The Silver Age magic starts to peter out just a bit. The quality of the writing probably isn't actually declining (it's never been very good to start with, in an absolute sense) but as the storytelling engines solidify, the fast and furious ideas that provided the energy to propel the mediocre writing is no longer really there. Stan Lee is still handling the majority of the writing himself, with Roy Thomas doing occassional fill-ins and handling Avengers and X-Men. Stan's writing is better, mainly due to the fact that there is a tongue-in-cheek self-awareness to his style. Thomas writes more earnestly, and while in an immediate sense it is to the detriment of the books he's writing, it is a good thing overall as it sets the groundwork for serious writers that will follow him. Thomas' books are also very reference heavy, which i enjoy. Spider-Man is still the gem of the line, followed by Fantastic Four. In addition to having the best writing (the writing on Spidey is actually sometimes good, and on FF it varies) both have great art by Romita Sr. and Kirby (in his prime) respectively. Another highlight is Jim Steranko's Nick Fury stories in Strange Tales. Gene Colan is also doing a great job on Daredevil and Tales of Suspense's Iron Man, but unfortunately the stories don't live up to the art. The Hulk finally gets a consistent artist in Marie Severin, who is pretty good. Don Heck handles the Avengers for most of the year, but things get better when John Buscema takes over at the end. Daredevil is the clunker of the line. His villains are terrible, the Foggy/Matt/Karen drama interminably drags at a time where the melodramatic romance dramas in Spidey, Thor, and Iron Man are finally moving on, and the Mike Murdock sub-plot is pure insanity. From a shared universe perspective, the Marvel Universe is pretty much solid at this point. Villains move between books without any real hoopla at this point, and their backstories are handled well. The coordination between Captain America (the only character at this point who has his own book and is also a member of a team) and the Avengers is very tight.

Notable events: The Inhumans finally free themselves, leading Marvel to ask the question "What the heck do we do with them now?". The Thor/Jane Foster romance unceremoniously ends. Peter Parker moves out of Aunt May's house into his own apartment. Flash Thompson is drafted into the Viet Nam war. Hercules joins the Avengers, first unofficially and then for real. Crystal unofficially joins the FF. The concept of the Kree as an ancient alien race is introduced, although we only see Ronan, the Supreme Intelligence, and a Sentry so far. Captain America & Sharon Carter's on again, off again romance starts up. Baron von Strucker appears for the first time in the modern age.

New characters: Ulik, Sif, Banshee, Leap Frog, Shocker, Abomination, Blastaar, Kingpin, Robbie Robertson, Supreme Intelligence, Ronan the Accuser, Adam Warlock, MODOK, Contessa Valentina Allegra De la Fontaine, Clay Quartermain, Captain Stacy, Wrecker