The Marvel Year In Review

[Phaedrus45]

X-Men (Part 2)

X-Factor #15-26: Absolutely, the best X-title of 2007. If it wasn't for Captain America, it would have been a very strong contender for the best of the year. Unlike Carey's X-Men, Peter David's team is not just made up of a hodgepodge of characters; but, each have a history together, and their interactions come off as true and sincere. Even the newest character, Layla Miller, makes all readers realize that something good did come from House of M, and all it takes is a good writer to make that a possibility.

The true beauty of this title is the way it worked around all the events, while progressing David's own storyline, whether it was Civil War, Quicksilver's involvement with the Inhuman crystals, or M-Day. These events were beautifully intergrated into X-Factor, and the new year looks no different, with X-Factor's involvement in Messiah Complex.

New X-Men #34-45: The second best X-title, New X-Men actually evolved as the year went on, introducing fans to new characters with the "Quest For Magik" storyline. January started off with the continuation of "Mercury Falling" in issues #34-36; as mentioned, the much anticipated "Quest For Magik" appeared in issues "37-41;" issues "42-43" were only a prelude for what was to come in #44-45, "Messiah Complex." New X-Men just delivered everything I wanted in 2007. I've been dying to see Magik's return to the 616 for ages, and not in some alternate earth or flashback episode. Plus, each month readers got equal parts character development and great action.

Uncanny X-Men #482-493: The X-titles really showed what a great writer can do with a book that has been getting ragged on by fans for years. Brubaker's "The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire" epic concluded in issues #482-486, and rising from the ashes came two new teams, X-Men and Starjammers. At it's conclusion, I was anticipating seeing both team's new adventures; how sad Brubaker didn't continue with the Starjammer, for Emperor Vulcan just didn't deliver. Issues #487-491 brought Storm back into the fold, as the new group of X-Men went in search of a rogue group of Morlocks. All this led up to the most excellent "Messiah Complex" in the final two issues.


X-Men #195-206: January started off with Mike Carey cleaning up much of the mess created by past writer's treatment of Northstar and Aurora, bringing them back together and fixing much of the damage done. Sadly, it took quite a while for him to clean up the mess he made with such bad casting in this title. Combining Iceman, Mystique, Rogue, Cable, Lady Mastermind, and Sabretooth looked bad on paper, and proved so with Carey's attempts. This group did not gel at all, and their adventures with Pandemic (issues #195-196) and the Hecatomb (#197-199) proved horrendous, both in writing and art. (Plus, what is it with all these writers wanting to f' with Rogue's mental state all the time. For once, I'd like to see her character get back to normal, drop all the romantic aspects of her and Gambit, and just have fun.) The anniversary issue got things back to normal, as The Mauraders made an excellent return (200-204), heating things up, and making sure it was back on track with "Messiah Complex" (#205-206).

X-Men-Endangered Species One Shot: This minievent, started off with this one shot and continued in 17, 8-page backup stories in the main X-titles, followed Beast's attempt to fix the damage caused by Scarlet Witch, when she muttered those now infamous words, "no more mutants." This is largely forgettable. Nothing is really learned, as Beast is no further along in part 17 as he was in part 1. As a set-up for "Messiah Complex," it really didn't bring anything to the table. For those who didn't read it, not much was missed.

X-Men-Messiah Complex One Shot: Not even finished, "Messiah Complex" is definitely the Marvel Event of the Year. I have not read an X-Event this good since the 90's, when the X-Men were the top selling books on the market. Severe kudos need to be given to Brubaker, David, and Carey for pulling off something so many writers failed to do this entire decade. Even better and maybe what made the X-titles so much better than a lot of other Marvel products is that they mainly stayed out of all the Civil War, Initiative, and Planet Hulk bullcrap.

X-Men-Messiah Complex-Mutant Files: For those Handbook fans, this was a most valuable update, giving all the new scoops on characters who were either new or undergone changes in 2007, including Kimura, Magik and The Mauraders.

Marvel Spotlight-Messiah Complex: Interviews and all the scoop behind the X-titles best events in ages.

X-Men-Emperor Vulcan #1-4: We've touched on the good and the great from the X-Men's world; now, the bad. Everything that Brubaker set-up with "The Rise and the Fall of the Shi'ar Empire" was totally fouled up by Christopher Yost. Not a hint of originality, readers saw the two enemies, the New Starjammers and Emperor Vulcan, forced to work together to eliminate a much bigger threat, the Scy'ar Tal. It just goes to show what an excellent writer Brubaker is, I guess. He can take over the work of another writer who has created a high standard, like with Bendis' Daredevil, and incorporate the ideas and keep the ball rolling, even improving on what came before. Even bad ideas, like Vulcan, he makes seem good. All my interest in the New Starjammers and Vulcan, though, has been effectively ruined by this garbage.

Astonishing X-Men #21-23: I know including this as the bad point of 2007 will rub many wrong; but, seriously, three issues where not a whole lot happened does not strike me as worthy of acknowledgement. Bendis has been dragged over the coals for having his characters talk all the action out of a book; yet, that's pretty much what this storyline has accomplished so far. Plus, how less important does this book become, when the major changes in the X-Universe is currently happening with "Messiah Complex?" Issue #24 promises someone will die; I'm saying, "DIE ALREADY!"

Wolverine #50-60, Annual 1: You cannot bring up the worst of 2007 without mentioning the King of that crown: Wolverine. Jeph Loeb started the year off with the far too long and drawn out "final fight between Wolverine and Sabretooth" in issues #50-55. When it was announced that many of Wolverine's secrets would be revealed a couple years ago, who knew things could get so f'ed up. Loeb's explanation on how all the feral mutants in the X-Universe are connected really could use Mephisto's help to make it all just go away.

I really didn't think this title could get any worse; boy, was I wrong. After a somewhat decent one-off story with issue #56, involving Wolverine stuck in a pit, Wolverine hit a new low with Guggenheim and Chaykin's arrival, fresh off their disasterous results in the cancelled Blade. You would think that this duo would learn from past mistakes about what went wrong with one book shouldn't be repeated. Nope...all the flashbacks and baring of teeth were done to the extreme with "Vendetta," issues #57-60. Finally, a decent one-off story was presented in the Annual, "Deathsong," where Logan hunts down a two-bit hoodlum on the run after a botched bank heist kills a dozen innocent people.

Wolverine-Origins #10-20, Annual 1: The only thing positive to say about Origins is that it didn't reach the levels of crap that Wolverine's main title did in 2007. The year began with what is always a bad idea, introducing an established character's long lost son. Issues #10-15 presented readers with Daken (of course he's mad...even his name sucks), and even the return of an old, favorite villian, Cyber, couldn't help this title. (Why do these long, lost sons always seek revenge? The same plot was used with Namor's miniseries. Comics really aren't that much different from soap operas.) The year ended on an equally bad note with the "Our War" storyline (#16-20). This presented the lost story of Logan's involvement in WWII with Captain America and Bucky. I'm always amazed how Logan had all this involvement with these heroes and villians in the past; yet, nobody ever clued him into his old adventures before. God, I hate this title. Finally, in Annual 1, we get a tale of Patch in Madripoor.

Wolverine-Firebreak One-Shot: It's too bad the best of Wolverine in 2007 was these one-off tales. This one involves Logan trying to save a family of three from a mysterious wildfire started by A.I.M..

 

[Smirnoff]

To sum up everything you've said so far, Marvel sucks.

 

[Darthphere]

Is anyone actually reading all of this?

 

[PhotoJones]

Not a single person.

 

[Darthphere]

Phaed, you need a blog.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I read bits and pieces. I even commented on them a couple times.

 

[Darthphere]

You suck.

 

[Phaedrus45]

The Minis (Part 1)

White Tiger #3-6: File this under "forgettable." I remember so little about this mini, except that the final issue took forever to come out. By the time I saw issue 6 in my box at the local comic shop, everything that happened previously was long forgotten. With quite a few guest stars, like Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Luke Cage, this title followed Angela del Toro's attempts at crime fighting by taking on the mantel of the White Tiger.

Wonder Man #2-5: Despite the bad art by Andrew Currie, Peter David's mini about Wonder Man trying to rehabilitate the super-assassin, Ladykiller, was actually pretty entertaining. The constant guest appearances by Ms. Marvel and Beast worked well, and it makes me miss the days of the lighter side of those three characters.

Squadron Supreme-Hyperion vs. Nighthawk #1-4: What a bad year for Squadron Supreme. It's last regular issue was in November of '06, and that storyline would never see another issue in all of '07. Instead, we got this tale, bringing the plight of Darfur to comic readers everywhere, and the Ultimate Power mini. A bit disappointing, but I have to give credit to Guggenheim for tackling an important topic that has gotten increased attention, especially with George Clooney and Don Cheadle's involvement in recent months. And, hey, at least this came out on time.

Silent War 1-#1-6: One of the best minis of 2007, where things changed dramatically with the Inhumans by the time the reader finished issue #6. But, what sucked was all the consequences of the Inhumans actions were quickly forgotten, because World War Hulk didn't even bother to acknowledge them. Yep, '07 wasn't a good year for Black Bolt and the Inhumans. It's another case of so much promise and Marvel delivering so little.

Nextwave-Agents Of H.A.T.E. #12: Loved by a select few, hated by so many, including me. '07 started out great with the cancellation of Nextwave. It was suppose to be humorous, but failed to make me even chuckle.

Onslaught Reborn #3-4: Yep, leave it up to Marvel not to learn from their own mistakes. This title, started in '06, never even reached a conclusion by the time December ended. It's really remarkable how many chances Liefeld continues to get, and how many times Marvel continues to hire him. And, what's even more amazing is how completely ridiculous and unreadable this entire miniseries has been. How can a story so bad take so much time to complete??!!?? Ah, the mystery of being Rob.

New Universal #2-6: A good example in taking lemons and making lemonade out of something from the past can be shown with Onslaught Reborn and comparing it to New Universal. Where Onslaught failed miserably, New Universal really shined. Warren Ellis did such a great job with this old, failed series of books from the 80's and turned it into one of the best minis of '07. I loved this book, and cannot wait for the second installment in '08. This title captured my interest after reading issue #1, and is one of the rare books that I will definitely read again.

Bullet Points #3-5: This mini wasn't bad. It's more of an extended "What If," telling how the entire course of Marvel history would have changed with one bullet. I love Alternate Earth stories, especially if done well. Straczynski is one of Marvel's premiere writers, and he presents an adequate story to keep the readers interest. Just, after reading it near the beginning of '07, I had forgotten all about it; so, in the end, it does become rather forgettable.

Doctor Strange-The Oath #4-5: What a great mini, and unlike Bullet Points, most readers still remember it at the beginning of '08. The disappointment, like with Silent War, is that Marvel did so little with it after the completion. Instead, we have Dr. Strange joining the New Avengers, wasting all the good that came before. Sure, Dr. Strange made many appearances in other books, like Spider-Man; but, fans really want him to get a title of his own with a good writer, like Brian Vaughan, telling his tales.

Eternals #7: So many great minis that Marvel has failed to capitalize on. Eternals finally ended in February, finishing Neil Gaiman's fantastic story about Ikaris and his search for the missing Eternals. (That's the thing about the current Thor storyline; I've seen it before in his own pages, and it was recently done here, also.)

Agents Of Atlas #6: Another great mini that ended at the beginning of '07; I would love to see a sequel about Jimmy Woo and his Agents of Atlas. This series just brought back some of the old feel that Marvel used to have in their books. This title worked so well in its characterization, just as The Order is doing now.

Avengers-Earth's Mightiest Heroes II #5-8: A retelling of the classic Avengers comics where Vision joined the team and Hank Pym showed his first signs of insanity was easily forgotten by me. I really didn't need an extended eight-issue recap of old events, many which seem rather ridiculous compared to comics today. (Yeah, it was a bit too soap opera for my taste.)

Fantastic Four-The End #4-6: When this came out, I remember being the only person to brag about how much I enjoyed it. Alan Davis did such a fantastic job, I believe it's the best "The End" tale to ever be done. My only complaint is it could have been longer. (Also, it wasn't really a "The End" story; the F4 still live in the end, and I thought these tales were suppose to be about the last days of the individuals in question. Either way, it was still Fantastic!)

Marvel 1602-Fantastick Four #5: Another series that ended in early '07, this one is easily forgotten. Who was begging for more 1602 is beyond me; but, I can say it was better than the first sequel, "The New World."

 

[Phaedrus45]

Is anyone actually reading all of this?

Would you rather get another survey or Marvel Character contest? As I said, this was something that intested me, and I thought maybe a few other people would think the same thing. It certainly is more worthwhile than just leaving a snide comment in someone's thread.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'd never devote this much time and effort to a thread, but I'm reading some of it. Phere isn't happy unless he's *****ing about something, and the OMD thread gets monotonous sometimes.

 

[Phaedrus45]

I read bits and pieces. I even commented on them a couple times.

Thanks, Corp. I appreciate receiving a bit of positivity on The Hype.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

No problem. It's unusual for me, though. I think I'm automatically getting a bit lighter because of all the constant *****ing going on over OMD. I have to wait until things calm down and most people are happy before I can go back to my usual grumpiness.

 

[GNR]

Winners of 2007 - Cap,DD,Iron Fist,Thor,Iron Man,Hulk/WWH,Thunderbolts,The Order

-PWJ has been a great read,but the title saw some serious inconsistency this year,no real direction,but the past 2 issues have shown alot of promise,as fun as the WWH issue was,it was really pointless to be honest

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I've been enjoying PWJ now that I started reading it again with the current arc. I'm just sad to see Al Kraven go crazy again. His characterization in Beyond worked really well, I thought. Sort of like a pre-rebirth Wonder Man, but more sardonic.

 

[PhotoJones]

I love that book. Frank and the Rhino need to have a miniseries together.

 

[Phaedrus45]

The Minis (Part 2)

What a great weekend! I went to the Seahawks game, watching them kick the Redskins' butts all over Quest Field.

House Of Avengers #1-3: I absolutely love this series. So much better than any of the Original House Of M minis (thinking of Spider-Man House Of M, what couldn't improve on that), we get to see the Homo Sapiens cause and plight from the eyes of Luke Cage. Decked in his classic yellow outfit from the 70's and 80's (fans of those old comics will be happy just to see the Cage they used to know), he puts together a team of normal B-Lister Sapien heroes, dubbed the Avengers, all fighting for Sapien rights. With still two more issues to go, this is probably the biggest surprise with my expectations for a miniseries in 2007.

Marvel Spotlight-Civil War Remembered/Marvel Spotlight-Civil War Aftermath/Civil War Damage Report: Marvel was all about cashing in on Civil War in '07. Not only did we have two Spotlights just focusing on what happened previously and the Damage Report, we are still currently having Marvel put out Civil War Chronicles, putting Civil War and the tie-ins in chronological order. The only event being ridden by a company more than Civil War is DC's Crisis.

Civil War-The Return: What a disappointment. Whereas the return of Bucky was one of the biggest surprises in the amount of enjoyment I've had from a character returning from the dead, Captain Marvel's return was ludicrous and idiotic. To me, it still makes no sense, and for the longest time I was wondering if this comic that was released in January would just be forgotten; for, it wasn't until the end of '07 that Captain Marvel was seen again.

Captain Marvel #1-2: With a sense of trying to "turn lemons into lemonade," Marvel totally ditches Captain Marvel's Civil War duty of being the Negative Zone monitor and puts him back on Earth with everyone wanting a piece of him. There is no emotion behind this book; it's just a bad idea not getting any better. Plus, issue #2's loose tie-in to Annihilation Conquest is disregarded in such a un-Avengerish fashion by Tony Stark, I wonder why they even bothered acknowledging it. Everything about this title just rings false.

All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A To Z-Update #1-4: The 12-part series from 2006 gets updated throughout the year with this 4-part mini.

Marvel Legacy-1990's Handbook: The Marvel Legacy Handbooks were really nice to read. It was a great way to relive some old characters and storylines.

Franklin Richards-March Madness/World Be Warned/Monster Mash/Fall Football Fiasco: Almost stealing a concept from "Calvin and Hobbes," Franklin Richards' 8-page adventures continued with these four titles. Improving on 2006, readers didn't have a repeat of old stories from the back of other Marvel comics packaged together in a collection; these were all new, and very humorous. I only recall one of the comics falling a bit flat; I believe it was "Monster Mash."

Marvel Zombies/Army Of Darkness #1-5: Readers really got over-zombied in 2007, beginning with this Dynamite company crossover. Ash from Army Of Darkness comes crashing into the Marvel world, bringing his Zombies with him. The infestation takes hold almost right away, and Ash goes in search of The Necronomicon in hopes to drive the Zombies away. Not sure how others found this series, but I didn't like it. I had noticed with each new manifestation of Marvel Zombies, they got more and more comical. This took it to the extreme, even with the Zombification of Howard The Duck.

Marvel Zombies-Dead Days: In this one-shot, Kirkman tells the birth of the Zombie's Infection. This prequel to the original series was much better than the Army of Darkness crossover; and, Marvel would have done better in '07 if they wouldn't have shoved the Zombies down our throats with the above crossover and the appearances in Black Panther.

Marvel Zombies-The Book Of Angels, Demons and Various Monstrosities: Trying to capitalize off the the Marvel Zombies hoopla, I guess the Zombies fit under the "Various Monstrositities;" but, this Handbook is about more than just them. They just received the top billing. It's too bad. I have a feeling that one day we'll look back and see the whole Zombie phenomina in comics as just a fad that might soon fade away. (Even reading the Bought/Thought thread each week, I notice not too many people pick up the best Zombie book, The Waking Dead.)

Marvel Zombies 2 #1-3: Kirkman is back, and his true sequel to this massive hit returns back to form. Gone is the extreme silliness of the early '07 crossover with Army of Darkness; now, we have an evolution with an actual storyline involving Wasp's realization that there is hope for the Zombies keeping their sanity and withholding their baser need to eat live flesh. While still not an A+ mini, this sequel does of good job of bringing the franchise back to reality, grounding it back onto Earth. (One of Kirkman's worst ideas was making the main Zombies get Cosmic Powers at the end of the first series; it took them away from where the action should have been. Now, I get a sense he's making up for that mistake.)

Mystic Arcana-Magik/Black Knight/Scarlet Witch/Sister Grimm: After voting in Dread's Best and Worst of Marvel Thread, someone came along and said this series was the Worst Mini of 2007. Originally, I voted that title belonged to Onslaught Reborn; but, it got me thinking that this bad set of books might truly be worthy of it more. Oh well, I could argue either. Each issue told a tale from the main character's past, with a backing story featuring Ian McNee's quest for four magical objects. These issues were truly terrible; and the delay of the final issue only made readers remember it's awfulness at the end of the year.

Marvel Magic Handbook/Official Tarot Of The Marvel Universe: One a handbook and the other a very artistic interpretation of a deck of Tarot cards, tied into some of the magical characters of the Marvel Universe. Not a bad couple of books; but, it's surprising that so much had been spent on such a bad conceptual idea. I do have to say that the Official Tarot was a beautiful issue, very well done and drawn. It amazes me the amount of time and love that some writers and artist spend on something that gets such little publicity.

New Avengers/Transformers #1-4: Forgettable! This IDW crossover was completely forgotten by me, and I'm not even sure what the hell happened in this title. I'm interested in going through my comic boxes and seeing if I ever got the final issue. After looking at this and the Army of Darkness crossover, I appreciate the Spider-Man/Red Sonja one even more.

Shanna The She-Devil-Survival Of The Fittest #1-4: A bit of a letdown after Frank Cho's original 2005 series. I really wondered if this was Marvel's answer to Cho's Jungle Girl for Dynamite. Both series were very similiar, which means they lacked any originality. After reading them, the word "average" came to mind. You could read worse...but, you could also read much better.

Super-Villian Team-Up: Modok's 11 #1-5: A new MODOK gets together some of Marvel's "most wanted," a collection of B-list villians, ala the original Thunderbirds. This mini was filled with secondary villians and tons of twists and backstabbing. I have to give the writer, Fred Van Lente, credit for giving Marvel readers a bit of a different tale, and he kept us all guessing as to who was trustworthy and who wasn't.

Marvel Atlas #1: With another issue to be released in '08, this was one of the more original Handbooks to come out. As the title says, this is about locations within the MU.

Loners #1-6: While I came around to The Order with issue #3, I never saw what others found in this mini. I found the art extremely subpar, and the story was told in a very juvenile and unoriginal manner. What Vaughan did so marvelously in Runaways with these characters was totally fouled up by C.B. Cebulski.

Omega Flight #1-5: I had mixed reactions to this title. While I really enjoyed seeing Talisman, the New Guardian, and Spider-Woman again, I thought USAgent and, especially, Beta Ray Bill were out of place. Canada has quite a few decent B-list characters to choose from to make up Omega Flight, and mixing characters not from there just didn't ring true. (Spider-Woman was the exception, as I could believe she'd take her family there after events in Civil War.) One of the arguments against Marvel nowadays is the way in which writers seem to make up their teams and stories based on nothing based on Marvel 616 reality, and they are just doing things on whim.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

How did Captain Marvel #2 acknowledge Annihilation?

And MODOK's 11 was one of my favorite mini-series this year.

 

[Phaedrus45]

How did Captain Marvel #2 acknowledge Annihilation?

And MODOK's 11 was one of my favorite mini-series this year.

Someone can correct me if I get this a bit wrong; but, Iron Man realizes that the Kree will want Captain Marvel to pay for crimes against them, and when Ms. Marvel asks Tony Stark about it, he says that for some reason there is a barrier blocking Kree-space from the rest of the Universe. So, he thinks that will buy them time from them coming to Earth and try to abduct or kill Captain Marvel. Iron Man has no interest in finding out what this barrier is about. Very un-Avengerish, in my mind.

 

[Darthphere]

Someone can correct me if I get this a bit wrong; but, Iron Man realizes that the Kree will want Captain Marvel to pay for crimes against them, and when Ms. Marvel asks Tony Stark about it, he says that for some reason there is a barrier blocking Kree-space from the rest of the Universe. So, he thinks that will buy them time from them coming to Earth and try to abduct or kill Captain Marvel. Iron Man has no interest in finding out what this barrier is about. Very un-Avengerish, in my mind.

Not really. He could probably think that the barrier is there for protection, it's really not his business as to why some alien race has put a barrier around THEIR territory.

 

[Darthphere]

The pages, as you'll notice, he never says he won't continue to investigate it.

Spoiler

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Eh, I suppose Tony should've been a bit more concerned given how troublesome the Kree have been to Earth in the past, but he does have his hands pretty full with Earth. Kree surveillance would likely fall under SWORD's jurisdiction anyway. Maybe Viper--er, Abigail Brand is the one to ask about that.

 

[Darthphere]

The line where he says that they don't have enough data infers that they are continuing to try to gather data, ergo, investigating the bubble.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Or getting updates from Abigail Viper while she investigates it, which is really what he should be doing, if I understand the organization of SHIELD at all.

 

[Darthphere]

Or getting updates from Abigail Viper while she investigates it, which is really what he should be doing, if I understand the organization of SHIELD at all.

She's dead. She dies in the last issue of Astonishing.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Then whoever the **** takes over SWORD. SWORD is supposed to be SHIELD's space arm.