70 Years of Marvel - 2000

One of DC Comics' biggest names took his first step into Marvel waters this year, with Grant Morrison's Marvel Boy, a Kree soldier who fell to Earth and fell out with pretty much everyone he met. Morrison would make a bit more of a name for himself in the years to come, whilst Noh-Varr would vanish without trace for the next few years, until he was recruited to work for Norman Osborn, adopting the Captain Marvel identity. But, you may ask, what happened to the previous Captain Marvel, the one who was Mar-Vell's son? Well, in 2000, he was just being launched in his own title, bonded with Rick Jones, and being written as a comedy drama by Peter David. His book would last a few years, and on its cancellation, he'd join the Thunderbolts, change his name to Photon, and be killed by Baron Zemo. Oh, the indignity.

The British were coming in 2000. In addition to Morrison's debut, 2000 also saw Warren Ellis take control of several of the X-Books, and Garth Ennis start writing the adventures of the Punisher. Additionally, fellow Brit Paul Jenkins' introduced the Sentry, his amnesiac hero from the dawn of the Silver Age.

It also saw the release of Marvel: The Lost Generation, an interesting, misdirected, and fairly futile attempt to bridge the ever-growing gap between the end of World War II and the start of the modern age of superheroes. Presented by Roger Stern and John Byrne, the characters introduced in the book vanished without trace as soon as the last issue of the series hit the stands.

Somewhat more long-lasting was Ultimate Marvel, another new brand, this one existing solely to relaunch the adventures of Spider-Man, the X-Men, and others in a new universe, unbound by all that annoying continuity. In time, these books would become as convoluted as the mainsteam Marvel Universe, but for a while there, new comic fans could dive into comics without needing an encyclopedia.

In other news, 2000 was the year we lost Charles Schultz and gained George Bush Jr. I'm sure there was some good news, but buggered if I can find any.

70 Years of Marvel - 1993

The line had kicked off at the tail end of the previous year, but 1993 was the year that the Marvel 2099 line really kicked off. Set in a dystopian future world run by mostly evil corporations, 2099 dealt with the introduction of super-types to that world. Notably, the line featured Ravage, a character created and written by Stan The Man, in what I'm pretty sure was his most recent, and at this rate, probably last, creation for Marvel. Other books in the line featured future incarnations of Spider-Man and the Punisher, and a version of Dr Doom about whose true identity there was some mystery.


Subsequently, these initial books were followed up by X-Men, Ghost Rider, and Hulk titles, as Marvel attempted to squeeze every last buck out of their cyberpunk / dark future fans. By the time the Fantastic Four arrived in the world of tomorrow, the 2099 cash cow had pretty much been bled dry. To be fair, this was 1996, so the concept had had a good innings.


Finally killed off in 1998, with the arrival in the future of Captain America, there have been occasional attempts to revisit the 2099 line, most recently this year with the Timestorm book, and who knows, we may yet see the line spring back into life, sometime in the next 90 years.

1993 also saw the Avengers get a new member, the Shi'ar, Deathcry, and also saw the arrival of yet another Captain Marvel. This one was Genis-Vell, the son of the original Kree hero, and used the title, Legacy, before eventually taking over the mantle of his father. Genis-Vell first appeared in an annual, as did Adam-X, who for a while, was nearly someone important in the X-Books.

Finally, this was also the year in which, after keeping the same outfit for almost all of the 30 years of his existence, the Powers-What-Be decided to give Daredevil a new costume, one that only a blind man could love.


Yes, folks, it really is that hideous. Thankfully, this was kicked into touch pretty swiftly, banished to the land of Nineties Nightmare Costumes, where it belongs.

In the real world, 1993 saw Slicky Willy Clinton take over as President. On TV, the X-Files were out there, Frasier Crane was moving to Seattle, and Andy Sipowicz was becoming the best loved cop on telly.