Marvel Now rankings, Part 1: No. 33 to 31

Breaking down the first part of the Marvel Now rankings.

In 2012 Marvel relaunch almost all of their comic book titles as new number 1 issues, in order to keep up with the resurgence of revenue DC comics was getting because of the New 52 bringing in many outside readers.

This relaunch was titled Marvel Now, and was a company wide initiative that saw most books change creative teams, such as Jonathan Hickman taking over the main Avengers titles from Brian Michael Bendis, and the creators that stayed with the same characters started a new direction for the character, like when Dan Slott began his Superior Spider-Man run that saw Doctor Octopus thrust into the starring role instead of Peter Parker.

I read 33 different Marvel Now books and have ranked them based on my personal opinion towards them, taking into account the writing, the art and the overall cohesiveness of the storyline. After reading each title I wrote down my immediate reaction to them and will provide those below in quotation marks at the start of each entry, along with the reason they are ranked where they are and my thoughts on them now.

This will go over the lowest books on the list, considered the “bad” tier. These will be the books that I had a serious problem with and I would not recommend to anyone. Most Crossover events will not be counted, as well as their tie-ins. Ranking Marvel Events is a different ranking list and tie-ins do not usually represent the rest of the book and therefore will not be counted.

Spoilers for the following books are ahead:

Credit: Marvel Comics; Partial Cover of Superior Spider_Man 5

33. Superior Spider-Man: Written by Dan Slott

I was excited to read Superior Spider-Man, after hearing all of the praise that was sung about the book, with many people wanting Doc Ock to stay Spider-Man after Peter came back. But that all changed when I read Amazing Spider-Man 700. When Peter dies he’s actually dead, and the Peter Parker that lives on today is an imprint in the back of Octavius’ mind.

Everything that Otto does to Peter’s life is terrible, he strains Peter’s relationships with his friends and family, and he hurts his standing with other superheroes. Even the things that looked like a good thing for Peter turned sour. Parker Industries lasted a while but eventually crumbled and ended up with Peter being in an even worse place, career-wise than he was before. And Otto finally got Peter his Doctorate, which he should have gotten decades ago, but that eventually ended up hurting him to, with his degree being taken away for plagiarism.

This book is a train wreck that ruined Peter’s life and left him tarnished after his eventual return.

Credit: Marvel Comics

32. Hawkeye: Written by Matt Fraction

I disliked this book so much that stopped reading it after the first arc. Clint is fantastic, and he still is but this book lessons that and makes it seem like the only reason he has any success is because he Jack Sparrow’s his way into it.

Matt Fraction’s writing was quality, and this book has been critically acclaimed, but it’s not for everyone. I would write more about it but this reaction is based on only the first arc. If the book improves or changes how it treats Hawkeye, then fine, but so far, this is how it stands.

Credit: Marvel Comics

31: Uncanny X-Men: Written by Brian Michael Bendis

When Bendis left the Avengers books he had been writing for over half a decade his new big project was to take over the X-Men. He began writing two different X-books, with Uncanny X-Men dealing with the fallout of Avengers vs. X-Men and what happened to the Phoenix Five from that event. This sounded like a really cool idea that would allow Bendis to write practically anything he wanted to write about.

Too bad this book became one of the biggest disappointments on this list. I love Bendis’ writing, but not the book. He is not the biggest fan of continuity and that fact was clearly shown in this book. Scott, Emma and Magik all seemed to be written all out of character.

Instead of taking his time showing that Scott was becoming a villain, he just pulled a 180-degree turn and was immediately evil and hated humans, after decades of being the exact opposite. It was more disappointing than anything.