Opinion: There’s Just Something About The 1990s

Ugh, the 1990s were absolutely the worst. Nothing good came from them, especially when it comes to comic book stuff.

Reading that statement, you either nodded enthusiastically while letting out a “Hell yeah!” or suddenly felt a prickly outrage as you pounded a fist on the table with a resounding “How dare you?!?”

There is no middle ground (Note: Except, there very much is).

I don’t believe that opening paragraph. Not one bit.

I used it to highlight one of the resounding sentiments that comes up anytime one discusses the 90’s as a whole, but especially about (Marvel) comics. A simple Google search will bring up articles that span the ages, from the beginnings of the internet to today, focused on why 90s comics were bad.

Whole listicles dedicated to telling you what sucked about the 90s and why it should be ignored.

Invariably they’ll range from pointing out the over speculation craze, things like the clone and Onslaught sagas, or the Extreme-ification of characters (Look at those costumes!). Variant covers, Electric Supermans (Supermen?), Image Comics, too many symbiotes, big guns and pouches, and Rob Liefeld will invariably be sprinkled in there as well.

Savvy current readers will immediately note that many of those situations are very much happening in comics today. Many of them never stopped happening.

We have a whole X-Men ’97 cartoon that is just a revival of the ’90s cartoon, complete with the same theme song and costumes, and creative ways to condense major story arcs of the 70s and 80s into one (barely) half hour episode (to varying degrees of success).

Symbiotes are all over the place, with guaranteed Venom/Carnage/etc.-led events every single summer for like a decade now. John Paul Valley Azrael/Batman pops up all the time, in large and small measure. Cable and his big ass guns and pouches is one of the few X-Characters guaranteed to have a book, no matter what era the X-Comics happen to be carrying out. Spider-Man 2099 is a persistent supporting fixture, and some variation of the Infinity Gauntlet Thanos is the only one we ever see anymore.

So why is it that the 90s is so apparently reviled yet has remained a period that has gotten a nostalgia boost almost since it ended?

Part of it is that there were, in fact, some not great stories.

Everything to do with the extremely drawn-out Onslaught and Clone sagas at Marvel was not great. Heroes Reborn was a true disaster and one of the most ridiculous moves the company could have made, no matter how good it might have seemed on paper. DC’s events such as Zero Hour were no better, and the speculation/variant cover collection trend was out of control.

Around that though, clearly a lot of these things that are bemoaned became favorites. That 90s aesthetic has not gone very far at all. In fact, the X-Men have wallowed in it since. There is a fabulous piece (from Adam Reck) on how the 90s Jim Lee version of the X-Men has remained the only thing that Marvel markets that everyone should read.

Venom is one of the few non-Marvel Studios/Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero-esque films that has captured attention (for a variety of reasons). The same holds true for Deadpool when he was a Fox feature, ahead of the upcoming MCU jump. Both were huge things from the 90s and began to dominate soon after their debuts.

A lot of the hate the 90s gets is a collective belief that readers should have a disdain for that whole era for a lot of the things happening. A level of disdain that one hardly sees applied to any other era, despite every single one having really bad stories, moments, behaviors, and choices.

It feels like someone decided that the 90s, as a whole, sucked, and then everyone else mostly just jumped on to agree with them. As if there was some Regina George type that declared that era out of style and clearly, we all must follow the popular trendsetter. No matter how outlandish their choices or opinions might be.

For every Onslaught or Zero Hour there was the road era X-Force or Death of Superman type of story that is still looked upon very fondly. X-Men’s 90s were so fondly remembered the comics keep semi reverting there, with the upcoming post-Krakoa relaunch straight up just running with the actual 90s logos again.

At the end of the day, the 1990s were just like any other era of comics. There were highs, there were lows, and there are things that we are allowed to (and will) mock till the end of time. If they sucked as much as is stated, surely the collective we would not be gobbling up every crumb that corporations are presenting us.

So, grab your skateboard, head on down to the mall for some chili fries and games, and prepare yourself for a totally tubular radical time as the 90s continues its pop culture domination.

Hate it or not, it’s seemingly here to stay.