Forum thread

aesthetocyst

Forum post.

rainkingucd

When I started playing the game years back, I had never heard of Dark Reign.  After playing for a while, I signed up for Marvel Unlimited, and went and read the entire Dark Reign story line.  After that I kind of bounced around based on crossovers / etc. (Incredible Hercules post Hulk exile, transitioned into Eternals.  Got really random reads for awhile).  Although my most recent run was I think Black Panther from the late 90's Marvel Knights series through to Secret Wars.  

JuanAV2141

Infinity is one of my favorite arcs.

ZootSax

I’m one of the people who never really read comics before playing this game.  I’ve really enjoyed the recent Squirrel Girl comics, because that’s about how seriously I take things and they don’t really require much back-story beyond what is in the MCU and descriptions of characters from this game.

I’m definitely open to suggestions...

JHawkInc

I'm reading the recent Thor run (The Mighty Thor with Jane, 1-23 and then 700+, as well as the short Unworthy Thor run). Wanted to get caught up on The Death of the Mighty Thor. It's been a good run.

And speaking of Thor, the entire God-Butcher arc (which is basically everything that leads up to Jane becoming Thor in the first place) is pretty fantastic, and I definitely recommend it.

justsing

Kamala Khan and Squirrel Girl are my current favorites. 

TPF Alexis

Relatively recent stuff has basically been Kamala Khan, Squirrel Girl, America Chavez, and Fraction's run on Hawkeye. Oh, and I went back and re-read Nextwave a little while ago. Always worth another read

thisone

Ed Brubaker's run on Cap (which helped inspire Winter Soldier) is a terrific read. Though anything by Brubaker I'd recommend (maybe not his uncanny run though haha).

Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest are the rare event comics that are really enjoyable. Guardians fans especially check out Conquest and the associated minis.

I'm really behind on my current comics so no current recommendations.

BigSoftieFF

Never read any but would like to try some out. Overwhelmed on where I would start though.

Daredevil217

I’m a person who prefers more of the street level heroes. Like my screen name suggests, Daredevil is my favorite hero.  If you enjoyed the grit/pulp of his Netflix series and want something more like that and less like Guardians/Thor, I have some GREAT recommended reading.  I’d absoluty suggest the following:

Man without Fear (1993 5 part miniseries): Legend Frank Miller pretty much modernizes and enriches DD’s origin story.  This series pretty much inspired every origin story told on screen (and is where the infamous Netflix black suit came from). 

Daredevil “Born Again” (Vol. 1 #227-233): Probably the most famous DD storyline ever and likely the direction DD season 3 will go. Synopsis:

 DD’s former love interest Karen page has become a drug addicted porn star who sells Murdock’s identity for a hit. Kingpin uses the information to make Matt go insane. Lots of religious symbolism. 

Then basically all of DD Vol. 2. There were a couple bad arcs but most were PHENOMENAL. Bendis, Brubaker and Maleev all killed it in the early 2000s.  Even Kevin Smith (yes that Kevin Smith (Clerks)) had a decent arc to kick the whole thing off. Thought the ending was weak but the roller coaster ride there was top notch!

So many good story arcs. Basically that whole run, each writer ended by putting Matt in an impossible situation and left the next writer to try and get him out of it. Things like being outed in the press, turning his back on the entire super hero community, going slightly crazy and declaring himself the new Kingpin of Hell’s Kitchen, having loved ones die (that one’s not new for Matt) and getting tossed in prison.

Some super low rent villains but that didn’t matter since the stories were SO good and were more about Murdock’s conflicts with himself than with any mega villain. 

If you are looking for something less fantastical and more grounded you won’t be disappointed.

I’m currently catching up on DD (Vol. 5, issue 25 right now.... the conclusion of the “Supreme” arc). Didn’t like the light-hearted Mark Waid stuff but am digging the newer (again darker) Soule stuff... but nothing compares to DD Vol. 2. Must read for sure. 

JarvisJackrabbit

Tom King, who is currently penning Batman for DC, wrote a 12-issue Vision series that is possibly my favorite run of comics ever, and I own well over 3,000 comics.

The entire collected edition was available for a dollar on comiXology a few weeks ago.

Jabrony_Geoff

Secret invasion graphic novel is a must. One of the best comic book stories in the history of comic books. I still haven't recovered. 

Fantastic four 249 and 250 from the 80's

When the writers get it right the skrulls can be a truly formidable foe.

John Byrne's run on the fantastic four, great art, great stories.

NotBAMF

Oh so this is all time and not just current?  

Keeping it short by just starting with two of my favorite runs ever:

1) Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men

2) Pretty much the entirety of Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man

carrion_pigeons

I always think about reading some of the really iconic storylines, find out that it involves tracking down comics from 3-5 different runs to get the "whole" story (and even then you'd be constantly going "wait, what?" when they reference past events), and give up before I start. 

One time I determined to read the entire run of Amazing Spider-Man, thinking I could finally get caught up. I did it, but caught up I was not.  Rather, I just had a long list of other comics that needed to be read in order for what I *had* read to feel like whole stories. 

That said, I did really enjoy Superior Spider-Man right towards the end of that whole run.

Daredevil217

^^^^
Graphic novels often capture complete story arcs as do certain digital mediums that collect entire storylines and puts them in reading order for you. I have things like the Dark Reign, Civil War, House of M, etc. on my computer though I’ve still yet to read them. Maybe Secret Invasion as well which I might tackle next if it’s as good as Jabroney is saying. 

Chrono_Tata

Right now the only Marvel series I'm reading monthly is Squirrel Girl, mostly cause I'm a fan of Dinosaur Comics which is written by Ryan North as well. I'm more of a DC guy when it comes to comics. I used to follow the Ultimate line closely but then Marvel cancelled it.

Apart from the ones other people already recommended I would recommend the entire run of Ultimate Spider-Man, up until they decided to bring Peter Parker back which was when the series just went off the rails. It used to be the best ongoing series that Marvel published. 

Another series I would recommend is Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman. It's excellent stuff.

If one likes the kind of humour in the current Squirrel Girl run, the recent Howard the Duck run by Chip Zdarsky was also pretty good.

The original Sentry series was also really great, if only to correct the misrepresentation of his character in Dark Reign and MPQ. Not a perfect comic but it's a very original idea done pretty well.

Kishida

Let me second TPFAlexis's recommendation on Fraction's Hawkeye, add to the chorus of voices for Squirrel Girl, and speak up for Charles Soule's brief She-Hulk run.

Colognoisseur

I am really enjoying the Black Bolt series written by Saladin Ahmed.

Senor Boltagon has always been a stiff as a character for me until this series.

The advantage here is there isn't a lot of crossover stuff.

Also if you're jazzed by the movie the current Ta-Nehisi Coates run of Black Panther is pretty awesome.

Both of these writers bring new perspectives to their heroes making them live in new and different ways.

One last one is the 2015 The Vision mini-series another incredibly well-done re-imagining of a character.

shadowyoshi

Here are my top 5 runs I recommend depending on who I'm talking to (most are more recent though I have read quite a bit of older items):

1. Hickman's run on Avengers and New Avengers through Secret Wars (can also be exteded to his runs on Ultimate Avengers and Fantastic Four before he took this over as the entirely is functionally an all-time great Fantastic Four story dressed up as an Avengers story for the second half). Avengers / Infinity / New Avengers / Secret Wars: 2012-2015. Fantastic Four / FF: 2009-2012. Ultimates: 2011-2012

2. Bendis and Brubaker's run on Daredevil (both runs are great and Brubaker took what Bendis built and improved it in a lot of ways). 2001-2009

3. Original Secret Wars. 1984-85

4. Superior Spiderman. End of Amazing Spiderman...698-700. Entire run of Superior Spiderman (34 issues)

5. JMS run on Amazing Spiderman (super underrrated and overshadowed by Bendis simultaneous run on Ultimate Spiderman but mostly solid minus two arcs...skip Sins Past and One More Day was clearly editorially mandated). 2001-2007

One extra single issue: Hank Johnson, Agent of Hydra was a one-shot offshoot from Secret Wars in 2015. Go read it and laugh. One of the funniest superhero comics I've ever read.

clay_peterson

Good thread.  I’d like to add that, for anyone interested in checking these stories out, you can read everything listed here by subscribing to Marvel Unlimited.  It’s a streaming service that grants access to almost everything Marvel has ever published for a surprisingly reasonable amount of money.

The MU app itself is only so-so, but the content found on the app is phenomenal.

JHawkInc

aesthetocyst said:

BigSoftieFF said:

Never read any but would like to try some out. Overwhelmed on where I would start though.

Well, just pick one and give it a go. You can read old comics online these days, making it easy to explore. Which characters are of interest to you? What other kinds of reading do you enjoy?

You might also check out YouTube channels like Comics Explained or Nerd Sync. They are commenter that ramble on about characters and stories. If you enjoy their explanations, maybe they will pique your interest, provide a starting point.

There's no one right place to start, find something you like and see where it leads!

That's actually exactly what I did. I mentioned Thor comics in my post, I recommended the run with Thor from 2013-2014 that led to the female 4* Thor, and then the stuff I'm currently reading is her 2017-2018 run. Reading Thor from 2013 to present actually meant reading four volumes of Thor: God of Thunder (God-Butcher, Godbomb, then two volumes with Malekith and Roxxon and trouble across the realms), then going to Youtube for Original Sin (because that's when Thor loses his hammer), then a short stretch of Thor Volume 4 (where Jane is established as the new Thor), then BACK to Youtube for more Original Sin (because the event also introduced the tenth realm to the Nine Realms and somehow my first Original Sin overview video missed that, and of course a new realm is important to a Thor story set in the realms). Then a youtube video on Secret Wars: Battleworld, then the Thors tie-in to Secret Wars (because it has dozens of different Thors and that's RAD AS HEL). Then back to The Mighty Thor for Jane Foster's current run (which largely follows the Malekith/Roxxon stuff from before). And the Unworthy Thor miniseries.

So to get from 2013 to present day with Thor meant three trips to Youtube to fill in gaps with crossover events (and I could have easily used a fourth visit for a crash course on the realms in general, because I went in blind since I grew up with Cap and Spidey and the X-Men, not Thor, but now I'm pretty sure I could name the realms and their differences/inhabitants off the top of my head without too much trouble).

And you just kinda absorb stuff as you go (Thanos was imprisoned during part of Thor's comics, and it was just a weird thing, but now that I've read Civil War II and The Ultimates I know WHY Thanos ends up imprisoned) and figuring out stuff when you need to (Cul Borson was introduced in the 2011 crossover Fear Itself, but I didn't learn that until I visited Google because suddenly Odin had a brother and I wasn't sure what was going on, you know?)

It's crazy and overwhelming, but manageable, and you can dive into resources like Wikipedia and Youtube to bridge gaps, and every bit you cover is another piece that makes it easier to understand stuff you'll read/watch in the future. And really, a lot of it isn't too hard to understand anyways, because Marvel knows how complicated stuff gets (I stopped reading The Mighty Thor to read the Unworthy Thor miniseries because The Mighty Thor told me to with an editor's note, and I understand who Mangog is, despite only reading comics with him from 2018 when the character first appeared in 1968, because Marvel made sure to give me the important bits so I didn't need to re-read all of Thor to understand it)