Revisiting (for no reason in particular) 1996’s Marvel Versus DC Event

You know when you have something stuck in your head and you can’t exorcise it until you experience it?  Like a song you need to listen to or a movie you have to watch?  Well, inexplicably, I’ve had 1996’s Marvel Comics VERSUS DC event stuck in my head for weeks.  It’s so strong I’ve even been thinking of those Amalgam Comics they ran between the third and fourth issues of the series.  So, like a particularly hooky song, in order to free my random mental musings from this event I decided to reread it.  Even as a kid it seemed more like a popularity contest than a legitimate story but now, as an adult, I wanted to look at that more closely.  Given these match-ups, do any of the victors make sense for any reason outside of who was the clear fan favorite?

First Impressions: The X-Men

Of course I saw Logan over the weekend.  But I don’t want to write about it.  I can’t yet.  I need time to sit with the film, to let it move through my heart and mind until I reach the place where I feel I can write about it in a way that honors the experience.  However, I still have Wolverine and the X-Men on my mind.  So I’ve decided to take a little trip down Memory Lane and revisit the very first X-Men comic I ever read.  Ahh…the early 1990’s.  What a great time to meet Wolverine, Cyclops, and everyone else!

Marvel’s First 500th Issue!

Comic series resetting to #1 about once every six months year eighteen months or so has become a normal part of the industry in the years since I gave up comic collecting.  When I left, the issues of most major titles were still numbering in the hundreds from their original run.  Now it seems surprising if we get two consecutive years of consistent numbering on any give title.  But today is a magical day!  It’s a Throwback Thursday!  And that means we’re going to travel back to the mystical time of 1996.  Oprah’s Book Club was born.  Everyone was quoting Jerry Maguire.  The Macarena was a thing.  And, in July, Marvel had their first 500th issue with Thor #500!