The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

by **misac** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:51 pm

Today ends with one of my favorite horror comics, an indy book from the 80's, and a revamp that tried to fix one of the most messed up continuities of all time.

143. 17 points - Hawkman (Johns/Morales)

In 2002, following on the heels of his popular JSA series (which shows up later) Geoff Johns was given a solo series for Hawkman. Originally co-written with James Robinson, Johns wrote all but one issue of the first 25, and talented artist Rags Morales drew all but four of those issues as well.

One of the main focuses of this run was trying to balance all of the various continuity issues in the past of this character brought on by his resurrections, alien connections, original origins, and whatnot. In both JSA and the Hawkman series, Johns attempted to explain all of this in a way that made sense, and he did. Then he left the book and the new team continued to tell good stories, until issue #50 when it was retitled Hawkgirl and turned into a steaming pile of crap.

141. 17 points - TIE Nexus (Baron/Rude) - Werewolf by Night (Moench/Perlin)

Nexus (Baron/Rude)
nexus

Created in 1981, Nexus was a series about a guy 500 years in the future who received superpowers from an alien, with the catch that he had to hunt down and kill a selected number of mass murders each year. The alien would send out psychic images of the last moments of the victims, and they would continue until Nexus had killed the offending party.

The series was published by First Comics for many years, and crossed over with their characters such as Grimjack, American Flagg, and whatnot, before ending the ongoing with #80 in 1991 when First Comics went out of business, at which point the series moved to Dark Horse, which led to crossovers with some DH characters like Madman, and continued as a series of mini-series, with Rude and Baron continuing the numbering as if the ongoing hadn't ended.

Werewolf by Night (Moench/Perlin)

Doug Moench took over Werewolf by Night with issue #20, and Perlin joined him as artist with #26 (having previously done a couple of issues of the series before Moench took over. Perlin would stay on until #40, while Moench would stay on for three more issues. During their time together on the book, they created Moon Knight (who captured Jack thinking he was guilty of some murders, only to find out he was innocent and then they teamed up as heroes tend to do) told some great horror stories, and generally kicked ass.

Moench's stories played up the human nature of Jack Russell (one of my personal favorite aliases in comics), with his constant battle with his wild nature being a key role. Eventually Jack gained the ability to turn at will, though on the three nights of the full moon he was still a rampaging beast. Featuring guest stars like Man-Thing, Ghost Rider, Brother Voodoo, and Morbius, the book covered all of the major Marvel horror characters, and Perlin's art was top notch the whole way. If you ever get the chance, check it out. And also check out Moench's other Marvel works from this era like Moon Knight and especially Master of Kung Fu, two of the better series you people left off of this list.

http://173.199.169.70/index.php/features/the-outhouse-top-lists/12011-your-top-creative-runs-part-9.html/

by **chap22** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 5:56 pm

Hawkman -- i rreally enjoyed Johns & Rags' run. but the Graymiotti stuff was so far superior to that it kicked it in its junk, took its lunch money, and made out with its mom and hot older sister in a threeway while making it watch.

Nexus -- never read it

WbN -- i have always loved Jack Russell as a character, but have never read a single issue of his solo book other than the 1st appearance of moon Knight; really need to get this Essential

by **rdrsfn82** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:00 pm

chap22 wrote:Hawkman -- i rreally enjoyed Johns & Rags' run. but the Graymiotti stuff was so far superior to that it kicked it in its junk, took its lunch money, and made out with its mom and hot older sister in a threeway while making it watch.

Nexus -- never read it

WbN -- i have always loved Jack Russell as a character, but have never read a single issue of his solo book other than the 1st appearance of moon Knight; really need to get this Essential

I should read Hawkman some day, both by Johns and Graymiotti. Those seem like two runs I'd really enjoy.

Werewolf By Night, like just about everything else Moench did in that era, is fucking awesome.

by **Allen** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:16 pm

I voted for Harley Quinn. That was a fun book. Kesel really made Harley into a good character.

David's Aquaman was a good series, but he has done much better work elsewhere. Of course, it is the best Aquaman has ever been written.

by **covalesky** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:47 pm

With Kelly's JLA there 3 of my noms on the bottom part of the list

by **capjr** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:48 pm

Nexus sounds awesome. I never knew that that was its premise... :smt102

by **Royal Nonesuch** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 6:52 pm

Howard the Duck ties with...Aquaman?! Now, I never read that entire Aquaman run, but I'd be shocked if it was as good as Howard the Duck. God dammit I wish I voted.

The Nexus Archives, though pricey, are awesome.

by **e_galston** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:14 pm

Kelly's JLA was my first nomination.. Its really my favorite run on JLA.. i love a lot of what he did. Obsidian Age is probably my favorite JLA story.

by **Stephen Day** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:26 pm

misac wrote:http://www.theouthousers.com/index.php/features/outhouse-lists/12002-your-top-creative-runs-part-4.html/

I've never been a huge fan of either the Flash or Cable, so a bit of a meh from me regarding these two runs.

by **rdrsfn82** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:27 pm

capjr wrote:Nexus sounds awesome. I never knew that that was its premise...

I had never known anything about it before, but it sounds kind of interesting.

by **Stephen Day** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:28 pm

misac wrote:http://www.theouthousers.com/index.php/features/outhouse-lists/12003-your-top-creative-runs-part-5.html/

Akira is awesome, the other two here -- not my cup O' tea.

by **Stephen Day** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:29 pm

Royal Nonesuch wrote:Akira could have been written up by someone who's actually read it. If I knew it was available, I would have done it. Just saying.

Also, it should be way higher.

Agreed, but the problem is that I doubt many people thought of including manga.

by **Stephen Day** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 7:35 pm

misac wrote:http://www.theouthousers.com/index.php/features/outhouse-lists/12004-your-top-creative-runs-part-6.html/

Like Akira, Judge Dredd should be higher, but I'm not surprised that its not.

Waid's Ka-Zar was an amazing read. I didn't like how he portrayed Thanos, but everything else in that series was great.

I loved Marvel Team-Up back in the day.