Confession time: I own almost all of the “minus one” issues Marvel put out in 1997 as part of a “flashback month” storytelling gimmick. The idea was that the “-1″ issues would occur at some point prior to the parent series (though not necessarily immediately before issue #1). While most of the industry appeared to treat it as the perfect time to take a month off without missing anything, I went in the opposite direction and bought all kinds of books that normally, I wouldn’t touch. The only Silver Surfer comic I own is the minus one issue. It was the only Deadpool comic I owned until 2005. I bought things like Daredevil and Elektra, which previously I wouldn’t have touched. A real-world example of hook, line, sinker, rod and copy of angling times if ever there was one.

Having read all of them, though, I feel capable of saying that the best is Incredible Hulk #-1, which captured the spirit of the event without forgetting to make the story interesting to the readers.

Although every issue got flat, muted colouring, for the most part the aesthetics and techniques remained “modern” – but the creative team on Hulk, Peter David and Adam Kubert, took the idea to a further extreme than most, flashing back their storytelling methods as well. As a result, almost every page of Incredible Hulk #-1 is a 4-panel grid. Something about the format obviously appealed to at least one member of the team, because it went on for a while afterwards too, even after “flashback month” had ended, causing a very strange shift in the tone and pacing that latest until Kubert left.

Unlike most writers, who used the minus one issues to seed future stories (which, almost inevitably, didn’t happen before they were moved off the book), David wrapped his issue in a framing sequence which saw the Hulk/Banner finally discover his role in his father’s death – a plotline David had been circling around for years, hinting at but never quite getting to. This, in fact, is the comic in which we find out that Bruce Banner killed his own father, Brian Banner. Unlike most of the flashback books, it actually reads continuously with the issues immediately before and after it. It was, by any metric, one of the better outcomes from the Flashback stunt.

Luckily, the failure of this pseudo-event merely highlighted the fact that renumbering comics to try and generate sales was a doomed idea from the start, and today, 13 years on, you almost never see a comic with an unexpected or illogical number slapped on the front in the hope of providing a sales boost. Now if you’ll excuse me, I had to go and weep in the corner.

One of the stranger things about comics fandom is that a lot of people expect you to remember your first comic. For many, it’s like the time they bought their first album, or the time they first went to the cinema – they’re always ready to go all misty-eyed about the time their parents randomly pulled a Lee/Ditko Spider-Man, or a Kirby New Gods off the shelf or spinner-rack at a drugstore in exchange for their silence on a shopping trip. Or to eagerly recount the moment someone pulled them aside at University and put a copy of Sandman, Watchmen, Preacher or Transmetropolitan into their hands after years of comics-abstinence as the point where it all changed for them.

For me, though, the question is hard to answer. It’s like asking whether you remember the first TV show you saw, or the first song you heard. Does anyone remember that? TV and music aren’t special occasions, like buying an album or oging to the cinema – they’re part of the background of your life. That, for me, is what comics are. They’ve always been there, in the background. From The Beano, to Sonic the Comic, to Marvel’s UK reprints. I’ve just always read them.

That said, the way I normally answer this question is to reveal what my first ever US comic was, because that answers the spirit of the question, if not the letter of it. The comic in question was Weapon X #3, released in March ’95 (cover dated May). Technically, it’s an issue of Wolverine, retitled because the entire X-Men line was smack bang in the middle of a massive and complicated crossover called the Age of Apocalypse. I found it in a newsagents on a trip to visit my grandparents in Clacton-on-Sea, and I remember puzzling over it. I knew from the X-Men cartoon that Weapon X was Wolverine’s code-name, but I wasn’t sure if it was his comic. Until I noticed the signature claws on the cover. I was actually shocked to see him using them on a person, because in the cartoon he could only use them to cut through doors, fences, pipes and robots, lest children’s fragile minds be violated. With the promise of all that and more, I had to have it.

I don’t remember what I left on the shelf. I definitely picked up X-Men Adventures Season III #3 at the same time, though, which was an adaptation of Part 3 of the Phoenix Saga from the cartoon. I was so pleased to own them that when I got back home, I displayed them on top of a chest of drawers in my room like they were trophies I’d won. Immediately, there was something special about them. They weren’t just comics, they were *American* comics. Back then, aged only 12, I thought those comics were incredibly rare and special things to own, all the way from the other side of the Atlantic, and I treated them with astonishing reverence.

Of course, as an issue, there’s nothing particularly interesting about Weapon X #3. It’s the third part of a 4-part story, by Larry Hama and Adam Kubert, neither of whom were particularly in their prime. I spent ages reading and re-reading the Bullpen Bulletins pages to see what else was going on in the other series, longing to read them too, amazed at their interconnectivity. Weapon X #3 might not have been my first ever comic, nor even the first ever Marvel comic I read – but it was the one that made me into the fan I am today. It was what gave me my first undiluted taste of US comics, and it caused something inside me to click. There’s no doubt in my mind that if it hadn’t been Weapon X #3, it would have been something else – but for whatever reason, that’s the way it happened.

A few months ago, Adam Kubert drew half an issue of Wolverine in which the titular character teamed up with Spider-Man. At the time, even as I was raving about how great it was to see Kubert drawing Wolvey again, I couldn’t help but notice that he did a brilliant Spider-Man as well. “If anyone at Marvel has any sense,” I said, “They’ll get Kubert to draw a Spider-Man issue as soon as possible.”

Well, evidently they do have sense. Here, Kubert teams up with Dan Slott, the man who was born to write Spider-Man, and the results are nothing short of fantastically entertaining. The thing that pleases me most is that for the first time since the Avengers “List” special, the plot actually deals, directly, with the Dark Reign meta-arc rather than the ongoing plot of the star’s book. We know Osborn can’t stay where he is forever – and this issue actually sows a fairly convincing seed towards his downfall.

Better yet, editorial seem to have remembered that despite the suit Osborn is wearing, he’s not actually Iron Man’s arch-enemy- he’s Spider-Man’s. Here, the two square off physically and mentally, offering the most satisfying Spider-Man/Osborn meeting in months after the overwrought, Bond-villain theatrics of American Son. As ever, Slott’s dialogue is immediately at home with Spider-Man’s wisecracks, but the rest of the issue is cleverly constructed too, from the brilliantly executed twist as to who actually scores the point against Osborn at the end, to the perfectly constructed plot mechanics, all of which prove that just because a comic is about superheroes, it doesn’t have to be dumb as well.

To round the issue out, there’s a reprint The Pulse #5, where comic where Osborn was finally outed as the Green Goblin and arrested. With Bendis writing and Bagley pencilling, it’s a fun issue in its own right, though its presentation here undoubtedly suffers from being part 5 of a multi-part arc without the previous 4 issues included. Yet another annoying side-effect of trade-focussed decompression. Even so, it’s nigh-impossible not to enjoy a Bendis & Bagley comic, and the Osborn-focussed story makes an enjoyable companion piece to the lead tale. It’s just a pity that I come away from it thinking not about how good that issue was, but about how much potential was wasted when The Pulse got canned 14 issues in, before the concepts had truly taken root. Still – its inclusion makes this a remarkably high-quality comic that’s astonishing value for the cover price – and it’s increasingly rare you can say that about a comic these days.

If there was ever a comic that came along at exactly the right moment, this is it. A matter of hours after the dubious Wolverine movie had violated my critical sensibilities, I found myself idly picking up a Wolverine comic, unsure whether the character still held any appeal. If the Wolverine movie had been half as good as this, there wouldn’t have been any doubt in the first place. It’s a comic so good that you actually forget to roll your eyes at the idea that it came out prior to Wolverine #72.

More than any writer has in years, Jason Aaron really gets Wolverine. Helpfully, he’s also paired up with Andy Kubert, an artist who more than almost any other, draws a truly definitive Logan. Technically, this is a split book, with half a story by the aforementioned superteam, and half a story by Daniel Way and Tommy Lee Edwards. I’ll be honest. I haven’t even read that half of the book. I’ve just read the first half over and over.

It largely consists of little more than single-panel images of Wolverine as he bounces from day to day, helping the Avengers one moment, fighting alongside X-Force the next, occasionally taking a brief timeout. It’s funny. It’s emotional. It’s filled with action. Best of all, it manages to reconcile Wolverine’s overexposure with his personal nature, and it ends on a cliffhanger that actually offers an intriguing reason to go and pick up the next issue.

One of my chief complaints about the Wolverine movie was that somewhere along the line, they forgot that Wolverine was supposed to be cool. This comic seems almost designed to remind you exactly why he is. It’s rare I’d describe a Wolverine comic as a must-buy, but this one is exactly that.

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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.

These days, Wolverine’s solo title is a bit of a mixed bag, offering rotating creative teams telling self-contained arcs. Fair enough – it’s not like you can’t get plenty of Wolverine elsewhere. Still, back in the day, Wolverine’s solo title actually felt like a solo title. It had its own supporting cast, and a long-term creative team, and it was generally pretty good.

Back in 1993, the Fatal Attractions crossover had left Wolverine stripped of his adamantium skeleton by Magneto. After taking an absence from the X-Men, Wolverine had finally come to terms with his new situation, which included not-quite-indestructible bone claws and a healing ability that was now working at full-pelt, no longer having to deal with having a metal skeleton. Unfortunately, a side-effect of this was that his unchecked mutation was now causing him to become more and more animalistic, and he found his humanity harder to hold onto than ever.

All of which made for fairly entertaining reading. Of course, fans knew that the adamantium was coming back one day, and Wolverine #100, complete with holographic foil cover, seemed to be the place. Cable’s wayward son, Genesis, hoped to return the metal to Logan, then brainwash him to serve as a disciple of Apocalypse. With the help of the latest X-Men graduate, Cannonball, Logan manages to escape the bonding process, rejecting the adamantium. Unfortunately, as a side effect, his healing factor fully mutates him into a barely-human animal, who kills Genesis then leaves, even as Cannonball discovers that Genesis’ other project – the resurrection of Apocalypse – might just have succeeded.

The artwork comes from Adam Kubert, who was always one of the better 90s superhero artists, and the series clearly benefited from his involvement. While Larry Hama’s writing took a serious downturn in the late 90s, here he shows a good grasp of the serial medium, bringing together several long-running plot threads and offering a remarkably satisfying alternative to “Wolverine gets his adamantium back” (which he eventually would, as depicted in flashback in Wolverine #145.) The ending was, at the time, quite an unexpected twist, and it’s almost inconceivable to imagine Marvel sending one of their most bankable properties on such a strange personal journey – although back then, he wasn’t quite as ubiquitous as he is now.

The title would eventually see Wolverine gradually regain his lost humanity, and it turned out that Apocalypse was indeed back. The focus on Cannonball is quite odd for an anniversary issue of Wolverine’s solo title, but when the lead spends most of the issue strung up and dehumanised, it makes sense to provide a POV character. Despite the gimmick cover, the banner proclaiming “Anniversery Event!” and the fact that it appeared smack-bang in the middle of one of comics’ weakest periods ever, the issue was actually quite a decent event for Wolverine readers, tying up a large number of plots, but launching as many – it’s something you don’t really see these days, thanks to the current trend of trade-focused pacing. For better or worse, they don’t make ‘em like this anymore.

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.

During the “Heroes Reborn” event, the Hulk title was reportedly scheduled for cancellation so that the character could be used by the Image guys in those comics. At the last minute, the book was saved and Peter David’s legendary run on the character was given a stay of execution, although he was now writing a version of the Hulk who had been split from Bruce Banner by Onslaught’s reality-warping power, so as to leave Bruce free to become the Hulk in the Heroes Reborn universe.

By all reports, David hastily came up with a bunch of stories to fill the gap, re-inventing the Hulk’s personality once again as a thuggish loner unable to contain his own power. In what one expects might’ve been an attempt to bolster sales of the almost-cancelled title, David was eventually teamed with former X-Men/Wolverine artist Adam Kubert and immediately used the opportunity to bring the industry’s most popular characters in for a short guest-run.

Following a fight with Wolverine in the Savage Land, the Hulk’s unconscious body has been brought back to the X-Mansion. David’s mastery of comedy takes prime position during the issue, as the X-Men present are individually shown realising what’s going on and Wolverine has to explain his decision.  Eventually, the Hulk wakes up and tries to escape, and the X-Men’s plan to contain him in the Danger Room fails. In the ensuing fight, the Hulk is faced down by Forge, who has a weapon he believes can harm the Hulk. Forge shoots him, and as he does the Hulk disappears. As Forge explains to a horrified Storm that the weapon isn’t possible of disintegrating him, it’s revealed that Hulk has, in fact, been teleported to safety by… Apocalypse!

Peter David’s Hulk run is full of enjoyable action-comedy issues along these lines, and David manages to nail the X-Men’s characterisation in a few short scenes. The humour mixes perfectly with the action, and Kubert’s depiction of the same is faultless. The later years of David’s turn on the title are often forgotten, but the short X-Men related run which began with the Savage Land fight and included run-ins with both Apocalypse and Juggernaut, before it ended with Hulk accidentally crippling Rick Jones a few issues later, is a particularly enjoyable arc in a classic Marvel tradition. The amount of X-Content does make it fairly certain that it was designed to grab a few extra readers, but when the stories are that memorable purely on the strength of their writing, it’s easy to forgive such a gimmick.

The run begins with Incredible Hulk #454, and is well worth tracking down – especially if you’re looking to read some great Hulk stories and feel like saving a little cash on all this Red Hulk nonsense.