This comment by G-man elsewhere a few days ago got me thinking:

 Originally Posted By: the G-man
Yeah, that was Marvel's high point, the early to mid 80s. They need a guy like Jim Shooter back at the helm.



There was an incredible pool of talent at Marvel in the late 70's and early 80's, doing some of the best work of their careers:
Michelinie/Romita Jr/Layton IRON MAN
Claremont/Byrne/Austin X-MEN, and the best selling title for 20-plus years after
Duffy/Gammill/Villamonte POWERMAN/IRON FIST
A great run on AVENGERS by Shooter/Perez, then Michelinie/Byrne, then Michelinie/Perez, then Shooter/Bob Hall (issues 141-220 roughly)
Moench/Sienkiwicz MOON KNIGHT
Bruce Jones/Brent Anderson/Armando Gil/Ron Frenz KA-ZAR
Stern/Romita Jr AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Mantlo/Hannigan/Milgrom SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN
Mantlo/Golden/Broderick/G.Kane/Guice MICRONAUTS
Mantlo/Sal Buscema ROM
Byrne FF
Miller/Janson DAREDEVIL (and later Miller/Mazuchelli DD )
Marvel's Graphic Novel line
EPIC ILLUSTRATED
the Epic Comics line, in particular Starlin's DREADSTAR
Simonson's THOR run
Layton's HERCULES miniseries
Marvel's HULK magazine improved and went from b& w to color, with some really nice color and fun stories.
MARVEL PREVIEW magazine got much better in its anthology stories, and soon the title officially changed to BIZARRE ADVENTURES.
Joe Jusko began doing covers for these magazines, as well as interior work for EPIC ILLUSTRATED


I think in general the stories and creative teams improved under Shooter, and I was certainly buying more Marvel titles on a regular basis --and thoroughly enjoying them-- than I ever did before or since.
Despite strong continuity, I found it much easier to pick up ongoing storylines, and get into them. There were no crossover events that went through every series until SECRET WARS (which ironically, despite Shooter's general pressure for single-issue shorter-span storylines, was the onset of lengthy smothering crossover events that he initally discouraged)

So... in your view was it because of, or in spite of Shooter that this was such a great period for Marvel?


Feel free also to list any great series you like from this era I might not have listed.