The Definitives: Hawkeye

Tom Brevoort once told me that Hawkeye was “the Wolverine of his day” (he was actually talking more about The Thing and using Hawkeye as a supplementary, but as said supplementary example better serves this post, that’s what I’ll be going with). Basically what he meant is that when the Avengers weren’t far from their founding and Marvel hadn’t gone too long into the Silver Age, Hawkeye was the rebellious voice questioning Captain America’s more conservative values in the same way Wolverine would later chafe against Cyclops and so on as this is a dynamic you’ll find in just about every super hero team past the Justice League from the 60’s.

Like Wolverine, Hawkeye was the loose cannon who did what he wanted despite the rules and did so with a brash tone, loud mouth and often disregard for the safety of himself and the property around him (he’s always been pretty good about shielding teammates and civilians though). Also like Wolverine, Hawkeye became pretty popular as a result of this; not three or four ongoing solo series at once popular (he’s had his books here and there, but I’d say general consensus is the character works better with others to play off of in a team setting), but he did ok.

Unlike Wolverine and his more modern ilk, Hawkeye was the bad boy of a more traditional time, so he talked a big game, but he still adhered to a relatively traditional moral code that excluded killing and extreme violence; in the recent past, some writers have had him walk the line of violating that, and an argument could be made that his experiences have led him that way, but I believe deep down Clint Barton still finds murder to be anathema, regardless of the reason why.

I think the combination of Hawkeye’s similarities to the loose cannon characters he’s something of the godfather to with the contrast against those that came later is why I like him so much. I’ve always been partial to the wisecracking smartass super hero, but I also like the swashbuckling romantic vibe of years gone by; Clint Barton combines the best of both worlds on that score. He will always speak his mind, he falls in love too easily and he’s far from fully matured emotionally, but he’ll also do the right thing when the chips are down, and even though he’ll drive Captain America nuts, he’ll also be the first to come to his defense when anybody else does it.

Gotta love the guy.

I should offer the disclaimer that I was not an avid Solo Avengers or West Coast Avengers reader growing up and have never really caught up on either, so I’ve got a pretty sizable Hawkeye blind spot (though I have read Hawkeye: Blind Spot), but here are my favorite stories featuring the Avenging Archer that I’d recommend to anybody looking to learn more about that dude with the bow and arrow who Jeremy Renner is playing.

HONORABLE MENTION: AVENGERS #223
A classic to be sure, as Hawkeye heads back to his old carnival stomping grounds and clashes with Taskmaster, who’s holding the show hostage, leading to the seminal shrunken Ant-Man on an arrow routine. It’s a fun story, and I’m a fan, but I think it’s actually a better Ant-Man and even Taskmaster yarn, not quite capturing the essential Hawkeye.

AVENGERS: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES
I love this series on the whole, and every character gets their time in the sun, but really Hawkeye’s story is my favorite part. Joe Casey really nails how the bulk of the early Avengers were good guys (and one girl), but thrown together by circumstance as a team and in many cases only acting as heroes because an accident led them to their situation (Iron Man and his shrapnel, Thor and his exile, Hulk and his…being The Hulk); even Captain America became an Avenger mostly because they found him and he needed guidance in a strange world. Hawkeye’s the one guy who actively seeks to become an Avenger, because even though he started as a villain, it’s never what he wanted. Casey’s story captures the driven desire of Clint Barton to do the right thing even when conventional wisdom stacks the odds against him, plus there’s an excellent relationship between him and Jarvis, and Scott Kolins draws one of my favorite Hawkeyes.

AVENGERS #189
Hawkeye gets tossed off the Avengers by Henry Peter Gyrich in order to fill a government quota (also, Gyrich doesn’t really like Hawkeye since the first time they met Clint tied him up, thinking he was an intruder in Avengers Mansion), but rather than mope for too long, he decides to show them it’s their loss. He swoops into Cross Technological Enterprises and auditions for their Head of Security gig by foiling their current system. Clint kicks back and looks forward to a relatively easy new occupation, only for Shi’ar super villain Deathbird to show up looking for trouble. Hawkeye is totally outclassed against a cosmic-level threat like Deathbird, but that’s when he’s at his best, using his wits to get through the situation, smiling as he does it and then stealing a kiss from the alien cutie when he’s done. This issue is basically a capsule bio for everything cool about Hawkeye (plus great John Byrne art).

HAWKEYE (1983)
The first true solo Hawkeye adventure, both written and drawn by the late, great Mark Gruenwald, who it turns out was a heck of an artist! Uncovering corruption at CTE, Clint investigates alongside former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Mockingbird and runs afoul of the dude who would become his archenemy, Crossfire. It’s a fun caper that packs tons of action into only four issues and allows Gruenwald to widen Hawkeye’s range a bit, playing him as devil-may-care adventurer and hothead, but also delving into his deeper emotions and giving him a deep romantic subplot. Speaking of which, the chemistry between Hawkeye and Mockingbird is dynamite right from the start; you’re rooting for them from the get-go, and the end result doesn’t disappoint.

AVENGERS & JLA/AVENGERS BY KURT BUSIEK & GEORGE PEREZ
When Kurt Busiek and George Perez brought Avengers back from Heroes Reborn, establishing Hawkeye as a key member of the team was clearly a top priority. When everybody gets mind wiped and sent to Morgan le Fay’s crazy Camelot world, Clint is the first guy Captain America “wakes up” because he recognizes that Hawkeye is the heart of the Avengers. During the roster-building issue, you get the great thread of Hawkeye taking Firestar and Justice under his wing, and then doing the double take when Cap messes with him by offering them his spot on the team. And from there, the Avenging Archer departs in pretty rapid fashion, shuttled over to Thunderbolts by Busiek, where he did more great stuff with him and stayed true to another core element of the character: he goes where he is needed, not necessarily where he wants to be. Busiek and Perez reunited years later on JLA/Avengers and made this fan smile by having Hawkeye and Flash (not Wally West, but still) be the guys to pull the classic against all odds save when all seems lost.

HAWKEYE & MOCKINGBIRD
I don’t feel it’s favoritism at all to put my buddy Jim McCann’s series on here, because his passion for the character of Hawkeye (and of Mockingbird) in my mind created a fun arc that will hold up nicely in an evergreen sense, and the best thing is it was born out of love. You won’t meet a bigger Hawkeye fan than Jim, and his desire to do right by the character, not only telling the kinds of stories he loved but that can spread the appeal to a new generation, went a long way in my book. It’s a nice bookend to Mark Gruenwald’s series, with lots of callbacks, plus several love letters to the Marvel Universe along the way. It also doesn’t hurt that artist David Lopez is a gem and that Mockingbird’s brother’s name is Ben Morse; a great easy-to-acquire gateway to Hawkeye.

CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE AVENGERS
Hawkeye’s video game debut! Super fun, tons of characters, rad graphics, and the suspension of disbelief that Hawkeye’s bow when held horizontal is an equally powerful protector to Captain America’s shield, Iron Man’s armor and the Vision’s intangibility. Also: sky sleds!

The Definitives: The Silver Surfer

The Silver Surfer occupies an interesting place in the broad spectrum of classic characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby during their landmark run on Fantastic Four. Like the Inhumans, he’s an exotic character who makes for an impactful guest star. However, like The Black Panther, he’s also a figure with depth and an intriguing background who can sustain his own mythology to a degree. It’s tempting to write him off as somebody who works better weaving in and out of series starring other folks and existing on the fringe of the Marvel Universe—and he’s not in lousy company in this regard when it comes to many of the Lee/Kirby inventions from said FF stint—but he’s got quite a few quality stories centered around him as the protagonist.

I met the Surfer during his 90’s solo series, so for me, he was a cosmic hero first and foremost and I wouldn’t learn about his earthbound years or even the sacrificial first appearance that defined him until much later. It speaks to his versatility that he can succeed in either environment; however, it’s also perhaps a commentary on his limitations that he gets shuffled back and forth between Earth and space, between opposing Galactus and serving him, as he gets into a rut if his dynamic doesn’t get changed up every now and again.

At his best, the Surfer is a hero, an enigma, a warrior, a philosopher, a savior, a harbinger of doom and more. Here are some stories that showcase his various sides.

The Galactus Trilogy (FANTASTIC FOUR v1 #48-50)
Few characters whose first appearance is not also their origin are so vitally linked to that story as The Silver Surfer. The Galactus Trilogy is a classic for many reasons, but setting up the Surfer as a different kind of Marvel hero with a compelling mystique about him is one of the chief among those. He makes his debut as a menacing alien heavy that embodies the idea of “the other” and ends the story as a hugely sympathetic underdog we wish we could be more like. The Surfer’s discovery of humanity, his empathy, and his transformation underscore the big action and amazing art, tying a “when we’re at our best, we’re worth saving” moral to the story.

SILVER SURFER v1
Not to cross brands here, but the Surfer’s initial 18-issue series from the 70’s, written by Stan Lee and illustrated largely by John Buscema, really is the character’s most essential tales. Out the gate, we get the origin of our hero, how Norrin Radd became The Silver Surfer, sacrificing love and a big chunk of his own morality in order to serve the greater good; that the character went years with this motivation for his actions in his first appearance as a question mark is pretty wild. That opening salvo is followed up by an exploration of both the Surfer’s exile on Earth as well as his past on Zenn-La, including the introduction of Shalla Bal to create one of Marvel’s most unsung (literally) star-crossed romances. You also get the genesis of Mephisto, that legendary first Surfer-Thor brawl with stellar Buscema art, and other classic stuff. Sometimes Lee hits the angle of the Surfer not understanding humanity’s violent ways a little too hard and too often, but when it scores it scores big.

SILVER SURFER v2 by Steve Englehart
The Surfer series that ran through the late 80’s and into the 90’s had him off of Earth and back soaring through the spaceways. I started reading regularly during Ron Marz’s tenure as writer, which had some cool stuff, and I just missed a Jim Starlin run I’ve always wanted to get around to, but the stuff that sticks with me is Steve Englehart’s work at the start. I definitely recall distinctly the period where the Surfer was entering into an awkward romance with Nova (the chick, not the real one), trying to quell intergalactic wars between the Kree and Skrulls, and dressing up as a pirate to go undercover among a crew of lizard people. It was weird, it was wild and it was ambitious—it was everything stories about a shiny demigod riding through space on a surfboard needed to be and presented a nice counterpoint to the claustrophobic 70’s stories where the Surfer couldn’t venture outside his earthly prison. Slick art from the late Marshall Rogers didn’t hurt either.

SILVER SURFER: REQUIEM
I’ve got a whole entry on this underrated beauty.

“On the Last Day” (NOVA v4 #13-15)
During the first Annihilation, Keith Giffen made the bold move to put the Surfer back as Galactus’ herald for the first time since his introduction (I think, please correct me if I’m wrong) and this was, to my opinion, the story that best played off that change in status quo. The premise is pretty simple: The Surfer leads Galactus to an inhabited planet and warns the folks living there to evacuate, Nova wants to save said planet from being eaten, Nova and the Surfer fight. There’s another plot about a body-possessing serial killer, but for me that good stuff is writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning digging into the psyche of the Surfer when he is not turning on Galactus to save the little people. They do a nice job showing the nuances of the character in part not caring because his value system has again been dulled, but also retaining a shred of that compassion and wavering the slightest bit in his duty. The Nova vs Surfer battle is great as the kind of underdog story I dig—Nova is nowhere near Surfer’s league—and because Wellinton Alves does wonderful work depicting it, but the moral debate and contemplation over the greatest good is the meaty stuff, really showing how complex The Silver Surfer is.

Fantastic Four: The Animated Series
The FF side of the Marvel Action Hour from the mid-90’s had very little going for it aside from a hilarious theme song and Brian Austin Green rapping as The Human Torch, but a pretty spot-on adaptation of the Galactus Trilogy is one of the series’ few treats. The animation is not pretty, but the folks responsible for the show do a very nice job with the story, and this was in fact the first place I experienced it in any fashion, so that’s certainly something worth noting.

The Definitives: Dick Grayson

A couple months back, I wrote about the evolution of the Robin character, in the course of doing so hitting largely on the progression of Dick Grayson, the original Boy Wonder as a character.

Whether as Robin, Nightwing or currently Batman, Grayson has always been one of my favorite comic book heroes. This is a bit a departure for me as I’m generally more beholden to the snarky rebel types as my touchstones, but there’s also that well-concealed nice guy side of me who really roots for the true blue Heroes with a capital “H” of comics. With Dick Grayson, he’s a guy who represents both sides of my fandom there, as he’s certainly among the more wholesome good guys even in the virtuous DC Universe—particularly when you consider his mentor—but also has that devil-may-care swashbuckler attitude born of the carnival.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Dick Grayson is that in addition to his longevity, he’s probably been successful in more diverse identities than any other major character in comics as noted above. Sure lots of heroes and villains undergo the occasional name or costume change, but Dick has full-on reinvented everything about himself twice now and not really missed a beat as far as remaining at the forefront of the DCU as one of its most popular leading men.

Given that Dick Grayson has a history stretching back to 1940, I certainly make no claim to have read anywhere near even a majority representation of his appearances—I haven’t really read any Batman comics pre-dating the 80’s, including the crazy Silver Age stuff and really good 70’s stuff—but even so, I’ve got quite a few stories that spring to mind when thinking about why I dig comics’ original sidekick.

ROBIN: YEAR ONE
Few writers of the modern era have more familiarity with Dick Grayson than Chuck Dixon, who spent over five years writing him on the Nightwing ongoing title. Here, Dixon teams with co-writer Scott Beatty and artist Javier Pulido not to re-tell Robin’s origin story, but to flesh out his earliest days with Batman. Pulido’s art is perfect here, as he nails the brightly-clad figure of the Boy Wonder but drags him into the slightly darker situations Dixon and Beatty have concocted without dimming his luster. This is a great coming-of-age story that sees young Dick Grayson attempting to prove himself worthy of the responsibility given him by Batman—your basic father-son dynamic cranked up to superheroic proportions—by taking on way more than he probably should be on his own and coming up against Two-Face, foreshadowing later feuds between the two characters across various identities. Dixon and Beatty also show Robin’s nascent relationship with Batgirl and emotionally explore his connection with Alfred, the series’ narrator.

“The Murder Machine” (NEW TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #2)
The climax to the simmering storyline that introduced Adrian Chase into his costumed role as Vigilante is also an extremely important chapter in the life of Dick Grayson, as he reaches his final days as Robin. Having grown distant from Batman, the now-Teen Wonder finds himself partnering with Chase for a harder-edged war on crime and searching his soul for what kind of man he wants to be as he draws closer to true adulthood, seeing both positive and negative reflections of himself in his new ally. This extra-sized tale by the superlative Titans team of Marv Wolfman and George Perez sees the crew team with Vigilante against an army of assassins in an action-packed thrill ride, but more importantly it is for all intents and purposes one of the last true Robin stories as far as Dick Grayson is concerned and key reading if you’re looking to understand the character.

“The Judas Contract” (TALES OF THE TEEN TITANS #42-44, ANNUAL #3)
Maybe Wolfman and Perez’s greatest Titans opus—and that’s saying something—this one has it all, from the origin of Deathstroke to Terra’s betrayal to Jericho’s introduction and much more, but for our purposes, no aspect of the story is more important than Dick Grayson’s dynamic debut as Nightwing. Even before putting on his new disco-collared duds, the former Robin proves the only Titans capable of eluding The Terminator, an impressive feat when one considers his teammates, but also a reminder of what makes the character so special. Again, a crucial stage in the larger Dick Grayson tapestry, not to mention of the best comic stories of all-time, so call this a win all around.

“Nightwing: Year One” (NIGHTWING #101-106)
Wrote a whole entry on this one.

“Wings Over Gotham” (ROBIN #13)
The conclusion of “Prodigal,” the 1995 storyline that saw Bruce Wayne temporarily hand over the role of Batman to Dick Grayson while recovering from a prior ordeal that saw Jean-Paul Valley sullying the mantel. This issue, written again by Dixon, has Bruce returning, ready to be Batman again, but Dick not quite ready to give up the cowl until they have a conversation years in the making that has been building ever since he abandoned the Robin persona. It’s another big growth moment for Dick as he stands up for himself against his father figure and asserts not only his independence, but calls Bruce out on his lapses in judgment; for his own part, the original Batman stands his ground, but admits he has sold his protégé short more than once. It’s a watershed encounter that re-establishes the Nightwing-Batman relationship more as one between equals and alters their dynamic moving forward (also, Tim Drake fights a bad guy, but that’s pretty secondary).

“A Knight in Bludhaven” (NIGHTWING #1-8)
Dixon and Scott McDaniel’s kickoff to their lengthy run on Dick Grayson’s first ongoing series and they hit the ground running, creating a brand new playground for Nightwing to establish himself in Bludhaven, a sort of mini-Gotham that’s even more gruesome than the original in some ways. For the next several years, Bludhaven would serve a key role in giving Dick Grayson his own identity separate from Batman or the Titans, complete with his own rogues gallery, supporting cast and unique locales, but especially establishing him as the sole guardian of a place that needed him, not just a stand-in or supporting player. The first eight issues have Nightwing setting up shop and declaring war on Blockbuster, the bulky and brilliant mastermind who would become the Kingpin to his Daredevil, so to say. My personal highlight from this initial run is “The Visitor” from issue #6, in which Tim Drake drops by and the two “brothers” spend a night talking over Dick’s latest adventures as they hop across rooftops and moving trains, really giving McDaniel a chance to show off.

“Till Death Do Us Part” (NIGHTWING ANNUAL #2)
You could argue all day whether Dick Grayson’s true destined love is Starfire or Barbara Gordon, but Marc Andreyko and Joe Bennett make a pretty heartfelt case for the latter in this touching, sweet and often heart-wrenching one-shot covering the “missing year” from after Infinite Crisis and what became of Nightwing’s marriage proposal to Oracle. As the star-crossed duo recovers from the latest upheaval and mull over what’s next for them, Andreyko revisits the high and low points of their lengthy courtship in great detail. That Robin-Batgirl kid crush that became something more is something I feel like is almost woven into culture beyond just the DC Universe, and it’s certainly one I feel like I can relate to, so to see it so thoroughly dissected here and ushered into adulthood not only makes for a good story, but feels integral to who Dick Grayson is. The creative team here does an excellent job showing why this may be DC’s best couple, and at the same time why they can probably never be together for too long.

“Batman Reborn” (BATMAN AND ROBIN #1-3)
Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s first arc in this brave and bold new era of Batman showed once and for all that Dick Grayson was more than fit to wear the cowl, but also that he’d be a very different kind of Dark Knight—and that’s a good thing. I remember being really impressed with how Morrison acknowledged every stage of Dick’s past, from jubilant sidekick to defiant young hero, and made this very much the logical destination for the character. Quitely’s art is dynamic and the creative duo usher in wonderfully creepy new villains and a nicely refined status quo for the latest Dynamic Duo.

The Definitives: Daredevil

So the first issue of Shadowland is in stores this week, and I am excited.

I mean, I’m excited because I work at Marvel and also have already read the issue plus know a bit of what’s ahead, so I know it’s going to be a fun ride, but that aside, as a fan, this kind of “street level heroes event” is an idea I know I’ve kicked around with my buddies for years and wager similar discussions have taken place in other comics-reading circles, so it’s neat that it’s happening. It’s also under the capable guidance of three stellar in editors in Steve Wacker, Tom Brennan and Alejandro Arbona, so the pedigree on this baby is solid.

With the story making Daredevil a central figure in a world he’s typically on the fringe of, I thought this might be a good time to give DD some love with my favorite tales of The Man Without Fear. Truth be told, I’ve come close to pulling the trigger on this particular Definitives a few times but backed down since I kinda figure everybody has the same handful of classics in mind when it comes to Daredevil; but giving it some thought, maybe that’s not the case as I’ve come to discover there’s far more great material on the character than I once believed—much of which I likely won’t even cover here—and even if there’s some overlap, so what, good comics is good comics.

And these are good comics.

“Badlands”
My favorite standalone stand alone story—and quite possibly my favorite story period—in Daredevil’s history doesn’t have Matt Murdock putting on the costume at all or even speaking a single word. The premise is pretty short, sweet and simple: the first part of the story sets up a corrupt hellhole of a town in New Jersey, the rest is a blind man riding in and cleaning things up. It’s not unlike a vintage Western flick, except it really taps into the essence of Daredevil and is a nice primer if you don’t know the character and just want the bare bone essentials that run beneath even the red suit and bill clubs. No surprise it’s written by Frank Miller, the guy who essentially made Daredevil relevant (and his own career in the process). The art comes from one of my all-time favorites, John Buscema, and captures the feel of despair as well as hard-won triumph as only he could.

“Born Again”
While I by no means didn’t enjoy the aforementioned Mr. Miller’s first run on Daredevil, I’m certainly not as into it as many other folks; I’m more impressed by the elements he lays out that have since become so coded into the character’s DNA and the rapid evolution of his work, but to me it does read like work by a guy just hitting his stride as opposed to a more seasoned pro. Probably for those reasons, I’m a much bigger fan of Miller’s return engagement on the book a few years later with “Born Again.” Nowadays, the whole systematic deconstruction of a hero’s life in order to build him back up later stronger and more resolved is far more commonplace in general and also seems to happen to Daredevil pretty much yearly, but Miller did it first and in my opinion still did it best. For me it’s not the ninja stuff or Catholic overtones that finally separated Daredevil once and for all from being the second rate Spider-Man he started out as, but that ability to walk the line of utter despair partly into insanity then emerge from the other end as an even bigger bad ass the likes of which Spidey could never hope to be. This story absolutely made The Kingpin as it’s pretty scary how handily he dismantles Matt’s existence, plus we get that amazing sequence with the Avengers and Nuke that clearly demonstrates why Daredevil can hang with the A-list of Marvel. Also, it should probably go without saying, but David Mazzucchelli’s art is tremendous.

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
The third and final Frank Miller entry on my little list and what I think most people consider to be the definitive telling of Daredevil’s origin. In many cases when creators go back and try to flesh out a Silver Age origin told in 15 pages to a five-issue saga, it falls flat because often time the original telling was elegant in its simplicity and there’s really nothing more that needs to be said. However, in this case Miller had already basically taken the Matt Murdock that Stan Lee had built and reinvented him from the ground up in stories set years after his genesis; this was just grounding all those cosmetic changes a bit more solidly and making the transfer of ownership more or less official. The early stuff with Matt and his dad is pivotal, but the series really hits its stride when Elektra is introduced. This was the story that finally after many years helped me get the appeal of the Elektra-Daredevil romance, in that it was not the stuff of fairytales as comic book relationships often are, but instead a case of two people stuck on horribly violent paths able to find solace in one another for a fleeting moment that they’re going to spend the rest of their lives attempting to regain. This was also the work that converted me to being a John Romita Jr. fan after not getting him at all on Uncanny X-Men; his cartoonishly imperfect figures and tremendous depth of linework suited the tone of the story so perfectly and made me both re-evaluate all his stuff I’d written off before as well as eat up everything he’s done since.

“Guardian Devil”
This is a “greatest hits” story done right by Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada. It’s got pretty much every character and element—except for Elektra and I guess Typhoid Mary—who has played an important role in Daredevil’s life up to the point it was written (Kingpin, Bullseye, Karen Page, Black Widow, Mephisto and Foggy Nelson all put in appearances), but they are all used to advance a completely new and dynamic story, not just to show up, get beat up/made out with and then not mentioned again. I just re-read this very recently and despite knowing how it all ends was just really impressed with Smith’s capabilities as a mystery-weaver in addition to his skills writing comedy and action, not to mention those heady religious and personal issues DD and his cast must contend with. Quesada totally found his sweet spot drawing Daredevil as the shadows and acrobatics alone really allowed him to open up and play the way he likes to as well as turn in some of his best stuff. I don’t want to dwell too much on many more details as this is a story I think deserves a look from those who may have skipped straight from Miller to Bendis and so much of the good stuff is in the slow unraveling of the plot, but it’s really high quality stuff with incredible human drama.

Daredevil: Yellow
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve never actually read the original Silver Age run of Daredevil, but it’s not something I’m in any great rush to dive into as obviously there was a need for pretty drastic reinvention by the 80’s and also because the character’s earliest appearance in old Spider-Man comics I did check out recently didn’t exactly blow my mind. However, I did think Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s brief visit to Matt Murdock’s early days as part of their “color” series was a neat perspective on a different kind of Marvel character. As with Spider-Man: Blue and Hulk: Grey, Daredevil: Yellow focuses on the hero of the piece and a lost love from more innocent days, which in this case is Karen Page. But while the romance element is fine and dandy, I think Loeb’s greatest accomplishment in this series is providing a bridge of sorts between the Lee and Miller takes on Daredevil, showing Matt’s attempts to be a more lighthearted swashbuckler but how in private he’s such a different and worn out kind of hero from the start and the pronounced strain that façade puts on him. Sale is at his finest here and it’s cool that they went with the barely-used original yellow costume both because it gives him more avenues to explore and also he really makes it his own.

Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev
There’s no one story from Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev’s five-year run on Daredevil that stands out as being the most important of the bunch for me, and I think that’s a testament to their work, as they really did create an epic that spanned nearly 60 issues and pretty much avoided the valleys in favor of if not constant peaks that at the very least consistent high quality. Bendis redefined the character of Matt Murdock almost as powerfully as Miller did, but in far more subtle ways from his language to his more primal way of dealing with adversity. In a medium where the bulk of the protagonists fly or swing above humanity, Bendis really grounded Daredevil as a hero of the people, one as capable of terrible violence as he is of great empathy. For his part, Maleev has absolutely created the modern template for how Daredevil is supposed to look with his grainer, darker more realistic and painterly style; a DD who looked too far askew from the way Alex Maleev drew him in this day and age just would not feel right. Bendis and Maleev were very bold with Daredevil, recognizing the great potential that the character has always had to be a proving ground for creators on the rise and not resting on the laurels of the work Miller and his contemporaries did, instead forging their own way; the reverberations of their work is still being felt today and likely will continue to be for some time to come.

“Daredevil” The Movie
It was awesome.

The Definitives: Superboy

Back when I was a kid (well, depending on how far your definition of “kid” extends) and still didn’t know much about the DC Universe, I did know one thing: I really dug Superboy. And no, I don’t mean Clark Kent when he was a boy, I mean the dude who would go on to become Kon-El and later Conner Kent, the guy who rocked a zillion belts in the strangest places before moving to a t-shirt and jeans—that Superboy. Before I knew that Wally West was the guy wearing the Flash outfit or that Dick Grayson wasn’t Robin anymore, Superboy was far and away my favorite DC character.

With the all-too-short run by Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul on Adventure Comics coming to an end recently, it made me reflect back on how much I dig Superboy, who may not be my favorite character in the DCU anymore, but he still sits comfortably in the top three.

I may have said as much in earlier posts (we’ve written quite a few of them at this point, folks), but Superboy just came along at the perfect time for me, as I was hitting my semi-rebellious (or more wannabe rebellious) early teen years and a wiseass kid with a fade haircut, leather jacket and earring who hit on chicks was the avatar of all I found cool in the early 90’s. It wasn’t a case of image being everything though, as Superboy’s creators Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett really infused him with a feel-good, “this is fun” energy that the grim and gritty years were sorely lacking and that I didn’t even realize I was missing.

As I grew up and came back to comics, it was nice to see that Superboy had matured a bit too under the pen of writers like Peter David and Geoff, but not too much. Here are some of the Superboy stories from over the years that have always kept the character on my list of faves.

Reign of the Supermen
I’ve heard in read in various interviews and accounts (including a Wizard Retrospective I helped edit) that Superboy’s creators weren’t completely shocked by his almost-immediate popularity, but at least somewhat surprised he caught on the way he did. I know hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but even at the time of “Reign of the Supermen,” I had a good feeling Superboy would stick around if only because in one of the most epic of epic storylines, he still stood out brightly among a cast of dozens. Fashion sense aside, Superboy was the breath of fresh air fans such as myself were looking for in a story where you had a Cyborg Superman blowing up Coast City, the shades-wearing Eradicator frying criminals while wearing an “S” on his chest and the real Man of Steel sporting a Fabio mullet; amidst the doom and gloom (that, don’t get me wrong, was still a killer story), Superboy hearkened back to comics being fun. I also always dug that while the other three would-be Supermen were being positioned as possible replacements, it was always up front that Superboy (or then “don’t call me Superboy!”) was a clone and not trying to convince anybody of anything. Kesel and the other Superman writers of the day did a nice job using the “The Kid” as comic relief, but also as a hero from the word go, anxious to prove himself if somewhat lacking in attention span.

Superboy #1-5
In the first half-dozen issues of Superboy’s first solo series, Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett did an exemplary bit of world-building that many creators today could learn a nice lesson from. Right off, they dropped The Kid in a totally exotic (in more ways than one) locale, Hawaii, to set him apart from anybody else in the DC Universe and then set about populating this new frontier. Superboy carried over his ambitious girlfriend Tana Moon as well as sleazy agent with a heart of gold Rex Leech and his bombshell daughter Roxy from his Adventures of Superman run, but then also added sage advisor (and Jack Kirby creation) Dubbilex and sober cop Sam Makoa (Hawaii’s Commissioner Gordon) to round out a solid supporting cast. Within five issues, Kesel and Grummett provided their protagonist with the start of a unique rogues gallery in the hapless Sidearm, bad girl Knockout, crazed Scavenger, and noble yet misguided Silversword. Of all these new creations, Knockout would prove the most enduring and intriguing, taking The Kid’s propensity for ogling beautiful women and turning it against him in the worst of ways (it’s also kinda cool that she’d go on to venture outside Superboy’s world thanks mostly to Gail Simone, though I wish the two of them had been able to have one last tangle before her untimely demise). In under six months, Hawaii was nearly as fleshed out a DCU locale as at least Midway or Star City and ready to contend with the Gothams of the world (though how so many super villains ended up in the islands I’ll never understand). Oh, and I can’t conclude this section without throwing particular props to the awesome Superboy #4, featuring Rex Leech’s skewed “Superboy: The Animated Series,” as illustrated brilliantly by the late Mike Parobeck).

“Watery Grave” (Superboy #13-15)
This three-parter from 1995 was actually my very first exposure to the Suicide Squad back before I was aware of much beyond that there had at one time been a team and book with that name. It’s pretty neat stuff as it places the happy go-lucky Kid in way over his head amongst a group of unrepentant thugs and murderers who stand in stark contrast to his bluster and general optimism. The story itself has Superboy and the Squad going after perennial string-pullers the Silicon Dragons in the culmination to much of what Kesel had been laying down over the book’s first year; Kesel also does a great job playing out the intrigue of a traitor within the group, a common theme, but one he nicely misdirects more than once. The action is top-notch as expertly done by Grummett and by the end of the story Superboy has definitely grown up a little following his first real solo epic—but not too much.

Sins of Youth
Superboy Definitives or not, I heartily recommend Sins of Youth just because it’s a fantastic and wonderfully entertaining story with more actually funny humor than just about any comics event ever plus Todd Nauck outdoing himself again and again, but it is cool that at its heart, this is a DCU-wide story that centers around Young Justice and, more specifically, Superboy. The gimmick of adult super heroes becoming teens and the young good guys getting older is a neat hook, but it’s also central to the through line of Superboy’s big character arc: that he can never grow up even if he wants to. Amidst the laughs and visual hilarity of this adventure, Karl Kesel and Peter David in particular give Kon some incredible pathos as well as one major turning point event that made the 11-year-old in me shed a tear for certain.

Superboy #83
It seems like I do nary a list for this blog without mentioning how perpetually skilled and underrated Joe Kelly is as a writer, but hey, you can’t fight truth. Back at the turn of the century, Kelly had another one of his too-short oddball runs on a book when he took on Superboy with artist Pascual Ferry and had a good ol’ time mixing smart comedy with straight up weirdness involving gorillas, robots and the like. His first issue was a particularly witty bit of meta-textual storytelling, as Superboy realized that he had somehow become considered “uncool” within the confines of the DC Universe and sets about giving himself a makeover that dragged him visually beyond 1993 and into 2001. As Kon muses on how he lost his hipness and chats with guest stars over how to regain it, Kelly does nice work picking apart the character and explaining why he is in fact timeless regardless of whether or not he needs a new costume.

Teen Titans Annual #1
If Karl Kesel, Peter David and Joe Kelly were Superboy’s principal stewards as he got to enjoy his early teen years, Geoff Johns was the guy who stepped in and started prepping him for real world responsibilities and an adulthood that may never come (this is comics), but never lost sight of the youthful exuberance that made the character stick to begin with. Nowhere does Johns’ “growing up” Superboy ring more true than in his Conner’s relationship with Wonder Girl, one of my favorite comic book romances of the past decade. While The Kid has always had a lady on his arm, what he had/has with Cassie feels more “real,” both in the way it’s been portrayed and in the sense you get that this is the first romance of his that could really go somewhere; in that latter regard, Geoff has always done a nice job making the relationship reflect the more heartfelt ones we have in our late teens or early 20’s as opposed to the flirtations of youth. This issue is maybe the best and most heartstring-tugging Conner/Cassie story in a pretty impressive pantheon that includes not only everything Geoff did with them on Teen Titans, but also the adorable “will they or won’t they?” routine Peter David had going for years in Young Justice. In the midst of Infinite Crisis and coming off Conner getting his ass kicked by Superboy Prime, he and Cassie share their feelings and memories, recalling all they’ve been through together and ultimately consummating their relationship before the world ends; it’s touching, poignant, and yet not too dire, as this is still a Teen Titans story starring Superboy after all.

The Definitives: Doctor Strange

Here's a tip to aspiring comic creators looking to create new characters: If you're looking to have your male heroes appeal to kids, don't give them greying temples.

From early on in my comic book fanship, I not only noticed that I never saw any real world physical evidence that men started going grey from their temples, I also quickly realized that the dudes sporting white patches around their ears were generally fatherly types who weren't gonna be challening the mulleted ear-pierced glory of Nova or Superboy for my attentions any time soon. This meant I ignored Fantastic Four before they "killed off" Reed Richards and put his wife in a bathing suit with the "4" cut out, did not purchase Green Lantern until Hal Jordan went nuts and got replaced by Kyle Rayner, and never paid any mind to Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme.

In the decade-plus since those youthful days, I like to think I'm developed enough to not be quite so quick in deeming a fictional character uncool simply because of a wacky physical trait. I think the proof in that is that I still can't stand Hal Jordan even though his hair is totally brown again (and Geoff Johns is writing great stories about him)

But in all seriousness, since I was 13, I've gone back and discovered many good FF stories as well as more than a few instances where I dug a Green Lantern yarn starring you-know-who.

I've also taken a shine to Doctor Strange, who I would never think to name as one of my very favorite characters, but I daresay he may top my list of comic book sorcery types. He definitely possesses a certain debonair charm and wizened cool that shines because he's a bit more advanced in years than most characters as opposed to in spire of it.

As my interest has recently been reignited thanks to the Strange limited series penned my the magnificent Mark Waid, here are my personal favorite stories starring the Master of the Mystic Arts.

"The Origin of Dr. Strange"
I'm not a big devotee of the Silver Age generally as I feel a lot of the material holds up better in theory than in practice, and while I'm cool with revering what that old stuff innovated and led us to, I prefer not to re-read it. I would say the two biggest exceptions I've found to that rule--i.e. the stuff I still enjoy reading in nearly 2010--are the earliest installments of Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, as well as those of Doctor Strange in Strange Tales by Lee and Steve Ditko. Obviously both strips benefitted tremendously from having artistic giants in Kirby or in Strange's case Ditko whose work was revolutionary and does not feel dated five decades later because it was simply that good. At the same time, the motivations provided by Lee and his co-creators for why their heroes did what they did also went a long way in both instances.

With Spider-Man, I dug the basics of his origin long before I developed any real interest in the character, and I'd say such is also the case with Doctor Strange. This makes sense, as in many ways the prototypical Stephen Strange was very similar to the formative Peter Parker pre-mystic schooling/radioactive spider bite; sure one was a wealthy and successful surgeon while the other was a put-upon nerdy teenager, but both fell squarely into the category of not being out and out bad guys, but also not folks spurred easily to heroism either.

The fact that Strange started out as a cocky jerk makes him infinitely more appealing in my book. That he sought out the means by which to ultimately do good not for that reason but to selfishly help himself adds a layer of pathos to his story and both provides that ever-present danger he could backslide into his previous unethical self as well as the satisfaction when he does not and devotes himself to penance for half a life in some ways ill-spent (I'm actually seeing even more parallels to Hal Jordan as I write this, but I don't want to take time articulating them, just thought it was worth noting).

Strange's origin has been re-told and fiddled with many times since, but I still defer to the Lee/Ditko version from Strange Tales #115 as being rad from the start and not really needing any update.

Marvel Fanfare
When I snagged the Marvel Fanfare trade gathering the first seven issues of that veritable 80's anthology title for a read, no question the crown jewels of the collection were a pair of standalone Doctor Strange stories by a quintet of industry legends, each dealing with Doc up against a brash young would-be contender to his Sorcerer Supreme throne.

In "To Steal the Sorcerer's Soul!" by Chris Claremont and the art team of Marshall Rogers and P. Craig Russell, the crafty Nicodemus uses a little girl to Trojan Horse his way into the Sanctum Sanctorum and then capitalizes on a distraction he created by victimizing Doc's girlfriend, Clea, to transfer most of Strange's considerable power into him. Having to think on the fly rather than rely on his years of experience and most potent spells, Strange jumps to the astral plane and then directs Clea in the use of her own mystical abilities in order to outwit the more-powerful Nicodemus in quite clever fashion if I do say so myself. Rogers' wonderfully wavt layouts aided by Russell's psychadelic inks are the perfect fit for a magic-based story while Claremont's usual loqautiousness also proves quite apt for Strange and makes me wish he had writen the character more over the years.

The ostensible follow-up tale, "The Showdown!" sees the arrogant yet oddly likable Ian McNee show up at Doctor Strange's door demanding a duel for the title of Sorcerer Supreme in a yarn by Roger Stern and Charles Vess. Doc shows poise, calmly inviting Ian in, explaining he has been expecting him, then ushering him along to the arena of mystic combat. Vess unleashes several pages of glorious mystic combat, pulling out all the stops in visually expressing magic in all its glory, before Stern abruptly tosses in a curveball that completely alters the proceedings in an unexpected way. It's a neat bit of smoke and mirrors, so I won't spoil the whole deal here, but needless to say, Strange must again rely on smarts over sorcery to dispatch Ian and teach him a lesson in the process. As much as I like arrogant unsure Doc, I also find his all-knowing zen persona to be neat as well, so I dig this bit of business a lot.

"Strange Matters"
As you may have gathered from the first two entries in this post, I find Doctor Strange to be quite the multi-faceted character, and it's largely in seeing him alternate between various figurative hats (no doubt pointy and adorned with many stars) from which I derive my enjoyment of following his adventures. Another role Strange fills within the Marvel Universe is that of de facto leader and babysitter of the ever-bickering Defenders, serving to try and keep teammates the Hulk and Namor at arm's length lest they tear each other apart rather than their foes.

During his epic run on Incredible Hulk, writer Peter David reunited the three original Defenders for a two-part tale in issues #370-371, illustrated by Dale Keown. It's actually an interesting twist on the typical dynamic, as the Hulk is in his belligerent but more intelligent grey incarnation while Namor is considerably calmer than usual, meaning Strange doesn't need to play peacemaker and instead enlists his two old allies in battling his counterpart Sorcerer Supreme from a dark alternate dimension.

Said baddie Sorcerer Supreme ends up possessing the Hulk and thus fisticuffs ensue, but I enjoy this story far more for PAD's trademark psychological dissection of the three leads and their relationships with one another, Strange and how he relates to his colleagues in particular. And "colleagues" is the right word in this case, as the trio clearly has been through enough to consider one another more than just co-workers, but they're not quite friends either. It's actually quite neat and refreshing to see a super hero dynamic based more on respect and necessity than pumped up camraderie once in awhile, and that's on display in full here.

I actually perhaps most enjoy the scenes between Doctor Strange and non-Hulked out Bruce Banner, as you can kinda feel a swell of pride in Doc for the long-suffering Banner and how he has managed to survive all these years and never been completely overwhelmed by the monster within. Doctor Strange doesn't have too many close buddies in the Marvel U outside of Wong, but he certainly shares something significant with Namor and the Hulk, and it's nice to see the human being get to shine over the magician for a bit, almost like watching your dad when some old college buddies he wasn't particularly to but shares fond memories with need a stopover.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series
Much as I consider the mid-90's Spider-Man cartoon a guilty pleasure, I hardly consider much about it definitive in any significant way, but man, they nailed Doctor Strange pretty stone cold.

In the opening chapter to the shows third season-long "Sins of the Father" arc, the aptly-titled "Doctor Strange," Spidey ends up needing the Sorcerer Supreme's help when Mary Jane gets caught up in a cult run by Strange's archenemies, Baron Mordo and the dread Dormammu. Spider-Man actually goes after Mordo on his own first, but ends up under hypnosis and dispatched to steal the Wand of Watoomb, necessitating Strange and Wong to break the spell and then offer back-up on the Wallcrawler's second run to save MJ.

As you can probably tell from that quick summary, in this half hour episode the folks behind Spider-Man: TAS manage to nail just about all the major hallmarks on Doctor Strange mythology, from his origin to the Sanctum Sanctorum to Wong to the Mordo/Dormammu combo and even the Wand of Watoomb. It kicks off with a pretty nicely-animated (for 1994) fight sequence with Strange putting down the mesmerized Spidey and gives Doc the chance to play the "big gun" cavalry he often serves as in the comics.

The episode also benefits from some stellar voice-casting, as the late John Vernon--no doubt best-known as Dean Wormer in "Animal House," but also a super hero voice acting alum as Rupert Thorne on "Batman: The Animated Series" and a legend to me and my buddies as the immortal Officer Mooney in the classic "Killer Klowns From Outer Space"--exudes equal parts authority and swagger as Strange. And George Takei as Wong? Awesome!

Doctor Strange: The Oath
I know I'm not the only guy reading comics today or reading this blog entry who first realized the potential for coolness in Doctor Strange in 2006 thanks to Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin's superlative limited series Doctor Strange: The Oath. This was the story that allowed me to look past the perception of the stodgy old guy with grey temples I remembered from youth and discover all the other stuff on this list (well, except the Spider-Man episode--that ship had sailed) plus much more.

Vaughan took Stephen Strange very much back to his roots, not turning the clock all the way back to his pre-sorcerous total heel days, but reminding us that beneath the Shakespearean verse and alliterative toys, there was still a self-assured fellow who knew he was very good at what he did and does it best with a wink and a smirk.

The story opens in the medical clinic of Night Nurse and wastes no time cutting to the quick as Wong rushes in with a Doctor Strange who is bleeding out thanks to a gun wound to the chest. Night Nurse races to save Doc's life with the aid of a surprising consult: Strange himself in astral form! Immediately Vaughan ignites sizzling chemistry between these two characters who straddle the medical and super heroic worlds, as ghost Doc has plenty of time to put the moves on the alluring Nurse even as he's overseeing his own emergency surgery.

However there's a third essential point of the characterization triangle of The Oath, and that's Wong. Ever Doctor Strange's trusted aide and closest ally, the typically unflappable Wong faces peril that provides the motivation for this adventure and allows Vaughan to show how much Strange has grown from that self-absorbed surgeon into a true hero who will risk everything for his the people he cares about. We also see the humanity in Strange as the oft-nearly omnipotent Sorcerer Supreme is faced with a problem he can't abra kadabra away, and thus shows his frustration and desperation as he rages against a deadly deadline.

Vaughan creates a unique dilemma for Strange (won't spoil it here) and provides him with fascinating enemies (that either), but the gold here is the presentation of the stoic Doctor as a three-dimensional and likable rogue who is fully capable of demonstrating friendship, romance and passion for doing what he believes. In short, he takes a character who was far too much a deus ex machina for many years and transforms him back into an exciting and vibrant protagonist who motivates events rather than end them.

Complimenting Vaughan's brilliant writing is Marcos Martin, an artist who needs not take a back seat to any illustrator in the modern era. Martin's trademark is the ability to take deceptively simple linework and use it to create gorgeous figures, capturing true emotion in every scene he depicts. He takes to Strange's world like a fish to water, exalting in both the out-of-this-world mystic scope as well as the subtle noir Vaughan uses to paint his renewed picture of the good doctor.

Though he compares himself to Sherlock Holmes throughout the series and the parallels are clear, the great detective has nothing on Doctor Strange in The Oath.

The Definitives: Fantastic Four

As a kid, I never really got into the Fantastic Four. I think a big part of that comes from me being in the throes of oncoming adolescent rebellion and not particularly cottoning to the idea of a super hero "family" being cool. Truth be told, I'm sometimes surprised the FF has remained as commercially viable as it has for so many years given that a large part of its target audience has always been tweens who don't want to spend time with their parents, but that consistent success speaks to the strength of the core concept.

That appeal and the inventiveness of what Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created is something I came to appreciate a lot more on a more professional/critical level, if still not really a personal one, as I resumed reading comics as an adult (or close to it) and began drifting into the industry myself. I began to gain a respect for what a game-changer Fantastic Four was in terms of moving comics away from the "everybody has the same personality and everybody is always happy" early Silver Age DC stuff and into the more nuanced character work of the 60's and beyond.

My third phase of interaction with the Fantastic Four is where I'm at today: I still wouldn't say I'm among the world's biggest FF fans, but I've developed a soft spot for Reed, Sue, Ben and Johnny that was never there before. Part of that may come from working at Marvel and having been exposed to more material than at any other time in my life, but I also think as I've gotten older, strengthened my relationship with my parents, and settled down a bit in temperament, I've been able to move past the bias I had against a family-oriented comic once upon a time and see there are some really excellent stories starring these characters.

Here are some of them.
"Bedlam at the Baxter Building!"
If you want an example of how Lee and Kirby were able to make the Marvel Universe feel like an actual universe long before the advents of Civil Wars and Secret Invasions, this would be the one in the textbook. It's the wedding of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, an event that would in and of itself qualify as a comic book landmark, but Lee and Kirby up the ante by having Doctor Doom use a "high frequency emotion charger" to influence pretty much every prominent Marvel villain who had been introduced by 1965, including Kang, the Mandarin, Electro, the Mad Thinker, the Puppet Master, Attuma, Hydra and more, into attacking the big event. Fortunately, the Avengers, the X-Men, Nick Fury and others happen to be on the guest list (and Spider-Man and Daredevil happen to be in the neighborhood), so the baddies never get inside the church, allowing Reed and Sue to focus on tying that knot. While the sizzle here is getting to see Kirby's unparalleled rendition of the entire Marvel U in one place, at one time, in one book, the steak is still the emotional stuff between the FF members, be it Reed finally committing to something other than science, Ben displaying his softer side or Johnny growing up a bit as his sister gets hitched; you could say it's not just a marriage of two super heroes, but also of dynamite action with scintillating soap opera as well (and I just did!). "The Coming of Galactus"
Ironically, while I have read the actual Galactus Trilogy in its original form at some point, that's probably the interpretation I remember the least; I do recall having seen it in plenty of other incarnations, both in print (most memorably in Marvels) and on the small screen as part of the seminal 90's FF cartoon (featuring Brian Austin Green rapping!). The story has translated so well on so many occasions in so many ways (and while I wasn't the biggest fan of the animated series I just mentioned, I loved the Galactus episodes, probably because they adopted it pretty faithfully) because it really is Lee and Kirby hitting on all cylinders with huge concepts, amazing set pieces, and wonderful characters, from the FF themselves to Galactus to the Silver Surfer. It's an epic that feels like a huge deal even if you go back and read it today, with high stakes and pivotal moments, so I can only imagine the scale back in 1966. While the FF don't necessarily get the whole spotlight, in many ways that is one of the times when Fantastic Four is at its best as a comic: the lead quartet are familiar and likeable enough to take something of a backseat and serve as your guides to a world of unfamiliar and amazing heroes and villains. The pathos of the Silver Surfer, the humanity embodied by Alicia Masters, the brilliant Kirby designs of Galactus and his technology, and the FF's struggle basically against God all make for a classic story that earned its place there.
"Terror in a Tiny Town"
If (like I said above) Lee and Kirby spent their impressive formative run on Fantastic Four largley utilizing the FF as a door to introduce the universe in their minds, a decade after they wrapped up, John Byrne took over as writer/artist and, while not abandoning the exploration aspect of the book altogether, definitely excelled when it came to really getting in the heads of the FF, showing what made them tick, pushing them to their limits, then building them back up. In a particularly impressive yarn from Fantastic Four #236, Byrne cold opens the issue with Johnny Storm having a nightmare about a familiar space flight and bursting into flames only to wake up to his normal, happy life in Liddleville, alongside Reed, Sue, a human Ben, a not-blind Alicia and her stepfather, Philip, who is not the Puppet Master? What the hell? Of course it's all good to be true, and you know that from page one, but Byrne weaves a tearjerker of a tale about the FF getting everything they ever wanted at too great a cost, and the horrible sacrifices they must make to set things "right." It's emotional, it's intensely psychological, and it features an incredible villain reveal as well as great art by Byrne to match his words.
Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules
I can pretty much guarantee that James Sturm and Guy Davis' Unstable Molecules is unlike any other Fantastic Four story you will ever read--that certainly rings true for me--but it's certainly worth it, as it takes the bedrock characteristics of the FF and uses them as the building blocks for an entirely different kind of story that is extremely thought-provoking and entertaining. Unstable Molecules is basically Reed, Sue, Ben and Johnny without super powers, placed in the complex world of America in the 1960's with their character quirks played out in what would seem to be logicial extremes in the "real world" without aliens and tyrants to battle. It's a fascinating commentary on relationships, gender roles, the class system, youthful rebellion and a lot more, as well as a surreal look at how bizarre it would be to live in the same neighborhood as the Fantastic Four even if they didn't turn invisible or have skin made of rocks. This sucker won an Eisner, so you don't need to just take my word for it.
"Unthinkable"
My first real, prolonged exposure to the Fantastic Four as a reader began in 2006 when Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo came onboard as the creative team. I was a big fan of Waid and dug Wieringo too, but I'll be honest: the nine cent price on their first issue was probably the biggest factor in me picking it up. Said issue did it's job though, as Waid penned a story that summed up perfectly why the FF was a fun grouping of diverse archetypes who played off one another beautifully and also demonstrated his ability to tell the sad side of their story while Wieringo just made everything look absolutely gorgeous. However, while I enjoyed the initial seven issues of what would become an excellent run just fine, it was in the eighth story, the prologue to Waid's opus to Doctor Doom, "Unthinkable," that I truly became a believer. I know that some folks weren't huge fans of the revamp Waid and Wieringo gave to Doom (I worked with them at Wizard), but for me, the idea that Doom would eschew science for magic as a way to finally gain his revenge against Reed and the FF made perfect sense and I loved how it opened up the toolbox beyond Doombots and deathtraps. From the prologue issue, which swings abruptly and powerfully from poignant to tragic, through the utter torture Doom puts the FF through in the subseqeunt chapters, "Unthinkable" is just amped-up emotion incarnate and maybe the best demonstration I've ever seen if what makes Doom such an awesome villain and unstoppable force of malice. But as much as the big overtures make "Unthinkable," so do the clever twists Waid throws in, not the least of which is how Reed ultimately saves the day. "Unthinkable" is a case where you can really see two great creators having fun and demonstrating mastery over their craft; it's quite something to behold.