Aldo reads Marvel NOW! (even though you are, and he clearly hasn't learned his lesson)

Read a Wolverine and the X-Men graphic novel collection by Gillen and Chris Bachalo that I borrowed from the library - seemed a bit sub-Peter David tbh, but it wasn't terrible either.

Didn't realise Fraction was hated these day - iirc his Iron Man series used to be an ILC fave rave.

Gillen and Fraction seem to have an odd symbiotic relationship - Fraction taking on Thor after Gillen (and running it at the same time as JIM), Gillen following Fraction on Uncanny X-Men and Iron Man.

Fraction is hit or miss for me, though mostly the latter. And when he sucks he SUCKS. I liked his Iron Man for a while - the whole erase and reboot was a fun idea - but it was dead long before it was buried. His Thor was crap from the get go, and his Fantastic Four is quickly ruining all the hard work Hickman did to rescue the moribund foursome. If he ever tops the Iron Fist he did with Brubaker I'll be surprised.

Fraction's up and down, but Hawkeye's been great.

They're both oversusceptible to grating disco dad-isms, but Fraction's a much better joke writer.

xp - Is that the one where Wolverine is now headmaster at Xavier Academy? I enjoyed it a lot, but it's not written by Kieron Gillen.

(I'm not to be honest seeing where there's supposed to be jokes in Young Avengers, other than Hulkling's terrible Spiderman costume?)

Hawkeye seems to be trying too hard for me, and exhibits all the tics I don't like about Fraction's work. I don't find Fraction funnier, but he definitely thinks he's a better joke writer than he is. Gillen knows he's corny and undercuts himself.

You're right Andrew F, I'm getting my Gillen mixed up w/ my Aaron

Fraction's Thor is the first thing I read by him that I didn't like. (I only read the first issue of Hawkeye... it didn't grab me.)

Those first two issues of Hawkeye felt fun but decidedly affected, but issue three (and every issue since) has hit a sweet spot. The car chase in three = yowza.

Hawkeye is currently the best Marvel book I'm reading

New Avengers is the best Marvel book at the moment.

Having recommended Hawkeye, don't pick up the latest one, which was a "very special issue" and is pretty poor. But yeah, from the third issue on the affectations get a bit less annoying (or I just got used to them).

Yeah - those first two issues left me "impressed", if not so much enthralled.

Glad I got over my Miller/Mazzuchelli shock of the first ish and stuck with it. It's tremendous fun. Agreed the new one is pretty weak but it's an old-school comic PSA

Hawkeye, Young Avengers and Wolverine and the X-Men are all amazing, though I'm a bit behind on the last one. Marvel seem weirdly split between stupid 90'ies comics for adolescents and these books where they allow there writers to just do what they want, with great results. I read the latest issue of Captain Marvel, and liked it as well. And I'm a Hickman-stan, so I will check out his stuff on avengers, once there is a bit more of it. He really reads better in larger chunks.

All in all, Marvel could either enter a golden age once all their crap fails, and they greenlight more stuff like what I've just mentioned. Or everything could be derailed by some stupid crossover, and we'll be back to square one.

Oh oh I forgot FF with Allred art is WAU

I'm an Allred nut, but my god is Fraction dropping a steaming load with the story in FF. HORRIBLE.

tbh I couldn't possibly care less about the FF story aside from Ms. Thing's inevitable breakdown

but it looks amazing

I'm really enjoying both of Hickman's Avengers books -- bringing the long-game plotting of his FF run and the convenience of having a cast of dozens of Avengers available depending on the mission, a la Warren Ellis' run on Secret Avengers. Remender's Uncanny Avengers -- eh, not so much, though Cassaday's art is pretty.

Neither FF book has really caught me yet, but as I mentioned on another thread, I'm really digging Waid's Indestructible Hulk.

I really liked the FF as written by Hickman. But this is so horrible -- well, Fraction's whole concept for the Fantastic Four is horrible, but FF is the dregs -- that even the excellent Allred can't make me read the thing anymore. I'll just read X-Statix again; that was brilliant both in writing and art.

I think the concept is competent enough for me to enjoy the art

Haven't read X-statix, been saving the run for a rainy day. Thanks for reminding! It is rainy.

Make sure you start with their short X-Force run. It leads right into X-Statix.

it's more than 12 issues, not short

I still haven't read the final two arcs of Journey into Mystery yet, but there is a whole lot of fun comics in the early part of the run. The single issue story with Mephisto was great and everytime Loki's dog shows up is really funny.

It does tie into the 'macro-Marvel U' and Thor story but not necessarily in a way you have to read Thor or the other series to know what is going on. It just kind of outlines Loki's usual manipulating behind the scenes, except this time as a goofy teenager instead of his usual shown malevolent self.

Yeah, I recently read Gillen's JiM run, and I agree it stands pretty well on its own. I think you only need to get what happens in Fear Itself to get Gillen's JiM, reading Thor isn't necessary, except for the very last arc, which is a crossover with Thor... But if you're buying TPBs, the Everything Burns book compiles all the relevant issues.

Of course JiM might've been even better if Gillen had been given a totally free reign with it, but I guess in these crossover-ridden days you gotta accept you're never gonna get that. At least JiM wasn't semi-ruined by continuous crossovers (no Avengers vs. X-Men stuff in it, for example) like Avengers Academy was. And the final issue of the run was one the most touching superhero books I've read in a while. Gillen managed to end it with a clever, almost Morrisonesque meta-commentary on superhero comics in general, and this series in particular, that was nevertheless heart-tugging too. That sort of balance between clever meta stuff and sentimentalism is pretty hard to maintain, but I think Gillen pulls it off nicely throughout the whole series.

I haven't read Young Avengers yet, but I think want to check it out just to see what Gillen does to Loki next. Don't want to spoil too much, but is YA #1 addressing what happened to Loki in the final issue of his JiM run?

No - it's a #1 and there's already a lot happening - Loki is played pretty mysteriously.

Well, you would have to read some issues of New Mutants as well at some point, though they would probably also be in the tpb. The end of jim was amazing, and I don't think it would have worked without the crossovers. It used the grind of modern comics to make a really tragic point.

you guys sparked my interest but then i kinda got confused about what TPBs to check out. there are 4 JIM trades and 1 crossover Thor/JIM trade?

Marvel DCU recommendations?

forks -

have you read all the 60s Strange Tales? Between Dr. Strange and Nick Fury they're absolutely astounding. Also, the Kirby returns stories in Cap and Black Panther are cool beans.

there are 4 JIM trades and 1 crossover Thor/JIM trade?

4 regular trades, one New Mutants/JiM crossover trade called Exiled (the one Frederik mentioned), and one Thor/JiM crossover. The Thor crossover trade has the finale to Gillen's whole JiM story arc, but the New Mutants one can be skipped without missing the main story, though it does resolve some subplots (mostly, the fate of the Disir).

Also, for some weird reason the Mancheter Gods TPB includes a Thor annual written by J. M. DeMatteis (in his trademark pompous style) that has absolutely nothing to with JiM's plot. I guess they included it only to fatten the trade, as the actual Manchester Gods arc is only 3 issues long.

And if you like it, especially if you want to know more about the Disir, you can go back and read the rest of Gillens Thor-work, as well as his New Mutants tie-in to Fear Itself. It is quite the epic he has created, though it is the jim-story which is the best. The rest is just bonus, sort of, hardly neccessary.

New Avengers is the best Marvel book at the moment.

Loooooooving this book soooo much

Superior Spider-Man #3 is really a great issue. Great art, pure entertainment.

so reasking: can anyone recommend any modern era (post '95) series on MDCU for reading?
i appreciate the strange tales recommend but i'm trying to get caught up with contemporary capes and tights

I didn't have any response because I didn't understand the question. Are you asking for Marvel universe recs, DC universe recs, or both? Your abbreviations throw me.

This is the unlimited download thing, yes?

Warren Ellis' Thunderbolts run
Extremis Iron Man run
Marc Millar's FF run starts a mine of greatness all through Hickman's
Hulk across America/Planet Hulk/WW Hulk
DO NOT STOP WITH HULK ONCE HULK IS NOT IN IT (Incredible Hercules etc, but I have written about this before)

Yeah, it's books available on the marvel Digital comics unlimited service (their monthly paid all-you-can-eat webthing) that i'm looking for help with

First person who wants to can use my code for a free digital copy of Superior Spider-Man #3: TMM19IYH1QMR

the Thunderbolts run before that by Fabian Nicieza was also pretty good! don't know if it's on MDCU though

agreed on that dope Planet Hulk + run, i never finished the Herc/Cho run but it was really good up to where i stopped reading

From how far back are you looking to get re-acquainted, forks? Is '95 your starting point or MDCUs?

1995 is mine; roughly about when i completely lost touch with marvel universe.

Though i have some connect points. And it's funny your first suggestions are things i've read and liked!
Thumbs up (but already done) Thunderbolts, Extremis and new Iron Man, Planet/War/etc Hulk and Ultimate FF.
Key point here is that it needs to be available on MDCU; lots and LOTS of contemporary stuff is not.

Best of Bendis: Ultimate Spiderman, Daredevil (Alias isn't on there apparently) - you could also probably do worse than picking up the main books of the big crossovers.

The Ultimates - the Millar stuff, not the Loeb. Action-movie Avengers.

Nextwave! Ellis in wacky sarky mode is completely brilliant.

Let's face it, I'm not going to recommend you skip any Morrison: New-X Men / Marvel Boys / FF miniseries / Skrull Kill Krew is probably the most-to-least-acceptable list

Milligan & Allred's X-Force / X-Statix - Not the first being-a-hero-for-the-fame, but the best.

A lot of people love the Abnett and Lanning space opera stuff - Annihilation / Nova / Guardians of the Galaxy / War of Kings / The Thanos Imperative.

The first book or two of Dan Slott's She-Hulk is really good, Peter A David-in-his-prime, work! Sadly nearly everything else he's touched has been meh.

Yeah, I had to sell a bunch of stuff recently, but I've clung tenaciously to the Pak Hulk stuff and DNA's Annihilation et al.

And a ton of great younger heroes stuff too - Avengers Academy, Journey Into Mystery, Runaways, Young Avengers.

Also Ed Brubaker's Captain America run, which is a bit like Bendis' Daredevil in that it starts and it's clearly great and nothing changes but then it's just kind of there, it's great if you like that kind of stuff, you know, great stuff.

PAD's X-Factor felt like great stuff at the time.