I have captain America posters on my wall and a growing collectible captain figure collection. But a majority of my comic books are DC. I did just order the new captain America comic series by Chip Zdarsky. Yes, I know there’s a civil war and winter soldier comics that are better than the movie. But they just feel ‘meh’ to me because I’ve watched the movie first.
I want something fresh from Marvel.
What should I read from Marvel that’s so good I wouldn’t want to put the comic book down for nothing? I’m open to all suggestions with any Marvel hero if it’s really good.
Think about your favorite writer for DC. Now go read their most popular marvel book.
60% of the time, it works every time.
In the late 90s early 00s I was mostly reading indie and Vertigo books and also the Bat-books when Brubaker was on them.. eventually followed all of those creators over to Marvel. Now I'm following a bunch of Marvel/indie creators back to DC.
Right, if you count vertigo, almost everything from vertigo
I remember when the final issue of the Invisibles came out, which was actually volume 3 issue 1 because they counted back from 12. And it had this amazing Frank Quitely art and I'm thinking "how can this be the last issue when this is my favorite comic ever!" The previous issues had a lot of amazing artist but something about FQ and Morrison was just on another level. Then like a year later they're doing X-Men! It blew my mind.
Ellis and Ennis too, along with David Mack and Bendis from indie books. And Matt Fraction too, I remember him back from the old Warren Ellis Forums when he was just starting out. And he's one of the ones I've now followed from Marvel to DC lol. Long journey!
Oh boy! I love the Long Halloween, so I guess I'll go try out this Ultimatum book that's also by Loeb!
Haha. What could possibly go wrong? And why am I suddenly hungry for chicken?
Loeb without Sale is a no go for me. Idk what it is, but Sale's artwork makes Loeb's stories worth a damn. Loeb and Sale's Marvel Colors stuff is pretty great IMO. I'd suggest that route.
Yeah, that tracks, I loved Mark Waid's Daredevil and Fantastic Four.
So Daredevil?
Brian, that doesn’t make sense.
Uncanny X-Force by Remender
Ed Brubaker’s Captain America
i'm literally reading Brubaker's Captain America right now. it's so good
He did a cameo in Winter Soldier because it was his story
Even though the runs are nearly complete, the current Ultimate spider mand an Ultimates runs have been quite good. Johnsons Hulk run is also pretty good, but it falls more into the horror genre than superhero.
Agree 100%
Claremont X-Men
I’m pretty casual - but it’s by a large margin my favorite run of anything. Very long but I couldn’t put it down
What’s crazy is how long those books were. A Claremont X-Men could take you 20-25 mins to read, as it was loaded with story. Today’s books are filled with splash pages, or pages with one word bubble on them.
I just re-read UXM 139, and it had easily 3x more story in it than modern books.
Yeah, in addition to having more pages per issue, older comics are usually very verbose compared to modern comics.
I'm reading Jack Kirby's adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey right now (which you can't really get legitimately anymore) and wow there's a lot of text to read. It's great, expressive, bombastic stuff - way more than was in the movie, and far different from Clarke's writing in the novel - but it takes a long time to get through. And that's fine, because it's not like I've never read a novel before, which have much more text and take much more time. (Side note: this book is peak Kirby. The art is incredible.)
I felt like he really dropped off near the end. Once you get to the Mutant Massacre the story went downhill hard, and never really recovered. The book had some really solid writing before that, but at that point it started to feel like it was sinking into the edgelord writing trend that took over in the late 80s and largely ruined the genre in the 90s.
There were spots of brilliance, but way too many comics that were all about gritted teeth, shoulder pads, excess pouches, and writers proving how "gritty and realistic and adult" comics could be with frat boy awareness of sexuality and gratuitous violence. It's also when death became a revolving door.
Basically cut off when John Romita JR. Became the artist, and you have peak genre storytelling. After that... Not so much.
Claremont X-Men is evergreen
Genuine question due to ignorance - what does “evergreen” mean in this context. I have no excuse, English is my first language… I just don’t know the term, lmao
Always good. Comes from evergreen trees that don't lose their leaves in the fall and winter.
Ah, thank you.
I could kinda work out it was good based on context clues, but that was the best I could do. 😂
Your comments are evergreen sir!
"I want something fresh"
And your suggestion is a nearly 50 year old book?
I don't think they meant "fresh" as in fresh to the world (aka just came out), I think they meant fresh to them (aka something unlike the MCU which is what they're familiar with from Marvel).
They implied their experience with Marvel is the MCU and they’re “open to all suggestions”. It doesn’t matter if it’s from the 20s, if you’ve yet to read something similar - it’s fresh to you.
So yes.
"Here's something new and fresh. Yes its the basis of everything that comes after it. Its called Shakespeare."
Ok. You win. Congratulations sir.
How should I atone for my grievous sin?
All I know is when I was in this situation a few years ago I read Claremont X-Men and it grabbed me like nothing else did.
Im not trying to "win" you don't "win" conversation.
Notice how I compared Claremont to the greatest writer of all time? And the fundamental works of English? Because Vlaremont is a fundamental comic run.
Poking fun at semantics.
Chill out. Jeez.
In this context, something fresh to OP wouldn’t necessarily have to be something fresh overall. If he’s not been exposed to Marvel comics, a first exposure to Claremont will be fresh to him.
While you don’t win conversations, you are having an argument, which does typically feature a winner and loser. Here you have continued to argue even after the redditor you’re responding to has politely conceded defeat. Just FYI he did that because your messages are boorish and unfriendly, not because he actually lost the argument to you.
In light of this amicable concession, it’s ironic that you tell him to chill out, when you’re the only one gassed up here. Just to have clarity, this thread began with you insultingly policing the validity of one man’s suggestion. Maybe next time, instead of policing someone else’s comment and then bickering with them for a whole thread’s worth of bad vibes, you can make your own suggestion and simply let others speak their piece without judgment.
That’d be more friendly, and also less sh**ty. And if it isn’t clear by now, I also consider Claremont’s X-Men a wonderful entry point to Marvel comics.
Damn, you won again.
Typical reddit or behaviour.
Grow up.
Fraction's Hawkeye and Heinberg and Cheung's Young Avengers are my two go to recommendations.
Fraction’s Hawkeye is awesome!
one of the best runs of all time imo
Yeah if you like that sort of thing it's brilliant. But it doesn't fit the usual super hero mold if you want that sort of thing.
I really enjoyed the Hickman f4, avengers, secret avengers, and then secret wars saga. Also all new X-men is a great jumping on point for those. Otherwise I usually stick to dc.
Agreed. Came here to recommend Hickman's FF, avengers/new avengers run. It's fantastic.
Same! Hickman all the way!
Same. I read a bunch before this (like the entire original Ultimate comics), but man this story is so epic. If you can put it down, there's something wrong with you.
Mark Waid's Captain America fun from the 90s is very accessible, and great classic comics
Frank Miller's Daredevil and Bendis' Daredevil
I'm an X-Men guy, but fuck, these are the two greatest runs I've read since I started reading comics earlier this year.
I'm also reading Zdarsky's Daredevil, which is probably my #3 in terms of best Daredevil runs, but I'm holding off on finishing it cause I'm obsessed with X-Men right now.
There are 60 years of marvel comics. I recommend time traveling to the past and reading the cream of the crop. They called it the Marvel age of comics for a reason.
Ultimate Spider-Man - the original series. A nice, long, fun run.
+1. The new Ultimate Spider-Man is good too!
Agreed! Current USM and Ultimates are both great series. I like Ultimate Wolverine too. For a new reader it’d be a great idea to jump into the Ultimate redux stuff in a few months once the whole thing is wrapped up. Shaping up as quite the saga.
Jason Aaron's Thor
Donny Cate's Venom
Jed McKay's Moon Knight
Hickman's Krakoa era up to present X-Men
There is more but those are off the top of my head.
Ewing’s Hulk belongs here too!
Totally fair! I feel like this list could go on forever but I love recommending stuff for people so they can experience it for the first time.
Don’t get me wrong, you recommended a great selection!!
Oh no definitely appreciate your input, and you are correct, it needed to be on there!
All cosmic Marvel run starting from Annihilation (2007) until Thanos Imperative, including some little extra like Annihilators after
Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (DnA) knocked it out off the park. I wondered for a while how they were able to make that story work. It had so many players in it with rich histories and they seamlessly blended everything. About a decade later I’m talking to my friend about it (he doesn’t read comics) and I mention Dan Abnett. He replies “the Warhammer guy?” That’s when it clicked. Of course they were able to blend everything. It probably felt easy compared to Warhammer 40k.
EARTH X by Krueger. Arguably one of the most underrated stories in all of Marvels history
Fractions "Hawkeye"or "iron fist"
Brubrakers "daredevil" run
The first 2 volumes (hardback) of Astonishing x-men
Astonishing is great, but you don't get the full effect without Morrison's New X-Men.
Deniz Camp's The Ultimates
I'm having fun with McKay's Moon Knight
North's Fantastic Four is also fun
Immortal Iron Fist by Ed Brubaker & Matt Fraction
Beta Ray Bill: Argent Star by Daniel Warren Johnson
Silver Surfer: black by Donny Cates
Daredevil: The man without fear by Brian Michael Bendis
Alias by Brian Michael Bendis
Sliver Surfer by Dan Slott
I 1000% second the Alias recommendation!
So fresh, a series thats a quarter of a century old.
Allan Heinberg’s Young Avengers is the most tightly-plotted comic I’ve ever read. He’s a TV writer and you can really tell on a story structure level.
X-23 by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost is brilliant and brutal, one of my all-time favorite Marvel comics. They created the character for the X-Men cartoon but this was my introduction to her. If you’ve seen Logan and Deadpool & Wolverine then you’ve gotten a taste of how bloody Laura can be. Together they also wrote Thor: Ragnarok.
If you liked that then follow up with Tom Taylor’s run on All-New Wolverine where Laura/X-23 takes Logan’s place. If you liked Taylor’s work on Nightwing then you’ll dig it here.
The original Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis from 2001 is also great. You can segue into the other Ultimate books from that era but Spidey is the best. Lots of the MCU stuff comes from these Ultimate comics, like Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury.
Kang the Conqueror: Only Myself Left to Conquer by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing is a terrific time travel tale and is clearly where the MCU was taking Kang before that went up in flames. Seeing this book adapted would’ve been amazing, but we still have the comic.
It's so rare that I see someone mention Yost and Kyle's 'X-23'. Such a special book, definitely one of the most moving origin stories for any (legacy) character. 'Target X' in particular with Mike Choi's stunning art gets me going every time.
I like how this guy asks for something fresh and you offer him a book thats 25 years old.
I took “fresh” to mean “new to him” not just recently released.
I would recommend reading the winter soldier still. It was really good. Honestly all I’ve got are immortal hulk by cates or if you have the app the ‘24 ultimate spider man is really good so far I’m not far in though
I consider myself also more DC guy but the Daredevil runs got me (have the Brubaker; Bendis; Waid; Soule, Zdarsky as Omnis or HC now). I slso started with Cap (from Brubaker) and Doctor Strange (Aaron; MacKay) - besides a few others - it might grow…
Dan Slott & Mike Allred Silver Surfer
Charles Soules She-Hulk
Rainbow Powell She-Hulk
Warren Ellis Moon Knight
Daniel Warren Johnson Beta Ray Bill
Nick Spencer Superior Foes of Spider-man
Rick Remender Venom
Those are runs that I enjoyed and that I haven't seen in other’s peoples recommendations.
To be honest, the civil war comics is very different from the movie.
Captain America by Zdarsky is really good so far.
Honestly, follow writers and creators, not publishers
I found that I liked Marvel much more in my youth, and that I like DC much more as an adult.
I'm the total opposite
I tried to get into DC Comics outside of Batman but I can't get into them
Here's some suggestions
Jonathan Hickman X-Men Krakoa Era
New X-Men (Grant Morrison)
Secret Wars (2015, Jonathan Hickman)
Marvel Damnation
Strange Academy
Jason Aaron Thor Run
Donny Cates Venom Run/Absolute Carnage/The King In Black
Spiderverse
Hunt for Wolverine
Death of Wolverine
Wolverine Origins
Avengers No Way Home
The Immortal Hulk
Inhumans Vs X-Men
This isn't in any order
Surely you’re not recommending Secret Wars to someone with very little prior knowledge of Marvel’s universe. I feel like you have to add at least Hickman’s FF or Avengers before it.
Weirdly I reread Secret Wars fairly recently and found it a pretty easy read if I just assumed the world/multiverse was going to hell and go from there.
After reading it I figured I'd revisit his Avengers run and found it much more confusing to follow between Beyonders, White Events, world's colliding that I ended up just giving up. I enjoy Hickman's work in small doses but man his stuff can get pretty dense at times.
I haven't read those yet but for my reread of Secret Wars 2015, I'll be reading those you mentioned for the first time plus whatever Hickman Marvel Comic that came before Secret Wars 2015. When I get to reading Secret Wars 2015 again, this time I'll be reading all the battleworld issues and other tie in issues I missed. Reading Grant Morrison New X-Men in 2014, 2014 Spiderverse and Secret Wars 2015 is what got me into reading Comics especially Marvel Comics. I never really read lot of comics except for a few exceptions like Bone by Jeff Smith and Wolverine Origins (Love those)
Good list
There is just as much good marvel as there is DC marvel has just been on a cold streak the past few years while DC has been hot
Tried reading current Marvel 2 years ago and not that interested. Will read anything probably before 98. DC is mostly main Batman titles. I probably do more image as they have GIJoe, Transformers, The Darkness, Witchblade.
Agree. I was always a Marvel guy, but James Gunn's Superman and the current Absolute Universe has my pull list mostly DC now. Absolute Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter.
And for mainline: Superman, Batman, Detective Comics, Justice League Unlimited, the main KO book, Knightfight. I think the only Marvel books I'm getting are Ultimate Spider-Man, The Ultimates, Infernal Hulk, and Mortal Thor.
A fresh single graphic-novel length story that REALLY blew me away was Avengers: Twilight. I'd say that's one of the best Avengers stories ever told (not that I've read A TON of Avengers prior to 2000). It was Chip Zdarsky writing it and Daniel Acuna on art. Its also one of the best books Marvel has put out in the last 5 years too, imo.
If you want a lonnng run then there is SO MUCH good Daredevil out there. Frank Miller and Klaus Janson's run on the main DD series. The mini-series and one-shots Frank Miller did after like Man Without Fear, Love and War, and his return to the main series with David Mazzucchelli for Born Again. Some people hate on the first part of Miller's run because he didn't write it but I thought that stuff was really good too. Marvel Knights era Daredevil is really good. That kicks off with Kevin Smith writing and then David Mack takes over while Joe Quesada draws most of that. Then Bendis takes over with David Mack on the first few issues and Alex Maleev taking over (except for 5 more issues in the middle where Mack wrote and drew an Echo story). Following Bendis' run, Brubaker takes the baton and some excellent stuff too. Then the next great Daredevil run is Mark Waid's DD followed by Chip Zdarsky's DD. I am not a fan of Charles Soue's writing so I didn't read that run. I didn't like Andy Diggle's run, and I've not had a chance to read Ann Nocenti's run.
For specific long runs of Captain America, Ed Brubaker is where its at. You said they feel meh with the Winter Soldier story but if you stick with it, you will find it very rewarding. As far as Captain America graphic novel length stories, I'd suggest going with Captain America: White. The Captain America run by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, and Leonardo Romero was pretty good too. It stretches from Captain America #695-704.
Lastly, check out the contents of Wolverine by Jason Aaron followed by Wolverine Goes to Hell. Jason Aaron's entire Wolverine run I thought was amazing. If you want a great "graphic novel" length Wolverine story then go for Wolverine v2 119-122 with Wolveine: Not Dead Yet by Warren Ellis and Lenil Yu.
If you like the "Absolute" series from DC right now, try the current "Ultimate" series from Marvel.
The new Ultimate Spiderman is really great!
Peter David's Hulk
Greg Pak's Hulk
Al Ewing's Hulk
Hickman's Fantastic Four
Alias by Bendis
God Loves, Man Kills
Claremont's New Mutants
Marvel UK Captain Britain comics
70s Man-thing by Steve Gerber
Nextwave: Agents of HATE
Miller's Daredevil
Bendis and Maleev's Daredevil
Joss Whedon, Astonishing X-men Breaker/ Fraction, Immortal Iron fist Bendis, Iron Man, Avengers, House of M, Secret Invasion Al Ewing, Immortal Hulk, Venom (before this current run)
If you’re looking for stuff that’s currently coming out, Jed McKay’s Moon Knight run and Al Ewing’s Mortal Thor (and Immortal Thor, which preceded it) are great. If you’re looking for something that might be condensed into a trade paperback, House of X/Powers of X kicked off the Krakoa era of the X-Men and is definitely “something fresh” compared to the X-Men comics that came before, as well as being an excellent story in its own right.
This is my list:
The original ultimates 1 and 2 with mark Millar and Hitch.
Beta ray bill by Daniel warren Johnson
Daredevil born again frank Miller and mazzucchelli
Punisher by Garth Ennis
New X men by grant Morrison and Quitely
Old man logan mark Millar and Steve mcniven
Planet Hulk by greg pak etc
Thunderbolts by warren Ellis and Mike deodato
Astonishing x men by joss whedon and John cassaday (RIP)
Avengers run of Kurt Busiek and George Perez
For modern Captain America, the Ed Brubaker run beginning with the Winter Soldier arc is the gold standard. I was hesitant to read it for the same reason as you, but it’s an amazing comic with some great plotting, pacing, dialogue, and art. Captain America felt like a real, dynamic, and flawed person to me, like never before. I could go on. The Winter Soldier himself, and the mystery surrounding him are a big part of the comic that you already know the answer to, but outside of him the story is actually quite different. And because the comic has decades of lore and history to draw from, as opposed to the few years of movies, a lot of the events in the story feel more consequential and earned. After the Winter Soldier arc, you still have around ten years of Captain America and Winter Soldier related comics from Brubaker, which are all supposed to be good (I haven’t read all of it).
If you’re alright with older comics there is the Gruenwald Captain America run, which is supposed to be the best classic take on Cap. The 80s also had huge hits like Miller’s Daredevil, Claremont’s X-Men, and Simonson’s Thor. You can’t go wrong with any of those, and I loved all three.
Marvel also has a great selection of cosmic stories and sagas if you’re into space stuff. Jim Starlin’s comics involving Thanos are great and span a lot of 70s and 80s comics including Captain Marvel, Warlock, and Silver Surfer (which leads into the Infinity Gauntlet). The big modern cosmic story is Annihilation, which overhauled the whole cosmic setting and started a long chain of stories (including the modern take on the Guardians of the Galaxy which inspired the film). Annihilation involves a ton of characters, which might be daunting if you haven’t read anything else. The good thing is that any new printings should include these awesome “Nova Corps Files” at the end of each issue which give an in-universe description of the characters that appear, as well as any organizations or places you might encounter.
Mark Waid & Ron Garney's 90s run on Captain America is excellent.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, also chock full of good stuff.
Doctor Strange by Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo. Excellent.
The Unstoppable Wasp, both series.
The Fantastic Four by John Byrne, then by Mark Waid and Mike Weiringo. Byrne effectively mastered that team. Waid and everyone coming afterward were successful because Byrne codified how to do the book. It's 80s,but it's still great.
Same with Frank Miller on Daredevil.
And Simonson on Thor.
For that matter, Peter David's loooong run on the Incredible Hulk. Again, something that others have built their career after.
If you like Hulk and can stomach gore, Immortal Hulk is one of the best comics of the last 10 years imo.
Uncanny X Force by Rick Remender
Deadpool by Joe Kelly
Spider-Man/Deadpool by Joe Kelly
Cable and Deadpool by Fabian Nicieza
Silver Surfer Black by Donny Cates
Venom by Rick Remender
Venom by Donny Cates
Zeb Wells New Mutants
Matt Fraction's Hawkeye is excellent and I think it is disconnected from anything else.
Might help if you explained what it is that you like about DC...
The current Ultimate books are great and theyre about to have their big finale. Also if you like Captain America, I've heard good things about TaNahesi Coates's run
Brubaker Captain America.
Hickman's Avengers and New Avengers leading to Secret Wars is an amazing read and is probably my favorite Marvel reading experience ever. I love every single issue and the team is perfect.
Savage Avengers by Duggan is the most fun action based book of the last couple of years.
Ewing's Guardians of the Galaxy was so fun I lost interest in the franchise when it was canceled.
The Daredevil sequence of Soule and Zdarsky (in that order!) Is my favorite "street level" series of recent times.
Ultimately but importantly; Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk is the greatest Hulk run maybe ever. Made me a Hulk fan for life.
The Winter Soldier comic by Brubaker is amazing.
The Civil War comic is hot garbage. One of the few instances where the movie is considerably better than the source material.
Immortal Hulk is unlike anything that the MCU has ever put out. Should definitely be a fresh marvel experience for you
Moon Knight by Jed Mackay is top tier
Oh, is this what we are going to do today?
We gonna fight??
Jack Kirby!
I’m actually at the opposite end of this. I’ve been growing more interested in DC when I jump into the shop. And especially now with be upper deck stuff. But I just don’t have the same nostalgia for their lore and characters outside of the ones we all know.
Curious where I could/should jump in. It’s overwhelming when I see all the things happening with Batman and Superman each week
Was it the Harley Quinn fart fetish comic that lured you in?
I'm trying to get into Spielberg movies, but Scorcese movies are just so good.
Sorry, I can't watch movies from two different directors. Gotta choose one or the other.
Ayodele’s Storm is very good.
I recently read the Bendis/Maleev run on Daredevil and it was thrilling. It felt paced like a great TV drama.
(I agree, though, I probably prefer DC slightly)
Check out Chip Zdarsky's Daredevil and Ed Brubaker's run on Captain America. Both of those are absolutely amazing runs for those characters and are my personal favorites for each one. Brubaker's Cap does contain the Winter Soldier arc which was adapted into the movie but there is much more to the arc that makes it great than that.
Best advice someone ever gave me regarding comics. Don’t follow a publisher or title, follow your favorite writers. In some cases artists too.
Ryan North’s Fantastic Four is, pardon the pun, fantastic. Or if you have a writer doing a shorter series about a C-list character you’ll usually get something fun. Like Howard the Duck by Chip Zdarsky for example. I am a fan of Jason Aaron’s Thor run as well as the Donny Cates run following. All though while Jason Aaron got to finish his run, Donny Cates had an emergency and couldn’t finish the run so it kinda falls flat somewhere in the 20’s.
I decided to hard focus on select few characters and that’s it. I’m poor and can’t buy everything I see.
Same. I'm a HUGE DC comic nerd, I read basically anything and everything DC. I'm in love with the entire universe, find every character interesting, but when it comes to Marvel?... The ONLY character who actually strikes me the same way is Captain America. Or The X-Men. I find Hulk pretty cool too, but never really dug too deep on him.
I HIGHLY recommend checking out Chip Zdarsky's new Cap run that just came out it's really good. I'm not sure if it's a limited run or a full run, hopefully full, but the first arc specifically was amazing. Couldn't put it down.
Maybe The Ultimate universe
King and Walta’s Vision. DWJ’s Beta Ray Bill. Jason Aaron’s entire Thor run. Waid and Samnee’s Daredevil, Cap and Black Widow runs.
All great series.
I can't really speak to Captain America, I've never really been much of Captain America person. But if you like Xmen, I'd try Dark Phoenix Saga, Mutant Massacre, or Age of Apocalypse (they're all old, first 2 from the 80's and I think the other is from the 90's).
If you like Spiderman, Maximum Carnage is fantastic. (also from the 90's)
Others have already mentioned Matt Fractions Hawkeye run.
The 2008 run of Guardians of the Galaxy was cool as well. It's around the same time as the Annihilation crossover which I thought was awesome.
Sorry I don't have any current suggestions, I'm not reading much Marvel or DC at the moment, heavy into Horror stuff right now :)
Honestly, look at a grid of Daredevil runs and throw a dart at it, odds are in your favor that it's gonna be great because Daredevil's been pretty consistently good(or at worst, still entertaining) for damn near 40 years. But for specific runs, Miller's run set the standard, and depending on who you ask, Bendis, Brubaker, Waid, and Zdarsky have met or exceeded that standard, you really can't go wrong with any of them. Granted, Brubaker's run takes place, like, right after Bendis, so you'd probably want to read those two in order.
Other suggestion, Waid and Hickman both had incredible F4 runs if you like science adventures, if you want a big, well done cosmic event you can't go wrong with Annihilation, Walt Simonson's run on Thor is a blast and if you enjoy the scale of that story and want more stuff in that area of the Marvel universe, Kieron Gillen's Journey into Mystery is an awesome fantasy comic(if you've read and enjoyed Sandman, you'd probably like it). Al Ewing's Immortal Hulk is a really fun action/horror book, and it grabbed me in much the same way that Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing did(though, not quite to that extent).
If you want something fresh from Marvel you will be waiting until there is change at the very top of Marvel.
They are in a creative blackhole because of editorial mandate and its just getting worse.
When I got back into comics I tried reading Marvel and have been worn down to the point I only have a single Marvel pull.
You can't force it.
95 percent of the shit they put out is just garbage.
Man, whoever's telling you that is not telling you the truth.
Anyway, can't go wrong with Annihilation and the era of Marvel Cosmic that spun out from it.
Get into the comics you love without complications or regrets, before you know it you'll be reading Marvel
A quick list of some of my Favorites
The Immortal Iron Fist by Matt Fraction & Ed Brubaker
Moon Knight by Jeff Lemire & Greg Smallwood
The Amazing Spider-Man (2015) by Dan Slott
Daredevil: The man without fear by Frank Miller & John Romita Jr.
The Sentry (2018) by Jeff Lemire
Older marvel has plenty of winners, which many have suggested here. As for current stuff the ultimate stuff isn’t bad. Infernal Hulk just had a new #1 that’s kind of fun. But I’m in a similar boat big DC reader still trying find current marvel to enjoy.
Try any Ghost Machine title instead!
Any of the Marvel premier collection books are pretty decent place to start. You can get them on Amazon for like less than 10 bucks and they’re pretty much all from very solid runs / writers. I personally like the Frank Miller daredevil one the best out of what I’ve read so far.
Venom, there’s nothing like that in dc universe I don’t think
And if you do Cates, the artwork is out of this world. But yeah any Venom is going to be fresh coming from DC.
I'm the complete opposite. Other than Batman and Vertigo, I can't really get into DC. I just don't care about the other characters
Classics: Claremont X-Men, Miller Daredevil, Elektra Assassin, Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four
Newer: Marvel Now, everything around Hickman's Avengers was a good epic saga, plus there were a lot of fun side titles like Fraction/Aja Hawkeye, Gillen/McKelvie Young Avengers, Waid Daredevil
Some cool weird ones: Grant Morrison New X-Men, peter David Spider-Man 2099, Al Ewing Immortal Hulk
I'd like to throw in Marvel Now Moon Knight (starting with Ellis). Good standalone. Short. And totally awesome.
Ultimate Spider-Man (2024)
Not everyone thinks the Civil War comics were better than the movie. ;) They're controversial for the character assassination that occurred.
Marvel and DC have had a back and forth over the years where one company pisses off enough talented workers that they eventually go to the other company, and you get a seesaw of quality between the two. Each has some eras of truly atrocious storytelling, each has some moments of brilliance.
Dark Phoenix Saga is one of the GOATS
Anything by Johnathan Hickman, Al Ewing, or Keiron Gillen. Some other reliable writers Matt Fraction, you already know about Zdarsky...
It is as easy as finding a copy of Kraven’s Last Hunt. Boom. You’re a fan.
Daredevil is genuinely a good read for Marvel, at least from the Frank Miller run and onward. It's likely Marvel's most solid superhero.
Chris Claremont's epic run on X-Men might be the best overall superhero run ever. Related, his New Mutants run is also fucking amazing. (Note: If you don't like the more wordy comics of yesteryear, you might not enjoy these. But like, it feels like a genuine epic with some of the best characterization in the medium.)
For a more modern run, Gail Simone's current Uncanny X-Men run is good. Rick Remender's Uncanny X-Force and Grant Morrison's New X-Men are also fucking great.
Al Ewing's Immoral Hulk is brilliant, too. It's the closest thing to a 90's era Vertigo book that I read since 90's era Vertigo.
Try this upcoming Iron Man book by Joshua Williamson. Dude has been writing like 80% of DC's output the last couple of years. Chances are if you like Williamson then you might like it.