Comic books have been a major part of popular culture for the better part of a century. In fact, Superman and Batman have been around so long that they are slated to enter the Public Domain in 2034 and 2035, respectively. With most iconic comic heroes having decades of history behind them, there have plenty of iconic moments and storylines from previous decades.
Here are some of our favourite comic storylines from the '70s through to the '90s.
Age of Apocalypse (1995-1996) is peak '90s storytelling
The Dark Age of Comic Books is usually marked as beginning at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s — at roughly the same time the launch of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game introduced us to the word "grimdark", giving a sense of the general direction of pop culture as a whole. In this context "dark" refers to the tonal and thematic shifts being undertaken by comics, rather than the quality of those comics — though the worst excesses of comics in this time period did lead to a fair few infamously bad ideas.
One of the most triumphant examples of '90s-era comic book storytelling is Marvel's sprawling alternate universe crossover Age of Apocalypse. For better or worse, Age of Apocalypse is absolutely a time capsule of the Dark Age of Comic Books. The basic premise between the alternate universe being depicted over the course of the storyline is that Professor Xavier's death sacrificing himself to save Magneto from a vengeful Legion on the one hand cause Magneto to commit to Xavier's ideals and take it upon himself to become the leader of the X-Men — actually quite similar to what happened at the end of the original '90s X-Men cartoon and the beginning of the X-Men '97 revival — but on the other hand allowed Apocalypse to rise to power, basically take over the world and enforce a ruthless Social Darwinian dystopia.
There is a compelling storyline in Age of Apocalypse, though it can often veer into being too relentlessly dark and bleak for its own good. Similarly, the sheer force of the '90s aesthetic of the comic's art is either striking and vivid or unintentionally hilarious with little middle ground — notably, the Age of Apocalypse version of Cyclops lost an eye to Wolverine, making him literally a cyclops…
We're far enough out from the '90s by now that there are plenty of comic fans who weren't around to experience that era of comics firsthand, so Age of Apocalypse serves as a fantastic summary of the state of comics in the period.
The Death of Superman (1992-1993) did the unthinkable
There's a famous joke in comics that the only people who stay dead are Bucky, Jason Todd and Uncle Ben — to further demonstrate how cheap death in comic books is, since that joke was first made, Bucky and Jason Todd have both come back. With that in mind, 1992's crossover event The Death of Superman was probably never going to stick. Still, in the moment it was easily one of the most shocking moments in the history of comics up to that point.
Granted, Superman wasn't the first superhero to be killed off, and even Superman himself had died several times already (though mostly in stories set in non-canon alternate universes). Still, The Death of Superman was a major moment, showing the iconic superhero not just losing the fight, but losing his life in the process. Unlike the previous non-canon stories, The Death of Superman did the unthinkable by presenting a mainline story about a world without Superman.
Ultimately, however, killing off the world's most famous superhero was unthinkable and DC revived Superman by the end of 1993.
Green Goblin Reborn (1971) was the beginning of the end for the Comics Code Authority
For fear of being accused of corrupting a generation of young minds, the comic book industry created the Comics Code Authority in 1954 to regulate the industry by mandating a series of content guidelines for comics. However, the content guidelines of the Comics Code Authority have gone down among comics fans as infamously strict and narrow-minded.
How strict were these guidelines?
When Stan Lee agreed to do a storyline about the dangers of drug use at the reset of the US Department of Health, the story was forbidden by the Comics Code Authority for depicting drug use at all, even though the stated purpose of the Spider-Man storyline was to portray drug use as unambiguously negative at the request of the US government. Despite not getting the approval of the Comics Code Authority, Marvel went ahead with publishing the storyline and issues 96-98 of The Amazing Spider-Man went to market pointedly bare of the Comics Code Authority seal of approval.
Admittedly, Green Goblin Reborn is not necessarily the best Spider-Man storyline considered for its artistic merits. However, it's definitely worth reading for its huge impact on the comics industry going forward. It didn't immediately break the hold of the Comics Code Authority, but it lead to some of the guidelines being revised and softened and, most importantly, Stan Lee and Marvel demonstrated that the Comics Code Authority didn't actually really do anything.
Arhkam Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth (1989) is a surreal deep dive into Batman's psyche
Comparing and contrasting Batman and the Joker is one of the most common thematic explorations authors of Batman comics have undertaken. The conclusion is generally that the two are reflections of each other, existing in a sort of bizarrely symbiotic relationship. The exploration of this phenomenon and its implications are the driving forced behind Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.
With fittingly dreamlike — and often nightmarish — art by Dave McKean that feels more like a vision than a depiction of something happening in the real world, not helped by the fact that the asylum itself is portrayed almost as a living, conscious entity that's warping reality around itself and the people inside it, this story is a vivid experience. What follows is a journey through the mindscape and psyches of Batman and his antagonists that makes some really compelling insights into these characters.
Arkham Asylum demands multiple reads. The surreal art can be hard to decipher, the plot itself is full of symbolism and philosophical and psychological subtext — and there's at least one instance of thematically important untranslated Greek text. Recent re-releases of the graphic novel edition include the comic's full script with annotations from Morrison, which do help with unravelling just what exactly is unfolding on the page.
A proposed sequel was announced in 2017, but has apparently been put on hold as of 2020 with no updates coming since then.
The Legendary Super Saiyan (1991) is an iconic manga series' defining moment
The Super Saiyan transformation is so synonymous with the Dragon Ball franchise that it can be hard to remember that there was a time when it wasn't part of the Dragon Ball mythos. Goku got all the way through the original Dragon Ball and almost three full story arcs of Z before the words "Super Saiyan" were even spoken, and it took several more volumes before Goku finally unlocked the transformation for the first time.
And it was awesome.
After going Super Saiyan for the first time, Goku demonstrates himself to be the strongest fighter in the universe (at least up to that point) and begins to handily dismantle Frieza in combat, who had been running roughshod over the rest of the heroes before then. Notably, when the official Dragon Ball website polled fans to rank Goku's best quotes over the franchise's history, no fewer than four of the top ten came from Super Saiyan Goku's final battle with Frieza.
Since most anime fans who grew up during the '90s probably saw Goku's Super Saiyan transformation in the Dragon Ball Z anime, the manga version of the storyline is worth a read so fans can experience the original manga moment that inspired the animated version. Notably, the manga version of the storyline is faster-paced than the infamously slow anime arc, which was deliberately expanded during the anime's production so it wouldn't overtake the manga.
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