A look at comic books and the 90s

[@jbeihl1]

I was a ten year old in 92 and for me the 90s was an amazing time. Comics were selling like hot cakes, trading cards, cartoons, and toys where all thriving.

[@lastavenger8532]

the early 90's were great u had jim lee's x-men, todd mcfarlene's spiderman, rob liefeld on x-force, chuck dixion's run on batman, jim starlin's infinity gaunlet.

[@Wildjason888]

Don't forget Wilts Portasio and Marc Silvestri

[@computerrobots]

Man Perch's videos are so addictive to watch we need more

[@Cincinnatijames]

I wasn't nearly as enthusiastic for Savage Dragon as the other founder comics but by the time the ongoing started it was my favorite image comic.

[@tonydcollects]

I started during the 90’s it was great to me. I had stopped collecting for many years but just started back last year and still drawn back to those titles of the 90’s. I get the nostalgia but for me collecting the issues I had as a kid and my love for independent comics definitely started and continues nowadays. Great video.

[@giganticandroid]

I was into Dark Horse in the 90's. Grendel, Madman, Sin City, Hellboy felt like the maturity I thought the market still strives for.

[@ronb113]

The 90’s is when I got into comics, so I’m definitely predisposed to having good memories.

[@maziyarmehry9561]

Grant Morrison quote about batman " from the savage Young Pulp flavored weird figure of the dark of his early years through the smiling parental figure of the 1940s and the proto-psychedelic crusader of the 50s the superhero detective of the 60s the hairy chested globetrotting adventurer of the 70s to the brutally physical vigilante of the 80s AND THE SNARLING PARANOID SOLDIER OF THE 90s "

[@josephsokolowski271]

You are absolutely correct about how nostalgia makes us see and remember things with rose colored glasses. Especially when you look at it from a business viewpoint as it appears you mostly do in this video. Not to say that’s wrong but I always look at comics from different decades based almost completely from the stories I read during them. That being said, yes there was a glut of tons of crappy publishers, titles, writers, artists, stories and events, sounds like every decade doesn’t it. But I can name tons of fantastic stories and titles that are considered some of the greatest stories ever told. Just to mention one thing that 100% proves my point it’s the start of the Vertigo imprint from DC and titles like Sandman, Preacher, Hellblazer and Sandman Mystery Theatre just to name a few. I could name at least 30-40 stories that absolutely rank as some of the best I have read since I started reading comics in 1977. Gotta love great stories and art.

[@allieversaid]

10:08 I appreciate this insight. Comic shops were ordering like drunks.

[@originalkmiller]

I started collecting in the 80s. In the early 90s I was happily picking up all the Marvel, DC, and First comics, along with some Fantagraphics and others. When Image showed up, I gave it a try. But the art was just too out there for me. And the stories didn't grab me at all. I watched the quality drop off across the big 2, and finally gave up with the dreck that came just before Onslaught. Teen Tony Stark? Wasp as an actual insect creature? Cap Wolf? I found I was buying stuff but not reading it, and moved on to other stuff in my life. The late 90s definitely killed my love for comics, and it wasn't until a few years ago that I returned.

[@dbbrinlee1969]

Ah, the 90's! There was just so much good and bad about it. Jim Lee on X-Men and McFarlane on Spiderman, followed by the formation of Image and the anticipation...exciting times. Then the flood of late Image books with, at best, mediocre writing, was a big disappointment. But one thing that kept the fans and the market going was Wizard Magazine. It helped boost the market as far as knowing who the popular creators were and the hot books. It was a good time to be a fan. Perch, if you have not already, you should do a video on Wizard Magazine and what it did for the industry.

[@SamGuthrie1977]

Perch, 90's comics were exactly like you said. I understand the appeal of nostalgia, but this was in no way a good time for comics on the whole. 1993 - 1996 was the only time in my life I left comics altogether. There was plenty of blame to go around, but honestly a lot of it was the Image guys. They had huge fan following, started their own company, and then more-or-less didn't deliver books on time. And the books that did come out weren't always written very well. A lot of the fans that had quit buying their favorite Marvel titles like X-Men and Spider-Man to follow Liefeld, Lee, McFarlane and all those guys onto their new books did not come back to comics at all once Image disappointed them. That was me. I was in my teens and was like -- well, I dropped the Marvel books for Image, now Image is either not coming out on time, or the books kinda suck, and there's some crappy fill-in artist on Spidey now. Eh screw it, I'm out, I'm gonna go buy Genesis games.

[@InfamyOrDeath-__-]

I don’t know anything about *Image* , what comics & characters did they have? Are they still making comics?

[@agent_meister477]

Whenever I go to the Mile High Comics site, I'm invariably looking for back issues from the 90s.

[@LarryKingUndead]

Great video, and please correct me if I'm wrong Perch, but due to the Image creators shaking things up that led to Marvel and DC to go wild with ways to keep eyes on them, Death of Superman, Breaking Batman's back, stripping Wolverine's adamantuim, etc. perhaps in a future video you could discuss the ramifications of these events. How was Hal going psycho and killing the GL Corps taken in the shop? Aquaman having his hand eaten off, Fatal Attractions? I'd love to get that insight.

[@TheSnapdad]

I started collecting comics in 1978 and I exited the first time in 1989 as Todd McFarland became more popular than John Byrne. During the 1990's I didn't purchase comics at all except for an occasional visit to the comic shop to see what was offered and I would only pick up a Batman or two. I didn't really get back into buying with any regularity until the Ultimate Universe came along.

[@ericferguson6099]

I enjoyed this. I was an 80s comics collector and then left for overseas duty and came back for a few weeks summer of 91. I believe that was when all this was gaining headwind. I warned people not to overbuy and that if everyone had an issue of X-men #1 then it would have no future value (or very little). Anyway my fear panned our. You did a great job explaining the back end which I wasn't familiar with. When everyone was buying a house in 2006-2007 I remember the comic scene of 1991 and stayed out. Haha. Thanks again.

[@albinothunderbuns1997]

No mention of trading cards or pogs? One of the things that epitomized the '90s for me was all the ancillary stuff people bought in addition to comics -- people were spending!

[@PhillipCummingsUSA]

I really enjoyed this video with how much insight it had on really individual topics regarding the 90s. You really concentrated on the image revolution and I don't think you even mentioned the Death of Superman storyline. That was what got me into comics because it was just shocking. I really thought they were going to shut down or something. As a child that was huge because being from Kansas the story of Superman and moving to a bigger city from a small town in Kansas was something, I was naturally drawn towards.

[@patientgenius]

What I remember clearly as a dealer is Robin 2 five issue mini and 5 Holgrams for 1, 4 for 2, 3 for 3, 2 for 4, and 1 Hologram for issue 5. and the story was pretty bad. I couldn't sell it. Robin the first series was actually a good story. This stands out for the 90's. I think I actually threw out Robin series 2.

[@JDRamos213]

I was in and out of Comics since 1984.... I stopped in 88 and came back around 93... stopped again in 96 and didn't come back until 2001....

[@charliewilson3610]

The '90s was when I got back into comics as a grownup. For me they were a mixed bag. I remember liking Image art but being baffled by the writing. The gore also turned me off. But the art was incredible. That was also when I discovered TDKR and Watchmen.

[@Dr.Thirteen]

I collected through the 70s and until mid 80s but then life kinda happened. then in the early 90s I stumbled onto a shop going out of business(before superman died and all the crash) and I got a bunch of them for like 25 cents or something. my all time favorite book (Doom patrol) had been revamped I got # 23 and all the issues prior to it then started collecting again. going to the shop every Fri I started picking up other books. I dropped off again early 200s but still have my collection of about 25 boxes

[@cubbyjo]

I had friends who ran a small comic shop and Image almost killed the store singlehandedly. The delays meant the store couldn’t order other books from smaller publishers to flesh out the shelves because you didn’t know when the bill was coming for the next Image title. Meanwhile there are gaps on the shelf because the Image books were not shipping and the smaller books were not ordered.

[@oronbaba]

Great overview of the era. I'm probably one of the readers from the 80s who was totally turned off by the EXTREME! EDGE! of the 90s, and I fell off for a while. It's crazy to me when I see folks today fetishizing the 90s as an ideal era to whose values we must return... I still think it was absolutely the worst era in the history of comics. (Though I can totally understand how people who were 13 in 1993 could look back fondly on the energy and excitement of that period)

[@galactica1981]

I was a big Marvel fan in the 80s but quit in 1991. After reading an issue of the new X-Force comic, it dawned on me that all the stories were beginning to seem the same. I could see that there were now too many X-titles, too many Spiderman titles, and the stories were being diluted. So I walked away and didn't return until 2000 when I got interested in Crossgen Comics. But I never fully returned to Marvel. I think a lot of comics in the 90s were overrated, and there was too much emphasis on anti-heroes like Wolverine and Ghost Rider. A few years back I collected back issues of Gen 13 because of all the raves it got during the 90s. I found it had really great artwork but pretty shallow writing, which is a good way to describe a lot of 90s comics. Publishers tried to fully cash in on the speculators who for a while would buy almost anything, but the quality of the comics dropped in a big way. Once people realized that comics had no value as an investment, they stopped buying them because the stories weren't compelling enough to read.

[@TyranusRex721]

I started reading comics back during the New 52. I enjoyed a lot of those books, yet people constantly told me that they are bad and I should feel bad for liking them. They would tell me about all these great runs of the past and I decided to check them out. Some of them were good, some great, but there were a good amount that were just awful and it was painfully obvious that they had nostalgia goggles on. People like to shit on the New 52, and there are good reasons for it, but there were a ton of great books released, a lot of great runs, and it was pretty successful for a while. It was toward the later years where it started to stumble and the DC You period is what was truly awful.

[@kevintanza6968]

Never be ashamed of liking what you like. I didn't like most of the New 52 stuff, but I'm glad it got a new reader in as you.

[@TyranusRex721]

@@kevintanza6968 Thank you. The New 52 truly got me into comics, got me to notice Scott Snyder and Geoff Johns, and made me fall in love with characters like Swamp Thing and Aquaman (who has become my absolute favorite superhero).

[@aaronanglea]

Comic companies WISH they had the sales of the 90s right now

[@sethkumar3037]

It got feet in the door + there were diamonds in the rough +on average things had more chance to find an audience & longer runs (a huge plus!). I'm not at all upset by past.

[@agent_meister477]

If nothing else, you have to admire McFarlane's tenacity and sheer gall fir still putting out Spawn after 300 Plus issues. That title should have finished around issue 160.

[@JDRamos213]

I honestly cannot think of a storyline that stands up as classic. Spawn is all art and that's it

[@wolfgangkrauser9735]

The 90s is a (darker and depressing) retelling of the 80s; but it still way better than this current sjw era.

[@doyscherr]

I fee like you are under representing the 90s and I day this as a collector who stopped in the 90s. The big two were making a lot of bad decisions. Remember what poor Paul Ryan had to draw in Fantastic Four? And Dan Jurgens was at his nadir with Death of Superman. Didn't that event represent the property inflation that led to the market collapse? Otherwise, every big name writer was trying to write an indie comic at Valiant and Malibu and Image and countless others. The market looked awful. Yes, there was good stuff coming out but it was obscured by a host of bad issues.

[@Wildjason888]

I stopped buying comics in '93..it was pure coincidence however... I'd spent 1 year in Trinidad losing 140lbs off my 6'5" 21 year old self..😂😝...it actually took 4mths to lose the pounds...but I stayed in paradise.. I went from being on of those guys from the Big Bang Theory to dating womens So I wasn't buying comics while in Trinidad... i hated what I'd returned too..multiple covers, silver covers. And those dreaded delays I waited months for books that seem to have never come out.baloney.. I stopped buying comics... but began to love what the WB was doing with animated Batman and Superman, Batman Beyond..what would become the Timverse..

[@vasp99]

The garbage that was trotted out in the 1990's very nearly ruined the entire media for me. I watched and read and paid my hard earned money for ever more expensive garbage .