Friday, November 20, 2009

My Reading Pile: June, 1991 Pt. 1

Mike is indeed amazing - and his DC and (now) Marvel websites are a great resources. I thought I'd use his sites as a tool to figure out what I was reading in certain random months. June of 1991 was my final month of high school (we used to do grade 13 here in Ontario - don't ask). I would have finished my exams somewhere early in the month and attended graduation ceremonies towards the end of June. I actually had a lot of free time back then so I was reading a good number of comics, probably evenly split between the Big Two. Here's a sample of what I bought that month. You should see all of the great stuff I wasn't reading back then. How humiliatin'!

Avengers #335 - I was a huge Avengers fan as a kid, and I forgave them for a lot of trespasses over the years. It was still a monthly buy from the late 80s right into the early 90s. I can't say I was loving it, but it was comfort food and I'm sure I thought they were just fine at the time. Looking back at the cover, I must admit that I cannot remember a single thing about this storyline. I also realized that I had totally forgotten about Rage and the white version of the Vision. Not exactly the jewel of my collection. In fact, I'd be shocked if I still had my copy.

I was much, much more into Silver Surfer back then (even had a letter printed in issue #49). This was a heavenly time when Silver Surfer was published twice a month. I don't truly think I ever realized how lucky I was to have one of my favourite books hitting my LCS every other week. This was a particularly good stretch for this title, with Thanos fully out of control and various intergalactic guest stars popping up all over the place. This series provided a home for great characters like Firelord and Drax, as can be seen from the cover to Silver Surfer #52. I really think Ron Lim nailed the 'look' for this series. As much as I love Marshall Rogers, I really got into once Lim stepped on board.

Speaking of Thanos, the Infinity Gauntlet miniseries was well underway that month. At the time, I was totally wrapped up in it and I loved the fact that all of my favourite characters from the Surferverse were getting greater exposure in the larger MU. I just loved everything about this miniseries and could not wait for each issue to be published. I kind of miss that feeling of anticipation, as I generally don't pick up any new comics these days. I haven't revisited this one in 15 years, but I'm guessing that it won't be as good as I remember.

As I've mentioned before, I really dug Ghost Rider circa 1991. I have no idea why Marvel decided that a batch of those issues deserved the reprint treatment as The Original Ghost Rider Rides Again, but who was I to complain? I remember buying this book at a local convenience store (remember when they had comics?) and really feeling a sense of nostalgia. Is it health for an 18 year old feel nostalgic? Whatever the case, I enjoyed re-reading this one as much as any other 'new' book at the time. Great, great cover.

Next: my DC books from June, 1991
If you haven't checked out Mike's Marvel and DC sites - here are the links:

2 comments:

Bill Blair said...

This takes me back! 1991 was my second summer of reading comics and I remember thinking the Infinity Gauntlet being a huge event for me. Not so much now, in hindsight.

M W Gallaher said...

I had stopped buying Marvel comics a few years prior to this (showing solidarity to Kirby in his bid to regain his original art), but by June 1991, I was making a few exceptions. I was loving Foolkiller, whose 10th issue came out that month, enjoying Byrne on She-Hulk #30, and torturing myself with Byrne's Namor #17. I never missed an issue of Groo, so I picked up #80 that month, and felt somehow obligated to continue with Metropol #6, despite (secretly) never really appreciating McKeever. I bought Marvel Fanfare #58, but only because I got a kick out of the idea of old, unused scripts being dusted off and finally printed (in this case, a Shanna miniseries that had been promised years earlier).