I’d love to see this feature regularly, Greg. It’s a hoot (and sometimes, depressing) to see how things have changed.

Infinity Gauntlet? Really. That series was AWESOME!!! when I was 12.

About a year and a half.

Another article that I used for reference was their “Top 100 Trade Paperbacks of All Time” list. Again, some debatable choices, but that was quite a guide when I first found it (issue 131, I think, and then released on its own [though, sadly, not updated] for a Free Comic Book Day).

in august ’96 i was 14, and mostly still read x-titles, spawn, and wildcats, but was just beginning to get into good stuff. i discovered watchmen and sandman earlier that year, while starman, preacher, and jla, were still pretty new in their runs and i had begun getting them as well due to their exposure in wizard.

i was the perfect age for this issue of wizard to come out, as i was just beginning to understand what was good, and getting interested in seeking it out. the article on the 100 comics you should own became my primer for the history of modern comics, and over the next two years, i vigorously sought out the stuff on that list. this list first led me to the wolfman/perez titans run, the morrison animal man run, byrne’s fantastic four run, and simonson’s thor run. eventually, i got every issue on the list except sandman and dark knight, which i got in trade. and i actually still have it all except for infinity gauntlet (i agree with greg- what the hell was that doing on there? it should have been either legion-great darkness saga, some giffen/dematteis JLI, the original wolverine miniseries, or american flagg).

while i now think some of the stuff on the list maybe isn’t that great, i still wonder if i might not even be into comics anymore without it.

and really, that’s the point of lists, isn’t it? sure, making them is fun, and arguing about them is even more fun, and going back through your old stuff and rereading things you’d forgotten about is a great reward, but that’s all a distant second. the real reward is, because of lists like that, and the best storyline’s ever list we’re doing on this site right now, some 14 year old today might be inspired to buy an alan moore swamp thing trade, or whatever else, find it just as exciting as the rest of us, and get hooked for life just like i did.

Wow! Marc Silvestri takes Top Cow and goes home! Er, leaves Image. Silvestri felt that “Image’s goals … drifted away from the original principles it was founded on.” What exactly were those? Make buckets of cash? Top Cow’s goal: “Produce the highest level of quality in the industry, and provide it in a timely manner.” Good luck with that.

Well, he left because he didn’t want to be associated with Liefeld and Extreme’s books – I believe he was the first to put the ‘top cow’ logo on his books, and tried to get the others to as well, so that his books weren’t associated with ugly, late shite such as Alan Moore’s opus ‘Violator Vs. Badrock’.
So from that point of view, you can see what he was trying to do – and once they forced Liefeld out he came straight back.

Crazy Rob Liefeld bought the rights to Battlestar Galactica. Does he still own them?

I believe Dynamite has the rights to both the original series, and the revamped edition – but you should google around for his Battlestar work.
It’s pretty funny until your eyes throw up.

It’s kind of weird Wizard didn’t mention it.

Yeah, but it was pretty hard to predict where the internet was going in 1996 – it was still slow, and a lot of the features we take for granted now weren’t around.
It was just text and some pictures and people hadn’t quite figured out how to make cash off of it.

…what? That’s as good a reason to hate something as anything…

While I wasn’t exactly a child I did by my first issue of Preacher back in Jr High because Wizard was going on about how great it was.

True, while we still have the Zenescope titles and other still sporting the T&A look on their covers, we at least still don’t have a ton of swimsuit/lingerie “specials” being spit out by Image, Wildstorm, Chaos, and the like every month…

Lady Death in Lingerie #1

Wow, maybe we have come a long way, baby?

Da Fug: Occasionally I’m serious and occasionally I’m not. As I don’t read Wizard very much any more, I didn’t know Shamus was still involved with them, so that was a serious question. Good to hear he’s still fighting the good fight!

Great post Greg – I didn’t know Wizard could be so fun and informative.