Best Marvel comics of 2014

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I was thinking of best comics, but I read a lot of alt comics, which I doubt are very popular here. I read a lot of Marvel though, so I have a strong opinion on them.

I caught it a little late, but I got all of Hawkeye this year. It's awesome, particularly the Aja issues. The other issues are solid, but the Aja issues are superlative.

Superior Foes of Spider-Man was way more interesting than it should have been. I really enjoyed this book, and got attached to the characters.

Uncanny X-Men is my favorite X-Book. All-New X-Men is my second, since they tie together so tightly. I didn't like the relaunch of Wolverine and the X-Men, Amazing X-Men was, at times, terrible, and adjectiveless X-Men is a bit dull. Five proper X-Men comics a month?! Of the solo launches, Cyclops was okay, but I really thought Storm and Magneto were strong solo books. Both had a really solid conception of character. Nightcrawler's solo was, from the four issues I read, terrible, on par with average 1970's writing. Really disappointing.

I didn't like Avengers. I find Hickman's writing to be too cold. I didn't like Infinity in 2013, and nothing this year has made me any more interested. Likewise, James Robinson's Fantastic Four left me baffled. I've been reading it, but it doesn't quite make sense, and it's disappointing. I used to really like Robinson.

I loved the art in some of the All New launches. X-Factor looked like a European comic, and the writing was as solid as Peter David ever was. Ghost Rider was utterly banal story-wise, but the art was like rock and roll on paper. It looked so so good, from panel design, to rhythm, to pacing. I dropped off since the writing was nothing special, but I was energised by this for a few issues. Moon Knight as well looked phenomenal. The writing was okay, but nothing to think about after the issue was done. She-Hulk looked pretty beautiful as well. It was a real left field style, but once you got with it, it was great. Kind of how I used to be on the fence about Michael Allred, but now I love him. Loved the evolution of Alphonso on Ms. Marvel as well. He's gotten so much better since Runaways, and he was really good back then. Black Widow looked great, but I only lasted a few issues.

So, for me, without too much thought on the topic, these were my favourite Marvel books.

1. Hawkeye. I have reread them already, and I know I'll reread them in the future.
2. Superior Spider-Man. I liked this whole series. I was a lapsed Spider-Man reader, and this brought me back.
3. Uncanny X-Men. Just a fun, fun book. I've been reading X-Men since 1985, and this is the book that feels closest to what got me excited about them.
4. Magneto. A dark, surprising book. He's been a 'hero' for a while now, so this is a very anti-hero take on him, and very readable.
5. Superior Foes of Spider-Man. Great characterisation for underused C-list characters, and great humour.
6. Storm. A very unusual Marvel book. There is a little action, but there isn't a bad guy every issue. Character based story, makes the stories memorable.

Conspicuously absent? Original Sin and Axis. Axis in particular is troubling, as in, by making so many heroes villains, it's implausible that they could be considered heroes in the future.

I was going to do a top ten, but I chose the books I think I'll be happy reading again in the future. A lot of the rest I may not check again.

How about you? There have to be other comic fans on the board.