What is your least popular Marvel run? 0

[shadroch]

For me, I'd say it's a three way tie between Iron Man, Hulk and Submariner.  Was a big fan of TOS, but once Iron Man got his own book I  found the stories lacking.  With the exception of Issues 55, and the two part Dr Spectrum/Thor Silver and Bronze Age IM didn't do much for me until the so called War of The Super Villains and even that ended poorly.  I still can't read Hulks from about Issue 75 of TTA up. I love the character, thought he was great in The Defenders but never cared for his solo books.  Namor is another character that , in my view, is a great co-star or guest star but simply couldn't carry a book in the 1960s or 70s.  I did enjoy the Byrne series, but not the vintage stuff.

Somewhere along the line, I fell in love with the X-Men and even though most of their stories sucked, the characters were great.

[blazingbob]

Sgt. Fury

[mysterio]

14 hours ago, shadroch said:

For me, I'd say it's a three way tie between Iron Man, Hulk and Submariner.  Was a big fan of TOS, but once Iron Man got his own book I  found the stories lacking.  With the exception of Issues 55, and the two part Dr Spectrum/Thor Silver and Bronze Age IM didn't do much for me until the so called War of The Super Villains and even that ended poorly.  I still can't read Hulks from about Issue 75 of TTA up. I love the character, thought he was great in The Defenders but never cared for his solo books.  Namor is another character that , in my view, is a great co-star or guest star but simply couldn't carry a book in the 1960s or 70s.  I did enjoy the Byrne series, but not the vintage stuff.

Somewhere along the line, I fell in love with the X-Men and even though most of their stories sucked, the characters were great.

I struggled through the later TTA Hulk stories, but the early part of his own title are pretty awful.

[rjpb]

I'll go ahead and assume we are discussing Superhero/Adventure type runs, as I didn't read Patsy and Hedy as a kid.  I always found Iron Man next to unreadable, even when Colan was delivering the art in TOS.  I wasn't much of a Sub-Mariner fan either.  As a kid, I think I even preferred reading Marvel's westerns to those two. 

[KirbyJack]

 Marvel never had a firm idea of what the Hulk exactly was; and I think the stories suffered greatly from it.

Was he Mr. Hyde? The Werewolf, coming out only at night? A mindless pawn at the beck and call of Rick Jones? Frankenstein's monster? Was he a viscious thug, a man-child, Captain Marvel from a gamma ray machine, instead of "Shazam!"?

Even the "Hulk like beans" version they settled on for years was more readable, I think simply because his persona wasn't constantly fluctuating. 

Just an opinion, I'm wrong a lot.

[aardvark88]

1. The Cat (even by Wally Wood)

2. Super-Villian Team Up

3. Marvel Presents (Bloodstone) but got better after #3 with GotG

[shadroch]

I loved Super- Villain Team Up, especially the whole shroud storyline. Re-read it about twenty years later and was very disappointed.  Strangely, I hated Skull the first time around and really enjoyed it much later.

I didn't care for bloodstone, and have never re-read it.

[1950's war comics]

Defenders were drek........................

[Readcomix]

12 minutes ago, aardvark88 said:

1. The Cat (even by Wally Wood)

2. Super-Villian Team Up

3. Marvel Presents (Bloodstone) but got better after #3 with GotG

I had the same experience when I reread SVTU. Held up much better in memory. The exception is the SVTU 14-Champions 16 crossover that pita Magneto against Dr. Doom. That holds up pretty well. I did like the Shroud as a character.

[Readcomix]

4 minutes ago, 1950's war comics said:

Defenders were drek........................

I'd say drek is a stretch, but much of what Engelhart did was out there, with the mystery elf with the gun, the headmen (which did move some pre-hero Atlas characters into Marvel), even the zodiac and red rajah. But from the inception through Valkyrie intro through Avengers/Defenders war; Wrecking Crew intro, the Sons of the Serpent etc. ... The first couple years were actually quite awesome.

[collector_bill]

I never liked the Hydra/Shield take over of Strange Tales .

[Ken Aldred]

21 hours ago, Readcomix said:

I'd say drek is a stretch, but much of what Engelhart did was out there, with the mystery elf with the gun, the headmen (which did move some pre-hero Atlas characters into Marvel), even the zodiac and red rajah. But from the inception through Valkyrie intro through Avengers/Defenders war; Wrecking Crew intro, the Sons of the Serpent etc. ... The first couple years were actually quite awesome.

That's classic Steve Gerber.

[Ken Aldred]

 

Shogun Warriors

Human Fly

 

 

Edited July 15, 2017 by Ken Aldred

[namisgr]

Since we're in the Silver Age forum, I'll go with Daredevil, TTA/Submariner, and TTA/Hulk.  After the first few issues featuring each character, the stories and art became more forgettable.

Edited July 15, 2017 by namisgr

[KirbyJack]

As long as we're bashing Tales To Astonish, the Gi - Ant Man stories weren't exactly Marvel's Finest Hour.

That said, I still sorta like 'em. The first comic I ever bought was the Marvel Super-Heroes reprint of TTA 90. First Abomination by Gil Kane, Everett Subbie, and I freakin' LOVE that issue!

[Readcomix]

32 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

That's classic Steve Gerber.

Correct; mixing them up as its been a while. Some of that Defenders weirdness was from Englehart as well, right? It's been too long. I have the whole run and keep telling myself I'm going to read it end to end one of these months, but I think maybe I am afraid of finding it not hold up as well as I recall it. (Though I still think the story in which Doc, Nighthawk, and Luke Cage are battling the Wrecking Crew and then Hulk shows up will still crack me up.)

[Readcomix]

2 minutes ago, KirbyJack said:

As long as we're bashing Tales To Astonish, the Gi - Ant Man stories weren't exactly Marvel's Finest Hour.

That said, I still sorta like 'em. The first comic I ever bought was the Marvel Super-Heroes reprint of TTA 90. First Abomination by Gil Kane, Everett Subbie, and I freakin' LOVE that issue!

The Abomination is a great villain! And it's not easy to make non-grand great villains (he's not great in that Thanos or Dr Doom way, but in that Captain Cold solid rival way).

[shadroch]

The Defenders were great for a few years, but sometime in the mid-30s they lost their edge. They went from being a top of my pile book to mid and then low in the pile. They aren't Silver Age, though.

[mysterio]

3 hours ago, KirbyJack said:

As long as we're bashing Tales To Astonish, the Gi - Ant Man stories weren't exactly Marvel's Finest Hour.

That said, I still sorta like 'em. The first comic I ever bought was the Marvel Super-Heroes reprint of TTA 90. First Abomination by Gil Kane, Everett Subbie, and I freakin' LOVE that issue!

I always found the Antman/Giant Man stories to be a bit corny but fun. Forgettable, but entertaining enough while you were reading them. At least they weren't a slog like the Hulk stories eventually got to be. I'll definitely agree that the Abomination story in #90-91 is a highlight. 

[Ken Aldred]

Something that I wouldn't read anymore past the first 4 issues is Silver Surfer.

Very one-note, tedious, whiny philosophising.

Some great John Buscema art, though, indisputably.