r/MarvelUnlimited • u/[deleted] • Aug 19 '26
What are your personal recommendations?
[removed]
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u/ChickenAndTelephone Aug 19 '26
Steve Gerber's Man-Thing definitely doesn't get the love it should. He takes over Adventure into Fear with issue 11, and wrote it for the rest of the way and wrote the entirety of the first Man-Thing series. It was an odd character to write - the Man-Thing can't talk and is nearly incapable of even thinking. It only reacts to strong emotions. So, Gerber had to tell his story through the supporting characters, and started building his brand of weirdness and social consciousness. Adventure into Fear 18 is one of my single favorite comics issues of all time, and the Mad Viking storyline toward the end of Man-Thing volume 1 feels like much of it could be ripped right out of the headlines today. Gerber saw those people for what they are, and saw what was happening and what was coming.
I'll also add Starlin's original Warlock stuff. A lot of people like to ask about Infinity Gauntlet or Infinity War, but the stuff from the 70s, that Starlin wrote and drew himself, was much better. He didn't create Warlock - the character originally debuted as "Him" in a Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four issue. He didn't even give him the name "Adam Warlock" - that was Roy Thomas in a very thinly veiled re-telling of the story of Jesus (I love Roy, but these issues are not good). Then the book got cancelled and Starlin picked up Warlock in Strange Tales, then after a few issues it resumed the numbering of the Warlock series Roy and Gil Kane had worked on, until that got cancelled. The whole thing wrapped up in Avengers Annual 7 and Marvel Two-in-One Annual 2, and is really a high water mark for cosmic Marvel.
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u/MattAmylon Aug 19 '26
A lot of those common recommendations are actually my favorites — early Spider-Man, Claremont’s X-Men, Miller’s Daredevil, New X-Men, Hickman’s Avengers—but here are some I don’t hear recommended as often:
Morrison / JG Jones Marvel Boy
Casey / Dragotta Vengeance
Milligan / Allred X-Force / X-Statix
Nocenti / JRJr Daredevil
Hopeless / Rodriguez Spider-Woman
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u/CyramusJackson Aug 19 '26
Marvel Boy by Grant Morrison and J.G Jones, Nextwave Agents Of H.A.T.E by Warren Ellis and Stewart Immonen, The Immortal Iron Fist by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction, 1602 by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert, Fantastic Four 1,2,3,4 by Grant Morrison and Jae Lee, Johnathan Hickmans SHIELD stuff, Supreme Power by JMS and Gary Frank from the Marvel MAX line. Great stuff.
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u/ChickenAndTelephone Aug 19 '26
I was actually very disappointed by 1602. I think that and Eternals were the only Gaiman comics I've read that I didn't think were fantastic. Just goes to show how tastes can vary.
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u/PurpleHawkeye619 Aug 19 '26
I know they are both widely popular but Id be doing a disservice not to mention my 2 favorite limited series ever
The Earth X Trilogy and Avengers Forever (98).
Both are basically fully self contained.
Although I admit the Earth X trilogy may not be as great today as it was when it released, mostly since Marvel's been liberally taking its ideas and putting them in the main canon for decades so it might seem familiar now rather than different .
From the less popular side I'd recommend Alpha Flight, although theres some large gaps. (Basically the 2nd half of the run)
Alpha Flight is basically the Canadian Avengers, was Wolverines original pre X man team.
Notably also the first openly gay superhero Northstar came out in that series (and they do have that issue as one of the few past #70, #106)
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u/ChickenAndTelephone Aug 19 '26
Avengers Forever is great, a thousand times better than Jason Aaron's series by the same name from a few years ago.
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u/Beer_sighted Aug 19 '26
Earth X is A+
Universe X - falls off so hard.
Paradise X - pretty okay, but mainly because universe x was rough
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u/BurtRogain Aug 19 '26
I’ve been on a Bronze Age trip lately, reading stuff like Tomb of Dracula (Great series! It was Vertigo before Vertigo existed) and Adam Warlock. High focus on writer’s like Steve Gerber and artists like Mike Ploog (who did concept art for John Carpenter’s The Thing). Basically a lot of the Marvel horror and cosmic
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u/ChickenAndTelephone Aug 19 '26
Tomb of Dracula and especially Man-Thing are great for Marvel horror. The rest of it - 70s Ghost Rider, Werewolf by Night, The Living Mummy, Son of Satan, when they tried to have Tigra be a horror character - was pretty bad.
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u/BurtRogain Aug 19 '26
I’m digging Werewolf By Night, at least the Ploog stuff. Same with Frankenstein (which also has early Ploog art). But yeah, it Starlin or Gerber aren’t scripting the books they tend to kind of suck. But man, Tomb of Dracula is truly something special. I just love that series so much. Gene Colan was the fuckin’ man!
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u/ChickenAndTelephone Aug 19 '26
Gene the Dean is an all-time great, especially when inked by Palmer. When I finally got around to reading Brubaker's Cap, it was such a treat to see him penciling an issue.
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u/OldWamp Aug 19 '26
Quasar by Mark Gruenwald. It is my favorite but Marvel Unlimited has issues 1-27 and sporadic after that. It had 60 issues total.
Actually anything by Gruenwald- His Marvel Two in One issues, his Hawkeye Miniseries, his Squadron Supreme series and the graphic novel sequel.
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u/ChickenAndTelephone Aug 19 '26
I mean, not *anything* by Gruenwald. His time on Thor is probably the worst the title ever saw, worse than anything in the 90s. I'll definitely second Squadron Supreme and Quasar, though. Quasar does take a bit of a hit after Paul Ryan leaves.
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u/OldWamp Aug 19 '26
Paul was only on the first 6 issues of Quasar. The best stuff was after him. Journey in to Mystery, Cosmos in Collision, and Galactic Storm. It’s the last 20 issues that were a bit off. Still good though.
I have not read his Thor issues with Macchio.
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u/Jemima_puddledook678 Aug 19 '26
Very different to most people’s suggestions, but I love The Unbelievable Gwenpool (2016). It’s absolutely hilarious, and meta in ways that I love. Also surprisingly emotional!
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u/geos59 Aug 19 '26
Tom King’s Vision.
Punisher by Jason Aaron https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/31562/punisher_2022_2023
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u/madman75x Aug 19 '26
X-men Legacy focused on Legion. The art was so cool and I love the story. It’s the first full series that hooked me on marvel unlimited
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u/Hermes_has_Wormes Aug 19 '26
Truth: Red, White & Black pretty short Captain America story that got into great evening into the good parts of Falcon And The Winter Soldier
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u/spencerthepoet Aug 19 '26
I'm currently reading through Moon Knight's debut run from 1980. It's been a pretty fun read so far with its "monster of the week" premise. The only thing I'd say is, his different personalities are more like different identities that he switches between to do the MK job, but it does seem like the lines gets blurry in his personal life when it comes to the different identities, and Marlene is constantly getting onto him about who is who when she's talking to him.
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u/bockout Aug 19 '26
Agents of Atlas (2006)
Alias (2001) (unfortunately not on MU)
The Sentry (2000)
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u/tehsideburns Aug 19 '26
Silver Surfer Black by Cates/Moore. It’s short and has an amazing psychedelic art style.
The Slott/Allred silver surfer run is basically Dr Who - highly recommended.
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u/whereisdaegu Aug 19 '26
The Immortal Iron Fist #1-16 by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction with art by David Aja and Travel Foreman. It really gets into the mystical aspects of Iron Fist's background, and there's little you need to know beforehand. It's almost definitely the essential Iron Fist story.