Set in the future (circa 2070s), the Earth finds itself terrorized by an alien race of plunderers called the Horde. The Horde, while more technologically advance than humans, are content to run raids throughout the world taking what they need while humans are helpless to stop them. That is until Dr. Tuolema develops a super-power granting process, dubbed the "Morituri Process". Unfortunately, the process has one draw back in that it kills the subject within a year.
 

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Roger Stern returns in issue #65, “Charlatan”, as regular writer and is joined by Paul Smith, who had recently drew the Uncanny X-Men. Smith immediately delivers with a wonderful splash page. He inks his own art this issue and aren't as sharp and clean as Terry Austin's inks (who inks issue #66). Stern wrote the Dr. Strange that I grew up with and I really like his script. 

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A great way to show character is by deconstructing a character. Mark Gruenwald in a single issue takes Hawkeye down to one of the lowest point in his career. At the beginning of the issue, he’s the security head for a chemical company and by the end of it, he barely survives a toxic waste death trap, gets fired, and gets dumped by his girlfriend.
 

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The New Mutants #18-31
August 1984- September 1985
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz

When the August 1984 issue of The New Mutants hit the stands, many comic book fans were stunned... or at least very surprised.  Why?  Issue #18 featured a fully painted cover. 

In the early 1980s, a painted comic book cover was virtually unheard of.  Imagine then, at a time when John Byrne and George Perez were considered kings of their craft, walking into your local comic book shop or, more likely, a convenience store and seeing an image in a medium usually reserved for “real” art. 

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First appearing in Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu #22 and then sporatically through the Marvel Universe, this second string character was given a four issue miniseries. In this miniseries, he learns that his new powers are growing uncontrollable and slowly killing him.

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Next to Milgrom’s early work on the West Coast Avengers, I think that this is some of his best work, especially since he inks his own pencils. Claremont’s plot and script are solid and enjoyable. He excelled at character development, especially with Kitty as he takes her down to her lowest point and then making her work back to the top and face her fears. Claremont keeps to the basics of storytelling and accomplishes his goals.

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Simonson's strength clearly lies in his characterization. He returned The Mighty Thor to its roots and revitalized Thor's Asgardian supporting cast, like the Balder, Sif, Loki, the Warriors Three, and Heimdall. Simonson's Asgardian gods aren't carefree beings. He puts them through a lot of emotional and physical trauma and they change as dynamic characters should.

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This miniseries is a mediocre effort that does achieve one thing: to free Namor of his Atlantean responsibilities. Namor can then rejoin the Marvel Universe without the baggage of Atlantis. Roger Stern had Namor join the Avengers and wrote of the disapproving public reaction. John Byrne, in 1990, would revamp Namor with a fresh 90s feel and succeeded in breathing new life into this golden age hero.

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I noticed that Marvel was putting out a few limited series starring core characters from the Defenders and picked up the Ice Man series. I was disappointed. 

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Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics, applied a formula similar to Marvel's first limited series, The Contest of Champions, and created The Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars to tie in with a Mattel line of action figures and toys. A slam-bang, no holds barred, cosmic slugfest with Marvel's most popular heroes and villains was a fan's dream. This series set out to make it a reality.

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This miniseries, which actually is more of a crossover since it features two teams that each had their own titles at the time, was collaboratively written by regular series writers Chris Claremont and Bill Mantlo. I was never much of a Micronauts fan, but having been an X-Men fanatic, I had no choice in picking up this miniseries. This limited series was definately targetted at your typical X-Men fan with an angle to try and sell you on the Micronauts. A disproportionate amount of time is spent on the Micronauts, their characteristics and origins, which is clearly intended to try and hook the reader. 

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The West Coast Avengers mini-series was a spin-off from The Avengers and gave fan-favorite Hawkeye the leadership of a west coast branch of the Avengers. Hawkeye’s new role was a great reversal for the character since he spent his early career as an Avenger criticizing and second-guessing his former leader Captain America. The Vision recruited Tigra, Iron Man, and Wonder Man to join Hawkeye and Mockingbird as the West Coast Avengers’ founding members.

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