Weekly Update 12/30/19

We're about to enter a golden age of Marvel comics (not the Golden Age of Marvel comics, though) that will last through most of the 80s. I don't think it's much of a coincidence that this era is the beginning of Marvel really loosening the reins on its characters and letting the  individual voices of writers (and artists) shine through.

We've gotten many excellent comics in the "Marvel house style", not in small part to the fact that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created that house style and excelled at it for many years. But some of the most notable superhero comics are the ones where you really feel that a writer was allowed to break out with a legacy character in new ways, often times defining them for a generation. For example: Simonson on Thor, Byrne on Fantastic Four, McGregor on Black Panther, Miller on Daredevil, Claremont on X-Men, Hickman on X-Men, Morrison on X-Men, Whedon on X-Men, etc...

Given that handing the reins fully to a visionary writer often seems to result in more captivating (and beloved and profitable) stories than making the editorial choice to keep the stories safe and "in style", I wonder why Marvel often seems so risk averse with how it handles its series. I might be in the minority to a degree, but I'd be way more interested in a Marvel comics where big, bold choices in storytelling are the norm, successful or no, rather than safe, middling stories most of the time. Let me know in the comments if you agree, and about times a writer was given free rein and completely whiffed it!

If you're a $5+ Patron, make sure to check out My Ultimate Year: Episode One, out now! Each new episode will be released on the first of the month!

This week's episode is Marvel Year Seventeen: 1979 Pt: 1! Please send any feedback about 1979 or the 70's overall to us by January 10 for the 1979 Variant Cover to mymarvelousyear@gmail.com

1979 PART 1:
Thor #283 to 286
Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man #27 to #28
Daredevil #160, #161
Amazing Spider-Man #194 to #197
Uncanny X-Men #117, #123 to #128

1979 PART 2 :
Marvel Two-In-One #53 to #58
Marvel Premiere #47, 48 / 51-53
Iron Man #125 to #128
Avengers #181, #185 to #187
Fantastic Four #210 to #213

My Ultimate Year Episode One:
Ultimate Spider-Man #1-7
Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #1-8
Ultimate Daredevil & Elektra #1-4

My Ultimate Year Episode Two:
Ultimate Elektra #1-5
Ultimate Iron Man #1-5
Ultimate Iron Man II #1-5
Ultimate X-Men #1-6 + 1/2

EXTRA ISSUES 1979 (always changing, check the spreadsheet for current):
Iron Man #118-120 Intro of James Rhodes, future War Machine, and Justin Hammer, beginning of Demon in a Bottle
Uncanny X-Men #120 &121 Intro of ALPHA FLIGHT! HELL YEAH!
Thor #284 Thor meets the Eternals
Marvel Two-In-One #58 Intro of the Aquarian

UPCOMING PODCAST SCHEDULE:
January 1: My Ultimate Year: Episode Two
January 6: Marvel Year Eighteen: 1979 Pt. 2
January 13: Marvel Year Eighteen: 1979 Variant Cover
January 20: Marvel Year Nineteen  1980 Pt. 1
January 27: Marvel Year Nineteen  1980 Pt. 1 

Come chat with us in the Slack channel (available to $5+ patrons), and find us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. You can find all the My Marvelous Year reading lists here and check out the rest of what Comic Book Herald has to offer here. Thanks for joining us on this journey through Marvel comics!