# Your classic comic book story arc or series
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 3, 2012, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736 "2012-05-03T10:43:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/21 "2012-05-03T16:01:30Z")
I loved DC’s Eclipso: The Darkness Within thing, built out of about 20 annuals that covered all of DC’s main titles at the time (1992, I think). It wasn’t as “important” as Crisis of Infinite Earths or anything, but I liked it because the good characters would sometimes turn evil and have to fight everyone else. I liked a lot of things about it, not the least of which is Keith Giffen’s work.
> **[Eclipso: The Darkness Within (Story Arc) - Comic Vine](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/eclipso-the-darkness-within/4045-40771/)**
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/22 "2012-05-03T16:35:48Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#):
>
> When I was a kid, I read a bunch of Marvel comics my cousin had. There was a big crossover saga in which all the heroes had to fight some cosmic villain (I don’t remember which one) and had to leave Earth to do it. The thing that struck me was that the villain had a bunch of minions attacking various sites on Earth, and a bunch of supervillains (including Dr. Doom) agreed to protect the Earth from the minions and not take advantage of the situation. Eventually, the Scarlet Witch takes out the Big Bad.
>
> Anyone else remember this?
Was it the Avengers/Defenders War arc back in 1973? Dormannu and Loki had joined forces. They set up a conflict between the Avengers and the recently formed Defenders (superheroes are always fighting over mistakes like this). The false impressions got cleared up and the Avengers and Defenders joined together to fight Dormannu and Loki. Dormannu launched his second attack with the Evil Eye, which caused people to turn into demons. The Avengers and Defenders traveled to another dimension to fight Dormannu and Loki while back on Earth we saw various characters like the Fantastic Four, SHIELD, the X-Men, Spiderman, Man-Thing, Dr Doom, and Dracula fighting the demons.
[cite](http://superherostore.150m.com/starscape/talesthatastonished/avengersdefenderswar.htm) [cite](http://www.comicvine.com/avengers-defenders-war/39-55774/) [cite](http://marvel.wikia.com/Avengers/Defenders_War)
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### Author:  [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/23 "2012-05-03T16:44:40Z")
My favorite was the Miller/Sienkiewicz Elektra Assassin series in the mid 80’s. Loved the art on that one.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/24 "2012-05-03T16:47:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> Was it the Avengers/Defenders War arc back in 1973? Dormannu and Loki had joined forces. They set up a conflict between the Avengers and the recently formed Defenders (superheroes are always fighting over mistakes like this).
And the Swordsman, when interrupted during his bout with Valkyrie, stabs a mundane crook _ **dead!** _
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/25 "2012-05-03T17:17:16Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> To mre, THE classic arc was the _Galactus Trilogy_ in issues 48-50 of _Fantastic Four_. It’s one of the first multi-issue story arcs I can recall, and the first I can think of that really ran more than two issues.
>
> [The Galactus Trilogy - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Galactus_Trilogy)
> Great stuff – Stan Lee and Jack Kirby at their most cosmic, with wonderfully weird characters (the _Silver Surfer_? A character totally out of left field), great throwaway bits (The Punisher, The Surfer learning (remembering, perhaps, but he had no backstory then) about Being Human from blind Alicia Masters), Big Themes, the Surfer’s rebellion, and huge whacko concepts like THe Ultimate Nullifier. This is the kind of thing that made the early run of FF (issues about #30 to #100) such incredible stuff.
I was going to say something exactly like this. Comics were stupid kid stuff in the 50s and early 60s. Stan Lee changed everything, as big and as explosive a change as The Beatles in rock.
The FF was interesting from the start, but I’d say that the huge leap started in #36, when the Frightful Four were introduced as their evil counterparts. That started an eight-book arc - utterly unheard of for the day - in which the FF were defeated, Dr. Doom took over the Baxter Building, Daredevil leads the assault against him, the evil FF return and more carnage ensues. Then they find out that Medusa of the evil FF is an Inhuman and that introduces a succeeding four-issue arc that’s followed by the Galactus story, a great Ben Grimm crisis of the soul, and the introduction of the Black Panther and Wakanda. Two full years of the best comics in the history of the business to that point.
You can see almost all the covers on [this page](http://www.comicvine.com/fantastic-four/49-2045/?page=24). Look at those great titles: Behold! A Distant Star; To Save You, Why Must I Kill You?; Among Us Hide… The Inhumans; If This Be Doomsday!
Stan Lee singlehandedly saved his company and the entire comic industry. I know all the claims for Jack Kirby and I know he was indispensable. But Lee was writing something like 8 books a month, at a time when comics had nine panels a page, and they all were more exciting than anything else anyone could imagine. I agree that he never came up to this level of greatness again. You know what? Neither did Kirby. Or McCartney. Or Dylan. He’s at that level.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/26 "2012-05-03T18:43:47Z")
Mine would have to be the Legion of Superheroes’ Great Darkness Saga; such a great, great buildup - some evil creatures start teleporting into random locations, grabbing magical artifacts, and disappearing. They’re pretty wicked powerful, and manage to beat up on some groups of superheroes from the Legion; Brainiac-5 works out that they are some kind of evil clones of people from a thousand years ago (nb. the Legion takes place 1000 years in the future); one is a clone of Superman; another is a clone of a Guardian of the Universe (the Green Lanterns’ bosses). Then there’s a sequence showing the evil boss, who appears shrouded for the first 3.8 issues of the five-part story, waking up Mordru, a wizard who would routinely take on all 25+ heroes in the Legion at once, and snuffing him like a candle to steal his power. Mordru is later found in a catatonic state.
Anyway, all sorts of stuff takes place, and eventually at the end of the fourth issue of five, it is revealed that the big bad is (do I really need to spoiler this? I guess…)
Darkseid, who has managed to shift a Krypton-clone planet to an orbit around a yellow sun, giving all its inhabitants Superman-level powers, and mind-control the entire planet. So he has an army of approximately one billion Supermen at his disposal. Holy crap.
At that point, my brother’s subscription ran out or one of the issues got lost in the mail and to this day I have not read the fifth part. (I am aware that there is a trade paperback out there that collects it, somehow just haven’t gotten around to reading it.) Worth noting that Darkseid as a villain had not yet been beaten into the ground by DC.
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### Author:  [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/27 "2012-05-03T19:06:26Z")
> [@randwill](#):
>
> Seconding the Galactus trilogy in **The Fantastic Four**. I read it when originally published and that was a very exciting time for comic book fans.
Although, if we’re going to quibble, the “trilogy” is actually about 25 issues of pure awesome. FF #48\* is about 1/2 or so filled with a continuation and resolution about the Inhumans from the previous issue.
Basically, from FF #36 (introducing Medusa)-#59 or so (plus Annual #3), it’s one single story that
[ul]
[li]Introduces the “new” Frightful Four[/li][li]Introduces Medusa[/li][li]Introduces Gorgon[/li][li]Has one of the all-time great (and possibly the best “early”) Dr. Doom stories ever (with Daredevil)[/li][li]Has a hell of a great Frightful Four fight[/li][li]Reed and Sue break the “Super-heroes can’t get married” rule\*\* and…get married.[/li][li]Introduces the Inhumans[/li][li]Finally gives the Watcher a…personality for lack of a better word[/li][li]Introduces Silver Surfer[/li][li]Introduces Galactus[/li][li]Has (arguably) one of the best two Thing stories ever[/li][li]Introduces Black Panther[/li][li]Introduces Klaw[/li][/ul]
and that’s only through about #53…and it does it all seamlessly–each issue flows into the next and it feels like a single, planned story.
Seriously, it’s possibly the best run for sheer number of awesome concepts, if nothing else, ever
\*The first in the “trilogy”
\*\*Elongated Man doesn’t count.
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### Author:  [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/28 "2012-05-03T19:11:26Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> I haven’t read a comicbook since 1985. Funny thing is that many of the movies that have come out were based loosely on some of the story arcs from the 80s so I recognized what was going on. Dark Pheonix, The Electra Saga, The Hellfire Club. I guess the screenwriters are all about my age.
One of my favorite X-men stories was a two-partner in which [Nimrod, the Sentinel from the Future](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod_(comics)), interrupts a battle between the Hellfire Club and the X-men. Since most of the combatants are mutants, Nimrod is only too happy to exterminate them all and the former enemies must join forces just to survive!
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/29 "2012-05-03T20:15:24Z")
> [@Fenris](#):
>
> Although, if we’re going to quibble, the “trilogy” is actually about 25 issues of pure awesome. FF #48\* is about 1/2 or so filled with a continuation and resolution about the Inhumans from the previous issue.
>
> Basically, from FF #36 (introducing Medusa)-#59 or so (plus Annual #3), it’s one single story that
> [ul]
> [li]Introduces the “new” Frightful Four[/li][li]Introduces Medusa[/li][li]Introduces Gorgon[/li][li]Has one of the all-time great (and possibly the best “early”) Dr. Doom stories ever (with Daredevil)[/li][li]Has a hell of a great Frightful Four fight[/li][li]Reed and Sue break the “Super-heroes can’t get married” rule\*\* and…get married.[/li][li]Introduces the Inhumans[/li][li]Finally gives the Watcher a…personality for lack of a better word[/li][li]Introduces Silver Surfer[/li][li]Introduces Galactus[/li][li]Has (arguably) one of the best two Thing stories ever[/li][li]Introduces Black Panther[/li][li]Introduces Klaw[/li][/ul]
> and that’s only through about #53…and it does it all seamlessly–each issue flows into the next and it feels like a single, planned story.
>
> Seriously, it’s possibly the best run for sheer number of awesome concepts, if nothing else, ever
>
> \*The first in the “trilogy”
> \*\*Elongated Man doesn’t count.
This is a stretch. They talk about things that went on in previous issues, but I don’t think they’re really the “same story”. The Frightfvul G=Four Stuff is distinct from the Inhumans stuff is distinct from the Wedding of Reed and Sue in Annual #3 is distinct from the Galactus Trilogy. It’s all good, but it’s not even overlapping.
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### Author:  [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/30 "2012-05-03T20:25:59Z")
[Spider-Man: Death of Jean DeWolff](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Jean_DeWolff) was a milestone in the comics I collected. Being a pretty mainstream reader from a small town, it was the first time I started noticing that there was real writing, structure, pacing, moral quandaries going on in comics. In retrospect, I know that there was other great writing that predated it, this was just the arc that I already happened to be reading that made me sit up and take notice.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/31 "2012-05-03T20:50:08Z")
> [@B.Serum](#):
>
> [Spider-Man: Death of Jean DeWolff](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Jean_DeWolff)
A good run _except_ for the contrivance of Daredevil being able to defeat Spider-Man in hand-to-hand, the excuse being that Spider-Man became too angry to fight effectively. Nonsense. If anything, Daredevil infuriating Spider-Man is a strategy for getting killed, not getting the win.
Way back in 1980 was a two-parter (Action Comics #507-508, May–June) called “The Miraculous Return of Jonathan Kent!”, at a time when his (and Martha’s) death as Superboy transitioned to Superman was a significant part of the mythos. It ended with a big RESET button, of course, but was nevertheless an impressive story.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/32 "2012-05-03T22:56:51Z")
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> Sounds like [Secret Wars](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Wars). That’s also the story where Spidey got his alien symbiont costume that later became (part of) Venom.
Sorry, but no. The story arc I referred to took place during the 1970’s, or possibly the late 1960’s.
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### Author:  [@kirk1168](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk1168)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/33 "2012-05-03T23:37:09Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#):
>
> Mine would have to be the Legion of Superheroes’ Great Darkness Saga
Came in to say this. Also the follow-up (some years later) that wraps up the story, “The Quiet Darkness”.
Also “The Terra Mosaic” during Keith Giffen’s long Legion run in the '80’s-90’s.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/34 "2012-05-03T23:40:03Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#):
>
> Sorry, but no. The story arc I referred to took place during the 1970’s, or possibly the late 1960’s.
Check my post #22.
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### Author:  [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/35 "2012-05-04T00:11:53Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#):
>
> Mine would have to be the Legion of Superheroes’ Great Darkness Saga; such a great, great buildup - some evil creatures start teleporting into random locations, grabbing magical artifacts, and disappearing. They’re pretty wicked powerful, and manage to beat up on some groups of superheroes from the Legion; Brainiac-5 works out that they are some kind of evil clones of people from a thousand years ago (nb. the Legion takes place 1000 years in the future); one is a clone of Superman; another is a clone of a Guardian of the Universe (the Green Lanterns’ bosses). Then there’s a sequence showing the evil boss, who appears shrouded for the first 3.8 issues of the five-part story, waking up Mordru, a wizard who would routinely take on all 25+ heroes in the Legion at once, and snuffing him like a candle to steal his power. Mordru is later found in a catatonic state.
>
> Anyway, all sorts of stuff takes place, and eventually at the end of the fourth issue of five, it is revealed that the big bad is (do I really need to spoiler this? I guess…)
>
> Darkseid, who has managed to shift a Krypton-clone planet to an orbit around a yellow sun, giving all its inhabitants Superman-level powers, and mind-control the entire planet. So he has an army of approximately one billion Supermen at his disposal. Holy crap.
>
> At that point, my brother’s subscription ran out or one of the issues got lost in the mail and to this day I have not read the fifth part. (I am aware that there is a trade paperback out there that collects it, somehow just haven’t gotten around to reading it.) Worth noting that Darkseid as a villain had not yet been beaten into the ground by DC.
Oops, you revealed your spoiler later in your post. I tried to post this earlier in the day, but my phone wouldn’t post for some reason. If you haven’t found out, here is how it ended: After going toe-to-toe with both Superboy and Supergirl simultaneously and winning, somehow Darkseid’s hold on the Daxamites was broken. He decided to make a strategic retreat at that point. I liked how he had his army terraform their planet into his own image. Nothing like a little show of ego.
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### Author:  [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/36 "2012-05-04T01:00:26Z")
I will go to my grave saying that **The Maxx** is the greatest comic book series ever made.
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/37 "2012-05-04T02:25:38Z")
Imagine, if you will, a world before computer games, before computers, before cable…
… we were bored.
So we grew up reading a _LOT_ of comics. And I remember the day that we brought home our first Marvel comics. With neurotic heroes, and real-life situations. Stan Lee really did reinvigorate the world of superheroes (with a little help from Kirby and Ditko).
So my first “story arc” was Peter Parker dealing with bullies and bosses, financial problems and guilt.
The arc that got me back into comics in the 80s was Frank Miller’s stint on Daredevil. Again, a flawed hero with real problems.
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### Author:  [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/38 "2012-05-04T05:55:00Z")
Simonson’s Beta Ray Bill run with Thor in the mid 80s.
Frank Miller’s Batman Year One. Gotta say his Return of the Dark Knight was great too.
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### Author:  [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/39 "2012-05-04T13:11:45Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> This is a stretch. They talk about things that went on in previous issues, but I don’t think they’re really the “same story”. The Frightfvul G=Four Stuff is distinct from the Inhumans stuff is distinct from the Wedding of Reed and Sue in Annual #3 is distinct from the Galactus Trilogy. It’s all good, but it’s not even overlapping.
Nope. Sorry Cal, you’re wrong on this. Most Stan Lee stuff of the time did just have a page or so recap, but in that run of FF, he wrote them like one single story.
To use FF 48 as an example, [At least the first ~7 pages](https://marvel.com/digitalcomics/view.htm?iid=3345) of the 20 (not including the cover) story of FF #48 are 100% continued from the Inhumans story in #47. That’s roughly 1/3d of the book that’s This includes Maximus’s master plan, a big fight and a setup for a sub-plot that will last through about issue #58. Nothing Galactus related happens at all until the the very last panel of page ~8\*. In a similar vein, about 1/4th of #50 is setup for the next few issues. The Bugle denounces the Galactus event as a hoax which pisses of a mysterious bald guy (who’ll show up next issue), Johnny decides to go to college, signs up, meets Wyatt Wingfoot for the first time and mopes about Crystal again (which returns to the first half of issue #48 and continues to about issue ~58) and the Thing, in a fit of self-pity, goes and wanders in the rain, again, setting up issue 51.
Each issue in that run, roughly 1/4-1/3d of each book flows from the previous issue. That’s not the case in other books of the time Lee was writing (Spider-Man, Daredevil, X-Men or the Avengers). This run was a really unusual experiment(?) on Lee’s part and very effective, IMO.
\*The page guesses are close, but not necessarily exact. I don’t have a Marvel subscription, so I can only see the first 5 pages, but those are 100% Galactus free.
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### Author:  [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-classic-comic-book-story-arc-or-series/620736/40 "2012-05-04T13:35:30Z")
I agree that everything pales before the Galactus Trilogy.
There were other good stories and arcs, but c’mon.
'nuff said.
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