Just over a year ago, we began reading monthly comics in earnest when DC relaunched its entire publication line. The New 52 afforded a great opportunity for uninitiated readers to get into ongoing titles. While a great discussion could be had on the differences and similarities between the New 52 and Marvel’s new Marvel NOW! relaunch, the latter seems clearly designed to emulate the successes of the former. With that in mind, we thought we might take this opportunity to expand our horizons into Marvel’s publications. Marvel NOW! affords us a unique chance to get into a title at the ground level, following new creative teams as they embark on new arcs with classic characters. We intend to capitalize on this opportunity, but we need your help.
With over 20 Marvel NOW! titles, we can’t quite cover the whole relaunch — we’re committed to keeping up our coverage of DC — which is where you come in. What titles should we cover? Will Mark Waid and Leinil Yu’s Indestructible Hulk be a must see? Is Guardians of the Galaxy going to be too weird to miss? Just how many Avengers titles should we cover (and which ones)? You’re encouraged to check as many titles below as you’d like to see us cover. What titles are you excited for? What do you want us to taste-test so you don’t have to?
Not into us covering Marvel? We want to hear from you, too! There’s an option to tell us to skip Marvel NOW! altogether. We want to know what you’d like us to read, even if that means sticking to DC. More than anything, we just want to hear what you think. As always, comments are welcome and encouraged.
Thanks for voting!
Retcon Punch 
I’ll be honest, I don’t read Marvel. It’s not because I don’t like the characters or the universe–I love them and see all the movies and TV shows as much as I can–but I only have enough money to read comics from one universe, and I chose DC because, as much as I like the Marvel Universe, I love the DC one even more. So I’m not voting for any Marvel Now! titles because I don’t know any of them, not really.
But I also don’t feel right voting for you to stick only with DC. I already read your reviews of DC books I don’t actually read, why should Marvel be any different? As long as you don’t have to shrink the list of DC titles you cover to fit in the Marvel books, I’m fine with whatever you choose.
But I still thought I’d explain myself.
Piv, you’re so supportive! I promise, if we cut any DC titles, it will only be because we don’t like them and have zero fun talking about them.
Agreed. I’ve always been a DC guy through-and-through, but realizing there are just as many great titles coming out of Marvel has made me reevaluate how good a comic has to be for me to justify buying it. There are too many great comics to waste money on ones that are only okay. Knowing there are titles out there that are just as good as my favorites makes me take a hard look at the titles on my pull that I’m not absolutely in love with. The comics market is that much more competitive when you take more publishers into account. That competitiveness may lead us to shave a title or two from our DC coverage, but you shouldn’t see any more dramatic shifts than when we’ve dropped other titles in the past (like Batwing or Worlds’ Finest). We’re treating this very much like a growth in focus, not a shift. We want to make sure readers like Piv stick around!
“Red She-Hulk?” I love comic books, but CHRIST they’re stupid.
I’m willing to accept adjectives like “Indestructible” and “Uncanny,” but “Superior” seems far too relative a term to sit out their on its own. Superior to what? Other Spider-Men? If they were committed to the alliteration, wouldn’t “Spectacular Spider-Man” work better?
I want to read Super-Duper Spider-Man.
Maybe he’s just a condescending asshole?
The rumor here is that the “Superior Spider-Man” is somehow Doc Oc pulling an Invasion Of The Body Snatchers move; he takes over Pete’s body, does the Spider-Man gig better than Pete could (Kraven’s Last Hunt style), and gets “back together” with Mary Jane… thus proving he is a better Spider-Man than Spider-Man. This is online speculation but it matches the cryptic descriptions given by Dan Slott *tremendously* well
Well, that would explain the “Superior” perfectly.
They really think that Doc Ock is likable enough to carry a series? Really? I just can’t see it. I can see his, “See, I’m better than you,” getting very tiresome by issue 2.
Well, we’ll see. It’s all unconfirmed, mind you, but Slott’s descriptions of a book where Peter isn’t Spider-Man but Spider-Man and Mary Jane get “back together” (in quotes, just like that) seem to make all kinds of sense once you’ve heard the rumor. Also, the alterations to the Spidey get-up seem somewhat Oc-like
Awww be nice, she is sassy. Red-Sassy.
Red She-Hulk is freaking awesome. One of the best first issues (even though it was issue 58) I’ve read. I was telling someone literally 3 hours ago, “I can’t wait for the next Red She-Hulk.”
Really. It was fantastic.
I voted “skip it”, both in the poll and with my dollar. Quite frankly, in my view, renumbering your titles to #1 without a content reboot is a blatant and pointless cash-grab. You still need to be familiar with continuity going back to the early 60’s
So just like the New 52 then?
Well, the New 52 is arguably a little frustration when trying to figure out *what* exactly was rebooted, but way over half of continuity was. Kara arrives on Earth for the first time in Supergirl #1, the Justice League forms in Justice League #1, etc. Marvel blatantly is not rebooting ANY content
But they are making an effort to make the Now titles accessible for new readers. Which is kinda cool, because – as so many of our readers are happy to remind us – the history of the characters is a large part of their appeal.
I was 90% joking about the New 52. I’ve found it to be very inviting.
ZING! In all seriousness, I could care less about the numbering — what interests me is the creative reshuffling, which paired writers with artists and characters they’re really excited about. There may be a little discomfort in our lack of continuity knowledge, but in my limited experience, Marvel is actually much better at ingratiating itself to new readers, recapping as needed. Reboot or no, I anticipate these titles bringing me up to speed just as well as, say, Green Lantern did.
Yeah Green Lantern, Batman, and Legion were the three books that were blatantly not rebooted in the New 52 and I think it was a huge mistake to not reboot fully – no matter how beloved and unfinished those 3 runs may have been. In saving those runs they’ve created so many continuity problems. But, for instance, Uncanny Avengers is essentially the fallout of Marvel’s latest summer event. All New X-Men features the original early-60’s X-Men travelling to the future to also deal with the fallout from Marvel’s latest summer event. I will be picking up the two Fantastic Four titles as a good jumping-on point, but I think a lot of this stuff sounds more confusing than ever. The current New Avengers line-up has like 30 members!
Oh, there’s sure to be good and bad in the mix, but I think Marvel is definitely trying to court new readers here, so I suspect they’ll make them as easy entry points as possible. I think one of the best times to pick up an ongoing is when there’s a change in creative personnel, which makes Marvel NOW the best entryway into Marvel I could hope for from a current title.
True. I have been looking for an excuse to get some Bendis titles, but the All New X-Men thing is just too convoluted for me. I am picking up his out-of-continuity Daredevil: End Of Days mini with David Mack and Klaus Janson though, and that is terrific
When I finished the first Daredevil: End of Days issue I was completely drained. It was a hard, grueling read (that was completely worth it).
I love that voyeuristic Marvels/Astro City angle in a comic story… to ground it in a believable perspective makes the iconicism of the heroics feel particularly fantastic
Young Avengers is a must. Kieron Gillen is one of the best comic writers ever, and Kid Loki is an incredible character. Gillen’s also writing Iron Man, so add that.
Fraction and Allred on FF makes it a high priority.
As much as people are complaining about Red She-Hulk, the first issue of it was really, really good. Jeff Parker has done some great work with Red Hulk, making him a deep, complex character, rehabilitating him after Loeb sucked with him. I have every expectation he’ll do the same with Red She-Hulk.
Speaking of Loeb, the Point One issue out today has a short by him with the new Nova. I’m going to say something that will blow your mind: It’s good. No, seriously, it’s actually, legitimately good. It’s well-written, and the character is compelling. I know, I’m shocked, too. But it made the first couple issues worth checking out.
Hickman’s a great writer, so Avengers and New Avengers are worth checking out, at least initially. And Sif taking over Journey Into Mystery has me interested, so that’s one I’ll be checking out.
Man, I cut my teeth reading Loeb’s Batman work…it’s kind of sad the way he’s talked about now (not that I’m defending his recent work). I considered giving Nova a read just because he was involved, and your comment makes me think that might not be such a bad idea.
We’ve been liking Fraction’s run on Hawkeye, so I was looking at some of his titles more closely. I’m also for sure interested in Indestructible Hulk based on how much I’ve loved Waid’s work on Daredevil. I’ve loved the preview art of Young Avengers, but I didn’t know much about some of the other titles you’ve mentioned. Thanks for the advice!
I really think anything Gillen writes is worth at least looking at. I feel the same way about Hickman. I’m not committing to the titles long term, but I’m going to give them a try. Waid’s Daredevil has been too good to not take a look at what he’s going to do with Hulk, also (although I’m in the minority and have liked Aaron’s recent run on Hulk).
And as far as Red Hulk goes, that book was floundering until Parker took over, and for more about Red She-Hulk, Parker claims it’s going to be old style angry Hulk rampaging and villains and heroes and anyone in the way better look the hell out because she is going to be tearing shit up (which she did in the first issue to a huge degree).
Slott is staying on Spider-Man: They’re changing the title, but damn, his run has been so good I don’t care the Superior is a dumb adjective for the title, the writing has been awesome so far.
I’m looking forward to this.
I had to vote on skipping Marvel Now as well. I’ve been reading AVX (and now Uncanny Avengers) to get a feel for how the Marvel Now initiative might play out. With the New 52 and all the “controversy” surrounding it at least you can approach it as a complete reboot / retcon and review accordingly; there are definitive questions to be asked and answered: What remains in continuity? what remains canon? How effective is a particular creative team at dealing with a character and introducing that title to a new reader? From the standpoint of a reviewer it seems (to me, anyway) that Marvel Now will end up being more convoluted – there will need to be more exposition about why a particular event for Marvel Now is important to the larger narrative. That, of course, will depend on how often Marvel goes back to the well to pull out events from their own historical context.
For instance… The X-Men have been plagued by time travel continuity problems forever (or at least since Days of Future Past) and it’s only going to get worse. The All New X-Men are the Original X-Men but in the present learning about their future that they couldn’t remember existed because at some point they will have to return to the past to become their future selves… you see where this is going.
Perhaps as a compromise you could do a 2013 Marvel Now special where you pick up the most current issue of a title and review it cold. Was it approachable? Do you feel compelled to follow the story? How much history or back story do you think you need to understand what’s going on? That might be a better gauge of how well Marvel Now works compared to the New 52.
At the same time, it’s really tough to evaluate a title based on a single issue — even legitimate first issues. Ultimately, I think the episodic nature of comics is just as important as the serialization. As long as you’re starting at the beginning of an arc (which most of these will), there shouldn’t be too much confusion — especially since they’re trying to appeal to new readers. I’m sure there will be references to past events, but I bet they’ll also be given enough context for newcomers to understand.
X-Box isn’t even worthy to bow at the FEET of PS3… wait, what were we talking about?
So, who’s Nintendo in this analogy?
Nintendo is Valiant, and I think you should cover some Valiant stuff, cause they are just plain rocking it across their entire line right now
Valiant hasn’t even been on my radar. We’ve been picking up a few things on the side from smaller publishers, but I don’t have anything on my pull from Valiant. What should I be reading?
Literally anything from them has been consistently good, but X-O Manowar has been the crown jewel (DC just hired this writer to take over Demon Knights after Cornell). Archer & Armstrong and Harbinger are great as well. Bloodshot has terrific art but I’m not a big Duane Suerzynski (sp?) guy so I dropped that after #1. They should have a few more titles starting soon – they just reformed as a company 6 months ago with X-O #1 being the first issue of their new universe
I spelled Duane’s last name wrong in our Birds of Prey cram session. He pointed out our mistake on twitter, but was gracious enough to admit that it happens all the damn time (though, with a name like that, you’d have to be).
While I dropped Buffy Season 9, Dark Horse’s Angel & Faith is surprisingly good. They just finished a 3 issue run with Willow and Conner tagging along into Quor’toth that was everything we like about Whedon and nothing we don’t like. It was tense, exciting, and funny all at the same time.
It might be time to give Season 9 another whirl, then… Andrew Chambliss just left the book with the latest issue and regular Buffy TV writer Jane Espenson has taken up the writing duties again
Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention IDW’s two recent Star Trek crossovers: Star Trek and The Legion of Super-Heroes was very good; and the current Star Trek TNG/Doctor Who series, Assimilation^2 is better.
Mogo mentioned that Star Trek / Legion crossover when I was SO HARD on Legion of Superheroes #0. I’m really digging IDW’s current run on TMNT (and we’re going to start covering it with a 13-15 feature in early November), but I had mostly blown them off as publishers of liscened 80’s nostalgia comics. That may still be true (the only other IDW I’ve read is Max Brooks’ GI Joe: Hearts and Minds), but that doesn’t mean there aren’t good stories to tell with those characters.
Doooood, I love the IDW TMNT run… I hope they do more Micro-Series issues. Kevin Eastman is my freakin’ hero. He is doing a dystopian mini-series for IDW called Los Angeles soon, too 😀
And that’s actually at the heart of why we want to branch out a little – being so firming ensconce in DC titles gives us a shockingly narrow view of comics. There’s so much good stuff out there, and it’s a shame not to give something magical a fair shake just because the ideas were stolen from a different set of artists 60 years ago. In the interest of not becoming fanboys, I feel like it might be our duty to diversify (at least a little).
Review Hawkeye. You won’t regret it. Ever!
We’re definitely considering picking up some non-NOW titles (Hawkeye and Daredevil among them), and we’re happy to take suggestions for those, as well. Any other Marvel titles we shouldn’t miss?
Punisher? Rucka’s on that bad boy right?
Yes, but he’s leaving after he finishes the mini that launches this month. It doesn’t sound like he’ll be returning to either of the Big 2 any time soon.
I think he’s among the litany of writers who have upcoming Image projects. Dynamite just secured a bunch of big-name writers, too. I think most involved are not exclusive to anyone and still work with Marvel and DC but, as you pointed out, Rucka seems particularly embittered these days
It’s a damn shame. I really miss having him around Gotham.
Daredevil. It’s been fantastic. It’s not at a great place to dive in right now (the middle of a huge “Is Daredevil going crazy? Who is manipulating him?” story, but it’s been across the board excellent.
Yeah, the guy at my LCS insisted that I read the trade of the start of Waid’s run, and it totally got me hooked. We’re definitely going to be covering this one, too.
Considering my above comment on this page (about why I don’t follow Marvel ongoings), I’m amused to admit that I started buying a Marvel ongoing today, and it’s “Hawkeye.” I bought today’s issue three (as well as issue two–one’s all sold out) because I’ve been seeing scans all over Tumblr every time a new issue comes out, and it’s hilarious, and I finally broke down and started picking it up. I don’t regret it. I don’t know any of the Marvel Now titles, but I can wholeheartedly recommend Hawkeye.
(In case you’re wondering, here’s the panel that finally forced me to break down and buy the issue: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mc1s911OkC1ryctvko1_500.png )
Per a meeting we just had tonight – expect to see a Hawkeye 1-3 Alternating Current next week.
Ick. Of all the super heroes ever, the ones with a bow and arrow are impossible for me to appreciate. I’ve always hated Hawkeye since the West Coast Avengers days.
Ugh. I know I’ve heard good things about the new run, but I just can’t do it.
Hey man – no bad characters, only bad creative teams.
This is exactly right! If Joe Kelly and Alan Moore can salvage characters created by Rob Liefeld then anything is possible
Oh, I completely forgot about this – Ultimate Spider-Man is great. I’d recommend that 100%. I’ve completely loved the entire story line so far, there’s not 50 years of history to worry about, Bendis is at his best in solo title origin type work, and the art is as good as it gets.
I agree, Miles Morales is an awesome character. Ultimate Spider-Man has been consistently good–writing and art. Though the whole Ultimate universe is a bit of a mess and brings its share of complications for new readers.
I’ve also been enjoying Captain Marvel. I would put her up with Batwoman and Wonder Woman as one of the best female characters right now.
Although I have been borrowing a friend’s recent issues of Amazing Spiderman lately, I have to vote no on Marvel books. True, DC New52 books only present a limited selection of the incredible comics being made, but I think a wiser move would be expanding slowly into Vertigo or independent books. For instance, anyone not reading BKV and Fiona Staples’ SAGA is doing themselves a disservice. And with new Synder and Lemire mini’s coming next year, we all know you can’t go wrong with those guys.
Also I think a more accessible way to expand content would be to do a book club kind of thing. I know we’ve already talked about it with Sandman, but it could be done with many great trades from Batman classics to Walking Dead to Marvel collections. A huge benefit is that a lot of older books can be found at the public library, which should be a huge plus for all those above who cited monetary restrictions as their drawback. My two cents. Thanks for continuing to put out great content.
Thanks for the thoughtful response. The Marvel NOW! coverage is only a piece of what we’re hoping to expand into, which includes titles from Vertigo, Dark Horse, IDW, Image, etc. The coverage of those imprints will certainly be less comprehensive than what we have in mind for the big 2, but we’re already reading some great comics from those publishers (SAGA among them). We already have a good idea of what we want to cover from the smaller publishers (though we’re always open to suggestion for anything we’re missing), but we’re pretty clueless as far as wading into Marvel, which is why we wanted to tap our reader’s knowledge. Commenters here have recommended several great comics, and I hope we can return the favor by finding new, great comics. Look for that expanded coverage rolling out in the next few months (we’ll be recapping SAGA 1-6 in time to review 7 when it hits stands) alongside coverage of Marvel NOW! titles.
I’m glad you posted this. It kept me from typing, SAGASAGASAGASAGASAGASAGASAGASAGASAGAASAAGAGAAAAAA!!
Yeah man, BKV 4 Life.
I figured our resident Losties would be eating that one up. It really is a great book, though
Iron Man 3 trailer is now available in glorious 1080p from http://www.apple.com/trailers
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