The Marvel Year In Review

It was pretty clever.

And Stardust may not be a he at all. It seems they're gearing SD more as a girl. And yeah, that sacrifice was more than any other herald, ever.

Kicked Bill's ash, too.
 
Well, originally, they pegged SD as a male, then in every appearance afterward (Annihilation), they pegged SD as a girl. I'm sure it'll be, "Either or, s/he's freaking energy, after all, how can s/he have a gender?" Or switch it to full on girl because of her love of Galactus. Creepy stalker love.
 
Not all American's lack a full education by the standard of the rest of the developed world either.
 
I meant your run of the mill high school graduate, as that's considered a completed education that must be undergone. o.o
 
Marvel Heroes (Part 1)

Iron Man #15-24, Annual 1: What is it about Iron Man that bores me to death? Anyway, no other character has been so prominent as a guest star in other books in a given year than Tony Stark. He's really replaced Wolverine as the most over-used character in comics today. It's a good thing he can go to the bathroom in his suit, because he couldn't crack a fart without it being heard in a Marvel comic.

The big change for Tony was becoming the Director Of SHIELD. The book focused on these adventures, with a slow developing backstory of The Mandarin's rise to power. After reading issue #24, it came to me that Iron Man is really trying to achieve the current stature of Captain America. Just as Captain America has been focusing on Red Skull's quest in the destruction of Captain America, Iron Man is using the same manner with The Mandarin. The difference is Brubaker has the talent to develop a story that lasts longer than a year and keeps the reader's interest.

Iron Man-Enter: The Mandarin #1-4: This current mini retells the first encounter Iron Man had with his archnemesis, The Mandarin. For me, the Iron Man highlights are in his two miniseries, for the reader doesn't have to get bored to death with an overdrawn story that has no clear ending in sight. Of course, this one is very timely, as it gives newer readers an understanding of the history between these two men.

Iron Man-Hypervelocity #1-6: This took me a couple issues to really start to enjoy; but, I found it one of the best Iron Man stories I had read in years. It's very original in its delivery, and the art looks fantastic. In the story, Tony Stark is on the brink of death, and he's built a failsafe into an Iron Man 2.0 Armor that his memories have been transfered into. This mini is action packed, as SHIELD believes they've got a rogue armor loose that must be destroyed, and a sexy, insurgent, viral infection tries to eradicate Tony one memory at a time.

Blade #5-12: Ok, let's get it out of the way. This was the worst of Marvel, and a definite highlight of 2007 was the cancellation of this series. Guggenheim's writing and Chaykin's art are both just God-Awful, and the constant flashbacks, re-writing Blade's origins, definitely make this the extreme lowpoint in Blade's long history. Oddly enough, you think Marvel would learn from this and not repeat it. Nope, these two brought the same formula to Wolverine's main series.

Black Panther #24-33: What was so good in '06 was totally ruined in '07. Storm and Black Panther joined the Fantastic Four with issue #25, and soon began some really crappy adventures. (Luckily, this would be short-lived; by the end of the year, the original F4 would be reinstated in their own magazine, promising the end to this experiment.) Why would Black Panther chose to ignore Wakanda and join this group? I simply take it as a bad idea coupled with bad writing. Anyway, it would only get worse, as a pair of golden frogs give the group a reality-jumping adventure that would take them to the world of Marvel Zombies in issues #28-31 and gun toting Skrulls in #32-33.

Fantastic Four #542-552: Spinning out of events from Civil War, issue #544 would ask readers, "Which Heroes Will Make Up The New Fantastic Four?" Of course, this wasn't much of a mystery, as the secret had been revealed long before the issue came out. To save their marriage, Sue and Reed take a vacation to getaway from everything, leaving Storm and Black Panther to take their place and keep the Fantastic Four together. Beginnning with a cosmic adventure featuring Galactus, The Silver Surfer, and the return of Gravity. Soon, Reed and Sue show up to help take on the Frightful Four, and by issue #550, Storm and T'Challa are sent packing, and the old team is back together to face Doctor Doom in the final two issues of the year. To me, '07 was another failed year for the F4, as Ben and Johnny really became comic sidekicks to Storm and T'Challa. It would make a new reader wonder why the two of them are even in the F4. It's almost as if McDuffie doesn't understand his characters and their history. It's more like the characters have to fit into his writing, than making his writing fit the characters.

Mythos-Fantastic Four: A retelling of the origin of the F4. It's been done many times before, and I really didn't need to read it again. For a new reader, I guess it would be alright.

The Last Fantastic Four Story: August saw the release of this story, written by Stan Lee and beautifully drawn by John Romita, Jr.. I'll just paste a synopsis of the story below:

"In summary, The Last Fantastic Four Story tells of the Cosmic Tribunal, an unimaginably powerful alien race who have decided to destroy the human race. After thousands of years of existence, humankind is still bogged down by the horrors of war, crime, poverty, and bigotry. Humanity "serves no positive purpose," the Cosmic Tribunal declares, and therefore "must be--ELIMINATED." With only one week left until the Tribunal wreaks its havoc, it is up to the Fantastic Four to save humanity before it is too late."

A good story, it's also pretty forgettable after you've put it away in its comic bag. Still, it is much better than anything I read in F4's main comic or in Black Panther.

Marvel Holiday Special '07: Cute, but not as good as the previous two years. A piece written by Slott is sorely missed, that's for sure. I won't remember anything from this issue next year; but, I still remember the story written by Slott in December of '05.

Civil War #7: January saw this major Marvel event finally end after long delays. The issue began with a bang and ended with a whimper. But, who knew the biggest surprise would come almost a month later with Captain America #25.

Civil War-Frontline #11: January, also, saw the final issue of Frontline. This comic was a perfect compliment to events in Civil War; sadly, it would not be duplicated with World War Hulk.

Civil War-The Initiative: February saw the fallout to the events of Civil War, and besides the death of Captain America, the biggest change would be The Initiative. Most every title would end up being somehow effected, and regardless of what you think of Civil War, the concept has to be given credit for giving us some really good team book in '07, including "The Order" and "Avengers Initiative."

Captain America #25-33: Giving us only nine issues for the entire year, readers were sent reeling from the first issue of '07's death of Captain America. Definitely, one of the best kept secrets stemming out of Civil War (for example, we all knew who the New F4 were going to be), this was such a big event, that Wednesday morning saw all the news channels and internet reporting what fans hadn't had the chance to pick up yet. (For me, it was the Howard Stern show giving away the news...and, by the time I got to my local comic shop, they had sold out from all the people coming in to find a collectable copy.) This series never disappointed. Great storytelling and excellent art helped make this my "Best Comic of 2007." I found myself not even missing Cap, as Bucky stepped up as one of my favorite new characters in the last couple years. Hmmm...the only thing more shocking than the death of Captain America is all the comic fans who still refuse to pick up this title. At least Dread finally came to his senses.
 
Phaedrus45 said:
Marvel Holiday Special '07: Cute, but not as good as the previous two years. A piece written by Slott is sorely missed, that's for sure. I won't remember anything from this issue next year; but, I still remember the story written by Slott in December of '05.
Click to expand...

The Loners story makes up for any other shortcoming. :up:
 
Damn, I didn't even read that special. I have it in a pile somewhere. I'll have to read it now that I know there was a Loners story in it.
 
Marvel Adventures

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #23-34
Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #20-31
Marvel Adventures Avengers #9-19
Giant-Size Marvel Adventures The Avengers #1
Marvel Adventures Iron Man #1-8
Marvel Adventures The Hulk #1-6

Figured I might as well batch these all together. Comics you have no problem letting your kids read, Marvel Adventures added two new titles to their line-up: Iron Man and The Hulk. (Not included is the reprint comics, like Marvel Adventures Marvel-Two-In-One.) The worst of these bunch of comics is definitely MA Spider-Man. Set back in his early, teen years, even having Peter David as a writer for a short time didn't do much for it. Oddly enough, Iron Man's adventures might have been the best, going back to a time when you could read a one-off story without having to be into a humongous event.

Anyway, when I buy my son a Marvel comic, I get him Marvel Adventures. I know he'll get plenty of action without a long, convoluted plot.
 
Marvel Heroes (Part 2)

Irredeemable Ant-Man #4-12: The title that will be missed the most, no matter how many times readers recommended Kirkman's original series, it still couldn't get the sales to divert cancellation. Each issue seemed to make Eric O'Grady, the Irredeemable Ant-Man, even more of a despicable cad. Kirkman offered no apologies for his anti-hero, going so far to make the cover for Ant-Man #8 depicting him spying on a lady taking a shower.

Daredevil #93-103, Annual 1: Brubaker's first year on Daredevil ends with bringing Matt back to bad place's Kitchen (#93-94), and the second year brings back many old, favorite characters fans remember from the 70's and 80's, like Gladiator and Turk, while continuing many plot points originally started by Bendis, like Matt's marriage to Mila, and working them into his new stories. Issues #95-99 focused on a gang war in bad place's Kitchen with "To The Devil, His Due," and #100-103, "Without Fear," has has Brubaker shaking up Matt's world with his attempts to save his wife, all the while reintroducing fans to Mr. Fear. Finally, the Annual shows Black Tarantula's attempts to go straight after being freed from jail.

This is one of Marvel's top five books, and is definitely for real Marvel fans, not the casual reader.

Ghost Rider #7-18, Annual 1: I'm really starting to realize that more crap comes out than good. Of course, none of the other comic companies are really any different; most books are average, with the few that are really good or truly awful. On the truly awful side is Ghost Rider. Issue #7 finished up finishes up a two-part story, called "bad place To Pay;" #8-11 was a Casualties Of War tie-in (a very loose tie-in), called "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Illinois," with a Lucifer-controlled Jack O'Lantern; issues #13-14 a World War Hulk tie-in, called "Apocalypse Soon;" the Annual featured the introduction to Mister Eleven; and, finally, issues 15-18 promising "Revelations" to the feud between Ghost Rider and Lucifer. The whole idea of Ghost Rider chasing down Lucifer in various possessed versions really didn't work when first introduced in issue #1, and '07 just saw me wishing it would all just end and get this character on a different path for '08. Also, the cheap tie-ins were seen as nothing more than Marvel trying to get more cash from it's casual readers, as they really didn't progress or influence Civil War or World War Hulk at all.

Ghost Rider-Trail Of Tears #1-6: This early miniseries, while not great, was much better than the stuff in Ghost Rider's main title. Clayton Crain's art really worked well with Garth Ennis' story.

Ghost Rider Finale: One of the biggest surprises of '07 came in January with the much delayed conclusion to Ghost Rider's second volume, finally finishing the cliffhanger from Ghost Rider (Vol. 2) #93, that featured the death of Dan Ketch. This special edition contained issue #93, helping to bring old and new readers up-to-date on what came before, and while not a fantastic issue, it is fondly remembered as taking care of a really bad, bad decision on Marvel's part of cancelling a series that only had one issue to go eight years later.

Mythos-Ghost Rider: Even though I had read his origin a few times, this was one of the better Mythos, simply for the fact it has not been done over and over, like with the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man.

Omega The Unknown #1-3: Late '07 saw Marvel release three of Steve Gerber's characters (Howard the Duck, Foolkiller, and Omega), and none have really shined that brightly. This title is the worst. Sometimes a book tries to be a little too offbeat, and I just feel this is the case with this title. From the dialogue to the art, I really cannot figure out what the bad place Jonathan Lethem/Farel Dalrymple is trying to do.

Howard The Duck #1-3: Howard becomes popular after some duck hunters try to shoot him, and YouTube shows the video of him kicking the hunter's butts. For Beverly, he agrees to appear on a talk show, not realizing it's run by a MODOT. Although this title is cute, it cannot compare to Gerber's classic comics. Plus, Juan Bobillo's art and depiction of Howard leave a lot to be desired.
 
Just 34 more titles to go. I should finally finish this up by tomorrow.
 
Figure I'd pop out a few quick ones before work was finished.

Runaways #24-28: Another bad Marvel decision. Vaughan ended his excellent run on Runaways with issue #24, only to have Marvel turn over this great team book to Joss Whedon and Michael Ryan. Don't get me wrong, I love the four issues I've read by them; but, Whedon's record of putting out books on a timely manner has really suffered lately (unless it's his own "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" title). Anyway, Whedon's "Dead End Kids" never saw it's completion in '07, giving readers only 4 of the 6 parts.

While I love Marvel giving us some fresh, new team books, like The Others, it really pisses me off that two of my favorites, The Runaways and Young Avengers, have been relagated to the backburner in '07. Just a couple years ago, these were two of my top five Marvel titles; now, one is stuck in delays and the other has been completely forgotten.

Runaways Saga: Yep, Marvel charges fans $3.99 for a recap of everything that came previously in Runaways, hyping the upcoming Whedon take-over. What a failure that turned out to be.

New Warriors #1-7: Well, this sure was a much better New Warriors than we last saw. (Of course, if not for the previous NW mini, we wouldn't have had the events of Civil War, huh?) Gone are the completely comic elements of that previous version, and now we get heroes that we used to know who are much changed, like Winddancer and Jubilee. This is done pretty well, and by the end of the year, we discover who is the new Night Thrasher.

Mighty Avengers #1-6: Not as bad as New Avengers, yet not nearly that much better. Bendis is more about showing off than presenting a good storyline. The female Ultron story started out with a bang, but quickly fizzled due to bad, corny dialogue, a focus on making thought-bubbles fresh and new (didn't we all get over this after the first issue?), and just a lame-ash ending. (Someone please explain to me how Tony and the Iron Man armor can turn into the female Ultron and then have him come back completely normal????) Hmmm...maybe this title isn't better than New Avengers. It's just hard to take dog crap and cat crap and decide what's better.

Avengers Handbook Featuring The Mighty Avengers: Tooting Bendis' horn, Marvel releases a Handbook with characters who have, for the most part, already been in other handbooks. Why his new series deserved its own handbook is beyond me...I'm just hoping this influence Bendis has at Marvel will soon end.
 
Figure I better pop the last of these out.

Punisher War Journal #3-14: This was a title I had to learn to appreciate. Being a big fan of the regular Punisher Max title, this almost comical version was a complete opposite to the Punisher I was used to reading. The year began with the Civil War tie-in, #3, and was followed by the funeral for Stilt Man, #4, in which Frank busts up the wake. Throughout P:WJ, we see G.W. Bridge's relentless hunt for Frank, and that's only intensified with a very average 5-part "Goin' Out West" storyline, #6-10. (It was this story that made me grade this series of books pretty low. I got tired of Marvel comics in '07 giving us flashback after flashback, all the while not really progressing a story much past the first issue of a storyline. Bendis does this quite a bit, and Guggenheim, also, with Blade and Wolverine. It seemed like Frank was tied to that pole for months.) Issue #12 gave us a double-sized, "World War Hulk" tie-in; and the last two got this title back on track with "Hunter/Hunted," #13-14.

She-Hulk #15-23: January started off with Slott's "Planet Without A Hulk" storyline in issues #15-18. Always great at incorporating major storylines into this title and making fun of them at the same time, She-Hulk has never been better than when Slott was writing her. Of course, all good things come to an end, and issues #19-21 saw Slott taking care of all the loose ends. With issues #22-23, Peter David comes on board, and while some of the humor stays with this title, we get a lot more action and less of the sharp wit. This title really had quite a few delays in '07, and I was a bit surprised not to see Marvel capitalize on the World War Hulk storyline, like it did with non-Hulk related titles, like Ghost Rider and Heroes For Hire.

New Avengers #27-37: One thing you have to give Bendis credit for is actually getting out 11 issue of New Avengers in a year's time. Who knew he could do it? Starting off the year with the question, "Who is Ronin," issue #27 started off the storyline that would run through this title all year and become a major focus in '08. The Hand, led by Elektra, fight Ronin for control of the Japanese underworld, and the New Avengers are sent to help out. Issue #28 introduced readers to the NEW New Avengers, with the introduction of Doctor Strange into their ranks. (And, I thought it couldn't get worse with Spidey and Wolverine.) This all lead to the shocking ending to issue #31, revealing Elektra to be a Skrull. Beginning with issue #33, Bendis revitalizes the character, The Hood, as he tries to take over as a new kind of Kingpin. One of the worst parts of this title is the constant flashbacks Bendis chooses to do, where a new issue rarely progresses a storyline.

Avengers-The Initiative #1-8, Annual 1: One of the best, new titles released in '07, Slott's Avengers kicks ash over anything Bendis put out in both his titles. Plus, unlike Bendis, Slott has the decency to incorporate other events and storylines into his books, as seen with Spidey's "Back In Black," #3, "World War Hulk," #4-5, and Bendis' Skull storyline, "Annual 1." (Really, World War Hulk was such a big event, yet to this day, Bendis hasn't even mentioned it, and still insists on using The Sentry in his titles. He really gets hooked on certain characters and stubbornly insists on making them relevant again, i.e. Spider-Woman, Ronin(Echo), Sentry, Skrulls. It's either that or he just kills them off with little fan-fare.) It's great to see Slott finally get some big title recognition, and what he's doing with this title will only make that continue. Best of all, Slott knows how to make newly introduced characters and returning favorites very interesting, and they are all important to the story he is telling. He seems to have a clear reason for choosing who he wants for his story, and not forcing a favorite character into a storyline.

Giant-Size Avengers #1: A 22-page collection of never-before-told tales from Avengers past, this title was a nice change of pace from the crap we read (sometimes) monthly in New Avengers and Mighty Avengers from a group of six writers. Not only giving us some action, we also get some nice humor. Also included is a couple classic reprints.

Avengers Classics #1-7: One of the more surprising releases from Marvel, out of nowhere they decide to put out a monthly comic reprinting the classic Avengers comics, adding a new 8-page story that is to be a long-lost story somehow connected with the adventure before. Now, I have a couple Avengers collections that have these early issues...and, in today's age, these comics are a bit corny and silly. The new 8-page stories have all been pretty good; but, I'd rather see Marvel go back to an old format that I loved back in the 90's: The Megazine. With those, you would get about 4 stories from different time periods in a character's history, the best example being the Spider-Man Megazine. This way, if you find the earliest adventures a bit too hard to read, you can enjoy something for the 80's instead.

Heroes For Hire #6-15: I liked this title; but, it seems I might have been in the minority. One problem is it really got bogged down in getting involved in all of the major Marvel events and never got to get its own identity. I'm sure the writer saw the humongous popularity that first issue got with it's tie-in to Civil War and wanted to repeat that popularity; it probably didn't help that the two original Heroes For Hire, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, weren't included in the group. By issue #15, the title was cancelled and the group split up and old friendships ruined.

The Order #1-6: Originally slated to be called "The Champions," Marvel was forced to change the title, due to the discovery the title was owned by Heroic Publishing. Just like with the Champions, this is not the first "Order" in existance. Spinning out of The New Defenders, The Order, Vol. 1 was an underappreciated six-issue comic made up of the Original Defenders who were a bit evil.

Vol. 2 is written by Matt Fraction, and he designed the comic to be a bit like the television show, Lost, in that each new issue focuses on one character, revealing information about their past, while progressing the current storyline. This is one of the best new series from '07.

Thunderbolts #110-118: One of the worst received revamps and stemming out of Civil War, we are led to believe that the U.S. would authorize the use of some of Marvel's deadliest, unreformable villians as enforcers of The Initiative. (BTW, how does this effect Norman Osborn, now that everything in Spidey's past has been redone and Harry is back?) This title was made up of adventures where the cast of Thunderbolts must bring in non-registered superpowers, often with lethal means. The title also focused on Penance, another bad Marvel idea stemming out of Civil War.

Thunderbolts-Breaking Point: Focusing on Songbird and Moonstone, two of Thunderbolts more interesting characters over the years, this issue finds Moonstone scheming to get Songbird killed in the field as she realizes her chances for popularity and leadership is greatly effected by her remaining alive and the focal point with merchandising and the media. Pretty decent story

Thunderbolts Presents: Zemo-Born Better #1-4: The highlight of the Thunderbolts' dreadful year, this mini presents the history of the Zemos, as Helmut Zemo is time-tossed through his families past. This all ties into Wendell Volker's present search on the history of Zemo, as Helmut tries to return to his current timeline.

Penance-Relentless #1-3: Not a particularily well-received mini. I've read much worse, and I think fans of Speedball are still effected by this much more uninteresting characterization. In this mini, Robbie escapes from the confidement of the Thunderbolts, all for some mysterious purpose.

Marvel Comics Presents #1-4: Another old Marvel title brought back to life, this one is a bit different in release format. What worked so well with the original series was it coming out bi-weekly. This is a monthly title, and I believe might suffer because of it. After reading the first issue, I purposefully set aside the next three issues; then, I read them all together at after getting issue #4 in December. A very nice title, this way of reading the 8-page continuous stories seemed to make my enjoyment so much better. I got to finish the Hellcat 4-part story all in one sitting, and the other two 12-part stories, Weapon Omega and Vanguard, gave me a better understanding of all that was happening and what to expect coming up. Each issue also contains a single, 8-page one-off story, like issue #4's Outlaw Kid.

I'm really interested to see if this series lasts past its 12th issue, though. As mentioned, I don't think the average reader has the patience to sift through only 8 pages of a story each month that takes a full year to finish.

Immoratal Iron Fist #3-11, Annual 1: The only thing disappointing with this series is the delays between some issues, as only 10 (including the Annual) came out in '07. This is one of the best series Marvel puts out. Issues #3-6 focused on Danny confrontation with Orson Randall, #7 telling the solo tale of Wu Ao-Shi, and issues #8-11 getting back to the main story by starting the "Seven capital Cities Of Heaven" storyline. The Annual tied-in loosely to this storyline, also, giving readers a bit of history of Orson Randall.
 
Zemo: Born Better ruled. Zemo is the best anti-hero Marvel has right now, in my opinion.

For MCP, I think they should've gotten rid of one of the stories. Have two ongoing stories and one stand-alone so each story can get more than a handful of pages devoted to it.
 
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