Great Comic Book Arcs
 

I remember from the early 90's to early 2000 I was a huge comic book fan, now Im really just a reader of Ultimate Spiderman, and there was alot of great stuff to read back then. What are some of your favorite past story arcs that you just couldnt wait for 30 days to pass to pick up the next part? Some of mine are :

The whole death, funeral, return of superman. The death wasnt a surprise, I knew he was going to die a few issues before it happened...and wondered if it really was the end, collected all the comics thinking they would be worth something and then heard about the return. The return was interesting...although you obviously knew that some of the Supermen were not Kal-El (Steel and Superboy) but it made you wonder about Eradictor and Cyborg. I still have all the issues, and double copies of the cutout debuts on the return.

Dark Phoenix Saga was another one that I actually paid alot of money for and enjoyed, I dont know it was just classic story telling to me.

Batman: Knightfall. I think I enjoyed this up until Azrael. I loved Bane breaking Batmans back...that was wicked. Ill forever hate the movie business for fucking up Bane in the movies.

X-men (and other xovers) I forget the name of the saga but they all had issues with a small hologram on the cover. I remember Magneto ripping out Wolvs adamantium...that was pretty sweet. Speaking of this...I miss those special edition comic covers...the hologram covers, foil covers...cut outs...good times.

I know there are others...i just cannot think of them now.

I'm relatively behind in my comic reading, but I do have some favorite arcs so far:

Agreed. The story was fantastic until the focus is taken off Bane. Then it goes downhill in the course of one issue. I liked Azrael until he started getting antagonized by *certain* visions, though.

Also enjoyed the opening arc of the Ultimate Fantastic Four. It is a fresh spin on the series. The "Crossover" arc in where Reed unleashes hell by accidentally releasing zombie versions of the FF into his dimension is crazy, too. It apparently ties into Marvel Zombies as well.

I liked the arc in "Amazing Spiderman" where Venom returns (issue 324-ish) and kicks Peter's ass in the streets, and then comes back for a second helping by showing up at his house as Eddie Brock. Classic.

I'm also a big fan of Alan Moore's the Saga of the Swamp Thing, and his very first arc that explains the origins of the swamp thing and how Jason Woodrue (Floronic Man) uses it to his advantage. Great storytelling.

And last but not least, you can't help but love some of the arcs in Wolverine's solo series (issues 180-186) when he's a drifter. That is some hardcore shit.

hm.. MK Spider-Man #1-12, Avengers V3 #65-70, hm.. oh, I love the beginning arc of Ultimate FF. I dunno. I'll post more if I can recall them.

Batman Hush.

I loved it so much i bought it.

I've always been a big fan of the Death of Superman. (He should've stayed dead!) Also, I enjoy the run on Amazing Spider-Man (it was a series of arcs put together, much like the Dark Pheonix saga was) that ended with Peter battling Ezekiel. I, too, believe Batman: Knightfall was a good story. I'm sure there's more, but that's all that comes to mind.

Recent stuff that I've been loving:

- The Namor arc in Ultimate Fantastic Four - This was just a great arc. It felt really fresh and the new spin on Namor was AWESOME.

- The Ultimates 2 - Just everything. Waiting two months between issues is one of the worst tortures conceived by man.

I found the Endgame (#47-50) and subsequent issues of Sonic The Hedgehog to be very interesting. With the main villian dead, it left some room for new enimies to emerge and for characters to develop not bound by a never ending battle with their eternal nemesis. I just wish they would do an in depth mini-series on the origins of the conflict, so I could know everything that happend.

I was looking through my old comics, I recall enjoying the X-men Onslaught and Zero Tolerence arcs...but lookign through them again...they do not appear to be too good. I think it was shortly after these...I stopped reading (I think when Maggot was introduced ...i quit)

Best line referencing that storyarc, from Batman toward Superman. "The last thing you did to inspire people was dieing." Classic moment.

I'm going to say one of my favorite story arcs is one that alot of people groan over, but I really enjoyed the whole Onslaught cross over. Going in to it, it wasn't really expected, unless you were an avid reader of Wizard or Previews. The execution of the story was pretty tight, save for a few of the side-stories, and Onslaught on the whole was a great villian.

Another one that sticks out for me is the recent Identity Crisis. I mean, the story itself was kind of meh, but the writing and characterization of the characters was excellent. I mean, who really cared about Elongated Man before this story? Same thing with that Prelude to Infinite Crisis, Blue Beetle was a running joke until that story.

The Phoenix Saga from the X-men is a great story. Also the Round Robin Side-Kick saga from Sensational and Amazing Spidey was awesome. And finally, the Powerless story arc from Spider-man, when he looses his powers but still has to fight crime, and severely gets his ass handed to him by Scorpion and a few other baddies, was awesome. Black Cat had to save his ass. Powerless spidey was enjoyable.

Then there's all the required reading stuff, Batman:The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Days of Future Past, etc.

I haven't read a lot of comic books, but I thought Astro City's Confessor arc was especially powerful.

I also remember liking the Infinity Gauntlet, but it was a while ago.

I side with Uncanny X-Men #350 and its arc. Gambit's origin and the return of Erik the Rehd. Absolutely moving reading. And of course the whole Dark Knight series, or the majority of Sin City...

The Age of Apocalypse arc was very satisfying. It offered a glimpse into a more gruesome alternate universe, one in which the usual heroes weren't always so noble and in which the usual villains were forced into the roles of reluctant heroes. Beast and Cyclops were magnificently depicted as corrupted badguys. Magneto finally displayed his full potential for postive leadership. And the slow, deliberate destruction of Colossus' sanity was fascinating. Throw in some cool, almost ungodly new foes like Post and Holocaust, and you've got perfection.

Also, years ago, there was a Marvel arc in which a group of heavy-hitting villains gathered together and secretly "swapped" foes in the hope of catching each others' adversaries off-guard and unable to formulate a counterstrategy in time.
Red Skull attacked Dr. Strange. Dr. Doom went for the X-Men. Magneto battled the Avengers. Loki blindsided the Fantastic Four; and so on.

I forget the name of this arc, as it was in the 80s, but it was an exciting read for fans of any of the major titles, as people got to see new villains appear and found their heroes in unfamiliar territory. The writing wasn't as crisp or brazen as it is now but for the time, it was quite revolutionary.

A recent arc I liked was the formation of the X-Corps. It wasn't a large arc but it was one of the more thought provoking ideas to come out of the X camp in recent years. What made it interesting was that it gave readers an opportunity to see some favorite bit players in action, both good and bad. Radius, Sunpyre, Multiple Man, Magma, Warpath, Avalanche - they're not always in the spotlight but it was great to see them still in action somewhere, somehow.

Almost anything from Astro City is wonderful. Especially since the Dark Ages began. I really hope that comes back soon...

The Child Within arc in Spectacular Spiderman 178 - 184.

Obscenely well-written. It's the backstory of Vermin (from Kraven's Last Hunt) and why he's the screwed up creature he is - as well as the eventual madness that overcomes Harry Osborne by the ghost of his father.

Pretty damned adult subject matter (child molestation, child abuse, drug use, severe mental anguish) and really stellar artwork by Sal Buschema. It eventually concluded later with two really, really, really great issues - #189, where the Goblin kidnaps his own family and #200 where Harry and Peter Parker throw down one last time.

A comic called The Red Star is probably one of the best comic runs I have ever seen or read. Graphically, it was absolutely stunning to behold, and storywise, blew anything else out of the water. Based in "future" Russia, it also has a setting that is new to most people.

As well, 300 is a great short series, based on the story of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartans (and their small amount of allies) stood their ground against hundreds of thousands of Persians, and died to the last man. I believe the comic was also based on the novel Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield, but I'm unsure as it doesn't credit it in the comic run that I know of.

Ive been thinking, and i believe my favorite comic book arc would have to be the whole Clone Saga in Spiderman. If i read it now, I would probably think its a bit over the top but for a 10 year old boy it was awesome! I still like Ben Rielly over Peter Parker not that i hate Peter, I just prefered everything about Ben. His costume etc. I also remember the art being fantastic around the time Ben started taking over thing so Peter could settle down and retire. No one ever seems to stay dead in comics so apart of me has always hoped that Ben would make some impossible come back...alas!

Hehehe, thats generally one of the most hated storylines ever.

As i said, im not surprised. It was very outlandish, and the other clones of peter were crazy as hell, but there will forever be a soft spot for Ben Rielly in my heart.

X-Men Mutant Massacre was a great storyarc. The Dark Phoenix saga of course, My favorite XMen storyarc though is Inferno. I am not too into many other books though.

It's not that so much as the stupid "hey, Spider-Man was a clone for the last 18 years!" that made it so hysterically dumb. I actually liked some of the art from Web Of Spider-Man.

Personally, "Batman: The Killing Joke" and "Batman: The Long Halloween" are a couple of my faves.

- WraithTwo -

Ive heard people mention the X-mens age of apoc, I sadly missed out on this till the very end. So I didnt get much of what was going on. I wish they had graphic novels of shit like this.

Well, count your blessings. On one hand, graphic novels are coming out all the time. However, Marvel has this lovely trend of lowballing theirs; they're reprinting all their classic stuff - but its on cheap newspaper stock and in black and white. I want all the old 70s Ghost Rider stuff - but not if its in the cheapest form ever invented.

On a similar note - I found it very odd that Dark Horse didn't bother putting their original (,excellent) Aliens Versus Predator series to TPB when the crappy-ass movie came out.

Sup.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Endgame

Sally seemingly dies and Sonic is framed for her murder, turning all of Knothole against him. Sally's dad is revealed to be under the control of Robotnik, who comes into the village and takes it over. Sonic escapes from captivity in a giant cave and asks Knuckles for help, and after a big brawl they rain hell on the Swat-bots patrolling the Freedom Fighters' village. The arc ends with Sonic single-handedly raiding Robotropolis, taking out everything in his path on a suicide mission. He and Robotnik duke it out, and Sonic returns victorious (Robotnik seemingly vaporized by his Ultimate Annihilator weapon).

This was the best arc in the Sonic comic, giving it a darker tone without being too ridiculous. Of course Sally wasn't really dead, which was total :bull:.

Yeah that black and white shit is ridiculous, I think I saw some spiderman books like that. My old roomate had most of the DH Alien V Predator, I paged through some of it ...seemed decent. I refuse to believe there was ever an Alien Versus Predator movie, actually I refuse to believe in anything that Paul Anderson would be involved in.