10
It was the beginning of the Image Comics revolution, and in the early 90s was there anything Todd McFarlane couldn’t do?
9
Part of the “Reign of the Supermen” storyline that introduced four “replacement” Supermen while the real deal was “dead”.
8
More “Reign of the Supermen” only this time you at least got a brand-new Superboy in the deal.
7
“Reign of the Supermen” again. In retrospect, this whole thing was pretty out of control, wasn’t it?
6
We have a winner! Action Comics (1938) No. 687 wins top prize for selling the most of the “Reign of the Supermen” tie-in issues!
5
A couple of years before he would break records again with Spawn (1992) No. 1 (using the same iconic pose for that series’ first issue as he did for this one), Todd McFarlane took complete control of a brand-new Spider-Man title for Marvel.
4
Many believe this storyline — and the media hype surrounding it – is what lead to the “collector mentality” of the 90s that nearly broke the industry. DC Comics killed off the world’s most famous superhero in Superman (1987) No. 75.
3
If his death was going to generate $$$ imagine what his return would do! At least that was the thought when retailers went nuts on ordering hundreds and hundreds of thousands of copies of this modern dollar bin favorite.
2
The X-Men were super hot, so what about a grittier, rougher version of them? Red-hot. Artist Rob Liefeld would move on to become a founding member of Image Comics not too long after this series debuted, basically duplicating X-Force as an off-brand team called Youngblood.
1
Today, he’s the main man at DC Comics, but back in the early 1990s, Jim Lee was THE artist everyone was emulating and no one – and no comic book property – was hotter than the X-Men.