Current Events > Are there any good Marvel comics? On par with DCAU?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've spent the past year reading the entirety of the DCAU comics, from the batman adventures to superman to justice league to batman beyond, and have loved them all, especially the batfamily ones.

I don't care for comics, but I enjoyed reading those because they felt like an episode of their respective shows in comic book form, which made them very enticing to read and difficult to put down.

Was hoping the same for Marvel. Like maybe a good spidey arc. Though I'm open to other characters if they're good.
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The entirety of Ultimate Spider-Man
Exiles

If you're in the mood for a space opera, read Annihilation and its sequels

EDIT: Runaways is awesome as well. A show based on it is starting next month
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That's like the 3rd rec for ultimate spiderman. I think I played a game set in its universe once and I'm told spectacular spiderman borrows elements from it like eddie brock (the venom guy) and peter parker (the spiderman guy) being childhood friends who grew up together instead of only having met as adults.

But I only heard bad things about the ultimate universe. Also not sure if I should start at the beginning from all the way back in 1999. What is it about ultimate spiderman that makes it so good? Knowing that would probably help me get interested in it, like an intro or summary.
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There are volumes of Ult Spidey you can get for pretty cheap that will hold you over for a while. Ultimates was okay but if you're reading one Ultimate comic Spidey is the way to go.

Superior Spiderman is also really good. Most of the Spiderman comics are actually really solid.
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Ultimate and Superior Spidey as mentioned.

Some personal favorites are Thor: God Butcher and God Bomb.
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The Ultimate universe itself ranges from good to downright terrible.
What sets USM apart is that it's the only Ultimate comic AND only Spidey comic with a consistent quality.
It does a good job of updating the mythos to a modern setting and retells some classic stories with a nice twist at times. Bendis (the writer) gets flak for making all characters on the Avengers sound like snarky teens in the main Marvel Universe, but his style is perfect for USM and it's his baby.
You should start from the beginning. That's why this series gets recommended all the time, it's the only Spidey comic you can read absolutely everything of without having to search for 700+ issues of which many are subpar.

That Ultimate Spider-Man game was adapted into the USM comic, it's canon
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Ah ok. Also surprising amount of superior spiderman recommendation, isn't that the one where doc ock becomes spiderman? Seems controversial.
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saspa posted...

Ah ok. Also surprising amount of superior spiderman recommendation, isn't that the one where doc ock becomes spiderman? Seems controversial.

Yeah, but it's an awesome and finite story. Lots of people shat on the idea, but quickly came around a few issues in, me being one of them
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Out of curiosity could you give me the difference between regular spiderman and ultimate spiderman? Not all the differences, just some highlights that come to mind especially in terms of origin story as you say.
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- Genetically manipulated spider created by Oscorp instead of radioactive
- Aunt May isn't a frail old bitty inches away from death. She's younger and a bit of a hippy
- Most of it is set during Peter's high school days
- Oscorp/Osborn is a big player throughout

Honestly, you've probably already seen much of it in the movies and cartoons as they took much from USM. Just give the first few issues a try.
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Ah I knew it, those elements are very familiar. I've been looking around and there's one series that came out in 2000 called ultimate spiderman, and one in 2009 also called ultimate spiderman. Are they related, what's the deal there?
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If you want something a bit more recent, Tom King's run on Vision was really good.

And the words "really good" are rarely used to describe Marvel comics anymore
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saspa posted...

Ah I knew it, those elements are very familiar. I've been looking around and there's one series that came out in 2000 called ultimate spiderman, and one in 2009 also called ultimate spiderman. Are they related, what's the deal there?

The one in 2009 is merely a re-numbering thing Marvel tried to boost sales for the Ultimate universe.They tried it a few times and made it unnecessarily confusing.
It goes:
- USM 1-133
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man v1 1-15
- USM 150-160
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That's ok not looking for something recent. As I'm someone who prefers dcau which started way back in like '92 I obviously don't mind older works if they're good. Although recent comics do have so much better art and softer colors from the more mainstream stuff. I prefer it to look cartoony rather than over exaggerated shading and lines.
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fusespliff posted...

saspa posted...

Ah I knew it, those elements are very familiar. I've been looking around and there's one series that came out in 2000 called ultimate spiderman, and one in 2009 also called ultimate spiderman. Are they related, what's the deal there?

The one in 2009 is merely a re-numbering thing Marvel tried to boost sales for the Ultimate universe.They tried it a few times and made it unnecessarily confusing.
It goes:
- USM 1-133
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man v1 1-15
- USM 150-160

Ah okay. Wait what's the one in the middle? Is it supposed to be the missing 134-149 issues?
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saspa posted...

Ah okay. Wait what's the one in the middle? Is it supposed to be the missing 134-149 issues?

Yes. Although it's not really missing, the comic had it's number reboot from 1 and then had to reset to what it would be if it hadn't been reboot.

Okay good so it's all one continuity. Skimmed the first issue and recognized a lot of scenes that the shows and movies seemed to have lifted almost straight out of the comics.

Any good arcs off the top of your head?
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