Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published.

Comics annuals always have a hard task. Make the story too throwaway, and people are likely to skip over it entirely. Make it too essential, and they’re just as likely to complain that it’s too expensive and that the story should finish in the main series.

The Incredible Hulk ‘97 annual opts for a third, slightly more preferable option. The issue contains two stories, both of which slot neatly into Hulk continuity and deliver significant stories for the characters involved, but does so in a way that it can be entirely ignored by anyone who doesn’t want to buy it. It’s a thin line to dance along, but the comic pulls it off well.

The two stories are set during the “Heroes Reborn” era of the Hulk, where a Bannerless Hulk roamed the earth in something of a bad mood, occasionally accompanied by Rick Jones’ grand-daughter from the future, Janis. The first features long-time supporting characters from Peter David’s run, Doc Samson and the Pantheon, as they deal with a child who may or may not be the offspring of Bruce and Betty. Thrown inexplicably but enjoyably into the mix is the Shi’Ar Imperial Guard, who were stationed on Earth for a brief time. The mix of characters is obscure and difficult to keep track of, but you can’t argue with the spectacle of the Hulk fighting Superman-analogue Gladiator. Writer Chris Cooper does, to his credit, manage to keep the overall theme and narrative of the story from being overtaken by the guest-stars, and the end result is both an enjoyable and respectful tale.

The second half of the issue concerns the wider Heroes Reborn arc, and showed what I believe were the first hints at some connection between the Hulk, Franklin Richards and the Heroes Reborn universe. However, it also contains the Hulk’s long-awaited first meeting with Artie and Leech, which is much more fun. There’s less at the centre of this story, but between the cutesy, manga art style, the slapstick traps the kids set for the Hulk, and the way that he seems oddly reasonable when dealing with children, it’s a nice little short story memorable because it’s funny and entertaining, rather than because anything particularly major happens in it, and sometimes it seems like there aren’t enough comics like that around…

A good annual overall, though unfortunately, the references to current continuity that made it seem more enjoyable at the time have ultimately bogged it down in the past. It’s not essential reading, but it is an amusing comic, and one that’s easy to love.

The removal of Larry Stroman from X-Factor’s pencilling duties would be welcome in any event, but the return of Valentine de Landro is a double cause for celebration. De Landro has pretty much established himself as the definitive penciller for the book, and there’s been no drop off in the quality of his detailed but expressive work. Unfortunately, however, his return is somewhat ill timed, with this issue’s plot being mainly padding for the Darwin Awards arc’s inevitable trade paperback.

Despite the explosive cliffhanger that the field team faced last time, the main focus of this issue is events on the home front, with Val Cooper attempting to coerce Siren into accepting the O.N.E.’s somewhat sinister “protection” for her unborn child. The events of the Messiah Complex crossover are subtly allowed to overshadow the conversation, with the implication that another mutant birth could turn into a similar fiasco kept in the background. This danger allows Cooper slightly more credibility as a character than normal, although her initial belief that handcuffing Rictor is a sound negotiating strategy is a little hard to accept. The conclusion of this element raises a smile, but the subsequent scene where Theresa comes fractionally closer to killing Cooper is a little more difficult to accept as a result. The last scene of the issue makes clear that the government’s offer is about to become a lot less academic, and hopefully having the couple reunited will give more life to this strand.

Elsewhere, Madrox and his crew benefit from Peter David’s rewinding of events, allowing their situation to be fleshed out before the bomb blast seen at the conclusion of the previous issue. Once the gang recover, there’s little new that hasn’t been seen before in the title, with character threads present without being advanced. Jamie continues to be worried by the unpredictability of his duplicates, Monet and Longshot continue to instinctively flirt and Guido continues to solidly advance the plot without comment. As for the actual investigation that the team is undertaking, there’s little progress, with the one update on the Karma Project’s experiment being entirely predictable.

The writer obviously feels completely at home with this book, with the updates on his family life now an established part of the recap page. It’s just a pity that a desire to drag the story out for its secondary publication format has left purchasers of the single issues slightly short-changed.

Fraction is clearly interested in bringing the characterisation back to X-Men. Every scene has strong, memorable moments that are driven by the character interplay as much as any specific plot development, and the juggling of several threads is a welcome return to the subplot-infused days of the past. Claremont’s influence on the series is almost palpable - right down to some fairly wordy conversations - although I do mean that as a compliment. Claremont’s X-Men made X-Men the industry’s number one property for years, so it’s good to see what is, in some ways, a return to the strong fundamentals of the X-Men from a writer who recognises what made the series popular in the first place.

This issue also keeps readers reassured that Fraction won’t be shying away from the continuity mire of recent years, and he tackles several matters head on, be it the massacre that kicked off “Messiah Complex” or the “death” of Kitty Pryde. A scene featuring Beast and Angel visiting a rather old Marvel scientist is slightly jarring, functioning as the book’s “gratuitous action scene”, but it does nicely emphasise that following the mutant birth, attempts to undo Wanda’s spell and the events of M-Day are still as much on the agenda for the characters as they are for the readers.

For the new arc, Terry Dodson takes over as artist, and while on one level, the scene in Cyclops’ pervy-hotel brainscape serves as a window into the character’s repression and his relationship with Emma, it does seem to be designed with Terry Dodson’s strengths as an artist in mind. After the sheer eye-gouging pain of seeing Greg Land’s pseudoporn on the pages of Uncanny X-Men, it’s a massive relief to see someone with storytelling ability take over. There’s one slight hiccup where, despite Emma claiming “no redheads” you can clearly see the red-haired Mystique in the background, but it’s a forgiveable oversight.

Fraction’s second arc seems off to a much better start than the previous one, and the artist change has merely heightened the amount I’m enjoying the title. After years of being treated like the a secondary title, Uncanny X-Men seems to be back on top of its game again.

It’s been a model of inconsistency, this Amazing Spider-Man run. The rotating creative teams may have helped keep a steady flow of story ideas going – necessarily for the by-now baffling decision to continue putting it out three times a month – but it’s meant that, for all the “Brain Trust”’s best efforts, the book is struggling to get a handle on a firm identity at a time when it arguably really needs it. On the bright side, it means that if you don’t like an issue or story – such as the Guggenheim propaganda-fest or Zeb Wells’ dull “Fat Punisher” tale – there’s another one along shortly afterwards. On the other hand, though, by far the best stretch the series has had so far was when Dan Slott and John Romita Jr were let loose to tell a proper six-issue story, which is pretty telling in itself (not least because those two should clearly be the full-time team).

Still, the arrival this week of Mark Waid, while it swells the number of writers apparently involved in the overall setup to ridiculous proportions, promises to bring a bit of class to proceedings – an inconsistent writer Waid may be, but he knows his stuff. And despite a distinctly unappealing cover (because, you know, going for a retro feel with the whole series is one thing; directly referencing one of the most iconic images in Spidey history is a bit much, though), he pretty much hits the ground running with what might be the best non-Slott issue so far.

It’s well-constructed, as Waid hangs the promise of a fortune cookie across the issue as a whole, and in the sequences in which Peter is either bemoaning or praising his luck, he feels properly “Peter”-ish. Indeed, characterisation is done well throughout, but you’d expect nothing less from someone with Waid’s experience – he doesn’t need time to bed in as regards understanding the character. The story itself is fairly simple, but it’s nice to see a bit more of a claustrophobic, “trapped” kind of affair, as it distinguishes the issue from its recent counterparts a bit. After all, in during the current “Spider-Tracer Killer” storyline, Spidey’s only had to deal with fleeting moments of accusation or distrust before being able to swing away – throwing him in an enclosed environment with a bunch of assorted New Yorkers allows for a closer examination of his current relationship with the public.

I’m impressed, too, by the work of Marcos Martin. I wasn’t hugely enthused by the first arc he did on the title, but he ups his game here. His character work is strong – it reminds me a bit of Bret Blevins at times – but of particular note is his storytelling, reminiscent of Romita Jr in its construction. There’s an especially neat moment where in just a couple of panels he effectively conveys the feel of an out-of-control subway train.

Capped off by an intriguing cliffhanger – I don’t know if this particular character has ever appeared before, but I definitely want to know more – it’s on the whole just a strong, solid Spidey issue, striking the right notes without doing anything too outlandish (or, admittedly, all that exciting). The main villain is a bit of a disappointment – especially with no hint of an update to that wretched costume – but aside from that, in the wake of a pretty poor bunch of issues following New Ways To Die, this is enough to get Amazing back on my reading list. At least until the next stop on the merry-go-round, anyway…

The tale of how a young Magneto was interned in Nazi concentration camps has long been an integral part of the character, and it’s so familiar a story that it’s strange to think that it’s never actually been told in full, only hinted at over years of X-Men continuity. Greg Pak was the man assigned to tell this difficult story, and halfway through, it’s certain that despite some uneven series in the past, he’s doing a pretty good job of this one.

Telling the story of Magneto’s origin could’ve been a thankless task. Structure and tell it like a normal superhero origin, and you’d be rightly accused of insensitivity. Tell it too literally, you run the risk of making it irrelevant to the character at all. Pak has managed to walk the line precariously up until now, and after a lot of slow build, issue 3 features the first hint that yes, we are dealing with a Magneto who has superpowers here. It’s a nicely understated moment, shocking on several levels but without being gratuitous.

In this issue especially, Magneto: Testament has created a picture of a young man with all the potential for heroism, and only now do we start to see him driven down a path that’ll end in villainy. Perhaps the best element of Pak’s story is how it manages to meld the multiple interpretations of the character, offering a child who could easily grow up to become any of them. He doesn’t start out at a seething, radical supremacist, but it’s easy to understand how he could become one.

Those wondering exactly what the point of a Magneto “origin” story is, given that the specifics have been deliberately glossed over in the past need look no further than the original justification for telling Wolverine’s origin: If comics don’t do it today, Hollywood will do it tomorrow. This reasoning is only compounded by the frequent talks of a solo Magneto movie to follow up next spring’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” film. The idea is already on the table, so it needs to be done now.

Against all odds, Pak has managed to make a “Young Magneto” book read like a far better idea than it might’ve initially seemed, with tight characterisation and careful plotting. If the quality of this issue is maintained for the duration, it’ll easily become essential reading for the character.

Every Wednesday we take turns to delve into our trusty longboxes, pluck out a dusty back issue, and give you our thoughts. We’ll also try and place it in the context of the time it was originally published.

Maximum Security had the dubious honour of being Marvel’s first big crossover following Onslaught and Heroes Reborn, at a time when crossovers were considered one of the industry’s most deadly poisons. It was masterminded by Kurt Busiek, who was the writer of Avengers at the time, and unusually for Marvel, the crossover didn’t wind from issue to issue of existing series, but rather took place in a single “parent” series.

This was a remarkably DC-like approach which has become commonplace, but for the time it was a decidedly different matter, and a deliberate attempt at making crossovers viable again after much negative feedback over how they operated in the 90s. While Marvel’s other titles did tie in - often for just one issue - the main story played out entirely in the miniseries, which itself was only 3 issues long, and released over 2 months. Clearly, Marvel were being cautious.

The story saw Marvel’s various alien races clubbing together to decide that Earth was too much of a threat, and deciding to dump all of its criminals on the planet to keep them busy. Not a bad concept in theory, but it was unfortunate that it relied on some of Marvel’s niche-appeal cosmic properties to retain interest. Most of the tie-ins simply involved the title character fighting a loosely-affiliated alien from the backwaters of Marvel continuity. It’s fair to say that the crossover, while not hated, is at best barely remembered.

The first issue may have telegraphed the eventual reception. It featured a radically re-designed US Agent, who resembled Judge Dredd, and the main villains were revealed as Ronan the Accuser and Ego, the Living Planet. None of these characters are especially A-List, and while the idea of earth being transformed into the new host for Ego is a nice threat, there was never any serious suggestion it would succeed - and indeed, ultimately only succeeded in causing grief for, er, Quasar.

Between Jerry Ordway’s art and Busiek’s writing, the issue does have quite an old-school superheroics feel to it, and Busiek’s Avengers run always had the benefit of feeling quite timeless. This series didn’t really bring out the best in either, though, and they both seem to struggle with such a massive cast. USAgent is a poor lead, too, for someone like Busiek whose slightly wistful, nostalgic style can’t really portray brutalist nutcases very well.

It’s worth remembering that all of this cosmic stuff was happening at a time when cosmic titles were the least popular they’ve ever been. Perhaps it was an attempt to revive them, but in retrospect, it was a failed one - the Annihilation crossover was far more successful.