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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
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Posted: 24 December 2007 at 6:26pm | IP Logged | 1  

I have mentioned previously in these parts that, were I in charge of either of the Big Two, my "solution" to the ills of the industry would be to "reset" all the books to where they were at some arbitrarily chosen point in time. Usually I say 1976, for many reasons good and bad. Mostly because that's the last year when, while actually still working in the Biz, I really still felt like a fan.

So -- the premise then, is that as of some date -- say, July 1st, 2008 -- all the books would revert to the conditions they were in back in 1976, but would continue to be portrayed as present day. Peter Parker, f'rinstance, would be an unmarried grad student (tho I would dearly love to put him back in high school!). The X-Men would be a tightly knit group that had only just expanded to include "new" members. Thor would still be Don Blake. Tony Stark would drink no more than socially. But everything would be happening now. Most importantly, this would be done as an editorial fiat, not as a crossover "event".

SO! If you were in charge, and this was your mission, what is the year to which you would rewind Marvel and/or DC? Give elaborate reasons, if you are so inclined, but feel free to simply say "This was when I thought the books were really cool." And, really, if you think everything is fine right now, as is -- don't play. What would be the point?

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Eric Russ
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Posted: 24 December 2007 at 6:37pm | IP Logged | 2  

Probably around.1984-1985. Whatever year before Peter Parker married
Mary Jane. It seemed at this point stories were still "tamed" and
even though the X-Men had their share of misc. Mutants they were not
etched into the psyche of the masses as, "They are ALL definitely X-Men."

The basic fundamentals were not so blatantly disregarded as they are
right
now.

Note -

I would like to magically siphon Roger Stern's and Buscema's Avengers
run in
my alternate comics reality. As well as the Simonson, Byrne stories and
Defalco Spider-Man sans PP and MJ marriage.

Edited by Eric Russ on 24 December 2007 at 7:50pm
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José Emilio Amo
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Posted: 24 December 2007 at 7:00pm | IP Logged | 3  

I wish to rewind Superman, the 90's would never exist for Superman, the worse era for him... his incredible dead, his incredible resurrection, his hairdo, his "new" look, I want to delete it from my mind, all that stuff is a nightmare for me everyday.

I like the Simonson's Thor but I miss Don Blake too...

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Brendan Howard
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Posted: 24 December 2007 at 7:33pm | IP Logged | 4  

For Marvel, I think I would rewind back to the time Secret Wars happened
and simply have it NOT HAPPEN.
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Larry Lawrence
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Posted: 24 December 2007 at 7:43pm | IP Logged | 5  

1973 or so, cheat if you have to. Keep Wolverine and the new X-Men, Gwen
Stacy is alive and Dick Grayson is still Robin. We're essentially using Kirby's
migration to DC as the transition point.
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Eva Bright
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Posted: 24 December 2007 at 7:44pm | IP Logged | 6  

1983.
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Jesus Garcia
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Posted: 24 December 2007 at 9:16pm | IP Logged | 7  

For Marvel, I cannot answer this question by merely considering was was going on in a character's life. I've long believed that certain characters "belonged" to a given team and that subsequent teams largely rehashed the classic work of their predecessors.

For Marvel, then, I would say 1967 mostly because of Kirby's FF and Thor. The books were perfect and Kirby was still creating the types of characters that would spin off into other books. By 1968 Jack was already curbing his creativity and started rehashing his own work. In 1967, he was de facto -- if not de jure -- art director and inspired other artists/storytellers to up their game. John Buscema 1965-66 was a pale imitation of Big John 1968, to name just one.

For DC, the pinnacle was 1985-86's crisis. Finallly, FINALLY, all the DC characters I wanted to meet and interact were on the same world. The Golden Age Superman was given an honorable retirement with the love of his life and even gained a superson. The JSA rightly became the predecessor of the JLA.

Best of all, Superman no longer had the responsibility of being DC's first Superhero, but adopted the identity/costume because his dad remembered the mystery men of the 30's and 40's. Even better, Kal-El stopped pining away morbidly for his deadworld which he never really got to know and we were relieved from a profusion of Krypton survivors ... Last Son of Krypton, indeed.

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Joe Smith
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Posted: 24 December 2007 at 9:24pm | IP Logged | 8  

I'll go back to the time right after the Count Nefaria story in Avengers.

 

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Pat Ditton
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Posted: 24 December 2007 at 9:26pm | IP Logged | 9  

Tough call -- Marvel would be about 1983 / 84 -- DC would be a tad later, about 1987 / 88.

The worst part here is that great creative talent couldn't be rewound with it - time has taken many greats from us that I would truly miss in a rewind - Mark Gruenwald, Dave Cockrum, John Buscema....and more.


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John Young
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Posted: 24 December 2007 at 9:27pm | IP Logged | 10  

DC pre-crisis but having Superman in the universe with earth 2 (the silverage earth 1).  Have the Multiverse so you have the JSA with Superman and their children (earth1 but silverage earth 2). And no married Superman.

Marvel would be Peter Parker Just finishing High School, no Hulk mental problems, no secret or civil war junk. Playboy (no-alcoholic)  Tony Stark, and all the gods of Asgard.
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Roger A Ott II
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Posted: 24 December 2007 at 9:29pm | IP Logged | 11  

Brendan Howard:  For Marvel, I think I would rewind back to the time Secret Wars happened and simply have it NOT HAPPEN.
__________________________________________________

Any particular reason why?  I ask because Secret Wars, to me, was an introduction to many other characters I'd never paid attention to before.  I bought that series because of Spider-Man and the Hulk, and to a lesser extent, the Fantastic Four.  But I left it with a desire to read more about the Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, and the X-Men.  That series was really what pushed me into being a regular comic book reader.

Myself, I'd want to go back to 1987 before Peter Parker got married and start over there.  Then I'd hope that Todd McFarlane mysteriously disappeared...
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Carmen Bernardo
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Posted: 24 December 2007 at 9:33pm | IP Logged | 12  

Marvel: I'm with JB, give or take a few X-Men things I liked during the early- to mid-1980s (just have a handful of students with the X-Men, nothing more).

DC: immediate post-Crisis.  Still quite simple, no "World-Shattering Crossover" stuff every year like now.

Series were more self-contained back then.  You didn't have to by successive issues for two years on end just to see a subplot concluded or, instead, punted to the next creative team after an editor decided to derail the whole thing to make room for yet another crossover or just sack the poor slobs who were actually moving forward with it.  You didn't need more than a few small captions saying "So-and-so appeared in #37 of that book" to explain something we call "continuity" these days.  Nobody had to have Wolverine chewing up the scenery in order to sell every damned book.

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