Flashback Fmonday!

[une_croix]

Late 1996!

Marvel are just about to release the Heroes Reborn titles. DC have just wrapped up Kingdom Come. Savage Dragon is just outside of the top 50 on the Diamond charts (which is topped by X-Men, Uncanny, Wolverine, and Spawn).



Let us have a look back at that wonderful time, via Wizard magazine.

8 scans under the cut.


The cover, Spawn and Spidey, by J Scott Campbell. The reason? An editorial inside that explains "why a Spawn/Spider-Man crossover must be made" - Todd McFarlane doesn't rule it out, but to date it has not materialised.



A full-page ad early in the issue - this is something that people, I guess, might have cared about...


The Wizard Fan awards - the Uncanny team of Lobdell and Joe Mad take out top honours, McFarlane winning Fave inker on account of his not pencilling Spawn anymore (24 was his final issue, by the time this issue of Wizard was out Spawn was nearing mid-50s).


Watchmen is only 10 years old at this point - there are some interesting lines from Moore and Gibbons in this piece, along with snippets from other "hot" writers of the time.




The "hot" comics list; these were apparently the most traded and talked about single issues based on Wizard's regular survey of comic book shops - some of our younger readers may not be aware of the bad girl craze; we're right in the middle of it here with Shi, Angela, Witchblade, Lady Death, and Dawn all featuring.




Finally, the "hot" creators; again sourced from the ever reliable and totally existent comic book shop survey.



These scans from:
Wizard: The Guide to Comics #62, October 1996

Comments

[seisachtheia]

Man, so hard not to just backbutton the hell out of here. Also, the x-files, and "scully never gets naked".

I need a time travel device and a two by four.

[leoboiko]

Look at Spawn's crotch, then my icon. Now that's the, hm, crossover I want to see…

[thatnickguy]

So you want a crotchover?

[superfangirl1]

Crisis of a infinity crotchovers?

[bizarrohulk]

What the ...? Why has my browser just spontaneously changed to Netscape Navigator?

That last page is instructive. At least half of those writers would still feature on a similar list today. The artists? Not so much.

[cainofdreaming]

Ah, the era when "Batman Forever" could actually receive critical praise. Kinda tells you everything you need to know.

[icon_uk]

I had (and have) fewer problems with Batman Forever than I did/do Batman Returns.... Not that Batman Forever was that awesome but it did have a tied up and gagged Chris O'Donnell Robin in it, which was nice.

[simiansyndicate]

Oh my God! This was my first issue of Wizard! I subscribed for 8 years after getting this at my PX in Turkey. Thanks for the memories!

[icon_uk]

Gosh, Bloodlines was over 20 years ago now!!!

I feel old....

[superfangirl1]

Batman and Robin actually was like once upon a time?

Wow!

[his_spiffynesss]

The Clone Saga is still going on when this thing went to print.

And Bob Harras still wins Wizard's Favorite Editor award.

[akodo_rokku]

Best Writer: Scott Lobdell

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[arilou_skiff]

A) Tod MacFarlane and Jo Madureira look identical.
B) Gaiman looks like Magnus Uggla.

[bizarrohulk]

I have to admit, I'm kind of at a loss as to how two characters who've been around since 1941 could have been the "most improved" characters of 1996...

[ehh123]

Hard to believe there was a time when Spawn was the face of Image.