Year: 1993

Major Events:

• Marvel seems to realize that it is going down in flames, and puts out a flood of books featuring characters that nobody could possibly have thought would carry a series–like USAgent, the Soviet Super Soldiers, Meteor Man, and Nightwatch.  Oh, and The Invaders (yet again) written by Roy Thomas (yet again).
• They also cancel a ton of underwhelming comics like She-Hulk, Luke Cage, and Nomad.
• Justice, of New Warriors, goes to prison for murdering his own father
• Infinity Crusade, Maximum Carnage, Thor: Blood and Thunder
• Alan Davis leaves Excalibur and John Byrne quits She-Hulk and Namor.
• The mysterious Tolliver–Deadpool’s boss–is revealed to be Cable’s son from the future
• 3oth Anniversary Celebrations: The X-books did Fatal Attractions, which brought back Magneto, and Avengers did Bloodties, which tried to generate sales by tying in with the X-books

Important Deaths: Vermin, Tombstone, Mastermind, Tower, Steel Vengeance, Doctor Faustus, Illyana Rasputin, Mockingbird, Reed Richards (again).  Nearly all of these characters return in the future.

Best New Series: Cable.  Runner up: Hellstorm.

Top 10 New Characters: This was a bad year for new characters; most of the debuts were extremely similar to–or downright rip-offs of–existing characters.

1. Revanche
2. Vengeance (the Ghost Rider copy)
3. Graydon Creed (Sabretooth’s son)
4. Maxam
5. Siege (Deathlok copy)
6. Air Force (a gang of bird-themed villains)
7. Hindsight Lad
8. Deathcry
9. X-Cutioner
10. Kyllian

Top 10 Comics:

1. X-Factor #87 (the therapy issue)
2. Hulk: Future Imperfect
3. Daredevil: The Man Without Fear miniseries
4. New Warriors #36
5. Incredible Hulk #412
6. Silver Surfer/Warlock: Resurrection one-shot
7. Marvel Comics Presents #131 (Ant-Man story only)
8. Warlock and Infinity Watch #12-13
9. Punisher: Suicide Run
10. Terror #8 (Christmas issue)