotlight is cancelled…At last
  • DG Chichester begins a long run on Daredevil, as Ann Nocenti’s controversial and “artistic” run ends

Important Deaths: Magneto (not) and Donald Pierce of Hellfire Club.  Iron Fist’s death gets un-done.

Best New Series: Wonder Man, X-Men, X-Force.  The latter two I put on the list because they are clearly important…But they’re really not great comics.

Top 10 New Characters:

  1. Deadpool
  2. Domino
  3. Omega Red
  4. Bishop
  5. Shatterstar
  6. Suicide
  7. Sleepwalker
  8. GW Bridge
  9. Firebrand 2
  10. Kane

Top 10 Stories

  1. Infinity Gauntlet (miniseries)
  2. Hulk #379-382
  3. X-Factor #71-73
  4. X-Men #1-3
  5. Punisher #53-59
  6. Hulk #383-384
  7. Ghost Rider #13-15
  8. Daredevil #27-300
  9. New Mutants #98
  10. Ghost Rider 316-17
  11. Marvel Comics Presents #85-92 (Wolverine story only)

Note that my picks for this summary are VERY different from the 1991 Forbie fan awards, above.

PUNISHER SUMMER SPECIAL #1 (1991)

In 1992, Marvel published the first of four Punisher Summer Specials, because after all he only was in two regular ongoings and had only three or four one-shots or graphic novels that year. So he needed more exposure.

Lots of good names were attached to the project: Peter David, Pat Mills, Val Mayerik, Jim Palmiotti, Dan Slott…But it was really just mindless (and mind-numbing) violence with nothing to redeem it.

Except the Barbed Wire Gun.