Geek Beat: Tiarra’s Top Ten Marvel Stories
I can’t let Dan have all of the comic-related fun, now can I? Dan’s five trades in today’s other Geek Beat article are fantastic and must reads, but I thought I’d add onto it by sharing some of my favorite stories that I’ve read during my years of Marvel fandom. I’m not talkin’ about any of that Civil War/Secret Invasion stuff, either! I’m talking about some pretty awesome thing — a few of which aren’t very well known!
Let’s take a look, shall we?
10. Iron Man: The End – This Layton and Michelini story was at least 20 years in the making. The story tells the tale of Tony Stark in the golden years of his life; he’s old, he’s slowly dying of a degenerative neural disease and he’s trying to come to terms with the fact that he’s going to have to find a successor to hand the Iron Man mantle to. Overall, I think this is one of my favorite tales — and definitely my favorite story out of the “The End” series of comics.
9. Silver Surfer: Requiem – Beautifully written by J. Michael Straczynski and illustrated by Esad Ribic, Silver Surfer: Requiem follows the story of Norrin Rad after he has found out that he has a terminal illness. A noble man, to the very end, this is a bittersweet story about one of the most interesting characters in the Marvel universe.
8. The Death of Captain Marvel – Mar-Vell, a leader of an army invading Earth, is so overwhelmed by the potential of the human race that he turns against the Kree and becomes one of Earth’s greatest heroes. Written and illustrated by Jim Starlin (who draws an amazing homage to Michelangelo’s Pieta featuring Mar-Vell and the Grim Reaper) retells the story of Captain Marvel’s life and his final hours as he succumbs to cancer. A very poignant story.
7. X-Men: Days of Future Past – Probably one of my favorite X-Men stories, and the most of Chris Claremont’s crazy storytelling that I can take, a dark and desolate future is created for mutantkind when the X-Men fail to stop the Brotherhood from assassinating Senator Kelly. Sentinels are everywhere, and mutants live in internment camps. A future Kitty Pryde warns the X-Men of their possible future. In what I found to be a grim ending, Kitty returns to her future to find that she did not change the future for her own world, but prevented history from repeating itself in a parallel universe.
6. What If #113 – One of my favorite What If? stories, this tale asks: What if Tony Stark became the Sorcerer Supreme instead of Stephen Strange? The way Stark mixes his technology with the ideas of magic that we see from Strange as the Sorcerer Supreme are fascinating, and the story is, overall, a great What If?.
5. Iron Man: Extremis – Probably the greatest thing to ever happen to Tony Stark was Warren Ellis and Extremis. Finally, someone did something with Iron Man — found a way to make him more than just a man in a tin can! Of course, Marvel screwed this up by taking away Tony’s Extremis powers (thankfully, Matt Fraction did something right with Iron Man for once by giving him his awesome armor powers back), but I still loved Warren Ellis’ run on Iron Man with artist Adi Granov. Probably one of the best since Layton and Michelini.
4. House of M – I’m a big fan of “What If?” stories, and House of M was sort of like a What If? but in the context of the main Marvel U. With Wanda having gone crazy, the world goes white and everyone wakes up oblivious to their previous lives and who/what they were in favor of an idealized world where Magneto and mutantkind rule the planet. Of course, the problem with giving everyone what they secretly wanted was that Wanda’s little trick made Logan remember everything about his past — including what had happened up until the world went white. The story ends when Wanda sets reality right — with the shattering words “No more mutants.” Unfortunately for Marvel, no one really cared about the ramifications of those words.
3. X-Men: Age of Apocalypse – A whole slew of amazing writers came together to give us probably one of the most amazing X-Men crossover series in the history of Marvel. Legion, the psionic son of Charles Xavier, travels back in time to kill Magneto — unfortunately, he travels back to a time when Magneto and Xavier are still friends, and Xavier dies protecting his friend. Magneto becomes the founder and leader of the X-Men in Xavier’s stead — just in time to face off against the immortal mutant Apocalypse. Seriously, just one of the most epic X-Men stories ever told.
2. Ultimates 1 & 2 – I have always been an Iron Man fan, but Mark Millar’s Ultimates is what turned me into an Avengers fan. Without the Ultimates, I would have never started reading the more modern Avengers comics. To be honest, I liked the Ultimates more than I like Earth-616’s Avengers. They seem more real to me. There’s something about a dysfunctional group of people coming together to save the world that’s appealing; they don’t all like each other, they’re not all BFFs, and I think that’s what gives the story it’s fantastic dynamic. Other than the first 50 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man, I didn’t care too much for the rest of the Ultimate universe, but the Ultimates will always have a special place in my heart for opening my eyes to the possibilities of the Avengers.
1. Iron Man: Demon In A Bottle – Seriously, were you expecting anything else to top this list for me, knowing how big of an Iron Man fangirl that I am? No, I didn’t think so. Another Michelinie and Layton classic, this story tells the tale of Tony Stark as he hits rock bottom and faces his worst enemy yet: alcoholism. This arc also features my favorite of Iron Man’s lovers, the strong and beautiful Bethany Cabe. For many of the same reasons I like the Ultimates, I love Demon In A Bottle. Alcoholism is a very real and painful thing, and to see Tony Stark’s first real battle with the bottle is a heart-wrenching experience. There is no story I love better than this one. To me, it is the quintessential Marvel story. This is what great comic writing is.
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