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Secret Wars

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Secret Wars (1984) was the first big crossover event to affect an entire comic universe, beating DC Comics' Crisis On Infinite Earths by a year. Whereas Crisis was born out of a desire to simplify the DC Universe, Secret Wars was created - initially at least - to sell toys. In 1983, Mattel approached Marvel to create a comic series that would feature a large cast of Marvel characters, so they could launch a new toy line off the back of it. They'd already had a huge hit with their Masters of the Universe toys, but since their rivals in the toy industry, Kenner, had licensed DC's characters for a toy line, Mattel decided it would be a good idea to license Marvel's characters. Initially, series editor Tom DeFalco was reluctant to launch a stand-alone series, and when he finally came round to the idea, he wanted it to be called simply, "Marvel Super Heroes." However, Mattel's marketing department had decided that the words, "secret" and "wars...
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Avengers #200 - What The Hell Were They Thinking?

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A while ago, I re-read Avengers #100 to #200, which features some truly classic Avengers tales from Steve Englehart, Jim Shooter, David Michelinie, John Byrne and George Perez among others. But the giant anniversary issue that caps that run is one of the most egregious moments in Marvel history. This is the tale of how it came about... Ms. Marvel's solo book had been cancelled the in 1979, with #23, and since then she'd been appearing in The Avengers as their newest recruit. Which was fine while Jim Shooter was writing the book - he had recently been made Editor-in-Chief, so he could do what he liked. But by 1980, David Michelinie had taken over as writer on The Avengers, and Chris Claremont, who'd been writing Ms. Marvel's book, felt some proprietorship over the character. He wanted her in the X-Men. This led to some bad blood between them. For the 200th issue of Avengers, Michelinie wanted to expand on the idea that the alien race, the Kree, had reached an evolutionar...
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Karen Page - The One That (Almost) Got Away

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Karen Page was a member of Daredevil's supporting cast from the very first issue. Initially written as a typical Silver Age love interest for the hero, she was smitten with Matt Murdock at first sight, and rarely a moment away from tears. And as long as she was written by Stan Lee, that's how she remained. When Roy Thomas took over the writing chores on Daredevil, he shook things up a little. First he had Matt reveal his secret identity to Karen... Then when he refuses to give up being Daredevil, she leaves Matt and moves to L.A. (Okay, she still does a lot of crying, but at least she's taking her destiny into her own hands!) And Karen chooses to stay there and she becomes a successful actress. I love this sequence of her phoning Matt - her relaxed demeanour contrasts beautifully with Matt's disappointment that she's not calling to say she's coming home. Great facial expressions from artist, Gene Colan. Matt gets all emo over Karen for a few issues but then new ...
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The Birth Of The New X-Men

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Considering the popularity of the X-Men nowadays, it's difficult to believe that by 1971, and after 66 issues, the X-Men weren't popular enough for Marvel to continue publishing new stories about them. Rather than cancel their book completely, however, Marvel started reprinting old stories, but continuing the numbering of the title. This continued for the next 3 1/2 years, from #67 to #93. In 1974, Al Landau, Marvel's president, held a meeting with Stan Lee (who, by then, was Marvel's publisher) and Editor Roy Thomas. Landau had decided that Marvel needed a book with an international cast that they could export to the countries represented in the book. Roy Thomas had been wanting to relaunch the X-Men, so he proposed that they create a new team of X-Men with characters from around the world. The idea was approved, and Thomas approached Mike Friedrich to be its writer, arranging to meet him at the Auto Pub in the General Motors building, a themed restaurant where the boo...
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