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Hello again comic fans, and welcome to another edition of Marvel Snapshot. This week I’ll be continuing my theme of Marvel’s best. The past few weeks I’ve spotlighted Marvel’s top writers and artists, but now it’s time for the best ongoing series.
In my humble opinion, the best series is Guardians of the Galaxy by a mile; now that’s not to say I don’t think there aren’t any other great books, it just means that GotG is the best. It has had consistency with writing from the beginning, and has never had a “filler” issue. I always feel hungry for more when I’m done reading this title. Right now there is some crazy time travel going on because of the tear in the fabric of reality; this was caused by Black Bolt’s crazy machine that was intended to stop Vulcan at the end of the War of Kings arc. There is also a subplot with Adam Warlock and Moon dragon dealing with The Universal Church as well.
The next couple of series I’d like to write about are New Avengers and Dark Avengers. These two titles have been really good for the most part with very little slow spots that I can think of in the writing. The artwork on New Avengers seems to not be quite as good as it was, but over all it’s a good book. Dark Avengers on the other hand has a very dark tone most of the time, which is good, being that Norman Osborn is the poster child for this series. Normie really does a good job hiding certain things from the team, but it’s usually something that comes to light eventually anyway. Normie’s relationship with The Sentry is also a huge part of this book because they are two of a kind in the schizo department. Right now in New Avengers, we are seeing Luke Cage battling for his life in a hospital from injuries he sustained while fighting against The Hood’s old gang. Dark Avengers went really crazy this past issue with Norman being transported to some hellish realm to be confronted by the likes of The Enchantress, Mephisto and Molecule Man!
Next we have Wolverine Origins and Mighty Avengers. Both of these titles have been good for the most part, but they flip- flop artists sometimes and it kinda bothers me. In Wolvie, the whole “Romulus” storyline seemed a little disappointing to me. I mean there was this huge build up, and basically it hasn’t shown me a thing. Mighty Avengers has had some really good issues, but it hasn’t had that “wow” issue yet for me. Both are solid with the artwork, but the writing is a little up and down. Although to be honest, Mighty Avengers has picked up a lot lately with better story arcs. The recent fight against The Unspoken has been good, and now we see Pym confronted by Eternity him/herself.
Lastly I want to give a shout out to the new Spider Woman series. Brian Michael Bendis is writing this and doing a wonderful job. The art on the other hand is a different story. Alex Maleev is on pencils for this series, but I can’t honestly say after reading the first issue that I really liked the art. It does fit the tone of the book and the characters in it, but it’s too grainy or something for my taste.
OK, so I have a few other titles that I’d like to talk about that I feel deserve the attention they’re about to get. For starters, Captain America has been a great joy to read for me, even if  I’m back and forth buying it. Uncanny X-Men is another title that I pick up once and a while too. This book is usually pretty good, but the artwork for me isn’t always up to my standards. X-Men: Legacy falls into this category for me as well. I pick up some specials and a single now and then, but sometimes I’m disappointed by the art, and even the story too.
Thor is a title that I wanted to pick up since Secret Invasion, because the idea of Asgard floating above Oklahoma seemed kind of interesting to me. I did pick up a couple of one-shots and the recent annual, and based on those reads I think I will be adding this to my pull list from here on out. I’m really big on certain characters, so if I realize they aren’t really appearing in their respective title I’ll drop it for something else. Fantastic Four is a prime example of this. I generally like the book, but the stories don’t keep me coming back every month.
Well, there you have it. My take on what’s top notch right now with Marvel Comics. I’m sure I’ll have some agreements and disagreements, but as always I welcome the comments, good and bad. So please leave me some feedback on what I like and what you like specifically. Until next time, see ya!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net