Expert: Grant Hudson - 5/14/2008

Question
I would like to know what you would consider is the best issues or story arcs in the original X-Men, Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man, Ghost Rider; Hulk, and Fantastic Four series. Please put the issue #(s) next to your selections. Thanks.
P.S. I realize this is a large task so I don’t mind if it takes you a long time to do.


Answer
This is a major project and though I've been mulling over it for some time, I'm not sure that I can give you as much detail as you'd like. The time-consuming bit is finding the issue numbers, but here are the guidelines which might help you to locate the stories.

X-Men: the best story arc is called the "Dark Phoenix" arc, written by Chris Claremont and drawn by John Byrne. Jean Grey realises that she is possessed by the Dark Phoenix and must make the ultimate sacrifice to save the world and the man she loves.

Avengers: you have to go back to the 60s and 70s to the stories drawn by John Buscema around the time of the Vision's first appearance for the real classics. No other comic story (at that time anyway) was able to get away with quoting Shelley's poetry in a tale of conflict with Ultron, for example.

Iron Man: check out the early issues drawn by Gene Colan, a much-underrated artist, for the best "Iron Man versus the Mandarin".

Captain America: best issues are the Red Skull series also drawn by Gene Colan, where Cap swaps bodies with the Red Skull under the influence of the Cosmic Cube.

Amazing Spider-Man: very early Steve Ditko issues are the best.

John Buscema's 70s and 80s Fantastic Fours are the best.

I was never a great follower of the Ghost Rider or Hulk, but you should check out the Jack Kirby issues of Thor, when the Thunder God journeys through space with the Recorder and Kirby experiments with photo splash pages -brilliant, ground-breaking stuff.

Let me know if you need more detail.

Grant