Best 10-issue comic run in Silver Age history?

[Drummy]

Hey folks -

 

The Silver Age forum has been slow (too much tryptophan in the turkey??), so I'll throw out another thread. In another post on "High Grade FF's", talk turned to some comparisons between FF and ASM in terms of importance to the Marvel Universe and comics in general. Some noted how incredible the FF 44-53 run was in terms of action, Kirby artwork (AMAZING run of covers!!), and character introduction (Inhumans, Galactus, Silver Surfer, Black Panther) in such a short span of a single title.

 

Question for the board: what do you think qualifies as one of the single-best 10-issue runs from the Silver Age? And let's please get some DC and non-superhero titles in here as well from those with different tastes than my own!

 

Since I'm an Iron Man fan, I'd also throw as ONE of the best 10-issue runs: Tales of Suspense 49-58 [1st X-Men crossover, 1st Mandarin, 1st Black Widow, 1st Hawkeye, classic covers and Don Heck art, Captain America enters the title in #58 (and officially in #59), plus a few minor Iron Man villains introduced (Scarecrow, Unicorn, etc.)] Others' thoughts??

 

Thanks!

 

Dan

[delekkerste]

X-Men #56-65. To me, this is the benchmark by which all superhero team comics should be measured. Still looks ahead of its time even today, IMHO.

 

Gene

[Guest]

FF 44-53

 

Because of all the stuff you mentioned (you left out Wyatt Wingfoot!) and the presence of FF 51, which is, for my money, the single best stand alone story of the Silver Age.

[FlyingDonut]

i'm cheating, but FF 39-51. The best FF story ever (39-40), the Inhumans arc, the Surfer story, and then the "This Man, This Monster" story as the dessert.

[Zonker]

Sticking strictly to the 10-issue limit, I would go for:

Green Lantern 2-11, which includes the 3-part intro of the anti-matter universe of Qward, the intro of Sinestro, the intro of Tomar-Re and all the alien GL's, the slowly unfolding mystery of the behind-the-scenes Guardians of the Universe, and the first Solar Director story. Not to mention the filling out of the supporting cast of Thomas Kalmaku and the Jordan brothers. Gil Kane art in all.

 

Other odd-numbered runs worthy of consideration include

- 8 issues of Brave&Bold from #79-86, the first-ever Neal Adams Batman stories.

- 19 issues of Showcase:

22-24 are the first S.A. Green Lantern

25-26 are Rip Hunter by Kubert

27-29 are Sea Devils with Russ Heath art

30-33 are Aquaman by first Ramona Fradon, then Nick Cardy

34-36 are the first S.A. Atom (Kane/Anderson art)

37-40 are the first Metal Men.

 

Good thread (nice break from grading, market crash, CGC hysteria...)

 

[clobberintime]

This is a litlle over the limit too but Journey/Thor 118-130. Thor and the Asgardians never looked more grand and the stories and villians were great. The first Destroyer and that awesome cover on 118 kicks it off. The 2 story arcs from 120 to 124 and then 125 to 130 are quintessential great Stan and Jack and always loved Vince's inks on a Kirby Thor! First story arc is a great story with The Absorbing Man and Loki and the second is with Herc and a trip to Olympus and fight with Pluto. That fight with Herc and Thor is one of the best ever and some more great covers on 127 and 129! Also in this time period is Thor Ann. 2 with a terrific fight with Destroyer again. Just out of the money in the time frame are 112, 114 which are awesome in themselves. Second favorite Thor run is the Galactus story that basically goes from 160 to 169. Kirby excelled at the space sagas and the origin of Galactus does not disappoint. Other shorter but great Thor story arcs were 154 to 157 with Mangog, 143 to 147 with the Enchanters.

[aardvark88]

After the Kirby FF 44-53 run, I vote for M Anderson on Show 55-64 (Spectre, Solomon Grundy, Dr Fate, Hourman, Kubert's Enemy Ace) or all of Gil Kane/Sid Greene's GL #40 up run. Also G Kane/M Anderson & Sid Greene Atom 1-10 (Hawkman & JLA x-overs, time (travel) pool storyline, Dr Light).

[hogations]

Other honourable mentions: Deadman Strange Adventures #206-216!!! For non-super-hero stuff, Enemy Ace issues in Showcase (58,59 and Star Spangled War stories #138+. Great stuff!

[ubiquiti]

I agree.

That to me is the best silver age run I have ever read.

[blowout]

no-one has chipped in with a spidey run so i'll go with ASM #s 39-50

the run starts off with a bang by unmasking the green goblin and also introduces the rhino, the shocker and the kingpin.

fantastic art by romita and #48 has one of the best spidey covers of all time.

[chrisco37]

The greatest story of the Silver Age is FF#57-60. Doom Returns and Steals the Surfers powers. These issues represent Doom at his most diabolical. Classic Stan! Classic Kirby! Any FF's with the Surfer are the best the S.A. has to offer IMO.

 

Chris

[Mister_Comics]

BRAVE AND BOLD #28 to #38 had a little of every thing. JUSTICE LEAGUE, HAWKMAN, CAVE CARSON, SUICIDE SQUAD. All greats.

 

And I'm also partial to DETECTIVE COMICS #310 to #320. Love those crazy monster, Bat-Mite, Bathound, wierd villains, and crazy gadgets in those.

[Gorgo]

Good titles here, TOS 49-59 is probably one of my favorites. Avengers 48-58 are also later Silver top 10's that should be mentioned. But X-Men #'s 55-65 are hard to beat as far as timeless storylines.

[Kevin Boyd]

Just to take this in a different direction my favorite 10-issue series of the Silver Age has to be THE SPECTRE!

 

Some great Neal Adams art in the middle of the run (including an appearance by the Wildcat), and those covers on the last few issues are some of the best DC covers of the swinging sixties!

 

Yeah Baby! It's time for DC to roll out a Silver Age Spectre Archives (including the Showcase stories and the Flash team-up in B&B).

 

(sorry, I fell asleep watching Goldmember earlier tonight)

 

Kev

[ericc123]

Dan it's not often I agree with someone but I would say your TOS run is right on. I am currently trying to put that exact run give or take one issue together right now. Hope you don't outbid me on anymore TOS #50s on ebay cus that makes me sad

:(

 

Have a good rest of the week off to finals,

Ericc123

[Drummy]

Good luck on finals, Eric!

 

It's easy to TALK about TOS 49-58 as great comics, but far harder to find them. I've been lookin' for five years easy and still don't have a copy of 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55, and 58!!! There seem to be a few decent VF/NM books out there, but...tough to pull the trigger without seeing them first-hand. (By the way, Eric, I promise not to outbid you on any issue not mentioned in the above list. ).

 

Dan

[mr_highgrade]

Gene, X-men # 56-65 Neal Adams & Roy Thomas = CLASSICS.

X-men # 59 (Do or die, baby!)

 

Q. In X-men # 59, What logic did Slim Summers use on the Sentinels to defeat them?

[aardvark88]

All genetic mutation in humans are caused by the sun. To stop mutation & mutantkind, Sentinels must go to the core of the problem: the sun. Nuff said.

[mr_highgrade]

You are correct!!!!!

For that you win...drum roll please...

A No Prize!

[Zonker]

Another honorable mention should go to the Jim Shooter / Curt Swan era Legion of Super Heroes run in Adventure Comics.

 

If we're strictly saying they need to be 10 consecutive issues, then pick

Adventure 346-355, which include:

- Jim Shooter's first story, sold when he was barely a teenager;

- Intro of Dr. Regulus, Universo, the Fatal Five;

- E. Nelson Bridwell fill-in, bringing back Star Boy, Dream Girl, others.

- Adult Legion (in)famous future continuity;

- and the Death of Ferro Lad (first Silver Age death of a superhero?)

 

If we're liberal enough to skip around, then say:

Adventure 349 First Universo and Rond Vidar

Adventure 352 First Fatal Five

Adventure 353 Death of Ferro Lad

Adventure 359 Outlaw Legionnaires

Adventure 360 Legion Chain Gang

Adventure 365-367 Fatal Five and the Dark Circle

Adventure 369-370 Intro Mordru the Merciless

...all by the great Shooter/Swan team, with most inked by the great George Klein.

 

Cheers,

Z.