Marvel Now Rankings, Part 7: 15-13

The seventh installment of the Marvel Now Rankings will cover books 15 through 13.

These Marvel Now books all involve classic Marvel characters but each of them changes the way that the audiences look at that character, and changes the status quo for each of them.

15. Iron Man: Written by Kieron Gillan with art by Greg Land

This book starts out with Tony Stark having adventures in space, this leads him to find to an android that knew his parents. He learns that his parents kept a secret from him and Tony goes on a journey to learn what that secret is.

This was a good book but there was something off with it. This book had big shoes to fill, Matt Fraction had finished up his run on Invincible Iron Man right before Marvel Now started and that run was probably the best Iron Man run ever written. If I had read this before Fraction’s run, this might be more enjoyable. The twist involving his parents was also a weird choice and it’s questionable if it adds much to Tony or if it’s just another confusing layer that people who don’t read comics will be confused by.

Image by Marvel Comics

14. Amazing Spider-Man: Written by Dan Slott with art by Humberto Ramos

The return of the real Peter Parker. He took back control of his mind from Doctor Octopus and now, thanks to Doc Ock, he has a Doctorate and Parker Industries — a science company set up by Otto that lets Peter develop scientific advances so that he can help the world in and out of his Spidey suit.

This would have been a good enough story, having Peter reestablish his life, but that Dan Slott comes out with the Spider-Verse — Spider-Men from countless universes coming together under the leadership of our Spider-Man. It’s a really fun and impact-full story that sets up Spider-Man as a universe-spanning hero.

After the terrible 30 plus issues of Superior Spider-Man, there was anticipation for this book. Peter being Peter, but with his own company. That part of the book was really interesting, showing what Peter would do when he is put in charge of making the world a better place. Then Spider-Verse happened, and while I hate the villains, the Inheritors, the introduction of the new spider-themed characters and the interactions between them and the versions we know made the book worth it.

Image by Marvel Comics

13. Avengers World: Written by Jonathan Hickman with art by John Cassaday

The Avengers have expanded their roster, meaning they can handle multiple threats across the world. This book is about three different groups of the Avengers going after different problems, with all of them eventually intersecting. This allows more focus on the relationships between certain members of the group.

The first handful of issues introduces the different plots of the books and each issue ends with a suspenseful cliffhanger that makes me want to read on. The stories start to fall apart when they get near the end, trying to make all of the stories intertwine causes some problems with the pacing.

The next part will involve two books about the return of a classic X-Man, and the story of one of the X-Men’s greatest villains.