A
These were the series that I actively looked forward to reading:
- Doom Patrol
- Fantastic Four
- Spider-Man
- Nick Fury
- Legion of Super-Heroes
It seems like a ragtag group, but there are some similarities here. Doom Patrol and Fantastic Four had that “quirky family” vibe and a shared sense of wonder. Spider-Man and LOSH had a sense of variety and imagination — on the side of Spider-Man, it was on the villain side, while the Legion felt huge and galaxy-spanning.
The reason Nick Fury is on here? Purely for Jim Steranko. Steranko’s SHIELD figures somewhere toward the top 10 of all time great comic runs. It was like a living Dali exhibit.
B
- Batman
- Captain America
I feel that, from the mid-60s onward, Batman is pretty notable for a consistently high level of quality. I mean, the concept seems rock solid to the extent that it must be hard to botch it.
Captain America, on the other hand, has seen good and bad days since his re-introduction. The 1960s were the better days. He works better with Hydra as villains, and he hasn’t yet been shackled to the Falcon (sorry, wingless 70s Falcon was boring).
C
- Thor
- X-Men
- Avengers
- Justice League of America
- Doctor Strange
Even though Thor sits at a solid C range for me, this is higher than I was expecting to place it. Thor and Hulk were the two Marvel series I was out-and-out dreading from the beginning. Thor started roughly, but somewhat stuck the landing once Kirby pushed the series into a deeper Norse mythology.
The X-Men probably deserve to place lower during their 1960s era, but I can’t bring myself to do it. The concept is wonderful and the core of the characters are there. Unfortunately, it took until Neal Adams to understand how to use the characters. Massive credit also to some of the wildest Steranko covers I’ve ever seen.
Avengers, JLA, and Doctor Strange were pedestrian. On the Avengers and JLA end, I am steadfastly in favor of unique characters over all-star teams, as it’s hard to make real changes to characters who reserve their character development to their respective individual books. Avengers had a slightly better time of the decade, as it would eventually bring in Vision and discarded heroes and were able to do things with them.
As for Doctor Strange, it was OK. I feel that you really need some sort of reality-altering drugs to enjoy this series to the fullest, and that’s not my thing.
D
- Hulk
- Iron Man
- Green Lantern
- The Flash
- Wonder Woman
- Submariner
- Captain Marvel (Marvel)
- Daredevil
All righty, let’s start from the top…
Hulk never seemed to get beyond its initial concept. It never seemed to grow. Kinda ditto for Iron Man — Stark was thoroughly Stark (a pastiche of Howard Hughes), but at the very least a couple side characters managed to grow around him.
Green Lantern and Flash are wonderful characters (two of my all-time favorites), but were quickly glued into place… victims of episodic adventures. They had not had the opportunity to break way out of their shell.
Wonder Woman… is just there. I think there’s a gem in there, but it wasn’t brought out and polished in the 1960s, and it only got worse in the 70s. What was DC thinking???
I had to really force myself through Submariner, Captain Marvel, and Daredevil. Daredevil was particularly wretched. The series is just incredibly conceptually awkward. So Marvel is saying that this character is unique because he’s blind, but his powers completely negate the blindness? He’s Spider-Man without the rogues gallery, interesting supporting characters, or tight plot development.
F
- Superman (and its spinoffs)
I actually like Superman as a character, but it would be a herculean effort to argue that he wasn’t in a rut until after the Crisis on Infinite Earths. I think Superman is perfectly emblematic of the concept that characters calcify and cease being interesting once they become iconic. He’s a cartoon of a cartoon, and it took the whole DC universe rebooting a couple decades later to get him out of this pit. Take a look at what’s been happening to Dragon Ball to see this happening in real time.