Year: 1998

Marvel begins to approach greatness once more, producing many excellent and fairly novel books.

Major Events: 

  • An influx of creators, emphasizing writing over art–in direct opposition to the mid”90s, where artists were the main driver of sales: Jim Owlsey returns to Marvel as Christopher Priest and begins a legendary run on Black Panther; DG Chichester also returns, to end Daredevil’s long-running series; Dan Jurgens signs on to Marvel for Thor; Kevin Smith writes Daredevil; Jim Mahfood gets a Generation X one-shot; Jim Cheung becomes the artist on X-Force; George Perez and Kurt Busiek reboot the Avengers.  Also, Marvel: Shadows and Light brings a ton of new-and-old creators to the shores of Marvel!
  • In a year with barely any events, Spider-Man seemed to have nothing but events: Gathering of Five, Spider-Hunt, and Identity Crisis
  • Dracula returns for the first time in almost a decade, Dracula side-character Hannibal returns as well, and Machine Man gets rebooted by Bastion
  • Peter David’s long and legendary run on Hulk ends
  • Hawkeye becomes leader of Thunderbolts

Important Deaths: Mysterio.  Yes.  He seriously is dead.  And he dies in the pages of Daredevil! Other deaths: Karen Page, Betty Ross, Flag-Smasher.

Best New Series: It’s too hard to choose: Inhumans, Marvel: Shadows and Light, Captain America and Thor are ALL excellent.

Series Cancelled: Daredevil and Incredible Hulk (both after 30+ years); X-Factor and Excalibur (after about 10 years); and Elektra, Ghost Rider, nHeroes for Hire, Journey Into Mystery, Ka-Zar, Man-Thing, Marvel Team-Up, Maverick, Quicksilver, Silver Surfer, Strange Tales, Untold Tales of Spider-Man.

Top 10 New Characters:

  1. Warbird (new identity for Carol Danvers)
  2. Big Hero Six
  3. Bio Energy Sentinels
  4. Agent 18
  5. A fifth Green Goblin, who is a genetic construct
  6. Charcoal
  7. Monster Hunters
  8. Triathalon
  9. Silverclaw
  10. Jesse Bedlam
  11. A new Firebrand

Top 20 Stories:

  1. Ka-Zar #7-11 (vs Thanos!)
  2. The Nemesis Contract (Cable #59-62)
  3. Baby’s First Deadpool Book (one-shot)
  4. Black Panther #1-5: The Client
  5. Incredible Hulk #465-467
  6. Captain America #2
  7. Deadpool #0
  8. Marvel: Shadows and Light
  9. Captain America #3-4
  10. Marvel Universe #1-7
  11. Avengers #1-3
  12. Captain America #9-12
  13. Nighthawk #1-4
  14. Live Kree or Die
  15. Avengers #4 (#419)
  16. Silver Surfer #139-146
  17. Generation X Underground Special
  18. Captain America #5-7
  19. Thunderbolts #10-12
  20. Daredevil #372