Marvel Comics, getting a little bit better?

[Alberto1975]

I am a long time Marvel fan, but I have to say the last 2-3 months have kinda impressed me and given me some hope that I had lost last year.

Yes, they are pulling too many variants, too many gimmicks to start series at number 1, but I think they have done some good new series lately.

 

1. Astonishing X-Men: I think the story in here has been awesome, I look forward to reading this

2. Nightcrawler: I was pleasantly surprised with this, I thought it was pretty good, since I was starting to expect Marvel minis to suck

3. Gambit: This wasn't all too bad either, I enjoyed it

4. Madrox: The first issue was pretty good I thought

5. Dr Spectrum: Kinda slow story telling, but I think it's great

6. Strange: This wasn't bad at all

7. Elektra: The Hand: I still don't know what Elektra has to do with this (well, I kinda do from what we saw in issue 1, but she was a no show in issue 2), but I love learning more about the formation of The Hand.

 

I had gotten a little bit scared of Marvel, since they did some of the stuff like Guardians, StarJammers, Venom (I used to love Venom), Human Torch, Witches, Sentinel, Crimson Dynamo, Silver Surfer and quite a few others in the last year or two that were really not that good for me, but I do think the stuff I listed at the top is really not too bad and is pretty enjoyable.

 

I am sure I am missing some other stuff, but all in all, I don't think they're doing that bad, if you ignore foil covers and variants everywhere. And like people say, if things are not your cup of tea, just don't buy them.

[Kevin Boyd]

I am a long time Marvel fan, but I have to say the last 2-3 months have kinda impressed me and given me some hope that I had lost last year.

Yes, they are pulling too many variants, too many gimmicks to start series at number 1, but I think they have done some good new series lately.

 

1. Astonishing X-Men: I think the story in here has been awesome, I look forward to reading this

2. Nightcrawler: I was pleasantly surprised with this, I thought it was pretty good, since I was starting to expect Marvel minis to suck

3. Gambit: This wasn't all too bad either, I enjoyed it

4. Madrox: The first issue was pretty good I thought

5. Dr Spectrum: Kinda slow story telling, but I think it's great

6. Strange: This wasn't bad at all

7. Elektra: The Hand: I still don't know what Elektra has to do with this (well, I kinda do from what we saw in issue 1, but she was a no show in issue 2), but I love learning more about the formation of The Hand.

 

I had gotten a little bit scared of Marvel, since they did some of the stuff like Guardians, StarJammers, Venom (I used to love Venom), Human Torch, Witches, Sentinel, Crimson Dynamo, Silver Surfer and quite a few others in the last year or two that were really not that good for me, but I do think the stuff I listed at the top is really not too bad and is pretty enjoyable.

 

I am sure I am missing some other stuff, but all in all, I don't think they're doing that bad, if you ignore foil covers and variants everywhere. And like people say, if things are not your cup of tea, just don't buy them.

 

In the Comics General forum I've been defending Marvel, here's my chance to bash them a bit.

 

No, Marvel Comics have not been improving.

 

As ever, they have put out good books, and they have put out bad books. But with the output volume cranked up to 11 the bad is definitely overpowering the good.

 

I'll let the gremlins describe my feelings toward the ones you've mentioned:

 

1. Astonishing X-Men:

2. Nightcrawler:

3. Gambit:

4. Madrox:

5. Dr Spectrum:

6. Strange:

7. Elektra: The Hand:

 

Aside from Astonishing, not a single one of those other titles interest me one bit.

 

What I did like that was new and you didn't mention was:

 

8. Black Widow

 

As for the rest of Marvel's output I still enjoy:

 

The Pulse

Ultimate Spider-Man

Ultimate X-Men

Ultimate Fantastic Four

Daredevil

Marvel Knights Spider-Man

She-Hulk

Ultimate Nightmare

 

Borderline on:

 

Fantastic Four

Marvel Knights 4

Amazing Spider-Man latest storyline

Secret War

 

and beyong that No interest.

 

Except for: Avengers

 

In the future:

 

Iron Man

Shanna the She-Devil

What if...?

[Alberto1975]

My post was trying to focus more on the new stuff, but I did forget a few good ones, like Black Widow, which I thought was pretty good too (despite the art, I never liked Sienkewitz)

 

I am also looking forward to the Ultimates again, and I thought the last few months of Thor were pretty good, but otherwise I do agree with you pretty much in the items listed. I would also like to add Exiles to the list of stuff that's pretty goodand Mystique hasn't been too bad in my opinion either.

 

The new Iron Man looks good, and I am hoping they do good with the new Captain America.

 

Then again, they also publish stuff like Alpha Flight (which really, I didn't see the point of it), so I am not saying that they're not publishing [!@#%^&^] (which they are).

 

But all in all, between your list, and mine, I do believe that really, Marvel is publishing some good stuff, and for all the people that praise DC, I would like to see how many different comics do they read from DC on a monthly basis. Right now, I am reading JLA, Flash, Green Lantern, Superman/Batman, Aquaman and Identity Crisis, which means Marvel crushes DC in my list of comics I read on a monthly basis.

[Kevin Boyd]

I'm also looking forward to reading the Ultimates Vol. 2 and Millar's Wolverine.

 

Exiles is a book I read in TPB, but there's an arc coming up with Kulan Gath that does look interesting.

 

But generally, there's a lot of other pap coming from Marvel - Guardians? Alpha Flight? Iron Fist? Starjammers? Jubilee? Emma Frost? Marvel Age? New X-Men? Marvel 2099?

 

As for DC, I think that the quality and breadth of their line, as well as the stability of their superhero universe makes people look upon them a lot more favorably than Marvel. But yes, if I do a side by side comparison of my purchases from both companies Marvel wins 2-1.

[Illiterati-migration]

I LOVE Exiles. Have from the first issue. It's a consistently fun book without the burden of continuity. Besides that, people die, and no character feels "untouchable"... though if they ever killed off Morph, I'd be extremely agitated.

[Alberto1975]

I am curious myself about the new Wolverine issues coming up starting next week. I haven't enjoyed Wolverine too much since they did the last relaunch a year or two ago, but I am looking forward to #20, and I like most of what Millar has done recently, so I think it will be good...

 

Also, I am not counting the "young reader" line of Marvel in my list (Marvel Age stuff, Jubilee, Mary Jane), even though the guy at my LCS said that Mary Jane was actually doing pretty well and it wasn't that bad, but I honestly wouldn't know, I took a quick look at it, and ended up not getting it.

[deathlok]

I agree with that I really enjoyed Nightcrawler and Madrox a lot. Both were very good stories and the art was decent. I haven't read the other books so I don't have an opinion of those.

 

Overall I buy more Marvel books than DC books or any other publisher. I don't buy any of the Ultimate titles either.

[OldGuy]

I LOVE Exiles. Have from the first issue. It's a consistently fun book without the burden of continuity. Besides that, people die, and no character feels "untouchable"... though if they ever killed off Morph, I'd be extremely agitated.

 

Tell me more about this book. I've heard several people mention it, but I've never read it and I'm interested in maybe picking it up in TPB.

[Illiterati-migration]

I LOVE Exiles. Have from the first issue. It's a consistently fun book without the burden of continuity. Besides that, people die, and no character feels "untouchable"... though if they ever killed off Morph, I'd be extremely agitated.

 

Tell me more about this book. I've heard several people mention it, but I've never read it and I'm interested in maybe picking it up in TPB.

 

It's basically a "What If?"-style book with a core group of characters. This particular group (the "Exiles") travel from reality to reality doing the bidding of the "Timebroker" (a character that is still relatively mysterious and shadowy)in the hopes that they will survive long enough to earn a trip home. They're all people that you will recognize... sorta. They're alternate-reality versions of the characters you know from the Marvel U.

 

They fight, they love, they die... the whole mess (and it's got a fair amount of humor, too). It's really a lot of fun because you really never know who's going to get it next, unlike most titles where certain people are "untouchable".

 

Winick's run was by far the best, but the whole thing has been consistently good IMHO.

[OldGuy]

Thanks. I'm going to check it out.