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1989

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In many ways, 1989 feels like a year of regression. Several teams go back to "classic" line-ups, including the Fantastic Four, Avengers, and Alpha Flight. Steve Rogers goes back to being Captain America. Thor, already a direct homage to the 1960s at this point, is bonded with a human identity again. The secondary Spider-Man books, written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Sal Buscema and Alex Saviuk, deliver a very traditional approach to the character. On the other hand, Rob Liefeld debuts this year, joining Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, and Erik Larsen as a group of pre-Image artists that are redefining Marvel's art style. That and the increased use of characters like Punisher and Venom represent the other side of the Tom DeFalco era, a strange dichotomy between retro and the new trend.

The situation with the X-books is more unique. Inferno wraps up a number of longstanding subplots. Among other things, this results in clearing the way for a Cyclops/Jean Grey romance without having to deal with the existence of Madelyne Pryor. It also makes the other teams aware that the X-Men are actually alive. It restores Angel to X-Factor. It concludes the story of Magik and writes her out of the New Mutants cast. And directly afterwards, it moves the New Mutants away from Magneto, making them charges of X-Factor. But then, following Inferno, all of the X-teams except for the X-Men wind up getting sent on long trips off Earth, as if being put in a holding pattern while the X-Men team dissolves.

This year is marked by creative team strife. Walt Simonson leaves X-Factor due to editorial interference and his Avengers run is aborted right after he introduces a controversial line-up (and longtime artist John Buscema leaves as well). After being fired from West Coast Avengers last year, Steve Englehart is fired from Fantastic Four (replaced by Walt Simonson) and then Silver Surfer. John Byrne returns to Marvel to take over Avengers (as writer) and West Coast Avengers (as writer/artist), and also begins a new She-Hulk series. But he's quickly removed from She-Hulk after a dispute with his editor over Dwayne McDuffie's prestige format She-Hulk series. David Michelinie & Bob Layton's second Iron Man run comes to an end. Roy Thomas replaces Peter Gillis on Doctor Strange. Bill Mantlo ends his long association with Marvel, leaving Alpha Flight and Cloak & Dagger (replaced by James Hudnall and Terry Austin respectively).

The secondary Avengers books are renamed, formalizing the idea that it's a franchise and making sure the books are grouped together in stores. West Coast Avengers becomes Avengers West Coast, and Solo Avengers becomes Avengers Spotlight.

As with 1988, there are three major crossovers that at least partially occur this year: the end of Inferno, Atlantis Attacks, and the beginning of Acts of Vengeance. This is in addition to bi-weekly summer events for several books: Bloodstone Hunt for Captain America, Assassin Nation for Spider-Man, and Gehenna Stone for Wolverine (and "Dissolution and Rebirth" for X-Men, although it's only called that in advertisements).

The Dolph Lundgren Punisher movie was supposed to come out this year (it winds up only getting released only in Germany until 1991), resulting in Marvel publishing additional graphic novels for the character (who was already starring in two books), plus a new all-reprint Magazine and a focus on Punisher reprints in Marvel Tales.

The explosion of new books continues. This year adds Quasar, She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and Nick Fury. This is in addition to the five new books that were added last year (plus the fact that Strange Tales became Cloak & Dagger and Doctor Strange). The only cancellation is Speedball, although it's hard to understand, based on quality or sales, how Alpha Flight and Power Pack kept going. In addition to this, some books go bi-weekly during the summer. Marvel also does a recalibration of its cover date practice, so that the cover dates are only a month in advance of publication date, instead of two. This results in multiple issues having the same cover date (e.g. Nov and then Mid-Nov) as things get caught up. The end result is a much larger list of books on this year's category page.

Last year's strategy of increasing the books of popular titles to $1.00 only delays the increase of the rest of the line from 75 cents to $1.00 until the September cover date books. Annuals are $2. Prestige format direct-market books (including Doctor Strange, Moon Knight, Punisher War Journal, and Cloak & Dagger) are $1.50.

Notable events:
  • Jean Grey's memories merged with Phoenix and Madelyne Pryor's.
  • Madelyne Pryor revealed as the Goblyn Queen and killed.
  • Magik reverted to infancy.
  • Hydrobase (Avengers Island) sunk.
  • Psylocke becomes an Asian ninja.
New characters: Jubilee, Crossbones, the Great Lakes Avengers, Ahura, Blackheart

Marvel Comics Presents #10-17 (Colossus) 
Marvel Comics Presents #10 (Machine Man) 
Marvel Comics Presents #11 (Ant-Man) 
Marvel Comics Presents #13 (FF & Shanna) 
Marvel Comics Presents #14 (Speedball & Nomad) 
Marvel Comics Presents #16 (Longshot & Ka-zar) 
Marvel Super Heroes #2 (Red Wolf) 
Quasar #2-3 
Web of Spider-Man #46 
Cloak and Dagger #3 
Silver Surfer #21 
Amazing Spider-Man #311 
Uncanny X-Men #239 
Spectacular Spider-Man #146 
Daredevil #262 
Fantastic Four #322 
Web of Spider-Man #47 
Amazing Spider-Man #312 
X-Factor #35 
X-Terminators #3 
New Mutants #71 
X-Factor #36 
Uncanny X-Men #240-241 
Excalibur #4-5 
Avengers #299-300 J: Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Forgotten One, Thor
Daredevil #263 
Power Pack #42-43 
X-Terminators #4 
New Mutants #72-73 
Excalibur #6-7 
Fantastic Four #323-324 
Silver Surfer #22 
Spectacular Spider-Man #147 
Web of Spider-Man #48 
Amazing Spider-Man #313 
Daredevil #265 
X-Factor #37 
Uncanny X-Men #242 
X-Factor #38 Death of Madelyne Pryor
Spectacular Spider-Man #148 
Uncanny X-Men #243 
X-Factor #39 
Cloak and Dagger #4 
Power Pack #44 
New Mutants #74 
Excalibur #8 
New Mutants #75 
Damage Control #4 
Marvel Comics Presents #37 (Devil-Slayer) 
Doctor Strange #3-4 
X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) 
Fantastic Four #325 
Marvel Comics Presents #15 (Jean Grey & Red Wolf) 
Speedball #5 
Alpha Flight #66 Q: Manikin
Captain America #350 Steve Rogers restored as Captain America
Captain America #351 
Iron Man #238 
X-Factor #40 
New Mutants #76 
Power Pack #45 
Inhumans Graphic Novel 1st Ahura
Punisher #15-18 
Iron Man #239-240 
Wolverine #4-8 
Wolverine #9 
Wolverine #10 
Web of Spider-Man #49 
Solo Avengers #14-16 
Amazing Spider-Man #314 
Daredevil #266 
Marvel Comics Presents #17 (Watcher) 
Marvel Comics Presents #18 (Christmas) 
Marvel Comics Presents #25 (Ursa Major) 
Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 (Black Panther) 
Marvel Comics Presents #38 (Hulk) 
Speedball #6 
Spectacular Spider-Man #149 
Solo Avengers #17 
Punisher War Journal #4-5 
Web of Spider-Man #50 
Amazing Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth 
Solo Avengers #18 
Amazing Spider-Man #315 
Avengers #301-303 
Avengers annual #18 (Quasar) J: Quasar
Marvel Comics Presents #45 (Hulk & Shooting Star) 
Marvel Comics Presents #52 (Rick Jones & Hulk) 
Speedball #7 
Spectacular Spider-Man #150 
Web of Spider-Man #51 
Alpha Flight #67-70 J: Talisman, Shaman
Alpha Flight #71-73 Q: Purple Girl, Goblyn, Pathway
Alpha Flight #74-75 
She-Hulk #1 
Marvel Comics Presents #70 (Black Widow/Darkstar) 
Iron Man #241-243 
Hulk #355 
Captain America #352-353 
Hulk #356 
Silver Surfer #23 
Punisher #19 
Power Pack #46 
Daredevil #277 
Amazing Spider-Man annual #25 (Venom) 
Cloak and Dagger #5 
Captain America #354 John Walker becomes USAgent
Amazing Spider-Man #316-317 
Punisher War Journal #6-7 
Avengers #304 
Speedball #8 
Fantastic Four #326-328 J: Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman
Thor #402-405 
Fantastic Four #329 
Uncanny X-Men #244 1st Jubilee
Thor #406-408 Eric Masterson bonded w/Thor
Wolverine #11-16 
Captain America #355-357 
Marvel Super Heroes #9 (Thor) 
Speedball #9 
Excalibur #9-11 
Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem 
Excalibur #20 
West Coast Avengers #42-45 Q: Hawkeye J: Mockingbird, USAgent, Wasp
Silver Surfer #24 
Uncanny X-Men #245 
Speedball #10 
Spectacular Spider-Man #151 
Daredevil #267 
Spectacular Spider-Man #152 
Avengers Spotlight #23 (Vision) 
Punisher #20 
Marvel Comics Presents #26 (Hulk) 
Hulk #357-359 
Web of Spider-Man #52 
Doctor Strange #5-8 
Marvel Super Heroes #5 (Speedball) 
Marvel Super Heroes #6 (Speedball) 
Marvel Super Heroes #7 (Marvel Boy) 
Solo Avengers #19-20
Avengers Spotlight #21
 
Marvel Comics Presents #22 (Starfox) 
Doctor Strange #9 
Moon Knight #1-3 
Fantastic Four #330-333 
Silver Surfer #25 
Marvel Comics Presents #19-20 (Dr. Strange) 
Marvel Comics Presents #20 (Clea) 
Marvel Comics Presents #23 (Falcon) 
Marvel Comics Presents #24 (Shamrock) 
Marvel Comics Presents #24-31 (Havok) 
Marvel Comics Presents #27 (American Eagle) 
Marvel Comics Presents #44 (Dr. Strange) 
X-Men: Odd Men Out #1 (New Mutants) 
Daredevil #268 
She-Hulk #2-3 
West Coast Avengers #46 1st Great Lakes Avengers
Iron Man #244 
Punisher #21 
Marvel Comics Presents #38-45 (Wonder Man) 
Marvel Comics Presents #51 (Iron Man & Le Peregrine) 
Silver Surfer #26 
Avengers Spotlight #22-25 
Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1-4 
Power Pack #47 
Avengers #305-310 Revolving membership established
Avengers West Coast #47-49 
Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure 
Amazing Spider-Man #318-319 
X-Factor #41-42 
She-Hulk #4 
Web of Spider-Man #53 
Spectacular Spider-Man #153 
Web of Spider-Man #54 
Punisher #22-23 
Power Pack #48-49 
Power Pack #50-52 
Iron Man #245 
Marvel Comics Presents #38-47 (Wolverine) 
Daredevil #269 
Inhumans: The Untold Saga #1 (Inhumans Special) 
Silver Surfer #27 
She-Hulk #5 
Moon Knight #4-5 
Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #1 
Daredevil #270 1st Blackheart
Excalibur #12-13 
Marvel Comics Presents #17-24 (Cyclops) 
Marvel Comics Presents #21 (Paladin) 
Marvel Comics Presents #28 (Triton) 
Marvel Comics Presents #29 (Quasar) 
Marvel Comics Presents #30 (Leir) 
Marvel Comics Presents #32 (Sunfire) 
Marvel Comics Presents #50 (Captain Ultra & Silver Surfer) 
Marvel Comics Presents #57 (Black Cat) 
Marvel Fanfare #54-55 (Wolverine) 
Silver Surfer #28 
She-Hulk #6-7 
Cloak and Dagger #6-8 
She-Hulk #8 
Alpha Flight #76 1st Witchfire, Auric, Silver
Captain Marvel #1 
Silver Surfer annual #2 Atlantis Attacks begins
Avengers West Coast #50-52 
Iron Man annual #10 
Iron Man #246 
Marvel Super Heroes #9 (AWC) 
Uncanny X-Men annual #13 
Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 
Punisher annual #2 
Spectacular Spider-Man annual #9 
Daredevil annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) 
Avengers annual #18 (Atlantis Attacks) 
New Mutants annual #5 
X-Factor annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) 
Web of Spider-Man annual #5 
Avengers West Coast annual #4 
Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) 
Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) 
Silver Surfer: Judgment Day (Marvel Graphic Novel #38) 
Marvel Comics Presents #48 (Storm) 
Marvel Comics Presents #78 (Hulk) 
Marvel Super Heroes #6-8 (X-Men) 
Hulk #360 
Punisher War Journal #8-9 
Uncanny X-Men #246-247 Q: Rogue
Spectacular Spider-Man #154 
Web of Spider-Man #55 
Daredevil #271-273 
Amazing Spider-Man #320 
Iron Man #247 
Hulk #361 
Spectacular Spider-Man #155 
Wolverine #17-18 
Uncanny X-Men #248 Q: Longshot & Storm
Punisher: Return to Big Nothing 
Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) 1st Coldblood
Marvel Comics Presents #33 (Sub-Mariner) 
Marvel Comics Presents #34 (Captain America) 
Marvel Comics Presents #35 (Her) 
Marvel Comics Presents #36 (Hellcat) 
Marvel Comics Presents #41 (Freedom Force) 
Marvel Comics Presents #53-56 (Stingray) 
Marvel Comics Presents #127 (Speedball) 
Death's Head #9 
Moon Knight #6-7 
Iron Man #248 
Hulk #362 
Marvel Super Heroes #9 (Iron Man) 
Amazing Spider-Man #321 
Web of Spider-Man #56 
Iron Man #249-250 
Amazing Spider-Man #322-325 
Silver Surfer #29-31 
Spectacular Spider-Man #156 
Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #2 
Alpha Flight #77 
Fantastic Four annual #24 (Super-Skrull) 
Excalibur #14 
Thor #409-410 
Web of Spider-Man #57 
Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #3-6 
Punisher War Journal #10 
She-Hulk #9 
Spectacular Spider-Man #157 
Punisher #24-25 
Web of Spider-Man #58 
New Mutants #81 
Punisher War Journal #11 
Silver Surfer #32 
She-Hulk #10-11 
Daredevil #274 
Punisher #26-27 
Excalibur #15 
Amazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives 
Fury #1 
Classic Punisher #1 
Quasar #4 
Excalibur #16-17 
Punisher: Intruder 
Doctor Strange #10 
Marvel Fanfare #52 (Dr. Strange) 
Captain America #357-364 1st Crossbones
Avengers Spotlight #26 Acts of Vengeance begins
Damage Control #1 
Amazing Spider-Man #326 
Hulk #363 
Marvel Comics Presents #39 (Spider-Man) 
Spectacular Spider-Man #158 
Web of Spider-Man #59 
Doctor Strange #11 
Avengers #311 
Fantastic Four #334 
Doctor Strange #12 
Alpha Flight #78 
Amazing Spider-Man #327 
Power Pack #53 
Quasar #5 
Avengers Spotlight #27 
Iron Man #251-252 
Captain America #365 
Avengers West Coast #53 
Moon Knight #8-9 
Spectacular Spider-Man #159 
Quasar #6 
Daredevil #275-276 
Punisher #28 
Captain America #366 
X-Factor #43-50 
New Mutants #77-80,82-85 
Uncanny X-Men #249-250 
Wolverine #19-23 
Uncanny X-Men #251-253 
Uncanny X-Men #254-255 
Marvel Comics Presents #82-87 (Firestar) 
Marvel Super Heroes #14 (Speedball) 
Avengers West Coast annual #5 (Henry Pym) 
New Mutants #86 1st MLF (Forearm, Reaper, Strobe, Tempo, Thumbellina, Wildside, Zero, Stryfe)
New Warriors #1 
Thor #411-412 
Avengers #312 
X-Factor annual #6 (Mystique) 

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