How to deal with your realisation that Marvel kinda sucks now

- by Ninja Ross, 4 August 2012

You probably read that title and thought “Hey, I’m gonna eat this guy's face.” But you need to take a step back and look at how the people at Marvel do things now. And you also need to not eat my face. Don’t eat my face.

But, the truth is, it’s incredibly difficult to invest your interest in any of Marvel’s big events and most of the titles exist just to try and copy the success of the movies. We now have Samuel L. Jackson as Fury in the 616 Universe and it was done in a terribly awkward fashion. And then, in an interview, Marvel claims this move has nothing to do with the movies, insulting every Marvel fan's intelligence.

Of course Marvel Comics still has a couple of good titles (like Daredevil!) but, given Marvel’s history, those good titles will probably be ruined by the next big event.

Marvel events 2011-2012. Wikipedia it if you wanna actually read that. We're not making it bigger. It makes our heads hurt.

So... How do you deal with this knowledge? I mean, this has probably rocked you to the core! Right?!? You’re scared and you think you’re alone. Well, the fact is, many other publishers have become better than Marvel in recent years. Out there in the vast comic book jungle, there are a lot of titles you’re missing because you opted for a Marvel title!

Justice League Dark and good old fashioned regular Justice League are perfect replacements for The Avengers! The team is consistent and the writing isn’t trying to mimic any movies. These two books are worth picking up just because of the characters, especially in Justice Leage Dark. Zatanna, John Constantine, Deadman, Madame Xanadu, Shade etc make Justic Leage Dark one of the most obscure books DC has done in a while, carrying on with their trend of pushing more unknown heroes into the mainstream (see Señor Editor's article on Dial H).

Well, it's looking pretty dark alright!

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for DC. Batman by Scott Snyder is probably one of the best runs on the book I’ve ever read, The Flash is incredibly interesting and filled with Sci-Fi science that makes no real sense and Superman is actually pretty cool (coming from somebody who’s never been a big fan). And, let’s face it, the fact that Aquaman is cooler than a majority of Marvel’s heroes right now means something went wrong at Marvel HQ.

But it’s when you look beyond the Big Two that you find the most interesting books, the ones that will renew your faith in comics. Image has been doing incredibly well recently, and two titles in particular stand out from their crowd of great titles. Chew and Skullkickers.

Chew is about a man who can get psychic impressions from anything he eats. You know what? This explains it better and shows of some of the incredible art work (by Rob Guillory).

"Chew"

The world has been devastated by high casualties of bird flu, leading the F.D.A to enforce a ban on chicken. Hilarity ensues involving vampires, aliens, black market chickens, cyborgs and a Mexican wrestler rooster named Poyo. And, with all that, comes a seriously well written plot that’ll keep you hooked.

And Skullkickers brings you more comedy in the form of a tall bald guy and a hairy dwarf. Set in a world most RPG fans will already be familiar with. While it’s a brand new unique world, it does resemble worlds from World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings and Dungeons and Dragons. A comedy fantasy action book. Perfect for all ages. Well... except for the blood and killing and stuff. Don’t show a five year old that.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! So, the tip of the iceberg for DC is like... the tip of the tip? Or a different iceberg? Crap, I thought I had that metaphor...

There are so many comic books out right now, it’s easy to get over Marvel and just wait for them to get back to how they used to be. Here’s a convenient list of some stuff!

• Ghostbusters from IDW

• TMNT from IDW

• Hellblazer from Vertigo

• Sweet Tooth from Vertigo

• Underwater Welder from Top Shelf

• Atomic Robo from Red 5

• Fatale from Image

• NorthLanders from Image

And so on and so on! Jesus, if I had the time (I do but not the patience) I could write a freaking novel on comic books that are better than what Marvel is producing right now.
So, get out there! Use these comics to help you deal with the realisation that Marvel kind of sucks now.

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Ninja Ross is running Trash Mutant solo this week.
Find out what's that all about by reading this announcement!

Tagged: comics.

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