7 Old School Marvel Comics that Deserve a Second Look

Marvel has been on the forefront of superheroes for years now, with the 21st century giving the publisher a stranglehold on the concept. The House of Ideas has only recently been unseated from the top of the sales charts, but they’re still going strong, givings readers the best superhero stories they can month in, month out. Over the years, there have been some Marvel books that everyone loves. They star the most popular characters in comics, and are continually published, getting periodic reboots every couple of years. Titles like Avengers, X-Men, The Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine, The Mighty Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and many others have defined what Marvel can be, but they’re are merely the portion of the iceberg above the waves.

Over the years, Marvel has put out and cancelled numerous series. Some of these books develop a cult following years later, but there are plenty of great older Marvel books that deserve more spotlight than they ever got. These seven old school Marvel series deserve a second look, because they are much better than they got credit for.

7) Generation X

Generation X has always been an X-Men classic, but it doesn’t get the love that team books like the New Mutants, X-Force, and the New X-Men (vol. 2) get. The book lasted 75 issues, from 1994 to 2001, with the first couple years of the book from creators Scott Lobdell, Chris Bachalo, Tom Grummet, and James Robinson giving readers outstanding comics. The book’s first 32 issues and the Age of Apocalypse tie-in Generation Next stand up there with the best of any other teen hero books in comics. It really captured the triumphs and tribulations of being a young mutant, and gave readers some stories they’ll never forget (also, the 2017 reboot Generation X (Vol. 2) is pretty great as well, bringing the team concept into the 21st century beautifully). The book created some unforgettable heroes that don’t get the credit they deserve.

6) Alan Davis’s Excalibur (Vol. 1) Run

There have been some tremendous X-teams over the years, and one that doesn’t get talked about enough is Excalibur (unless we’re talking about any version published after the ’90s; we try to forget most of those runs happned). The team was created by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis, bringing together X-Men like Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler, and Phoenix II with Captain Britain and Meggan to defend the United Kingdom. Davis would take over the team, drawing and writing Excalibur (Vol. 1) #42-52, #54-58, and #61-67. This era of the book took everything that the series did best and dialed it up to 11. There was action, there was humor, there was quirky situations, weird fantasy and sci-fi, and Davis’s brilliant pencils. This is the best run of the team ever, and you owe to yourself to check it out.

5) Ron Marz’s Silver Surfer (Vol. 3)

Cosmic Marvel has always been great. Nowadays, when people think of cosmic Marvel, they think of the Guardians of the Galaxy, but there was a time when the most important cosmic Marvel comic was Silver Surfer (Vol. 3). The series came to prominence when Jim Starlin used the book to help build Infinity Gauntlet, but it would be Ron Marz’s run on Silver Surfer (Vol. 3) that would make it truly great. Marz wrote three issues (#42-43 and #49) as fill-ins for Starlin, but would take over with issue #51, writing the series until #102. Marz was amazing at writing cosmic stories (he also wrote Green Lantern in this time), and he truly knew how to make Surfer’s adventures exciting. The best issues were those drawn by Ron Lim, one of the most underrated artists ever, but all of them are great.

4) X-Man

“Age of Apocalypse” was outstanding, taking the X-books into another universe. Cable became X-Man, introducing a new version of the hero. While the other AoA books would end, X-Man wouldn’t and it gave readers some of the best young superhero stories of the ’90s. Nate Grey was the best version of Cable, trying to deal with a new world and his amazing power level, all while everyone from Madelyne Pryor to Mister Sinister to Onslaught tried to manipulate him. Creators like Jeph Loeb, John Ostrander, Steve Skroce, Roger Cruz, ChrisCross, and more all gave the book some action packed stories with great drama. It’s a ’90s gem that no one talks about it and it deserves better than that.

3) Mark Gruenwald/Greg Capullo’s Quasar

Quasar has long been a C-list cosmic Marvel hero. He’s been an Avenger, and isn’t all that popular anymore, but in the early ’90s he had his own series. Quasar (Vol. 1) was a basic early ’90s superhero book until artist Greg Capullo joined legendary writer Mark Gruenwald in issue #18. The two worked together on Quasar (Vol. 1) #18-26, #27-29, #31-21, and #35-39. The two creators were able to give readers rollicking cosmic Marvel action, and it was one of the coolest books of the early ’90s. It might not seem like something you’d want to try, but it’s a forgotten classic.

2) X-Factor (Vol. 1) #71-150

X-Factor is one of many X-Men teams, and they have quite a rich history. The first 70 issues of the book starred the original five X-Men, but all of that would change with issue #71. Writer Peter David came onboard, the team became a government mutant group and changed forever. While most people only praise the David run on the book, it was honestly a cool book until it was cancelled with issue #150. While the David issues are definitely the best, there are still a lot of great issues after those, especially the issues written by Howard Mackie. As for the art, this era of the team gave us Larry Stroman, Steve Epting, Jeff Matsuda, and several other great artists. This portion of the series is a treasure trove of riches for mutant fans and I wish more people would give it a try.

1) Power Pack (Vol. 1)

Power Pack is the definition of an underrated series that readers have mostly forgotten about. The series, starring Alex, Julie, Jack, and Katie Power, along with their friend Franklin Richards at times, was the first team of pre-teen superheroes ever and was one of the gems of ’80s Marvel. The four children were given powers by a dying alien scientist called Whitey, giving each of them one of his four powers, so they could save Earth from alien conquerors known as the Zn’rx, beginning a new life of adventure. The book’s original run lasted six years, from 1984 to 1990, for 62 issues. Power Pack was created by Louise Simonson and June Biralta, with Simonson writing it the whole time. The book having one writer on it really made it soar, and it was able to dip into some pretty serious subject matter. This series is a Marvel classic, and if you haven’t read it, you definitely should.

What’s your favorite forgotten old school Marvel book? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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