No one at Marvel could resist the 1990s! NO ONE!!

Not even...

And when you remember how big the Hulk is, you have to realize how big his guns are!!

The bunny slippers are a nice touch, though...

Of course...

...who doesn't want to see the Hulk with huge guns and bandoliers?!?

Because EXTREME!!!!!!

The 90s. Never forget.

From Incredible Hulk #390 & 391 (1992)

In this week's Infinity Countdown: Black Widow #1, someone needs a place to put their Infinity Stone!

Wait...what was that, Widow?

Oh, Natasha, what a short memory you have:




You were part of the "pouch crowd," my dear. Hell, you were chairperson during the "leather jackets and pouches" era!!

Still, if I had dressed like that, I would have tried to block memories of the 1990s, too...

OK, exhausted/full agenda. So I'm calling mental/physical health day.

In the meantime, please enjoy this cover of Ghost Rider, Wolverine and Gambit fighting the Brood.

Man. 1995, you know?

A joke, perhaps...

...but it sure felt like Ben was heading there in the 90s...

See what I mean?

From What If? #9 (1990)

20 years ago...

I particularly like the use of ammo belts to make a partial skirt for Firefight.

The 90s! 

From Iron Man #1 (1998)

Look, I'm not going to claim that when Whiplash debuted in the late 60s, he had a great costume...or even a good one.

Yeah, pretty silly. But Gene Colan made it work. The color scheme proved a good contrast to Iron Man's. And while that normally would be enough flying-everywhere fabric to drive Edna Mode mad, again it makes a nice juxatposition with the sleek but metallic armor.

Later, in the 80s, for reasons, he became Blacklash. Stupid name, but perhaps a better costume:

Again, not the best, but I kind of like how it evokes the Zorro/19th century man of action feeling, a look not inappropriate for a man with a whip.

But then came the 1990s. Oh, 90s, was there nothing you can't ruin?

Yes, someone decided that dressing up Whiplash in full fetish gear was a look that we wanted in our villains.




How bad, terrible, awful was that costume? It was so abominable that when Iron Man 2 came around with a godawful design...

..and the comics felt the need to mimic it...

...they actually looked good compared to the 90s version.

So that's how bad the 90s were--they made crappy things look good by comparison.

The crimes of the 1990s will never end...

I can imagine the conversation...

SAM: Guys, we're some of the most powerful mutants on the planet--why do we need these guns, anyway?
SHATTERSTAR: GUNS!!!
SAM: But don't you usually use swords, Shatterstar?
SHATTERSTAR: GUNS! GUNS THAT SHOOT SWORDS!!!!
SAM: What about you, Rictor? You can make flippin' earthquakes! Why would you need a gun?
RICTOR: Dude, because they're so shiny and cool!!
SAM: Sigh...what about you, Bobby?
BOBBY: Sounds like someone is jealous that I have the biggest gun!!
SHATTERSTAR: (snorts). Mine's bigger!!

Cover by Greg Capullo

Covers never lie!

OK, OK, that's not Lobo. The colorist of the cover blew it...the character doesn't have chalk white skin on the inside of the book. So we just have a cover where it just looks like Lobo is kicking as in the Marvel Universe.

So who is this guy?

He's the energy/emotions vampire who was the early 90s version of the Hate Monger (he later changed his name to Animus).

And how do we really know that he's evil?


Because he keeps quoting the Rolling Stones?!?!

BONUS RAINY DAY ACTIVITY: Take the Heat Miser song, and replace the words "Heat Miser" with "Hate Monger." Sing loudly!!

From Avengers #342 (1991)

You might remember the Image and Marvel comics of the 1990s, and their interesting fashion choices:

Man, those were the days...

Amazing...

To our eternal shame, even Kal-El got in on the trends...

But did you ever wonder how our heroes could afford such elaborate costumes?

Two words:

Army surplus!!

Just look:

POUCHES!!

Bigger pouches!!
BELTS!!

BAGS!!
LARGE ECONOMY SIZE POUCHES!!

Seriously, at these prices, you could outfit an entire Image hero for under $10!! OK, maybe $20...

Ad from Captain Marvel Adventures #122 (1951). Pictures of heroes from the 90s are from our deepest repressed nightmares...

Lest we ever forget the tragedies of the past...

AIEEEEEEE MY EYES!!!!!!!!

Sorry about that...

Those pesky comic books writers and artists are always sticking in secret crossovers with other companies' characters.

For example, I never realized...

...that Cassandra Cain's father was Cable!! No wonder DC tried to pretend she never existed for so many years!!

The pin-up is by Damien Scott and Robert Campanella, who show us that even though this was a 2002 comic, the 1990s never really ended. Vive le pouches!!

From Batgirl: Secret Files And Origins #1 (2002)

I don't want any of you to panic...but we're fast approaching the 20th anniversary of...

Will there be parties? A parade? Cake...?

Heroes Reborn 1/2 (sigh) is from 1996

Back in the good old pre-Crisis On Infinite Earths days, it was pretty easy to talk about what powers Superman, Superboy and Supergirl had. They were all from Krypton, and all had the exact same powers (and besides, Superboy was just Superman as a boy...what a concept!).

By the 1990s, though, things got very confusing:

With one of our characters a demi-clone, and one a sentient extra-dimensional glob, we now had three different origins--and three different power-sets!!--for our trio!!

Fortunately, Team Superman Secret Files #1 (1998) was around to sort this out for us:





Thank you, Secret Files And Origins. Man, I miss those specials....

I know I've covered this before, but unless we remember the 1990s, we're doomed to repeat the 1990s:

Oh, sweet mother of mercy, the Fantastic Four in leather jackets and pouches. Lots of pouches!

See, it wasn't just the Avengers!!

Of course, the most memorable change of all was Sue Richards showing that Power Girl isn't the only one who can rock the cleavage window:

Holy-not-so-Invisible Woman!!

Her attitude with the FF's muggle tenants is also a bit more...aggressive:



Who hoo!!

Of course, this is the same era that had Ben covering up more...

About time you covered up, Thing!! Think of the children!!

From Fantastic Four #375, #371, #372 & #383 (1992-1993)