The Big Five: Marvel Comics Recommendations

[charliehustle415]

Thank you. I'll be working my way through classic Jessica soon. It helps knowing which names to follow.



Haha! My man! I noticed that too. Thor and Daredevil fans are eating good! To have 5 solid runs in a row is a massive achievement. Most characters are lucky to even get two in a row.


My big 5 for a start would be:

Avengers:
1. Silver Age beginnings Lee/Kirby/Thomas or Roger Stern 1983-1988
2. West Coast Avengers - Englehart 1985-1988
3. "Heroes Return" Avengers - Buisek and Perez 1998-2002
4. New Avengers Vol 1 - Bendis 2004-2010. Way better than his New Avengers vol 2 during the Heroic Age.
5. Avengers, New Avengers, Avengers World - Hickman 2012-2015

Hell yeah, Thor and DD fans had amazing writers.

The difficult thing for choosing a single line is that most writers continue their stories in other titles, for example Ewing's story jumped across multiple titles and is now continuing in Immortal Thor or Hickman going from SHIELD --> Secret Warriors --> Fantastic Four --> Ultimates --> Avengers --> Secret Wars.

But back to the topic another one to add would be:

THUNDERBOLTS: Busiek, Nicieza, Ellis, Gage, and Parker.

I did enjoy Diggle's run but it wasn't that long; nevertheless, another title that could be run from beginning to end

[Mister Mets]

I saw the thread and was thinking it was for all of Marvel...

Lee/ Kirby Fantastic Four
Claremont/ Byrne Uncanny X-Men (if I could also include Dave Cockrum and Paul Smith's work- basically everything up until Uncanny X-Men #175)
Frank Miller Daredevil
Lee/ Ditko/ Romita Sr Amazing Spider-Man (Cheating to combine two runs)
Busiek's Avengers (Rereading it right now)

But five runs for one character...

Spider-Man
Lee/ Ditko
Lee/ Romita Sr
Stern/ Romita Jr/ friends (To include "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man"
Bendis/ Bagley
Dan Slott

Daredevil
Lee/ Wood/ Romita Sr/ Colan
Frank Miller
Bendis/ Maleev
Brubaker
Waid

I do have to read the Zdarsky run.

Fantastic Four
Lee/ Kirby
Byrne
Waid/ Wieringo
Hickman
North

The Avengers
Stern
Busiek
Bendis
Millar/ Hitch (The Ultimates)
Hickman

The best stretch of Avengers comics might be when the Korvac saga occurred at the same time as Jim Starlin's Thanos saga ended, but that had a lot of writers)

[Doctor Know]

Hell yeah, Thor and DD fans had amazing writers.

The difficult thing for choosing a single line is that most writers continue their stories in other titles, for example Ewing's story jumped across multiple titles and is now continuing in Immortal Thor or Hickman going from SHIELD --> Secret Warriors --> Fantastic Four --> Ultimates --> Avengers --> Secret Wars.

Ain’t that the truth. I’m always amazed that writers like Hickman, Bendis and Aaron can keep it all together. With all the titles and storylines they weave.

But back to the topic another one to add would be:

THUNDERBOLTS: Busiek, Nicieza, Ellis, Gage, and Parker.

I did enjoy Diggle's run but it wasn't that long; nevertheless, another title that could be run from beginning to end

Very nice. I read the original Thunderbolts back in the 90s. When it Hawkeye was a main character. I’ll definitely check out other authors runs. Hopefully before the movie.


Big Five Punisher:
1. Marvel Knights - Ennis
2. Punisher Max - Ennis
3. Punisher Max - Hurwitz
4. Punisher Max - Aaron
5. The Punisher - Rucka or Remender. Depends on how people feel about Franken-Castle.

[Babylon23]

Avengers
1. Thomas/Buscema
2. Englehart
3. Shooter/Perez
4. Stern/Buscema
5. Busiek/Perez

Thor
1. Lee/Kirby
2. Wein/Buscema
3. Simonson
4. De Falco/Frenz
5. Jurgens/Romita Jr.

Spider-Man
1. Lee/Ditko/Romita
2. Conway/Andru
3. Stern/Romita Jr.
4. Dematteis/Zeck - only 1 story but absolutely essential
5. Slott

Captain America
1. Steranko
2. Englehart/Buscema/Robbins
3. Byrne/Stern
4. DeMatteis/Zeck
5. Gruenwald