The Greatest of the Eighties

[Tnerb]

If Wolverine is arguably the most popular character from the seventies and Deadpool is the most antagonistic character of the nineties, and the first decade in the millennia being too close to gage a lasting character, who can lay claim to being the most popular hero or villain of the eighties?

 

Rogue appeared in Avengers Annual #10. Her humble beginnings in the Brother Hood of Evil Mutants, under the tutelage of Mystique was short lived when she was welcomed into the X-Men's fold with Uncanny X-Men issue #171. The promise of control over her ability by Professor Xavier swayed her from the “dark” side, a great "What If?" tale would be if she stayed with Mystique.

 

Venom pulled his weight by being the first Spider-Man villain that could easily best Peter Parker's spidey sense. The popularity of Todd Mcfarlane's second most popular character helped define the artist as a force to be reckoned with. Venom became the epitome of the anti hero that the Seventies Punisher was once known as. Now, decades later and no longer forged with Eddie Brock, the symbiotic alien from the Beyonder's battle world merged with Spider-Man's biggest fan Flash Thompson to create a one man wet works team.

 

Walter Simonson also wrote one of the best Thor comic books without the titled character. An alien from a distant galaxy, Beta Ray Bill, was the first to be able to wield Mjonir surprising Odin himself when he called on Thor to help the golden realm and a strange creature stood before him rather than his son. Eventually Beta Ray Bill was given his own hammer and scoured the cosmos to help those in need, but he was never utilized as greatly as when he emerged onto the pages of The Mighty Thor 337.

 

Of course the early eighties showed a skew of characters created by the great X-Men scribe Chris Claremont, after ending the seventies with the creation of Alpha Flight and Proteus, he ushered in great heroes and villains alike with Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost, Alison Blaire, the Hellfire Club, and three Hellfire Guards that would be torn up so badly by Wolverine they vowed vengeance some ninety issues later as Reavers. Could the Dark Phoenix, a character that only was around for a few issues, but had the X-Men fight off Gladiator and the royal guard with ramifications that would make the Marvel Universe shudder, if she survived what would the Marvel universe of today be like?

 

But Chris Claremont didn't stop there; he expanded the X-Men's works with Bob McLeod in a standalone story confined in Marvel Graphic Novel #4 with the New Mutants. The popularity of these five teenagers had them in their own series which lasted 100 issues, 7 annuals, a special edition, and 1 Summer special having their biggest worry being if they could finish their homework in time to watch Magnum P.I. Cannonball and Sunspot went on to be Avengers, Psyche changed to Mirage and is now a Defender, while the little lass is among the ranks of X-Factor, and finally the last of the original five is part of another X group or other.

 

A bit closer to the real world Frank Miller created a solid foundation for Matt Murdock and took two characters from Spider-Man's world using Wilson Fisk and Frank Castle as adversaries and reluctant compatriots, but it wasn't until issue #168 when he introduced possibly Daredevil's most lethal for in the guise of Elektra, an ex girlfriend. Her first death occurred not even two years later by possibly Daredevil's most lethal foe, Bullseye.

 

Jumping companies from Marvel to DC came two characters I purchased statues of. Dream and Death became personified. Not since Piers Anthony's "On a Pale Horse" did I find Death so likable, possibly more so than her older sibling Dream. It almost seemed like Neil Gaiman purposely thought up the two personalities of Death and Dream together having the latter be upbeat, happy, and hopeful while having the former be pessimistic, problematic, and full of pompous ambiguity...then switched them. His 75 issue maxi-series is quite arguably one of the best there is even until today.

 

Before independent companies became big, when competing against the big two was suicide. a small press called Mirage Studios competed against them with Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The best part about this black and white hope to sell title was with an initial print run of about three thousand copies and a secondary print run doubling the first the comic book was actually being...gasp...read. Eclipse comics tried to follow the winning success with Radioactive BlackBelt Hamsters, now who would want to see the two of them fight it out?

 

What's your opinion? Who is your greatest eighties character? Who did I miss that should be worthy. I would love to hear your opinion.

 

Thanks for Reading

 

Tnerb

 

 

From my water jug experiment to a table full of colored paper, how quickly it was spent?

 

[SW3D]

In my opinion, Marvel ruled the 80's... and their best selling titles were Amazing Spider-Man, Uncanny X-Men, and Daredevil. They spun-off a sickening amount of X-Men related books due to the immense popularity of Wolverine that it honestly became too much! Spider-Man's success was due to the black costume symbiote as well as Todd McFarlane's debut, and Frank Miller turned Daredevil into gold!

 

As for DC... their most popular titles were Saga of the Swamp Thing, The Sandman, the Maxi-Series Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Maxi-Series and incredibly popular graphic novel The Watchmen... but their biggest breakout star was Batman no thanks to Frank Miller's Dark Knight and the '89 feature film.

 

Who is the biggest in terms of sales and popularity... i honestly have no clue... but its probably a close race between Spider-Man, Batman, Wolverine and the X-Men.

 

SW3D

[Buzzetta]

 

 

If not for this character and the development that Hama gave him through Marvel Comics, the franchise itself would have died out back in 1984.

 

 

[Tnerb]

@sw3d I was thinking along the lines of when they were created. Spider-Man was created in the sixties, and Wolverine was created in the seventies. The story lines you I mentioned indeed were great, but what character did the eighties give us that outshines them all?

 

@Buzzetta as much as I can say I believe that SnakeEyes us the best Joe, they were also cartoons before Marvel had the rights to the franchise.

[Jeffro.]

An interesting write up nerb but DC in the later part of the decade deserves more props. Byrne on Superman, Perez on Wonder Woman, the Justice League revival under Dematteis/Giffen/Maguire are just a few examples of how DC started to gain the upper hand. I think I even remember that DC started outselling Marvel later in the 80's but I'd have to find a source to confirm that.

[Ogami]

For the eighties, you simply have to think outside of the big two box.

 

The only answer that makes any sense is The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

 

4 movies, multiple cartoon series, hundreds of toys, and comics that haven't gone out of print since their inception.

[Tnerb]

Jeffro...as much as Byrne had a great run on SuperMan in the eighties, and had me cross the company border, SuperMan, WonderWoman, and the original JLA, none of them were created in the eighties.

 

Ogami, TMNT, was the greatest success series in the eighties and probably the one I agree with the most. The only problem is they only just started regaining their popularity.

[Jeffro.]

Jeffro...as much as Byrne had a great run on SuperMan in the eighties, and had me cross the company border, SuperMan, WonderWoman, and the original JLA, none of them were created in the eighties.

 

True. However, they were different takes on those characters. Still, I get your point.

[Alawson453]

I think I would have to submit Guy Gardner as a candidate. With the intro of the new Justice League it would have not been nearly as enjoyable without guy. Everyone on his team was annoyed by him and who could forget the way he went round and round with Batman. But no matter how much of a pain in the but, he was still an integral part of that team and the title would not have had as much success without him in it.

[Crimebuster]

I think I would have to submit Guy Gardner as a candidate. With the intro of the new Justice League it would have not been nearly as enjoyable without guy. Everyone on his team was annoyed by him and who could forget the way he went round and round with Batman. But no matter how much of a pain in the but, he was still an integral part of that team and the title would not have had as much success without him in it.

 

Ah, but Guy Gardner first appeared in the 1960's.

 

 

 

 

I think TMNT would be my vote. Another candidate I haven't seen mentioned is Deathstroke the Terminator, who first appeared in 1980. I don't think he is as popular as some of the other nominees, but he should be in the discussion anyway. John Constantine first appeared in the 80's as well.

[Ogami]

 

Ogami, TMNT, was the greatest success series in the eighties and probably the one I agree with the most. The only problem is they only just started regaining their popularity.

 

Tnerb, TMNT had stratospheric success in its heydey. There are no guarantees it will ever see those numbers again, but by your first post metric, and keeping in mind all others mentioned, it has ALREADY had more success than all the others combined, and is still the clear winner.

[miraclemet]

While I know Venom first appeared in the 80s (just as the Symbiote/black costume) and then became Venom in the late 80s, but I've always thought of him as a 90s character (maybe its the foil covers, the over proliferation, the Todd McFarlane aspect, etc).

 

GI Joe, Transformers? Product Cross-Marketing thanks to Regan's decommissioning of FCC rules regarding children's television? That's the 80s to me.

 

 

[surfer99]

Hard to argue with TMNT. That would have to get my overall vote. Specific to Marvel, it's a tie between Rogue and Venom in my mind.

 

 

[Tnerb]

Crimebuster thank you for those two candidates.

[Ogami]

If you claim TMNT the obvious winner, the discussion for the number two spot becomes an interesting one.

 

I would have to give it some thought, but my gut tells me it's Venom.

[mzhammer]

hmmm.... when I think of a single defining character, born in the 80's, that is a tough one.

After much consideration, I think I would have to go w/ TMNT, as well. I'd like to think of this title as the "80's Title" - but, probably takes the defining character award too....

 

Tough one!

 

 

[Tnerb]

 

Ogami, TMNT, was the greatest success series in the eighties and probably the one I agree with the most. The only problem is they only just started regaining their popularity.

 

Tnerb, TMNT had stratospheric success in its heydey. There are no guarantees it will ever see those numbers again, but by your first post metric, and keeping in mind all others mentioned, it has ALREADY had more success than all the others combined, and is still the clear winner.

 

Ogami, I am not denying your claim. In fact when I wrote this both Rogue and The TMNT were at the top of the list. As I continued to write I wanted to leave the ninja turtles last because they seemed the sure winner in popularity among a generation. Another fact, the New Mutants, my favorite ComicBook was added as an afterthought during my edit if the piece.

 

 

My only qualms with the TMNT us for a good decade they disappeared and although I don't collect them I was a fan of the first movie and cartoon. It is also nice to see a company like IDW tell new tales if the turtles. Thank you for your input.

[Ogami]

(thumbs u

[miraclemet]

There was a threas about "Age defining characters" here

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=6301411&fpart=1

 

that went thru the various comic eras, not decades.

 

Here's what I said about the copper age (84-91):

 

Copper Age: Rorschach

Rorschach - The copper age was a darkening of comics, a re-gearing towards older more mature readers, and an emphasis on the anti-hero. We saw more death, dismemberment and disillusionment (by our heroes) than we had in all the other decades combined. Rorschach (and the Watchmen) symbolizes this, and created the blueprint for the tone that was also being pushed by Miller's DKR.