Claremont's X-MEN, John Byrne's FANTASTIC FOUR, DeMatties' "Kraven's Last Hunt" / "Who is the Hobgoblin?" era of SPIDER-MAN, and Walt Simonson's THOR are, for me, the very best MARVEL runs in the 1980's.
The Hulk would find its true voice with Peter David in the late-80's early 90's. Captain America's solo book was all over the place in the 1980's due to various political and public sway of Conservatism, Reagan's America, and the (ultimate) end of the Cold War. Thus, no writer really knew what to do with Steve and keep the wide demographic readers happy. Eventually having him quit to avoid working as a crony for the US Government was probably the truest expression of the character in that decade.
The Avengers are known for the "Korvac Saga" and "Kree-Skrull War" that occurred in the late 70's/early 80's of that book. But, after that, they struggled to find their direction. I think the team went through about three or four "leaders" and creative staff during that era. However, the whole "Masters of Evil/Attack on Avengers Mansion" storyline, where Hyde beat Jarvis near to death and forced Cap to watch (also ripping up Steve's only pic of his own mother, thus forcing tears from the soldier....and my young self....at the end of the story) and put Hercules into the hospital can be considered a true classic of the 80's.
Claremont's X-MEN is its own pinnacle, and I don't think I need to point out how extraordinary was Chris's early vision for this book. It went from a canceled book that published only reprints of itself, to becoming the second-greatest franchise (under Spider-Man, himself) MARVEL Comics has ever managed to create.
Spider-Man books have always, always been a crapshoot. I don't know of any single writer who you can point at just say "HE gets it, he gets Spider-Man" in the same way you can say "Claremont's X-MEN" or "Byrne's FF". But, J. M. DeMatteis gave us a really intense story with "Kraven's Last Hunt". The most serious and honest approach to any Spider-Man villain of the time. It actually revolutionized the way writers treated his rogue's gallery after that, implying and retconning sympathetic and nuanced facets into Doc Ock, Sandman, etc. That alone puts this up there as an 80's Classic. The whole "Who is the Hobgoblin?" mystery from the mid-80's era, before the "Kraven Hunt", was just really damn fun mystery storytelling for its time.
Then there's John Byrne Fantastic Four. He took a very tame, one-dimensional concept book and truly defined what we know as the FF today. This was the era we gained She-Hulk as a priceless Marvel character. This was when the Thing stretched out into his own book. This was when Susan Richards went from "Invisible Girl" to "Invisible Woman". This was the era Franklin was born, we saw what lengths Reed would go to in protecting his family. I could go on, and on, and on. But, if you've never read the sublime John Byrne-era of The Fantastic Four, then you've never actually read The Fantastic Four.
Same goes for Walt Simonson's phenomenal opus in THOR. This man was the writer/artist for an era of Thor that stepped him back and away from the Stan Lee superhero stuff, and steeped the character into a fresh approach to Norse lore. Like reading The Odyssey for the first time, I would compare Thor's journey through Simonson's run as a truly definitive tempering of what makes Thor Odinson tick. Who and what is he, beyond his godly position and royal seat. Not to mention, Walt really fleshed out his adversaries, such as the Enchantress and, mainly, The Executioner. Let's just sum it up like this: Walter Simonson is the only...and I mean only....writer that can get away with making The God of Thunder into a fucking frog for multiple issues, and you come away thinking '
Badass.'. Damn, DAMN good stuff! Highly recommended. I just bought the Omnibus from Amazon. Check it out.
P.S. Fuck Jim Shooter. He was a pompous, bullheaded opportunist who rode his wave of fame on the backs of industry greats.
