The biggest suprises in comic books?

[Sid]

Well I was reading the Essentials and I've been digging into the ASMs for a while, I just finished the 'death of gwen stacy' followed by 'death of goblin' and those just left a bad taste in my mouth. :\ If I had been following the story, I would be fairly irritated by these. With the recent 'death of captain america' having a definite effect on a lot of fans, I was wondering what twists or events have left you shocked, angry, suprised?

 

I guess after reading all those issues, was just weird that they'd just kill off a charactor. I guess Mary Jane had to come into light sooner or later.

[rodan57]

Yep, that's just about how I felt back in 1973.

 

 

Dennis

[aardvark88]

Surprise is the retail price in Canada for the FF vol. 1 omnibus which is $100 US = $160 Cdn when today the PayPal exchange rate is $1 US = $1.03 Cdn. Advantageous to the Cdn retailer as he pays his weekly Diamond invoice in US greenbacks converted using the current exchange rate.

[Sal]

i was pretty p.o.'ed about Paul Smith leaving the X-Men in favour of JR JR, but i suspect that is a different tack than what you're talking about.

 

the death of Vindicator in Alpha Flight 12 seemed dumb to me, especially when JB made Heather start wearing the suit

[Artboy99]

The death of Betty Banner in Hulk, Killed by the Abomination for the purpose of exacting revenge upon Bruce banner for helping make himself into a freak and thus, losing his own beloved wife.

 

well done arc.

 

I never felt what you guys mentioned over the Gwen Stacey events... I loved those books.

 

Artboy99

[testinadical-migration]

Marvel + Kurt Busiek really kept Thunderbolts # 1 a secret and surprised me very much.

[Stronguy]

Marvel + Kurt Busiek really kept Thunderbolts # 1 a secret and surprised me very much.

 

I was at a con getting Busiek to sign a bunch of books. He noticed I was a Silver/Bronze Age fan and started asking me question, "What if someone had to step up and replace the Avengers, what would you like the team to look like? Do you think this-or-that is a good idea? What about the name Thunderbolts, do you like that?" He said he was looking for a name that would harken back to some of the early Silver Age team books. I told him I thought it was okay... guess he took my advise.

[OrangeNemesis]

i remember being younger and felt so shocked watching wolverine having his adamantium ripped out of his body.

[heinlein99]

I remember being fascinated with Thor #300, which told readers why the Destroyer armor and the Odinsword were created - these were items that had started appearing in the comics in the mid-60's, but at the time of course it seemed like they had been around much longer than that.

[jokersrevenge]

I liked the simonson beta ray bill replacing thor, but not the frog part.......

[namisgr]

The announcement in the Bullpen page that Jack had left Marvel was a major shocker. Was hard to imagine the King not producing the FF or Thor, and was surreal to think about him and then see him working for the Distinguished Competition.

[Pirate]

Terra turning on the titans and Elektra dying way too soon in DD.

[Michael2007-migration]

This was a surprise but probably not in the way you intend. While looking through a stack of late 1970s Adventures of the Big Boy comics (those restaurant giveaways), one cover stood out. Big Boy's gal friend Dolly was talking to BARBIE doll (the Mattel fashion doll). I just had to read the story to see what was going on, and it seems that Barbie was alive and gave Dolly and Big Boy a tour of Mattel and chatted general pleasantries with them. This is one cross-over that Overstreet does not mention, . Barbie had her own comic published by Dell in the early 1960s, and then Marvel had Barbie and Barbie Fashion comics published in the 1990s, but this Big Boy appearance by Barbie is probably the only other time the icon has appeared as a "living" character in a comic book.

Michael

[Mac Man]

I've got two:

 

ASM 121-122 with the death of Gwen. That was obviously shocking, but the real twist for me was in how I looked at MJ. I'm a younger collector (late 20s), so I grew up always knowing MJ to be a stand up person for Pete. It wasn't until I started collecting the Silvers and saw her for being more of a fun-loving party girl and somewhat... shallow? That was my overall impression anyhow. But it was that final panel where she decided to stay and be with Pete, however, that gave me a new respect for our favorite red-head.

[joe_collector]

I was shocked that Phoenix actually died, and I can remember opening up X-Men 138 and hoping that the all-too-quick end to 137 was going to be expanded on, and she'd somehow be alive. It just didn't make any sense, and the story itself had no real setup for her death.

 

When that Phoenix Untold book was published, it explained the story problems quite well, as there didn't seem to be any intent on the creator's part to set you up for that rushed death scene.

[Duffman_Comics]

J.C!!! You're back!!!!

 

[Point Five]

Terra turning on the titans

For real. NTT #34 was such a shock! I can still remember where I was when I read that as a kid, and I can't think of any other comic circa 1983 that I can say that about.

[ECandWarrenFan-migration]

The ending to the story "Yellow Heat" from Vampirella #58, written by Bruce Jones and drawn by Russ Heath. I'd probably put Fernando Fernandez's "Rendezvous" from Vampi 35 up there too. For those who have never read them will leave some spoiler space

 

SPOILERS

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YH: A young hunter desires a beatiful woman who was captured from an opposing tribe. He risks his life to capture a lion in order to get her. At the end it is revealed that the young hunter desired the captured woman not because he wanted to have sex with her, but because he wanted to eat her!

 

R: A young woman spends all her time desiring for her husband to come home from the war. A jealous suitor tries to get her for himself but is accidently stabbed by the sword of a skeleton in the back yard; her husband whom she had killed so he wouldn't head off to war and leave her.

[tilleycs]

For me, it was:

 

- Making Hal Jordan go crazy, kill all those other GLs, and become Parallax. I freakin' *hated* DC for a long time for that.

 

- Killing Barry Allen. My hatred continued.

 

- Disbanding the old JLA and bringing in Vixen, Vibe, and Steel as their replacements. I'm surprised they actually thought it was a good idea.

[jonjesper]

a couple that left me going

 

Terra dying in NTT during the Judas Contract

 

The Mutant Massacre (still my favorite to this day) with the X-Men getting the snot kicked out of them and no knowing who was going to make it. Really good stuff, still is!

 

Reading 'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tommorrow" by Alan Moore and thinking "This is it?, Superman is over?"