Category: Favorites

The final team book shows up to anchor the Top 10, and it’s something of a surprise! Then we’ve got a mix of two male solo titles, and two female solo titles. Also two characters who have been around for a very long time, and two more recent characters. And one of the titles is new characters in long-time roles.

#10 – All-New X-Men
Dennis Hopeless, writer
Mark Bagley, artist

Despite my checkered past with Brian Michael Bendis, his re-imagination of the all-new X-Men, bringing the original five students from early in their careers into the future in the hopes of convincing the present day Cyclops the error of his ways, turned out to provide some really interesting stories that have evolved into this latest incarnation written by Dennis Hopeless. Now, with Jean Grey off with another faction of the team, and with the all-new Wolverine taking her place, as well as a handful of the other newer mutants in the X-Men stable, we’ve got some “old favorites” mixing it up with newer characters in something that breathes fresh life into a tired Marvel staple.

Some high points include Iceman’s revelation that he’s gay, Cyclops’ struggling not to become the slightly crazy, megalomaniac his older self has turned into, and the burgeoning romance between Angel and the all-new Wolverine. Mark Bagley’s sleek, clean artwork adds a lot to the appeal of the All-New X-Men, and I’m hopeful this title can maintain its high quality even while it gets sucked into some of the larger X-Men series crossovers.

#9 – Silver Surfer
Dan Slott, writer
Michael Allred, artist

Dan Slott replaces his goofy humor with a sweet simplicity, perfectly matched by Michael Allred’s fun, cartoony art to reimagine the classic Silver Surfer into something fresh and new as seen through the eyes of the human, Dawn Greenwood. This terrific new series started out as a cosmic adventure where Silver Surfer takes Dawn into space to show her the wonders of the universe. Then after providing critical assistance to repairing the universe after it was merged with other multiverses during Secret Wars, Silver Surfer returned to earth with Dawn taking on a new role as earth’s protector after his former love, Shalla Bal, and the people of Zenn-la tried to reimagine Surfer’s adopted home in their image.

Slott usually approaches his titles with considerable humor, and some smart use of continuity. Silver Surfer is fun, and often funny, but there is an underlying sweetness as he and Dawn slowly develop a romantic relationship, all while revisiting past allies and foes on an epic journey through the universe, and then across the globe. Michael Allred, along with his wife, colorist, Laura Allred, create a wild, Ditko-esque tapestry against which the Surfer uses his considerable power to protect those less fortunate. I had difficulty imagining how Slott would maintain his creative storyline, but this title is consistently surprising in its fresh look at a long-time hero.

#8 – Ms. Marvel
G. Willow Wilson, writer
Takeshi Miyazawa, artist

G. Willow Wilson’s re-imagination of legacy heroine, Ms. Marvel as a teen, Muslim, Kamala Khan, took Marvel by storm, and opened the floodgates of the superhero comics to young women everywhere. A smash hit, it struck comparisons to Spider-Man and his early appearances, about a young hero trying to learn responsibility, fight crime, keep her identity secret, do well in school, and wrestle with young love all while trying to meet curfew. Ms. Marvel took the comic book world by storm, even becoming a member of the All-New Avengers, and fighting alongside her namesake, idol, Captain Marvel.

While Wilson’s Ms. Marvel retains its appeal, deftly balancing the young heroine’s many challenges, her larger acceptance, as member of the Avengers, has actually dampened my enthusiasm slightly for the title. While still in my Top 10, I think Ms. Marvel would have been higher in the list had I made it a year ago. Takeshi Mayazawa’s art is strong, giving Kamala her unique look, and cartoony appeal. Ms. Marvel has so much potential, and G. Willow Wilson has proven to be a writer that can handle a wide variety of stories. And as a trailblazer for blasting open the doors to mainstream comics to young women, I top my hat to her.

#7 – The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
Ryan North, writer
Erica Henderson, artist

Now here’s an unexpected hit about a rather unexpected creation. Squirrel Girl was created as a joke in a back-up Iron Man story where she defeated Dr. Doom. After some notable appearances in the Great Lake Avengers, then as Luke Cage and Jessica Jones’ nanny in the New Avengers, she got her own title for the first time, where Ryan North and Erica Henderson capitalized on the runaway success of Ms. Marvel to create one of the most fun, funny, and original series ever. Taking full advantage of today’s technology (Squirrel Girl and her pals tweet incessantly) Squirrel Girl is a book for the youth of today and an inspiration for young girls everywhere. Optimistic, confident, and powerful, Squirrel Girl takes on all sorts of criminals, from common thugs to Galactus and Thanos, Squirrel Girl takes no prisoners.

North creates an adorable heroine for the ages, and infuses Squirrel Girl with lunatic humor, warmth and girl-power. With heroic friends like Koi Boy and Chipmunk Hunk you can’t help but smile as this plucky crime-fighter works with her sidekick Tippy-Toe to make the world a better place. Erica Henderson’s art is cartoony but accomplished, and Squirrel Girl is one of the few titles that my friends who don’t read comics seek out. This unlikely hit is so deserving, and while the convoluted time-travel, multi-issue arc wasn’t quite as fun as the previous issues of the series, I still look forward to this comic every month.

#6 – Doctor Strange
Jason Aaron, writer
Chris Bachalo, artist

I’ve always enjoyed comic series revolving around magic, and I’ve usually enjoyed the various incarnations of Doctor Strange that Marvel has published. One of the big draws of Doctor Strange was always Clea, who has not appeared in this new series, but surprisingly, I’m still loving it. The good doctor is facing an otherworldly threat that is destroying all magic in the multiverse, and slaughtering those who use it. With various guest stars such as Scarlet Witch, Magik, Shaman and Talisman, Aaron is bringing in many of the magic users in the Marvel Universe, and creating a compelling, accessible story about the nature of magic. It’s fun, a bit irreverent, steeped in Marvel history, and modern all at the same time. Stephen Strange is updated and kind of cool but still recognizable as the character that has been around since the 60’s.

Then there’s the art… an important consideration for Doctor Strange given his origins and how Steve Ditko defined the Marvel magic universe. Chris Bachalo is more than up to the task. His unorthodox panels, cryptic, insane monsters, and inscrutable faces all work perfectly for Drocto Strange. If Aaron and Bachalo can maintain this quality and pace, Doctor Strange should have a good run leading up to his cinematic debut. And if they bring Clea in, even as a guest star, I’ll be just thrilled.

And we’re down to my Top 5. Anyone have any guesses as to what’s on the top of the list?

For the next round, we have some insects, a ferocious animal, and a bunch of superheroines. We also start the parade of solo titles that I’ve been loving. Two are titles that I am genuinely surprised that I’m enjoying so much. Let’s get right down to it.

#15 – The Astonishing Ant-Man
Nick Spencer, writer
Ramon Rosanas, artist

I’ve always preferred Scott Lang to Hank Pym when it comes to Ant-Man, but I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy Lang’s solo-outing nearly as much as I do. Lang’s Ant-Man is a bit of a screw-up in his first solo title. He has followed his ex-wife and daughter to Miami, started his own shaky security firm populated by ex-super villains, and found himself working for his ex-girlfriend Darla Deering, once a teammate on the Fantastic Four under the identity of Miss Thing. His daughter Cassie, formerly the Young Avengers known as Stature has come back from the dead, lost her powers and his very angry at her father for stalking her. Now she finds herself on the wrong side of the law with a new set of super-powers with her Dad trying to save her.

Nick Spencer hits a fun tone in Astonishing Ant-Man, mixing family drama with pratfall humor. Scott is such a mess that you can’t help root for him. He loves his daughter and tries so hard to be a hero that you just want to shake him every time he makes a questionable decision. Spencer makes Lang a lovable guy who tries really hard but can’t really catch many breaks. He does a great job with Lang’s supporting cast as well. From Cassie, to Darla, to his sad sack security team, to the Beetle, a new incarnation of the super-villain with whom he has slept with a couple times against his better judgement. Ramon Rosanas’ art is sleek and accessible, handle the size changing superheroes with dramatic flair.  Here’s hoping Lang’s bad luck doesn’t cross over into the sales for this title, which deserves a lengthy run.

#14 – Spider-Woman
Dennis Hopeless, writer
Javier Rodriguez, artist

How I loved Spider-Woman in the 70’s. And I do thank Brian Bendis for bringing her back… but didn’t really enjoy his take on her. But now Dennis Hopeless has reimagined Jessica Drew as a pragmatic heroine… who has a baby! What a fun and unexpected twist for our heroine, and one that brings a little mystery and a lot of humor into her life. It’s true, when Spider-Woman first appeared in the 70’s, humor wasn’t really part of her ouevre. Yet it suits her, especially with Hopeless’ quirky take on her, and keeping her large network of heroic (and sometimes villainous) friends. I also enjoy her mentor relationship with the two newest spider-ladies in the Marvel Universe (Spider-Gwen and Silk). It allows Jessica to grapple with her uncertainty around her heroic role, yet tap into the extensive experience she has amassed over the years.

Javier Rodriguez is a great artistic pairing for Jessica’s new style. Her costume has been reimagined, the book has bold, clean lines, and the colors fairly leap off the page. The first arc of Spider-Woman’s title by Hopeless focuses on her pregnancy and her unorthodox labor. I’m looking forward to see where her creative team takes her now that the baby is born, and perhaps the mystery of the father is brought to light. Welcome back, Jessica, it’s been way too long.

#13 – Black Widow
Chris Samnee & Mark Waid, writers
Chris Samnee, artist

Natasha Romanoff, aka, The Black Widow, is finally getting the attend she deserves, thanks possibly in part, because of the high profile nature of her role in the Avengers films. Natasha has such a long, complicated history with so many appearances in so many team and solo books since her debut in the pages of Iron Man in the 60’s. Taking up the threads established by Marjorie Liu and Nathan Edmondson in her previous series, Black Widow’s solo adventures are much more of the spy variety than standard superheroics. Mark Waid and Chris Samnee just completed a very successful run on Daredevil, and their style suits the Widow nicely. They kick the series off with a full-throttle, suspenseful opener that never lets up the pace. They’ve put Natasha in a very dangerous situation, one that she overcomes in her own deadly style.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the last two Widow series over the past few years. And I suspect this one will also be great. So far it hasn’t matched the outstanding work Edmondson had been delivering, thus it’s double digit appearance on this list. I’m hoping that once Waid and Samnee get deeper into their story, that this title might move up on my list.

#12 – A-Force
Kelly Thompson w/ G. Willow Wilson, writers
Jorge Malina, artist

After Cullen Bunn’s ambitious, yet failed attempt at an all-super-heroine team in Fearless Defenders, I was worried that A-Force, an all-super-heroine team of Avengers that got its debut as a miniseries during the Secret Wars arc, might fare the same. Yet, G. Willow Wilson hot off her work with Ms. Marvel, seems to have a success on her hands so far. Now in their own series, the kick-ass heroines of Earth 616 – She-Hulk, Medusa, Captain Marvel, Dazzler, Nico Minoru and Singlarity –  band together again for the very first time. What’s that you say? Together again for the first time? Well the characters in the A-Force limited series were plucked from various realities and weren’t the heroines that are getting together here, but when one of your members is a sentient pocket universe, these things are possible.

Even without one of my favorites, Medusa, prominently featured, it’s a no-brainer that I would be interested in a team of super-heroines, but A-Force shows promise regardless of my pre-disposition to love it. Thompson and Wilson are taking their time developing the group into a team and fleshing out the individual members. They plan to have a variety of characters guest star, which will be a lot of fun. The tension/dynamic between three strong leaders, Medusa, Captain Marvel and She-Hulk, is fun. Malina’s artwork is good, clean and attractive, but doesn’t wow me. I suppose this would be much closer to the top of the list if it didn’t feel a little rushed, or dig a little deeper. Hopefully once A-Force settles into its groove, that will happen.

#11 – All-New Wolverine
Tom Taylor, writer
David Lopez & David Navarrot, artists

Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think a Wolverine comic would end up hovering around the bottom of my top 10 Marvel books being published. Even with Laura Kinney, the former X-23, now acting as the All-New Wolverine did I ever expect a Wolverine title to be so darn enjoyable! Tom Taylor has breathed new life into the tired Wolverine mythos by creating stories about a young, female clone of Wolverine, struggling with her humanity, and basically invulnerable due to her healing factor. In her new solo title, Laura has partnered with such unlikely heroes as Dr. Strange and Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, as well as her boyfriend, Angel, from the all-new X-Men already, and seeing her work with these disparate heroes has been a lot of fun. Now she has taken an even younger clone of herself under her wing, forcing her to make even more responsible choices in an effort to set a good example.

Taylor has developed a strong character in Laura Kinney, someone who hasn’t been around all that long, yet has already amassed significant experience in the Marvel Universe. She carries on a legacy of the lost Logan, and seeks to honor him by adopting his identity. he art by David Lopez and David Navarrot has an intensity that matches the young heroine. Now it’s time to see some of Wolverine’s rogues gallery to make an appearance to square off against the “all-new Wolverine.”

See you soon with the Top 10!

After being inspired by this article in Past Magazine, I started assembling my Top 10 list of Marvel Comics that I’m currently enjoying. What I discovered is, I’m actually really digging about 20 of their titles (and reading about 30 — not a bad ratio). I made a couple of surprising discoveries when compiling this list. I’ve always been a big fan of team books. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that our of my Top 20 reads, 14 were solo titles! And of the seven team books I am enjoying, only one is in the Top 10. The reason for this leads to my next surprising discovery. I’ve always enjoyed team books more than solo books because, as you all know, I read comics mainly for the superheroines. Historically, you’d only find superheroines in team books like the X-Men or the Avengers. You might find one or two solo titles about a superhoine, but they usually didn’t last too long. Shockingly, 10 of my Top 20 Marvel titles I’m enjoying right now are solo books about superheroines! It’s really unprecedented, and I am thrilled. I guess Marvel finally figured out that girls read comics too.

#20 – Captain Marvel
Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters, writers
Kris Anka & Felipe Smith, artists

As a superheroine-loving, comic-reading youth, I was very excited when Marvel clumsily embraced the women’s liberation movement in the 70’s, publishing titles like The Cat, Night Nurse, and somewhat more successfully, Spider-Woman and Ms. Marvel. Carol Danvers, a/k/a/ Ms. Marvel, was an interesting character, and fit right in the mold of what a big comic book company thought a 70’s liberated woman should be. After her title was cancelled, she showed up in the Avengers and the X-Men, and proceeded to have her life ripped apart and over the decades, put back together. And while I’ve always liked her okay, I’ve never really taken to Ms. Marvel. Except for her first run in The Avengers, when she was actually kind of playful — flirting with Wonder Man, teasing Captain America — she always came across as a little flat. Chris Claremont did some work with her after she had her powers stripped from her and her memories wiped by Rogue in a classic Avengers Annual, subsequently boosting her powers to cosmic levels and changing her name to Binary. Kurt Busiek tried to mix it up a little by having her struggle with alcohol when he brought the Avengers back to popularity. Then Marvel decided that Carol, now called Captain Marvel, needed to be their flagship heroine; a character to rival Wonder Woman, and they started pushing her in solo titles again.

I really wanted to love her first solo outing written by the talented Kelly Sue DeConnick but could never really fully embrace it. Part of that was Dexter Soy’s unconventional, and in my eyes, unattractive artwork. So after a while, I stopped reading it. Recently she got a new creative team, Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters who relaunched her series with Carol as the commander of Alpha Flight, housed on a space station and protecting the earth from interstellar threats. Her supporting cast includes Sasquatch, Aurora and Puck, former members of the Canadian team, Alpha Flight, with some lovely, streamlined art by Kris Anka and Felipe Smith. The combination is working. The stories are fun, Carol in getting more interesting to me again, and hopefully, this trend will continue. I really want to love Captain Marvel. maybe soon I will.

#19 – Ultimates
Al Ewing, writer
Kenneth Rocafort, artist

After the universe reshaping that took place in Secret Wars, the Ultimates came together to monitor and protect the earth from major cosmic disturbances. Their first mission was to stop the planet-destroying habits of Galactus, so you know they mean business. With that in mind, the team packs some major power with a membership that includes Blue Marvel, Black Panther, Spectrum, Captain Marvel and Ms. America, with Galactus as a sort of unofficial member. It’s also an amazingly diverse team with not a single caucasian man in sight. Much of my enjoyment of Ultimates comes from this unconventional line-up. Female-heavy, and featuring Monica Rambeau, aka Spectrum, was also a major-enticement. But Ewing does a great job in thinking big in terms of storyline and is creative in his solutions.

Take his first storyline, when the Ultimates decide to tackle the problem of Galactus. Their solution isn’t to destroy him, or stop his insatiable hunger. Instead, they use their brains and their considerable power to change his fundamental nature from world-destroyer to life-bringer. It’s a bold, and surprising move in comics, and has made for some pretty damn entertaining stories.

#18 – Squadron Supreme
James Robinson, writer
Leonard Kirk, artist

Originally created as Marvel’s version of the Justice League and hailing from a parallel earth, James Robinson has reimagined the team as a band of heroes assembled from multiple parallel earths that have all been destroyed. The team holds the Illuminati responsible, and their primary mission, when not helping humanity, is revenge against those who destroyed their homeworlds. In fact, in one of their first missions, they successfully kill Namor, the Sub Mariner. Each member represents the core team of the original Squadron Supreme, including Hyperion, Nighthawk, Doctor Spectrum, Whizzer, and Power Princess. I’ve always enjoyed the Squadron Supreme, but it was the inclusion of Thundra, who hooked up with the team after a few issues, that inspired me to follow the book.

Fortunately, Robinson has set the team up with an intriguing mission, one that is justified, if misguided, and also puts them into opposition of the heroes on our earth. It’s difficult to know how long he will be able to maintain this mission, and how things will evolve longer-term, but with early revelations of a team-traitor, and the addition of Thundra, things are already starting to evolve.

#17 – Uncanny Inhumans
Charles Soule, writer
Steve McNiven, Brandon Petersen, Kev Walker, artists

I’ve always been a big fan of the Inhuman Royal Family, particularly Medusa, who is my second favorite super-heroine after the Invisible Woman. Medusa has gotten a lot of play in the past few years, which I really appreciate, but now that Black Bolt is back, I feared Medusa would be taking a back seat to her hubby. Fortunately, so far, that’s not happening. While Uncanny Inhumans hasn’t quite lived up to my hopes for the title; it’s a pretty standard book, it is resolving some dropped threads from the past: like what ever happened to Medusa and Black Bolt’s son, Ahura. That opening arc, which also involved Kang the Conqueror, was a great start, but the book has been floundering a bit since then with a few transitional issues that will hopefully lead into something big coming up. The addition of the Human Torch as the human liaison to the Inhumans is intriguing, but his relationship with Medusa seems a bit more like a plot device.

Still, I have high hopes for this ongoing spotlight on one of Marvel’s quirkier ideas from the 60’s. Marvel Entertainment has put the Inhumans movie on hold, which is a shame, but they’re getting commercial time on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Medusa is certainly getting a lot of face time between this title and A-Force, which will appear a little bit later on this list. So my hopes remain high, and I am enjoying the Inhumans time in the spotlight.

#16 – All-New Inhumans
James Asmus & Charles Soule, writers
Stefano Caselli, artist

Speaking of the Inhumans, what about all those other Inhumans, including all the new ones created by the Terrigen mists, that don’t fit into Uncanny Inhumans? Marvel has created a second team, this one led by Crystal, arguably one of the most popular of the Royal Family, who is occasionally forgotten about when dealing with the Inhumans. Surprisingly, I’m enjoying All-New Inhumans a little more than the Uncanny version. This group of Inhumans has a very targeted mission — protecting all the new Inhumans created by the Terrigen Cloud that has now having affects worldwide. All-New Inhumans covers some interesting moral ground as the team, nominally on a diplomatic mission wherever they go, uncover all sorts of disturbing behavior around the explosion of new Inhumans.

Marvel has always had a tough time creating new Inhumans beyond the Royal Family and having them stick. Both All-New and Uncanny Inhumans is doing a pretty good job with this, giving them some strong characterization and more to do (Sean McKeever’s brief series in the early 2000’s about a younger group of Inhumans being an exception. Would love to see some of those characters again.) The fact that Charles Soule is involved with both Inhumans’ series is good, allowing for strong continuity and interplay. I just hope that Marvel isn’t going to continue with the idea of Inhumans replacing mutants in their universe, because those stories have already been written for decades. It’s time to try something new.

Okay, things start to get really interesting from here. You can see that most of the team books are in this group, surprising, as they tend to be my favorites. Also notable about those teams is that they’re all pretty much led by women (except for Ultimates, and the leadership there is debatable.)  Lots of good stuff from Marvel these days. Hope the quality continues.

Both Marvel and DC are transforming again. It’s something they do every nine months or so. Sometimes more. It gets old. But at the same time, I read a post on some comics site that listed the best Marvel comics out right now, and I realized that I agreed with many of the picks on this list, and that there were actually quite a few Marvel Comics being published at the moment that I was really enjoying. Since I don’t really use this blog anymore except for my year-end best books list, I thought why not share my mid-year best comics list? And here we are…

But before I launch into this list, I had to mention two titles that are not currently being published, so it would be against the rules to include them on my list. That said, when they were being published, they were definitely in my Top 6 or 7 Marvel books out there. The good news, is that one will be coming back… transformed a bit… very soon, and the other will turn up again in the near future as well.

Loki: Agent of Asgard
Al Ewing, writer
Lee Garbett, Artist

I’m not generally a fan of comic titles centered around “villains.” I came late to Loki’s starring role. In the pages of Thor, the heroes arch-nemesis, his half-brother Loki, god of lies, ends up being reborn. His tales as a pre-teen were told in Kieron Gillen’s Journey Into Mystery title. After reading consistent great reviews of the comic, I picked it up, fell in love, and have been reading about Loki’s adventures in various titles ever since. Now aged to a young adult, befriended by a mortal named Verity, who can see through lies, acting more as an anti-hero… or even (gasp) a hero, than the traditional villain he has always played, and now working as an agent of Asgard, his mystical homeworld on command by the all-Mother, rulers of the gods, he wrestles with his future self, that traditional, purveyor of evil that whose shadow all his actions fall beneath.

Ewing’s Loki is conflicted and charming, smart and cunning, but not so trustworthy when it all comes down to it. His journey has him evolving from a god of lies, to a god of stories, which is a lot less judgmental, but still has the ability to swing both ways… morality-wise. Sadly, Loki got caught up in the whole rebirth of the Marvel Universe business and his title was suspended. The good news, is that this week, Loki returns in a new title called Vote Loki, where the god of stories take on the role that he was born to embrace… political candidate for President of the United States.

All-New Hawkeye
Jeff Lemire, writer
Ramón Pérez, artist

After writer David Aja’s ongoing Hawkeye series turned Clint Barton, the avenging archer from an heroic superhero, to a down-on-his-luck hero of the people, and paired him up with the younger, better(?) Hawkeye, Kate Bishop Jeff Lemire followed up with a story that combined a future adventure with the present, when the two estranged Hawkeyes meet up after years on their own to correct a mistake they made around three powerfully mutated children who kill with their minds.

Both Aja and Lemire knew how to make Barton and Bishop unique and fascinating, with their two heroes sharing both a mutual admiration and attraction that was sweet without being icky. They tackled serious subjects with a hefty dose of tongue-in-cheek, dry humor that suited their protagonists perfectly. Both Hawkeyes found themselves rising up from B-list cult favorites, to A-list cult favorites and proved once again, that you don’t need super powers to be a true hero.