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What is the most important issue from the year 1980?

Started by gernblanston,

136 posts in this topic

Jeffro.

Jeffro.

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I think the current popularity of Wolverine is a result of the first X-Men movie and it really skyrocketed that character's stature because of Hugh Jackman's performance. Before that, I don't remember such a huge following for Wolverine even though there are always collectors speculating on the next big character. If you look at the history, 1974 was the first appearance, then 1982 was the mini, then 1988 was the first ongoing series. Those are fairly large gaps in time so Marvel certainly was not pushing the character too hard, meaning the public certainly was not demanding more at that time.

 

 

Excuse me? You can't be serious.

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HarrisonJohn

HarrisonJohn

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I think the current popularity of Wolverine is a result of the first X-Men movie and it really skyrocketed that character's stature because of Hugh Jackman's performance. Before that, I don't remember such a huge following for Wolverine even though there are always collectors speculating on the next big character. If you look at the history, 1974 was the first appearance, then 1982 was the mini, then 1988 was the first ongoing series. Those are fairly large gaps in time so Marvel certainly was not pushing the character too hard, meaning the public certainly was not demanding more at that time.

 

It may seem strange now, to look back and see that there was a time Wolverine wasn't in every book marvel published, and that "he must have not been so popular back then", but that's just not reality. X-Men had been Marvel's #1 book since 1980 or so, and he was the most popular member.

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gernblanston

gernblanston

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I think the current popularity of Wolverine is a result of the first X-Men movie and it really skyrocketed that character's stature because of Hugh Jackman's performance. Before that, I don't remember such a huge following for Wolverine even though there are always collectors speculating on the next big character. If you look at the history, 1974 was the first appearance, then 1982 was the mini, then 1988 was the first ongoing series. Those are fairly large gaps in time so Marvel certainly was not pushing the character too hard, meaning the public certainly was not demanding more at that time.

 

It may seem strange now, to look back and see that there was a time Wolverine wasn't in every book marvel published, and that "he must have not been so popular back then", but that's just not reality. X-Men had been Marvel's #1 book since 1980 or so, and he was the most popular member.

 

My point was that the movie sent the character into the stratosphere, and the character was not as popular before that time. That is true.

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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I think the current popularity of Wolverine is a result of the first X-Men movie and it really skyrocketed that character's stature because of Hugh Jackman's performance. Before that, I don't remember such a huge following for Wolverine even though there are always collectors speculating on the next big character. If you look at the history, 1974 was the first appearance, then 1982 was the mini, then 1988 was the first ongoing series. Those are fairly large gaps in time so Marvel certainly was not pushing the character too hard, meaning the public certainly was not demanding more at that time.

 

It may seem strange now, to look back and see that there was a time Wolverine wasn't in every book marvel published, and that "he must have not been so popular back then", but that's just not reality. X-Men had been Marvel's #1 book since 1980 or so, and he was the most popular member.

 

I likely started collecting before you were born, but I don't think that really matters. Many of the issues we are discussing I purchased at the newsstand in the 1970's. So, in response to another inaccurate post, I have followed these issues since they were 15 cents/25 cents and I know what they sell for now.

 

hmhm(shrug):screwy::screwy::tonofbricks:lollol

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HarrisonJohn

HarrisonJohn

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I think the current popularity of Wolverine is a result of the first X-Men movie and it really skyrocketed that character's stature because of Hugh Jackman's performance. Before that, I don't remember such a huge following for Wolverine even though there are always collectors speculating on the next big character. If you look at the history, 1974 was the first appearance, then 1982 was the mini, then 1988 was the first ongoing series. Those are fairly large gaps in time so Marvel certainly was not pushing the character too hard, meaning the public certainly was not demanding more at that time.

 

It may seem strange now, to look back and see that there was a time Wolverine wasn't in every book marvel published, and that "he must have not been so popular back then", but that's just not reality. X-Men had been Marvel's #1 book since 1980 or so, and he was the most popular member.

 

My point was that the movie sent the character into the stratosphere, and the character was not as popular before that time. That is true.

 

List for me the 3 most popular characters at Marvel for the 1980's. Thanks.

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gernblanston

gernblanston

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I think the current popularity of Wolverine is a result of the first X-Men movie and it really skyrocketed that character's stature because of Hugh Jackman's performance. Before that, I don't remember such a huge following for Wolverine even though there are always collectors speculating on the next big character. If you look at the history, 1974 was the first appearance, then 1982 was the mini, then 1988 was the first ongoing series. Those are fairly large gaps in time so Marvel certainly was not pushing the character too hard, meaning the public certainly was not demanding more at that time.

 

It may seem strange now, to look back and see that there was a time Wolverine wasn't in every book marvel published, and that "he must have not been so popular back then", but that's just not reality. X-Men had been Marvel's #1 book since 1980 or so, and he was the most popular member.

 

My point was that the movie sent the character into the stratosphere, and the character was not as popular before that time. That is true.

 

List for me the 3 most popular characters at Marvel for the 1980's. Thanks.

 

Spider-man, Hulk, Daredevil. If you included ensemble books, you would add X-Men and take out Hulk. Daredevil was popular with the Frank Miller involvement and X-Men popular with Claremont/Byrne.

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chrisco37

chrisco37

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I think the current popularity of Wolverine is a result of the first X-Men movie and it really skyrocketed that character's stature because of Hugh Jackman's performance. Before that, I don't remember such a huge following for Wolverine even though there are always collectors speculating on the next big character. If you look at the history, 1974 was the first appearance, then 1982 was the mini, then 1988 was the first ongoing series. Those are fairly large gaps in time so Marvel certainly was not pushing the character too hard, meaning the public certainly was not demanding more at that time.

 

It may seem strange now, to look back and see that there was a time Wolverine wasn't in every book marvel published, and that "he must have not been so popular back then", but that's just not reality. X-Men had been Marvel's #1 book since 1980 or so, and he was the most popular member.

 

My point was that the movie sent the character into the stratosphere, and the character was not as popular before that time. That is true.

 

List for me the 3 most popular characters at Marvel for the 1980's. Thanks.

 

Spider-man, Hulk, Daredevil. If you included ensemble books, you would add X-Men and take out Hulk. Daredevil was popular with the Frank Miller involvement and X-Men popular with Claremont/Byrne.

 

No, Marvel's most popular characters at that time were:

 

Spider-Man

Wolverine

 

 

Everybody else

 

 

It's not even close. Once Miller did the Wolvie mini, Wolverine was instantly the top X-Man (probably before the Miller mini really).

 

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gernblanston

gernblanston

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Here is an article regarding the X-Men in the 1980"s:

 

Development of the X-Men franchise

 

By the mid-1980s X-Men had become one of the most popular titles in comics. Marvel decided to build on this success by creating a number of spin-off titles, sometimes collectively referred to as X-Books. These early X-Books included New Mutants (which would later become X-Force), X-Factor, Excalibur and a Wolverine solo series.

 

By the early 1990s X-Men had become the biggest franchise in comics, and by the middle of the decade over a dozen X-Men-related comic books, both continuing and limited series, were published each month. On an almost annual basis from 1986 until 1999, one storyline crossed-over into almost every X-Book for two to three months. These "X-Overs" usually lead to a spike in sales.

 

This sales boom resulting in a great deal of merchandising, such as action figures, video games and trading cards. This success was thanks in no small part to the Fox Network's animated X-Men series, which debuted in 1992 and drew in a large number of younger fans.

 

The sales boom began to wane in the mid to late 1990s, due to the crash of the speculators market and the effect it had on the industry. Marvel declared bankruptcy, and as a result, scaled back all of their franchises, including X-Men. A number of "X-books" were canceled, and the amount of limited series published, as well as general merchandise, was reduced.

 

In the early 2000s, a series of blockbuster X-Men movies have kept the X-Men franchise healthy, and have resulted in a larger market presence outside of comics. In 1999-2000, a new animated series, X-Men: Evolution debuted, while new toys have been developed and sold since the success of the first X-Men feature film. The comic books themselves have been reinvented in series such as Grant Morrison's New X-Men and the Ultimate X-Men, which, like Marvel's other "Ultimate" series, is an alternate universe story, starting the X-Men tale anew. (This was done for X-Men, and other books, because Marvel feared that the long and complex histories of the established storylines of certain titles were scaring off new readers.)

________________

 

I know X-Men was popular as it was the biggest franchise, which I said above, but Wolverine was not broken out of the X-Men as a icon at that time according to the article. If Wolverine was a "Spider-Man" equivalent, why not? I agree X-Men would be the equivalent. Also, like I said earlier, the X-Men movie reinvigorated the franchise after a collapse in interest the 1990's. That just didn't seem so controversial to me. I can pull out more articles, but I doubt that would matter.

 

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HarrisonJohn

HarrisonJohn

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Posted
I think the current popularity of Wolverine is a result of the first X-Men movie and it really skyrocketed that character's stature because of Hugh Jackman's performance. Before that, I don't remember such a huge following for Wolverine even though there are always collectors speculating on the next big character. If you look at the history, 1974 was the first appearance, then 1982 was the mini, then 1988 was the first ongoing series. Those are fairly large gaps in time so Marvel certainly was not pushing the character too hard, meaning the public certainly was not demanding more at that time.

 

It may seem strange now, to look back and see that there was a time Wolverine wasn't in every book marvel published, and that "he must have not been so popular back then", but that's just not reality. X-Men had been Marvel's #1 book since 1980 or so, and he was the most popular member.

 

My point was that the movie sent the character into the stratosphere, and the character was not as popular before that time. That is true.

 

List for me the 3 most popular characters at Marvel for the 1980's. Thanks.

 

Spider-man, Hulk, Daredevil. If you included ensemble books, you would add X-Men and take out Hulk. Daredevil was popular with the Frank Miller involvement and X-Men popular with Claremont/Byrne.

 

What you are failing to understand is that a huge chunk of X-Men's popularity came from Wolverine. Fans of both went hand in hand. I started collecting X-books in '87, and had avoided them previously because I had the mentality of disliking something that was too popular. Nothing touched it. In fact, my LCS kept the X-Men back issues in their own section away from everything else. If Spider-man or Hulk were more popular it was only because of their classic status. X-Men was certainly selling better month after month (Spider-man may have beat X-Men sales with some McFarlane issues, I don't remember, but I'm sure Hulk's sales were modest at best, as they've always been).

Chris Claremont was against a Wolverine series or a ton of X-Men spin-offs and tried to keep Marvel happy with limited series (the first one, then the one with Kitty Pryde), and caved in with New Mutants (which focused on the younger characters and didn't step on the toes of Uncanny X-Men too much) but around 87/88 Marvel stopped doing things Claremonts way, made another X-Men spin-off (X-Factor), gave Wolverine his own title... a few years later we got a 2nd X-Men book, Claremont was out in favor of artists who couldn't write, and the end had pretty much begun. I don't think a single comic book collector on earth became "more aware" of Wolverine because of the X-Men movie, it's just rediculous.

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HarrisonJohn

HarrisonJohn

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Here is an article regarding the X-Men in the 1980"s:

 

Development of the X-Men franchise

 

By the mid-1980s X-Men had become one of the most popular titles in comics. Marvel decided to build on this success by creating a number of spin-off titles, sometimes collectively referred to as X-Books. These early X-Books included New Mutants (which would later become X-Force), X-Factor, Excalibur and a Wolverine solo series.

 

By the early 1990s X-Men had become the biggest franchise in comics, and by the middle of the decade over a dozen X-Men-related comic books, both continuing and limited series, were published each month. On an almost annual basis from 1986 until 1999, one storyline crossed-over into almost every X-Book for two to three months. These "X-Overs" usually lead to a spike in sales.

 

This sales boom resulting in a great deal of merchandising, such as action figures, video games and trading cards. This success was thanks in no small part to the Fox Network's animated X-Men series, which debuted in 1992 and drew in a large number of younger fans.

 

The sales boom began to wane in the mid to late 1990s, due to the crash of the speculators market and the effect it had on the industry. Marvel declared bankruptcy, and as a result, scaled back all of their franchises, including X-Men. A number of "X-books" were canceled, and the amount of limited series published, as well as general merchandise, was reduced.

 

In the early 2000s, a series of blockbuster X-Men movies have kept the X-Men franchise healthy, and have resulted in a larger market presence outside of comics. In 1999-2000, a new animated series, X-Men: Evolution debuted, while new toys have been developed and sold since the success of the first X-Men feature film. The comic books themselves have been reinvented in series such as Grant Morrison's New X-Men and the Ultimate X-Men, which, like Marvel's other "Ultimate" series, is an alternate universe story, starting the X-Men tale anew. (This was done for X-Men, and other books, because Marvel feared that the long and complex histories of the established storylines of certain titles were scaring off new readers.)

________________

 

I know X-Men was popular as it was the biggest franchise, which I said above, but Wolverine was not broken out of the X-Men as a icon at that time according to the article. If Wolverine was a "Spider-Man" equivalent, why not? I agree X-Men would be the equivalent. Also, like I said earlier, the X-Men movie reinvigorated the franchise after a collapse in interest the 1990's. That just didn't seem so controversial to me. I can pull out more articles, but I doubt that would matter.

 

Where does it say Wolverine did not break out as an icon? If you base everything on his solo book, I just posted that Claremont didn't want Wolverine to have a solo book and did what he could to keep Marvel happy about that. He was selling the X-men books. Plus, I think the fact that he was violent and a little to the left of the other Marvel characters kept him down-played for a little while while Marvel figured out how to market him. In the late 80's it became OK for a hero to be violent. And Wolverine and Punisher got their own books.

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gernblanston

gernblanston

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I think the current popularity of Wolverine is a result of the first X-Men movie and it really skyrocketed that character's stature because of Hugh Jackman's performance. Before that, I don't remember such a huge following for Wolverine even though there are always collectors speculating on the next big character. If you look at the history, 1974 was the first appearance, then 1982 was the mini, then 1988 was the first ongoing series. Those are fairly large gaps in time so Marvel certainly was not pushing the character too hard, meaning the public certainly was not demanding more at that time.

 

It may seem strange now, to look back and see that there was a time Wolverine wasn't in every book marvel published, and that "he must have not been so popular back then", but that's just not reality. X-Men had been Marvel's #1 book since 1980 or so, and he was the most popular member.

 

My point was that the movie sent the character into the stratosphere, and the character was not as popular before that time. That is true.

 

List for me the 3 most popular characters at Marvel for the 1980's. Thanks.

 

Spider-man, Hulk, Daredevil. If you included ensemble books, you would add X-Men and take out Hulk. Daredevil was popular with the Frank Miller involvement and X-Men popular with Claremont/Byrne.

 

What you are failing to understand is that a huge chunk of X-Men's popularity came from Wolverine. Fans of both went hand in hand. I started collecting X-books in '87, and had avoided them previously because I had the mentality of disliking something that was too popular. Nothing touched it. In fact, my LCS kept the X-Men back issues in their own section away from everything else. If Spider-man or Hulk were more popular it was only because of their classic status. X-Men was certainly selling better month after month (Spider-man may have beat X-Men sales with some McFarlane issues, I don't remember, but I'm sure Hulk's sales were modest at best, as they've always been).

Chris Claremont was against a Wolverine series or a ton of X-Men spin-offs and tried to keep Marvel happy with limited series (the first one, then the one with Kitty Pryde), and caved in with New Mutants (which focused on the younger characters and didn't step on the toes of Uncanny X-Men too much) but around 87/88 Marvel stopped doing things Claremonts way, made another X-Men spin-off (X-Factor), gave Wolverine his own title... a few years later we got a 2nd X-Men book, Claremont was out in favor of artists who couldn't write, and the end had pretty much begun. I don't think a single comic book collector on earth became "more aware" of Wolverine because of the X-Men movie, it's just rediculous.

 

I don't know about an increase in awareness as I was talking about the movie causing the book to increase in value so much. Anybody have a guide price for Hulk 181 in 1999 and then in 2001 (even though the guide trailed the actual prices people were paying on ebay for years)? Why did it take Marvel until 1988 to give an icon his own series? Other important Marvel characters, Spider-man, Hulk, Daredevil had their own titles.

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chrisco37

chrisco37

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I don't know about an increase in awareness as I was talking about the movie causing the book to increase in value so much. Anybody have a guide price for Hulk 181 in 1999 and then in 2001 (even though the guide trailed the actual prices people were paying on ebay for years)? Why did it take Marvel until 1988 to give an icon his own series? Other important Marvel characters, Spider-man, Hulk, Daredevil had their own titles.

 

Don't have my guides in front of me, but I'll bet prices for Hilk #181 were plenty high at that point.

 

IIRC, the jump really took place between 1988-89 guides. In the '88 Guide, I believe Hulk #181 was an appx. $25-30 book (same with ASM #129). The next year, it had jumped up to $75. As past history has shown, this is an astronomical jump for OS.

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DocGo

DocGo

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I was too young so I don't remember...was the Wolverine mini popular when it was released or did its popularity come from the back issue market? Also, I don't recall minis of major significance before this so did the Wolvie format inspire the greats that followed?

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Sal

Sal

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I think the current popularity of Wolverine is a result of the first X-Men movie and it really skyrocketed that character's stature because of Hugh Jackman's performance. Before that, I don't remember such a huge following for Wolverine even though there are always collectors speculating on the next big character. If you look at the history, 1974 was the first appearance, then 1982 was the mini, then 1988 was the first ongoing series. Those are fairly large gaps in time so Marvel certainly was not pushing the character too hard, meaning the public certainly was not demanding more at that time.

 

no offense, but only someone who wasn't collecting comics in the late eighties/early 90s would make this kind of a statement.

 

Wolverine's current and CONTINUED popularity have everything to do with the X-Men being the single biggest book in the Marvel stable for almost three decades, starting with issue 114 or so.

 

when the Wolverine limited series came out, a really cool character that everyone thought was a total badass thanks to his actions in the Hellfire Club / Dark Pheonix storyline immediately vaulted him to a status level essentially unknown in the Marvel U. he was the go-to guy when Marvel needed a sales bump.

 

while the three films certainly haven't changed the level of his popularity, they were by far not the reasons for it. Hugh Jackman might as well be Hugh Jenitals as far as fans are concerned. why do you think the story in the first one revolved so much around Wolverine? it wasn't just because, you know

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