Worthy Single-Issue Stories In Mainstream Comics - C/D? And what happened to them?

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I was reading the tail-end of the Byrne FF last night and in amongst the ongoing flimflam there's that one short story where a kid burns himself to death because he wants to be like the Torch.

When I was first reading comics in the 80s these kind of stories were a semi-regular occurence - there were several Spider-Man issues and the New Mutants one with the artist kid commiting suicide because. They tended to be presented slightly differently and would often have something like "A very special story" in amongst the usual Stan Lee Presents bluster.

I had very mixed feelings about them - to be honest I found them boring and miserable though I recognised that they were quite serious and important. The letters pages after one were full of unanimous praise but clearly there was a reason why these issues were one-offs, none of the letter-writers really wanted ALL the comic to be like that. (Or maybe the only they did.) Re-reading the story I liked it more, though - these issues did generally force the creators to make a little more effort. I remember some of them well, but not usually as well as my favourite larger-scope stories.

I suppose my questions are - which of these kind of stories made an impact on you, if any? And - in the age of drawn-out trade-length storylines do these stories get told anymore? I can't think of any recent examples but then I've only been 'back to comics' for a year or so.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 1 April 2005 12:34 (twenty years ago)

As fond as I am of all fun all the time, some of my favourite series really started to impress me at the point where they slowed down for an issue or two. The two that stand out (though they're not exactly what you're talking about) are Invisibles #12, a life in the day of an armed guard King Mob kills halfway through issue 1, and the Transmetropolitan story about Mary the revival. They also ended up slightly back in the plot later in the series, awkwardly in Transmetro's case, brilliantly and beautifully in Invisibles' (but then I would say that etc).

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 1 April 2005 13:12 (twenty years ago)

And let's not forget the Preacher issue about Bill Hicks!

They do still do Worthy stories, but as a series of short chapters stapled into the middle of other stories, like that three or four part Spiderman 8-pager a few years back about how it's not cool to smoke dope, kids. I think it also featured Mysterio, without drawing the obvious connection between the demon weed and the smoke inside his helmet.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 1 April 2005 13:19 (twenty years ago)

Spider-Man's 9-11 issue to thread!

I'm more partial to the one-offs that don't reach for the Public Service Announcement vibe. I'd probably rep for those Invisible stories if I recalled them @ all. One recent one I really liked = the issue of New X-Men dealing w/ Xorn (drawn by John Paul Leon). And I'll continue to rep for Paul Jenkins' character-building Spidey tales (from a few years back) until someone breaks my fingers.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 1 April 2005 13:30 (twenty years ago)

There wasn't really a Public Service aspect to most of them - I mean I guess the FF story was saying "Don't pour petrol on yourself in an attempt to be the Human Torch you TOTAL DICK" but if there was a big risk of kids doing that the comic would have stopped publication long ago. I think the micro-genre definition lies more in the unusual weightiness of tone and also in the fact that it's total business as usual the issue after (so that Invisibles yarn almost doesn't qualify).

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 1 April 2005 13:34 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, PSA is a bad choice - more like Hallmark Hall of Fame Moment. Spider-Man POWERLESS When Faced W/ Cancer, X-Men POWERLESS When Faced W/ Racism, Superman POWERLESS When Faced W/ Hunger, etc etc etc.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 1 April 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)

The FF story came about 5 issues after the Byrne hate-monger story which completely ran aground.

Part 1. Hate is bad.
Part 2. Hate is bad.
Part 3. Hey kids, the problem of hate will be resolved in Secret Wars II #2!! Come back next month for the 'problem' of strong women in torment!

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 1 April 2005 13:48 (twenty years ago)

Avengers POWERLESS When Faced W/ Pies, Speedy POWERLESS When Faced, etc etc.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 1 April 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

Hulk POWERLESS When Faced W/ Pickle Jar, &c.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 1 April 2005 13:54 (twenty years ago)

Green Arrow POWERLESS when told "talk to the hand"!

― Huk-L, Friday, 1 April 2005 14:05 (twenty years ago)

BATMITE: *FINGER*

GA: You ... you PUNK!

MARTIAN MANHUNTER: BWAH-HAH-HAH!

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 1 April 2005 14:07 (twenty years ago)

The ILC artists need to step up and help the wordsmiths' ideas come TO LIFE.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 1 April 2005 14:08 (twenty years ago)

Superman POWERLESS When Faced W/ Hunger

Oh jesus, I read those Alex Ross enormo-sized stories recently, they lose this thread!

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 1 April 2005 14:14 (twenty years ago)

Chris Claremont POWERLESS When Faced W/ A Sixteen Panel Page, John Byrne POWERLESS When Faced W/ An All-Male Superhero Team, Chuck Austen POWERLESS When Faced W/ A Keyboard, &c.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 1 April 2005 14:14 (twenty years ago)

Rob Liefeld POWERLESS When Faced W/ Grey's Anatomy

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 1 April 2005 14:16 (twenty years ago)

I love these one-shot stories, and I can think of a lot of recent stuff. Rucka's Wolverine run only had two good issues, and one of them was the one where Logan and Nightcrawler just drink in a bar for the whole issue.

My favorite Human Target issue was the opposite of the PSA. The rest of the arcs choose some aspect of modern American society to explore in frank and serious detail, but the single where his buddy busts out of prison was just pure fun.

I remember the Invisibles issue that Andrew mentions, that's fantastic.

Okay, maybe I can't think of that many recent examples off the top of my head, but I know they exist!

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 1 April 2005 14:35 (twenty years ago)

My favourite Green Arrow story of the current run (other than Archer's Quest, which is about a zillion times better than Identity Crisis) is a single-issue story where Ollie discovers that his old Arrowcar is up for auction on "DCBay". Rich again, he gets into a bidding war, and ultimately Batman scores the car and gives it to Ollie. But hijinks ensue when he goes to pick it up.
It's actually a rehash of an old Elliot S! Maggins story from when World's Finest was an anthology where the Arrowcar was up for real live auction and some criminals bought it (since Ollie was broke then) and were going to use it to commit a robbery at a racetrack.

― Huk-L, Friday, 1 April 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

That Hitman Christmas Superman issue (these are often books to remind us why Superman is so great, cos his own book is so rubbish). Was the Superman vs his own version of ver Authority a one shot too? (That book reminded us why Superman was so great, for once his own book was not rubbish).

― Pete (Pete), Friday, 1 April 2005 15:28 (twenty years ago)

I loved the occasional one-issue stories in Suicide Squad that were just about the crew hanging out at their headquarters, trying to get their heads together between missions.

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

There's that 'famous' 1980s Spiderman story, drawn by Ron Frenz and Terry Austin in passable imitation of Ditko, where

spoiler

Spidey reveals his identity to a little boy who is dying of cancer blub blub sniff boohoo

Also in the 80s, both the X-Men and New Teen Titans would occasionally have issues where THERE WERE NO FIGHT SCENES AT ALL, and this was also considered to be a jolly bold and exciting thing by lettercol writers and other nitwits of the time - normally it involved humorous sequences of the Beast making a cup of tea etc. (talking of the Beast, his one-off solo story in Avengers #178 is one of Steve Gerber's greatest/most bizarre comic bks ever - I've never properly 'understood' the ending)

Does spiderman 9-11 contain don mcgregor's anti-gun WARNING? speaking as a child of the 70s, I never cld quite face those...

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Friday, 1 April 2005 17:59 (twenty years ago)

oh and of course there's the last issue of Miller's first Daredevil run, atypically inked by Terry Austin and lushly coloured by Lynn Varley - another gun story WARNING issue!

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:01 (twenty years ago)

http://image.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/large/60930948398.71.gif

― The Yellow Kid, Friday, 1 April 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

and that Swamp Thing by Alan Moore, the one abt the sound of the hammers

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Friday, 1 April 2005 18:22 (twenty years ago)

" -- I THEE WED!!"

― Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Friday, 1 April 2005 20:08 (twenty years ago)

It's actually "--I THEE KILL!" which is even better.

― The Yellow Kid, Friday, 1 April 2005 21:35 (twenty years ago)

Forgive the crappy reproduction - my scanner's twitchy, so I had to use the digicam.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:31 (twenty years ago)

Sorry, that is:

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:32 (twenty years ago)

WTFF!!??!

ILX keeps on eating the g at the end of my filename for no fucking reason.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:35 (twenty years ago)

Okay, I give up.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 1 April 2005 23:36 (twenty years ago)

It worked, dude! Everytime!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 2 April 2005 00:06 (twenty years ago)

Keep frustratedly posting it again tho, I'm a bit tipsy and it becomes greater and greater with every new appaerence!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 2 April 2005 00:07 (twenty years ago)

My "Hulk vs Pickle Jar" sketch should make you shit yourself, then (in a good way.) But I want to give it computer color and I'm drunk and sleepy now.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Saturday, 2 April 2005 05:27 (twenty years ago)

"Close the capsule door superman..."

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:35 (twenty years ago)

(*nb: this is apparently the only thing i know about comics.)

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Saturday, 2 April 2005 15:36 (twenty years ago)

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Saturday, 2 April 2005 23:26 (twenty years ago)

I vote for the silly issue of Supreme where Wild Bill Hickock goes back in time and gives the South a nuclear bomb!

― J (Jay), Sunday, 3 April 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

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