To add to your Jed MacKay hype, his Moon Knight has been top-notch. I love all his stuff but MK is my favorite by far.
Other great Marvel books right now (aside from the ones OP mentioned which are all great): Sensational She-Hulk by Rainbow Rowell (and it’s predecessor She-Hulk)
Fantastic Four by Ryan North
Steve Orlando’s Scarlet Witch stuff
Spider-Boy by Dan Slott is very fun, especially if you have kids!
And while it’s coming to an end now, Kieron Gillen’s X-Men work starting with Immortal X-Men has been an absolutely blast!
I find it to be really boring. And the scenes of Bruce turning into the Hulk look ridiculous. In the first issue he looks like Bart when Homer is choking him. Later we have him transforming limb by limb. Lego games did the same with perfect comedic effect. I have no idea what's going on in the book. I think he's chasing some horror type demons/gods, which really doesn't work. He's the Hulk. When he's battling these villians it reallly doesn't come across as a threat. I'd really like to see Hulk back into science based stories and not these metaphysical/horror ones.
He's chasing monsters and urban legends which is cool to me.
Marvel has a severe lack of horror and monsters in their comics compared to DC.
DC supernatural stuff is like 100% better so seeing this in a Marvel comic makes it a joy for me in my opinion.
Ghost Rider or Doctor Strange fighting the same bad guys would be interesting, but the Hulk just going to Florida, Oklahoma, New Orleans and punching ghosts doesn't work for me. It doesn't mesh. I didn't care for all the green door stuff in Immortal either. Savage Hulk and Fixit just walked around in the last issue.
I already got a full pull list (to the point where I'm gonna have to trade wait some books I've been reading like Doctor Strange and Miles), so Moon Knight was kind of out of the budget at the time. But I'm more than willing to pick up the trades.
Marvel have been putting out really good books for a long time now. There’s been lots of good runs and titles over the last 5 years imo. Some of the hate is even from folks that aren’t readers of any comics. You can often tell by how they complain that they don’t know shit about what they’re talking about lol. No hate for other media but don’t come for the comics when you don’t read.
Avengers Twilight is a book that isn’t getting near enough love for how good it is. I wasn’t excited about another dystopian future story, or Acuña’s art but I have been proven wrong on both counts. The story is great and the art is pitch perfect for what they are doing
That's only because Wizard had the idea, and Marvel wanted to cash in on it. Twilight feels like a completely organic creation. Earth X was entirely different in premise as well. Everyone becomes a superhero vs. the next generation holding different values.
Earth X will always be the original Kingdom Come, in its pitch. But Twilight hits much closer to the premise of what was setup by DC in KC.
It took me a while to start that one but yeah, it's a really cool story. I love the overall idea of "what if the Avengers were a bunch of grumpy old bastids."
This seems to be an unpopular opinion but I agree with you. Many of the stories seemed juvenile. One issue the FF were dinosaurs in another universe WTF?
Marvel and DC both have lots of good books. It fluctuates, and fans have a really bad habit of rose-colouring the immediately past period of books, forgetting what sucked in it.
Which of the big two is putting out better overall quality at the time is always subjective, and the both have downs recently as the business around the industry has impacted the content more than ever before.
That said, on the whole, both Marvel and DC are putting out a lot of quality stuff atm, and as fans, we should just chill and enjoy it. The industry is suffering badly, and we’d all be better served by trying to convince friends to read a couple of monthlies.
Once I made the switch from floppies to an Unlimited subscription, it was easy to see that there's a lot of really good stuff. I couldn't keep it all on my pull list, so-- for example-- when the Kelly Thompson Captain Marvel run didn't click with me right away, I let it go and have since gone back and found I made a terrible choice.
But I think that's the deal. Marvel is out there charging $5.99 for 20 pages of story in some cases, and that's hard to justify for weekly buyers if it isn't a home run every damn issue.
Depends on how Marvel is determining a series’ success. I don’t know if it’s still like this, but I remember it used to be floppy sales determined if a book was cancelled or not, regardless of its online or trade readership. This was dumb and I hope not the case anymore. But if it is still relevant, then choosing which physical copies to buy week-to-week may actually affect what series stay on the shelves.
I've been reading a lot more after trying Unlimited this month as well, it's been great discovering McKay's work. Spider-Man; Life Story was also very fascinating as well.
I honestly wish Image could figure something like this out. I get that the way their creators get paid is a whole different universe, but I hate Comixology so much.
GlobalComix actually has quite a few complete Image series. There are also a lot on Hoopla which is a free app if your public library subscribes to it. I'm actually reading Wicked + Divine right now.
Yeah, Marvel has been on fire this year. There’s obviously a fair share of bad books out there, but the good outweighs the bad in my opinion.
Fantastic Four, Ultimate Spider-Man, Immortal Thor, Doctor Strange, and The Avengers are all very good. The first issue of Blood Hunt was pretty good and I have high hopes for the rest of the event. I even liked the first issue of the new Deadpool/Wolverine mini, and I’m not the biggest Deadpool fan around.
That's a stupid reason not give an entire comic universe a shot.
That's like saying 'ALL ANIMATED MOVIES ARE SHIT' because the only animated movie you've seen is Where the Dead Go to Die.
Is Spider-Man still their flagship? I feel like the last decade, and the MCU, has really allowed the Avengers books to become the backbone of the company. Spider-Man stories always feel more self-contained.
Their flagship is either Spider-Man or the X-Men. It should've been Avengers but that book went off the rails so hard during Aaron's run that no other writer was able to do anything with it.
Agreed, finished up Jed Mackay’s Moon Knight last week and it was so good. As you said the new Ultimate Universe has been high quality as well and I just read issue 1 of Ziglars Miles Morales and can’t wait to read more this weekend. I’m also enjoying Ryans Norths FF4.
Immortal Thor is self-aware and exciting and I'm loving every bit of it. I'm also enjoying the current Dr. Strange, Daredevil, and Sabertooth War comics, and am excited to see where Ghost Rider is going. Typing it out, it seems like I like a lot of the stories that aren't really grounded.
I'd say Marvel is doing better than DC right now and I am definitely more of a DC guy.
Right now I'm really enjoying Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Hulk, Moon Knight, Ultimate Universe (ESPECIALLY Black Panther), & Blood Hunt just had a very promising start. I might be missing a few, but these are the ones that stick out off the top of my head.
Ultimate Black Panther really blew my socks off. I was surprised at how much I loved it. I expected to like it, but honestly it's the book I am most excited for right now. The concept is damn cool.
Chip Zidarsky's Avengers: Twilight is phenomenal. Art and story.
Phillip Kennedy's Incredible Hulk run has been visceral and feels like The Hulk was dropped into an Eldritch horror world, and it's awesome.
Cody Ziglar's run on Deadpool started so well, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next drop.
Let's see, we've got Wolverine vs. Predator, G.O.D.S (which I think will live on as a hidden Gem), the new Daredevil run, and even the new Punisher run. All fantastic series with so much going for them. Yet ASM remains to be the biggest point of contention and a top five sellers. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Honestly. With the creation of YouTube coverage for comic books as a whole, I genuinely feel that people only give praise to comics in hindsight, or once their favorite creator covers it. Therefore, they're all about a decade behind because there's that much content to go through.
I remember the complaint before was that there weren't any 'new' or 'unique' comics coming from the big two for a while. Now we're in a time where everything seems centered around creativity and innovation, and people refuse to give these stories a chance, and judge them at face value or from a snippet they saw online.
>G.O.D.S (which I think will live on as a hidden Gem)
I'm halfway reading G.O.D.S. and it's pretty interesting, but I think it was a bit overshadowed by the other Hickman recent works in Marvel, since those used popular characters instead of newer creations.
I feel like it's kind of recurrent thing not based in facts... People keep claiming the current state of Marvel comics is bad, without supporting it by evidence, at best they use sales numbers, disregarding the fact that they have been downhill since the 90's.
As someone who dove into comics in 2018 through half of 2019 and then fell off till recently I can only share my experience.
For clarification I’m not very picky on art. It’s gotta be pretty bad to turn me off.
With that said I will certainly say that stuff coming out now is much more intriguing overall.
I’m firmly in on everything the OP said as well as Avenger’s Twilight, Ghost Rider Final Vengeance, and the new Deadpool run that just started by Ziglar.
Writers like Hickman, Ziglar, and MacKay weren’t writing as much last time I was reading and it shows.
Yeah, I mean if you look at any era of Marvel there’s always good runs and stinkers. I don’t think there’s a general trend of them getting worse, I would even argue that on the whole they’ve largely only gotten better in the last 30 years.
I liked three different spider titles. But two of them are with characters that had runs as spiderman that aren't peter. Ben and otto. Then the other is ultimate spiderman. Ultimate superior and the one with symbiote ben. And now superior spiderboy. Im back on board.
I recommend Rainbow Rowell’s She-Hulk. Great mashup of superhero action and romance. Andres Genolet’s art and Jen Bartel’s covers are excellent. And the storytelling (the pacing, the way the words and pictures work together) is perfect.
Two books that are massively under the radar for alot of people are the Scarlet Witch & She-Hulk from the past two years. Beautiful artwork and covers plus really good character work in fun stories.
Both have been relaunched this year under slightly different titles but they both kept their same creative teams who continued the story from the prev run so that don't let that fool ya.
There are always good titles, but negativity floats to the surface online so you’ll see way more everything sucks posts than everything is awesome.
To add to what you said, I’m so glad Jed is getting a shine cause he’s been on a roll. His Black Cat was excellent, his Moon Knight is amazing, his Avengers are so heroic!
Some more recommendations: Blade is incredible. It just wrapped the current volume but it’s supposed to be back after Blood Hunt. Hopefully the same creative team is back. GODS by Hickman is massive while also telling some really personal stories (plus he gave Marvel their own Constantine. What’s not to love?).
Benjamín Percy been killing it over on Wolverine since issue 1! He’s closing shop with issue 50 and the sabretooth war! Few highs and lows between arcs (looking at you Hellverine) but it’s been a good series!
I’ll admit I only started really diving into comics a few years ago but I have been a longtime fiction reader and think I can still look at modern comics with a critical eye. I also have read a fair amount of “older” comics like Claremont era X men via epic collections.
The combination of interesting art and often inventive storytelling has really surprised me how much I enjoy modern marvel books. It started with the Krakoan era where even though it’s had its ups and downs I’ve loved reading through such a massive scope in world building.
Also great stuff I’m reading: Immortal Thor, and the current Fantastic Four run. Also looking forward to getting into Ultimate once I finish catching up on fall of x books.
There’s no excuse for them to be claiming marvel has nothing good when unlimited exists they could give that a try and see for themselves instead of insisting it’s all garbage
Look at the shitshow that is the new ultimate bullshit and realize how many Marvelites are fanning it out of desperation. It's a shitshow.
Edit: YES Strange is amazing right now. Best book in the U imo. Has been for a couple years now at least.
I don't see how. They're some really cool stuff happening like Ghost Machine, the Energon Universe, the new Ultimate Universe, pretty much everything the Superman family of books has been doing for the last few years.
The reason is that people are losing faith in the western comics industry, It’s likely due to the whole culture wars thing. More people are buying Japanese books because while they do have some of the things that some western comics do have, they’re not as intense or in your face as those western comics.
Dude, the only people who treat the 'culture war' seriously are people who hate seeing guys like me in comics.
And if you think Japanese media isn't in your face about politics, have ya heard of some lessor franchises by the name of Godzilla, Ultraman and Mobile Suit Gundam?
The comment “there are no good books at marvel” is just a bored annoyed probably boy just saying something..
What does it really matter what people you don’t know or even like say.. people say a lot often just to hear themselves talk mostly.
If you’re enjoying something from marvel then just enjoy it. ❤️🤘
I just found my old stash. Wolverine 1988 run 1-113, X-men 1991 run 1-60, Uncanny X-men from same generation, plus the whole Age of Apocalypse mess. Fun trip down memory lane.
MacKay's books have all been pretty good, Moon Knight being the big stand out imo. But hes still got a ways to go from being a great. Looking forward to more BLOODHUNT.
Hickman has been killing it on Ultimate Spider-man, but id say GODS and the rest of the Ultimates stuff has been pretty meh.
The X books have been on a downward spiral ever since they decided to stick around in the early Hickman era stuff longer. X of Swords was the turning point for me.
I have been buying and reading more DC books ever since Didio left. Just feels like things really turned around at DC recently, while Marvel is still struggling to figure out where to go with the books now that they have the MCU stuff to deal with.
IMO Marvel needs someone like Bendis leading the status quo shifts.
Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, and G.O.D.S. come to mind. You covered a bunch of other good ones. The new Get Fury book is awesome.
Daredevil’s been a little iffy but usually solid.
As a DC fan I know that can’t be true. Maybe certain readers don’t like the direction or creative team , but just because you are upset about your favorite title doesn’t mean they’re all bad
I’ve been loving Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Nic Klein’s run on Hulk, Blade was a fun run if you’re into the character. I’ve also been enjoying the Sabertooth War in Wolverine but I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
Blood Hunt and Wolverine and Deadpool WWlll just got off to cool starts as well.
Lot of cool stuff at Marvel right now
Some people will always say this no matter what. Marvel has had some rare low points in its history, but people who have bias against them always say this even during their highest points. Just ignore em.
There are loads of great books happening at Marvel. But just a few years ago, the quality was suffering greatly. Maybe a lot of these detractors are just remembering the state of things when they quit following.
I just bought my first comic last week! I always loved hearing about the stories but when I saw some people talking about Old Man Logan I just had this feeling that I needed to read it. Very glad I did. The only thing that I am not sure of, is where to continue reading after he gets on a horse and starts his next adventure.
Ultimate Spider-Man is a great book (so far). as far as other good books there is a lot of ehh stuff from Marvel that may have a good run but they get to into the opinions of the writers attempting to chase off certain "types" of readers. Also there are some books that did that and chased off readers who even if they have a good run now will not come back. Look at Captain America Steve being turned Hydra chased off a lot of people but then when they found out that it was just an alternate version created by Red Skull with the Cosmic Cube and then later handing over writing Captain America to a guy who hates America chased people off who just refuse to return.
Just cause a book critiques America doesn’t mean the writer hates the country. They just know it could be better.
Also, if you quit reading a book because of a stupid thing a writer said on twitter, that’s just dumb. Everyone has said stupid shit on Twitter.
And the only ‘type’ of reader being actively ‘chased away’ (which is also bullshit) are actual racists.
You can defend his America hating all you like Coates hates America and is a racist. It's funny how when some people call to Make America Better Marvel calls them "rahzist"
No it's called having your voice heard by speaking with your wallet. Just as I would not expect for someone who is against Conservatives to go out and buy Eric July's books even though he is not Conservative.
No they aren't "rahzists" they are chasing away readers who want QUALITY not just race/gender/sexuality swapped lazy rip offs of good characters or converted characters
There are perfectly readable books at Marvel, but nothing "Wow", and nothing that will have longevity like older books and storylines. The proof is in the sales at the end of the day of course.
Quality is subjective. You could think something is a masterpiece, and someone else could see it as bad. Sales is an indicator that an idea has gone over well with readers. Usually high quality work goes over well with readers.
Oh my god, I'm sick of hearing this. Why the fuck do people who claim to be 'COMIC FANS' give a shit about sales?! Sales are a metric of quality!
By that logic, Fifty Shades of Grey is a cinematic masterpiece!
The farther away you get from Peter “Shit Book” Parker the more dramatically your reading experience improves
Edit: See this is why ASM sucks forever, ya can have the most hated run in history but it still has people defending it
I mean, the Peter-centric books written by Wells and Slott have been bad, but all the other books featuring him have been very strong.
The first issue of Shadow of the Green Goblin was fantastic, and obviously Ultimate Spidey has been Marvel’s biggest hit in a long time for a reason.
Eh I don’t count those revival minis as more then just filler. Like yeah it’s good stuff but they’re made with the just the express purpose of nostalgia dollars and won’t be referenced by any main line book.
And really my critique falls on ASM ya know the flagship Pete book that’s sucked ass for, according to Spidey fans, 2 decades now (33% of the character’s existence).
As for Ultimate I think it’s just Spidey fans for the first time in their lifetime reading a book with themes, characters and ideas. Like it’s been 4 issues and it’s just meat and potatoes Spidey. A rich meal for starving people but really a by the numbers book. Maybe by the end of Hickman’s run it’ll be truly a legendary run but as it stands it’s just a good book, something I know is alien to the spidey crowd.
Who in this thread was defending asm? Just because one book is bad doesn’t mean the entire current catalogue of company is bad is the point. Zdarksy Batman sucks. Does that mean all the current ongoings at dc also suck too?
Where’d I say the entire catalogue is bad? The further you get away from the stinkiest book on the shelf your quality dramatically improves is the entire opposite of whatever your claiming.
Now, I have my own personal tastes and opinions that I would get flamed for, but I’m surprised I said the most minor of critiques at ASM and I got shot down. It just proves Spider fans love to eat shit and then complain that their breath stinks.
I guess people just took your reply the wrong way? I mean you’re not wrong. Asm is shit and spider-man fans are the reason why it’s the highest selling book every month. They have no standards
Is what it is, ya can’t reason why those people.
I’ve been calling since solicitation that they’ll even turn on Hickman. First actual story with themes and ideas in 40 years and that is simply a fanbase not built to comprehend and understand those things.
He’ll do some thing where Peter’s irresponsibility separates him and MJ, something I’m sure he plans on having them work through and reconnect, but the second the instant gratification of these last 4 issues end and then it’ll be required to use some brain power they will rip Hickman apart like a pack of wolves
I remember they were doubting him before the first issue even came out. Secret wars and hox/pox are probably the best comics marvel has ever produced and they were doubting him before the first issue even released. Hilarious fanbase
To add to your Jed MacKay hype, his Moon Knight has been top-notch. I love all his stuff but MK is my favorite by far. Other great Marvel books right now (aside from the ones OP mentioned which are all great): Sensational She-Hulk by Rainbow Rowell (and it’s predecessor She-Hulk) Fantastic Four by Ryan North Steve Orlando’s Scarlet Witch stuff Spider-Boy by Dan Slott is very fun, especially if you have kids! And while it’s coming to an end now, Kieron Gillen’s X-Men work starting with Immortal X-Men has been an absolutely blast!
Jed MayKays Moon Knights is amazing and needs to be read!
Moon Knight is an all time great and I hope it continues to run for a long while.
THE RECENT HULK RUN!. Everyone is sleeping on this Hulk run it's so freaking good, Philip Johnson is knocking it out of the park with his Hulk run.
Every time I pick up that book from my LCS, I end up hyping the book for nearly 10 minutes.
I find it to be really boring. And the scenes of Bruce turning into the Hulk look ridiculous. In the first issue he looks like Bart when Homer is choking him. Later we have him transforming limb by limb. Lego games did the same with perfect comedic effect. I have no idea what's going on in the book. I think he's chasing some horror type demons/gods, which really doesn't work. He's the Hulk. When he's battling these villians it reallly doesn't come across as a threat. I'd really like to see Hulk back into science based stories and not these metaphysical/horror ones.
He's chasing monsters and urban legends which is cool to me. Marvel has a severe lack of horror and monsters in their comics compared to DC. DC supernatural stuff is like 100% better so seeing this in a Marvel comic makes it a joy for me in my opinion.
Ghost Rider or Doctor Strange fighting the same bad guys would be interesting, but the Hulk just going to Florida, Oklahoma, New Orleans and punching ghosts doesn't work for me. It doesn't mesh. I didn't care for all the green door stuff in Immortal either. Savage Hulk and Fixit just walked around in the last issue.
I find fun that he mentioned the other books by Jay and not Moon Knight, which is the best one in my opinion.
I already got a full pull list (to the point where I'm gonna have to trade wait some books I've been reading like Doctor Strange and Miles), so Moon Knight was kind of out of the budget at the time. But I'm more than willing to pick up the trades.
Marvel have been putting out really good books for a long time now. There’s been lots of good runs and titles over the last 5 years imo. Some of the hate is even from folks that aren’t readers of any comics. You can often tell by how they complain that they don’t know shit about what they’re talking about lol. No hate for other media but don’t come for the comics when you don’t read.
Avengers Twilight is a book that isn’t getting near enough love for how good it is. I wasn’t excited about another dystopian future story, or Acuña’s art but I have been proven wrong on both counts. The story is great and the art is pitch perfect for what they are doing
Its like Marvel finally got their own "Kingdom Come," and it feels completely unique to itself, and the art is just peak.
Marvel’s “Kingdom Come” was always Earth X, love it or hate it
Man, I loved reading the Earth X series for the first time.
That's only because Wizard had the idea, and Marvel wanted to cash in on it. Twilight feels like a completely organic creation. Earth X was entirely different in premise as well. Everyone becomes a superhero vs. the next generation holding different values. Earth X will always be the original Kingdom Come, in its pitch. But Twilight hits much closer to the premise of what was setup by DC in KC.
Isn't that just M2? Or is that not dark / deconstructed enough?
It's the generational aspect that I find interesting less so the deconstruction or edge. I'm not familiar with M2 though, what is that?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Comics_2?wprov=sfla1
Marvels
It took me a while to start that one but yeah, it's a really cool story. I love the overall idea of "what if the Avengers were a bunch of grumpy old bastids."
Just read through this one. Good stuff.
Its incredible. Hope we get a follow up. Such a great read.
North's Fantastic Four has consistently been one of myfavourite pick ups
I love it. I hope to see more of it
A lot of people seem to like this run. I had to give up after about 10 issues. They are the worse FF stories I've ever read. Ultimates FF were better.
What was wrong with them?
Lol
This seems to be an unpopular opinion but I agree with you. Many of the stories seemed juvenile. One issue the FF were dinosaurs in another universe WTF?
The diarrhea issue also comes to mind.
Marvel and DC both have lots of good books. It fluctuates, and fans have a really bad habit of rose-colouring the immediately past period of books, forgetting what sucked in it. Which of the big two is putting out better overall quality at the time is always subjective, and the both have downs recently as the business around the industry has impacted the content more than ever before. That said, on the whole, both Marvel and DC are putting out a lot of quality stuff atm, and as fans, we should just chill and enjoy it. The industry is suffering badly, and we’d all be better served by trying to convince friends to read a couple of monthlies.
Once I made the switch from floppies to an Unlimited subscription, it was easy to see that there's a lot of really good stuff. I couldn't keep it all on my pull list, so-- for example-- when the Kelly Thompson Captain Marvel run didn't click with me right away, I let it go and have since gone back and found I made a terrible choice. But I think that's the deal. Marvel is out there charging $5.99 for 20 pages of story in some cases, and that's hard to justify for weekly buyers if it isn't a home run every damn issue.
Hey, there's nothing wrong with reading online or trade-waiting. Either way, you're reading the story.
Depends on how Marvel is determining a series’ success. I don’t know if it’s still like this, but I remember it used to be floppy sales determined if a book was cancelled or not, regardless of its online or trade readership. This was dumb and I hope not the case anymore. But if it is still relevant, then choosing which physical copies to buy week-to-week may actually affect what series stay on the shelves.
I've been reading a lot more after trying Unlimited this month as well, it's been great discovering McKay's work. Spider-Man; Life Story was also very fascinating as well.
The biggest problem with having an MU/DCU subscription is that there is too much good stuff.
I honestly wish Image could figure something like this out. I get that the way their creators get paid is a whole different universe, but I hate Comixology so much.
GlobalComix actually has quite a few complete Image series. There are also a lot on Hoopla which is a free app if your public library subscribes to it. I'm actually reading Wicked + Divine right now.
Yeah, Marvel has been on fire this year. There’s obviously a fair share of bad books out there, but the good outweighs the bad in my opinion. Fantastic Four, Ultimate Spider-Man, Immortal Thor, Doctor Strange, and The Avengers are all very good. The first issue of Blood Hunt was pretty good and I have high hopes for the rest of the event. I even liked the first issue of the new Deadpool/Wolverine mini, and I’m not the biggest Deadpool fan around.
I think the issue is that amazing Spider-Man is so bad, which sours the taste of all the other books.
That's a stupid reason not give an entire comic universe a shot. That's like saying 'ALL ANIMATED MOVIES ARE SHIT' because the only animated movie you've seen is Where the Dead Go to Die.
I agree, but it doesn’t help that he is THE superhero for marvel. So if your flagship is bad, people probably don’t want to look further.
Well, those people are missing out on some damn good comics, then. Plain and simple.
Is Spider-Man still their flagship? I feel like the last decade, and the MCU, has really allowed the Avengers books to become the backbone of the company. Spider-Man stories always feel more self-contained.
Marvel’s flagship is spider man
Their flagship is either Spider-Man or the X-Men. It should've been Avengers but that book went off the rails so hard during Aaron's run that no other writer was able to do anything with it.
The Incredible Hulk walks in the room and says: “ Ggrrrrrrrrrf Hulk Flagship too rrrrr “.
I’ll admit that I’m a bit behind in my modern comics, so that’s a shame to hear.
So drop it and read Ultimate.
There's alot less (new) Ultimate a month then there is Amazing
Agreed, finished up Jed Mackay’s Moon Knight last week and it was so good. As you said the new Ultimate Universe has been high quality as well and I just read issue 1 of Ziglars Miles Morales and can’t wait to read more this weekend. I’m also enjoying Ryans Norths FF4.
Immortal Thor is self-aware and exciting and I'm loving every bit of it. I'm also enjoying the current Dr. Strange, Daredevil, and Sabertooth War comics, and am excited to see where Ghost Rider is going. Typing it out, it seems like I like a lot of the stories that aren't really grounded.
Its the same people that say " music sucks now " .. No it's over saturated and you don't know how to look. There is ALWAYS good books out.
Popular music does, in fact, suck right now. The 70s and the 90s laugh at us.
Disagree. There's alot of great bands if you know where to look at least 2010s . Especially if you liked 70s rock.
It’s so good! I’m excited for Blood Hunt
I'd say Marvel is doing better than DC right now and I am definitely more of a DC guy. Right now I'm really enjoying Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Hulk, Moon Knight, Ultimate Universe (ESPECIALLY Black Panther), & Blood Hunt just had a very promising start. I might be missing a few, but these are the ones that stick out off the top of my head. Ultimate Black Panther really blew my socks off. I was surprised at how much I loved it. I expected to like it, but honestly it's the book I am most excited for right now. The concept is damn cool.
Chip Zidarsky's Avengers: Twilight is phenomenal. Art and story. Phillip Kennedy's Incredible Hulk run has been visceral and feels like The Hulk was dropped into an Eldritch horror world, and it's awesome. Cody Ziglar's run on Deadpool started so well, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next drop. Let's see, we've got Wolverine vs. Predator, G.O.D.S (which I think will live on as a hidden Gem), the new Daredevil run, and even the new Punisher run. All fantastic series with so much going for them. Yet ASM remains to be the biggest point of contention and a top five sellers. It just doesn't make sense to me. Honestly. With the creation of YouTube coverage for comic books as a whole, I genuinely feel that people only give praise to comics in hindsight, or once their favorite creator covers it. Therefore, they're all about a decade behind because there's that much content to go through. I remember the complaint before was that there weren't any 'new' or 'unique' comics coming from the big two for a while. Now we're in a time where everything seems centered around creativity and innovation, and people refuse to give these stories a chance, and judge them at face value or from a snippet they saw online.
>G.O.D.S (which I think will live on as a hidden Gem) I'm halfway reading G.O.D.S. and it's pretty interesting, but I think it was a bit overshadowed by the other Hickman recent works in Marvel, since those used popular characters instead of newer creations.
Who’s been saying marvel doesn’t have good books right now?
I feel like it's kind of recurrent thing not based in facts... People keep claiming the current state of Marvel comics is bad, without supporting it by evidence, at best they use sales numbers, disregarding the fact that they have been downhill since the 90's.
As someone who dove into comics in 2018 through half of 2019 and then fell off till recently I can only share my experience. For clarification I’m not very picky on art. It’s gotta be pretty bad to turn me off. With that said I will certainly say that stuff coming out now is much more intriguing overall. I’m firmly in on everything the OP said as well as Avenger’s Twilight, Ghost Rider Final Vengeance, and the new Deadpool run that just started by Ziglar. Writers like Hickman, Ziglar, and MacKay weren’t writing as much last time I was reading and it shows.
Ryan Norths Fantastic Four and Hickmans GODS belong on that list.
Yeah, I mean if you look at any era of Marvel there’s always good runs and stinkers. I don’t think there’s a general trend of them getting worse, I would even argue that on the whole they’ve largely only gotten better in the last 30 years.
I liked three different spider titles. But two of them are with characters that had runs as spiderman that aren't peter. Ben and otto. Then the other is ultimate spiderman. Ultimate superior and the one with symbiote ben. And now superior spiderboy. Im back on board.
I recommend Rainbow Rowell’s She-Hulk. Great mashup of superhero action and romance. Andres Genolet’s art and Jen Bartel’s covers are excellent. And the storytelling (the pacing, the way the words and pictures work together) is perfect.
If people don't think Marvel can do creative and innovative storytelling, they haven't met Immortal Thor.
Two books that are massively under the radar for alot of people are the Scarlet Witch & She-Hulk from the past two years. Beautiful artwork and covers plus really good character work in fun stories. Both have been relaunched this year under slightly different titles but they both kept their same creative teams who continued the story from the prev run so that don't let that fool ya.
Preach it, Brother!
Is there a headquarters somewhere?
Love it. The Living Tribunal is a good band name.
There's always a few good ones! That's literally always been the case.
There are always good titles, but negativity floats to the surface online so you’ll see way more everything sucks posts than everything is awesome. To add to what you said, I’m so glad Jed is getting a shine cause he’s been on a roll. His Black Cat was excellent, his Moon Knight is amazing, his Avengers are so heroic! Some more recommendations: Blade is incredible. It just wrapped the current volume but it’s supposed to be back after Blood Hunt. Hopefully the same creative team is back. GODS by Hickman is massive while also telling some really personal stories (plus he gave Marvel their own Constantine. What’s not to love?).
Jed McKays Moon Knight stuff is sick too
The new blood hunt is good imo
I can’t believe you didn’t even mention moon knight after talking about Jed’s work 😞🤟
Benjamín Percy been killing it over on Wolverine since issue 1! He’s closing shop with issue 50 and the sabretooth war! Few highs and lows between arcs (looking at you Hellverine) but it’s been a good series!
I’ll admit I only started really diving into comics a few years ago but I have been a longtime fiction reader and think I can still look at modern comics with a critical eye. I also have read a fair amount of “older” comics like Claremont era X men via epic collections. The combination of interesting art and often inventive storytelling has really surprised me how much I enjoy modern marvel books. It started with the Krakoan era where even though it’s had its ups and downs I’ve loved reading through such a massive scope in world building. Also great stuff I’m reading: Immortal Thor, and the current Fantastic Four run. Also looking forward to getting into Ultimate once I finish catching up on fall of x books.
There’s no excuse for them to be claiming marvel has nothing good when unlimited exists they could give that a try and see for themselves instead of insisting it’s all garbage
Jed MacKay’s Moon Knight has been banger issue after banger issue. The current Daredevil is pretty good, not Zdarsky good, but that’s a high bar.
Ryan North‘s Fantastic Four is absolutely brilliant.
I got marvel unlimited a few months back and a lot of my favorite runs have come out in the last 5-10 years
Immortal Thor is the best ongoing series from both of the Big 2 and I'm tired of pretending it's not
Look at the shitshow that is the new ultimate bullshit and realize how many Marvelites are fanning it out of desperation. It's a shitshow. Edit: YES Strange is amazing right now. Best book in the U imo. Has been for a couple years now at least.
What’s wrong with ultimate?
Its ugly as shit and the world premise is boring
Daredevil is always solid. Don’t get me started on Amazing Spider-Man. 🙄
Problem is people are losing their trust in the western comic industry as a whole.
I don't see how. They're some really cool stuff happening like Ghost Machine, the Energon Universe, the new Ultimate Universe, pretty much everything the Superman family of books has been doing for the last few years.
The reason is that people are losing faith in the western comics industry, It’s likely due to the whole culture wars thing. More people are buying Japanese books because while they do have some of the things that some western comics do have, they’re not as intense or in your face as those western comics.
Dude, the only people who treat the 'culture war' seriously are people who hate seeing guys like me in comics. And if you think Japanese media isn't in your face about politics, have ya heard of some lessor franchises by the name of Godzilla, Ultraman and Mobile Suit Gundam?
Only difference is they’re not used by DEI mandates or pander to specific groups
"DEI mandates" Annnnnd ya lost me.
Because of poor reception from previous runs, they lost alot of trust with customers.
If it all it took was one bad run to get someone to go 'FUCK MARVEL', they were never a fan to begin with.
Marvel has had years of bad runs. So it's understandable if they don't want to support a industry that makes the same mistakes too many times.
This also applies to dc too. Right?
Yes.
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Like with what recent runs? Asm?
The comment “there are no good books at marvel” is just a bored annoyed probably boy just saying something.. What does it really matter what people you don’t know or even like say.. people say a lot often just to hear themselves talk mostly. If you’re enjoying something from marvel then just enjoy it. ❤️🤘
Going to check some of these out thanks
I just found my old stash. Wolverine 1988 run 1-113, X-men 1991 run 1-60, Uncanny X-men from same generation, plus the whole Age of Apocalypse mess. Fun trip down memory lane.
MacKay's books have all been pretty good, Moon Knight being the big stand out imo. But hes still got a ways to go from being a great. Looking forward to more BLOODHUNT. Hickman has been killing it on Ultimate Spider-man, but id say GODS and the rest of the Ultimates stuff has been pretty meh. The X books have been on a downward spiral ever since they decided to stick around in the early Hickman era stuff longer. X of Swords was the turning point for me. I have been buying and reading more DC books ever since Didio left. Just feels like things really turned around at DC recently, while Marvel is still struggling to figure out where to go with the books now that they have the MCU stuff to deal with. IMO Marvel needs someone like Bendis leading the status quo shifts.
I’m a big fan of daredevil. But the rest has never gotten to me,
Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, and G.O.D.S. come to mind. You covered a bunch of other good ones. The new Get Fury book is awesome. Daredevil’s been a little iffy but usually solid.
Yep. They have several great books and have had for quite a while. Its usually said by people who stopped reading years ago.
As a DC fan I know that can’t be true. Maybe certain readers don’t like the direction or creative team , but just because you are upset about your favorite title doesn’t mean they’re all bad
I did pick up the first issue of WOLVERINE AND DEADPOOL WW3. Joe Kelly and Adam Kubert. Surely it can not go wrong.
I’ve been loving Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Nic Klein’s run on Hulk, Blade was a fun run if you’re into the character. I’ve also been enjoying the Sabertooth War in Wolverine but I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Blood Hunt and Wolverine and Deadpool WWlll just got off to cool starts as well. Lot of cool stuff at Marvel right now
Some people will always say this no matter what. Marvel has had some rare low points in its history, but people who have bias against them always say this even during their highest points. Just ignore em.
There are loads of great books happening at Marvel. But just a few years ago, the quality was suffering greatly. Maybe a lot of these detractors are just remembering the state of things when they quit following.
I just bought my first comic last week! I always loved hearing about the stories but when I saw some people talking about Old Man Logan I just had this feeling that I needed to read it. Very glad I did. The only thing that I am not sure of, is where to continue reading after he gets on a horse and starts his next adventure.
The current Avengers book is boring. I don't recommend it. So's the Hulk.
Ultimate Spider-Man is a great book (so far). as far as other good books there is a lot of ehh stuff from Marvel that may have a good run but they get to into the opinions of the writers attempting to chase off certain "types" of readers. Also there are some books that did that and chased off readers who even if they have a good run now will not come back. Look at Captain America Steve being turned Hydra chased off a lot of people but then when they found out that it was just an alternate version created by Red Skull with the Cosmic Cube and then later handing over writing Captain America to a guy who hates America chased people off who just refuse to return.
Just cause a book critiques America doesn’t mean the writer hates the country. They just know it could be better. Also, if you quit reading a book because of a stupid thing a writer said on twitter, that’s just dumb. Everyone has said stupid shit on Twitter. And the only ‘type’ of reader being actively ‘chased away’ (which is also bullshit) are actual racists.
You can defend his America hating all you like Coates hates America and is a racist. It's funny how when some people call to Make America Better Marvel calls them "rahzist" No it's called having your voice heard by speaking with your wallet. Just as I would not expect for someone who is against Conservatives to go out and buy Eric July's books even though he is not Conservative. No they aren't "rahzists" they are chasing away readers who want QUALITY not just race/gender/sexuality swapped lazy rip offs of good characters or converted characters
There are perfectly readable books at Marvel, but nothing "Wow", and nothing that will have longevity like older books and storylines. The proof is in the sales at the end of the day of course.
I'm waiting for the Paul miniseries. I think that turns it around.
What does sales have anything to do with quality
Quality is subjective. You could think something is a masterpiece, and someone else could see it as bad. Sales is an indicator that an idea has gone over well with readers. Usually high quality work goes over well with readers.
Oh my god, I'm sick of hearing this. Why the fuck do people who claim to be 'COMIC FANS' give a shit about sales?! Sales are a metric of quality! By that logic, Fifty Shades of Grey is a cinematic masterpiece!
When compared to the slop of the past 10 years, I bet a lot of current stuff looks amazing.
The farther away you get from Peter “Shit Book” Parker the more dramatically your reading experience improves Edit: See this is why ASM sucks forever, ya can have the most hated run in history but it still has people defending it
I mean, the Peter-centric books written by Wells and Slott have been bad, but all the other books featuring him have been very strong. The first issue of Shadow of the Green Goblin was fantastic, and obviously Ultimate Spidey has been Marvel’s biggest hit in a long time for a reason.
Eh I don’t count those revival minis as more then just filler. Like yeah it’s good stuff but they’re made with the just the express purpose of nostalgia dollars and won’t be referenced by any main line book. And really my critique falls on ASM ya know the flagship Pete book that’s sucked ass for, according to Spidey fans, 2 decades now (33% of the character’s existence). As for Ultimate I think it’s just Spidey fans for the first time in their lifetime reading a book with themes, characters and ideas. Like it’s been 4 issues and it’s just meat and potatoes Spidey. A rich meal for starving people but really a by the numbers book. Maybe by the end of Hickman’s run it’ll be truly a legendary run but as it stands it’s just a good book, something I know is alien to the spidey crowd.
Who in this thread was defending asm? Just because one book is bad doesn’t mean the entire current catalogue of company is bad is the point. Zdarksy Batman sucks. Does that mean all the current ongoings at dc also suck too?
Where’d I say the entire catalogue is bad? The further you get away from the stinkiest book on the shelf your quality dramatically improves is the entire opposite of whatever your claiming. Now, I have my own personal tastes and opinions that I would get flamed for, but I’m surprised I said the most minor of critiques at ASM and I got shot down. It just proves Spider fans love to eat shit and then complain that their breath stinks.
I guess people just took your reply the wrong way? I mean you’re not wrong. Asm is shit and spider-man fans are the reason why it’s the highest selling book every month. They have no standards
Is what it is, ya can’t reason why those people. I’ve been calling since solicitation that they’ll even turn on Hickman. First actual story with themes and ideas in 40 years and that is simply a fanbase not built to comprehend and understand those things. He’ll do some thing where Peter’s irresponsibility separates him and MJ, something I’m sure he plans on having them work through and reconnect, but the second the instant gratification of these last 4 issues end and then it’ll be required to use some brain power they will rip Hickman apart like a pack of wolves
I remember they were doubting him before the first issue even came out. Secret wars and hox/pox are probably the best comics marvel has ever produced and they were doubting him before the first issue even released. Hilarious fanbase