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1969

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Cover prices are raised from $.12 to $.15. At least you "don't have to fumble around with pennies," says Stan.

Also this year (announced in the October Bullpen Bulletins) , the decision is made to abandon the policy of continued stories. All stories will now be contained in a single issue, with the exception of some currently ongoing stories and those rare occasions where a two parter is absolutely necessary. Stan says that fan opinion on continued stories was about 50/50 and he's decided to now favor the other 50. I believe one factor was that in these days before comic book shops, it wasn't always guaranteed that you'd be able to find a given issue. While this makes chronological placement easier, it also results in less complex stories and hurts the quality of the line.

Spider-Man continues to be the best comic of the line by leaps and bounds. This is due to a large cast of well developed non-super powered characters and the willingness to focus more, or at least equally, on the character side of Peter Parker than the action side of Spider-Man. Stan's writing isn't perfect, but it's much more down to earth and realistic here than the writing on any other book. When other books attempt to address social issues, it feels really clunky. Here, it almost works. If Romita was able to do full pencils instead of just breakdowns, this era would be remembered as truly classic.

There's a neat alliance between Egghead, the Mad Thinker, and the Puppet Master that had the makings of an unofficial crossover across a few books (i call it the "Evil Alliance" crossover based on a footnote in one of the issues) but it never actually goes anywhere.

Creator notes: Jack Kirby's workload shrinks further as he leaves Captain America. He is doing just Thor and Fantastic Four now. Jim Steranko does a few issues of Cap which are awesome but then he's gone as well. Neal Adams has a short but great run on the X-Men prior to the cancellation of that series.
Notable events:
  • The insane marriage of Henry Pym and Janet Van Dyne
  • Galactus fights Ego the Living Planet!
  • Rick Jones becomes Bucky and becomes Captain America's sidekick for a while
  • Dr. Strange starts dressing like a super-hero.
  • Adamantium is invented
  • Captain Marvel changes his costume and powers, and then Rick Jones becomes his sidekick
New characters: Other than the Falcon, not a lot of significant first appearances: Madame Hydra, Man-Ape, Controller, Man-Mountain Marko, Silvermane, the Squadron Sinister, Stingray, Prowler. This may be the result of the Marvel Universe having matured as much as a lack of creativity.

Amazing Spider-Man #68-69 
Sub-Mariner #9-11 
Iron Man #9 
Avengers #60 Marriage of Janet Van Dyne & Henry Pym
Silver Surfer #4 
Captain America #111-113 
Thor #160-161 
Daredevil #48 
Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #8 
Amazing Spider-Man #70 
Doctor Strange #175-178 New Dr. Strange costume
Avengers #61 
Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #9 
Avengers #62 1st Man-Ape
Amazing Spider-Man #71 
Uncanny X-Men #53 
Thor #162 
Hulk #111-115 
Daredevil #49-51 
Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #10 
Sub-Mariner #12-13 
Captain Marvel #12 
Avengers #63 Hawkeye becomes Goliath
Daredevil #52 
Silver Surfer #5 
Iron Man #10-13 1st Controller
Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #11 
Marvel Super-Heroes #20 
Iron Man #14 
Sub-Mariner #14 
Captain Marvel #13-14 
Avengers #64 
Fantastic Four #82-83 
Thor #163-167 
Avengers #65 
Fantastic Four #84-87 
Amazing Spider-Man #72 
Silver Surfer #6 
Captain America #114-119 1st Falcon
Captain Marvel #15-17 Captain Marvel gets his classic costume. Rick Jones becomes bound to Mar-vell.
Amazing Spider-Man #73 1st Man-Mountain Marko, Silvermane
Uncanny X-Men #54-56 1st Havok & Living Monolith
Uncanny X-Men #57-63 1st Sauron, 1st Savage Land Mutates
Hulk #116-117 
Thor #168-170 
Galactus: The Origin 
Daredevil #53 
Iron Man #15-16 
Daredevil #54 
Amazing Spider-Man #74-75 
Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #12-15 
Avengers #66-68 1st adamantium
Fantastic Four #88-89 
Sub-Mariner #15 
Silver Surfer #7 
Sub-Mariner #16 
Hulk #118 
Daredevil #55 
Silver Surfer #8-9 
Hulk #119-120 
Fantastic Four #90-93 
Amazing Spider-Man #76-77 
Doctor Strange #180-182 
Daredevil #56-57 
Tower of Shadows #1 
Thor #171 
Captain America #120 
Iron Man #17-19 Tony Stark's heart is fixed
Avengers #69-71 1st Grandmaster. 1st Squadron Sinister (incl. Nighthawk).
Sub-Mariner #17-18 
Silver Surfer #10-11 
Sub-Mariner #19 1st Sting-Ray
Hulk #121 1st Glob
Amazing Spider-Man #78-79 1st Prowler
Captain Marvel #18 
Doctor Strange #183 
Daredevil #58 
Hulk #122-123 
Iron Man #20 
Captain Marvel #19 
Daredevil #59 
Sub-Mariner #20 

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