Bob Layton

Doctor Doom first appeared in Fantastic Four #5 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott and Stan Goldberg, published on April 10 1961. One of the most iconic villains in comic book history, Victor Von Doom has always remained steadfast in his goals: Take over the world for its own benefit, and kill Reed Richards along the way, if there's time.

Superhero comics had crossed over many times before 1984, with various crises on various earths and plenty of Marvel characters invading other characters' titles, but the comic that set the template for the event series as we know it today is undoubtedly Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars, the first issue of which was released on this week in 1984 (cover dated May). The brainchild of Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, the series spanned 12 issues and threw nearly every Marvel Comics character into the mix. It even started the trend of more than one artist taking on penciling duties, as Mike Zeck and Bob Layton traded off every few issues.

The return of Valiant Comics has produced some of 2012's most enjoyable comics, but their contribution to our industry goes far beyond the printed page. They are preserving artifacts of a time once thought lost to us. Witness: The Valiant Third Anniversary Video from 1994, a half-hour look at what life was like in the original Valiant during the boom of the '90s...