Marvel Comics is one of the biggest comic book publishers in the world, especially of superhero comics, which have since been memorably adapted into various media. However, Marvel’s legacy all starts with the comics, so here are the 13 best Marvel comic runs and where readers can find them.
Best Marvel Comic Runs of All-Time (Quick List)
13 Best Marvel Comic Runs of All-Time
13. G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona on Ms. Marvel
One of the biggest and best contributions to the Marvel Universe in recent years is Kamala Khan, a lifelong fan of superheroes who inherits the mantle of Ms. Marvel. Co-creators G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona launched Kamala’s first solo comic book series in 2014, with Wilson writing the title until 2019. Working with Alphona, Wilson would occasionally work with other collaborators on the series, including Takeshi Miyazawa and Mirka Andolfo.
After transforming into a superhero following her exposure to the Inhumans’ Terrigen Mists, Kamala decides to use her newfound powers to defend her hometown of Jersey City. As she maintains a superhero double life, including from her family, Kamala begins to meet many of her own heroes, including her personal favorite, Captain Marvel. A coming-of-age tale couched with plenty of superhero action, Wilson and Alphona’s Ms. Marvel run is a timeless blast.
12. Matt Fraction and David Aja on Hawkeye
With their dry sense of humor and everyman narrative sensibilities, Matt Fraction and David Aja gave a classic Avenger and offbeat, relatively low-stakes adventure with their series Hawkeye. From 2012 to 2015, Fraction and Aja depicted Clint Barton as a down-on-his-luck hero just trying to get by from his unassuming Brooklyn flat while incurring the wrath of local organized crime figures. Joining Clint in his adventures was Kate Bishop, the Hawkeye introduced in Young Avengers, who quickly proves herself to be more competent than her older counterpart as they defend Brooklyn together.
More than just providing a postmodern take on Hawkeye, Fraction and Aja pushed the boundaries of what was expected from mainstream comics at the time. Throughout their run, there was an issue told entirely from the perspective of Hawkeye’s dog and a silent issue with dialogue communicated through American Sign Language. Fraction and Aja creatively synced up seamlessly, delivering one of the best superhero runs and inspiring Marvel to publish a number of similarly character-centric titles and runs moving forward.
11. Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo on Fantastic Four
Prolific comic book creator Mark Waid has written many of the biggest titles and properties published by Marvel, but his finest work in the Marvel Universe is his and Mike Wieringo’s run on Fantastic Four. Together on the title for three years, Waid and Wieringo positioned Marvel’s First Family primarily as explorers and scientists rather than focusing on their usual status as superhero defenders, but also putting the family nature of the title first. And whereas other creative teams depict Doctor Doom as a tragic, noble villain, Waid and Wieringo lean into how sinister and petty the team’s masked nemesis could be.
Waid and Wieringo’s run brought everything from the Silver Age sci-fi that made the Fantastic Four such a beloved team in the first place to more fantastical premises befitting their place in the Marvel Universe. Among the more memorable moments in the run was the team encountering God, who, in the most overt nod to the series’ roots, bore a striking resemblance to co-creator Jack Kirby. In a period when many Marvel titles were growing darker and edgier, Waid and Wieringo stood as a shining example of strong uncynical storytelling in the finest Marvel tradition that is among the Fantastic Four’s best.
10. Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze on Black Panther
When Black Panther was introduced, his African nation of Wakanda was established as one of the most advanced civilizations on Earth, while T’Challa was depicted as a hyper-intelligent and cunning leader. The Afrofuturism sensibilities that inform Wakanda were fully realized by the creative team of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze when they relaunched the Black Panther ongoing series in 2016. During their reign, T’Challa boldly leads Wakanda after reclaiming the throne from his sister Shuri, defending his nation from new and familiar threats.
Coates and Stelfreeze blended the expected superhero action with international intrigue and prominent science-fiction elements as they laid out a new future for Black Panther. Their run’s influence visibly impacted how the Marvel Cinematic Universe would depict Wakanda and Black Panther moving forward, along with previous Black Panther writer Christopher Priest. Coates and Stelfreeze completely revitalized Black Panther’s place in the Marvel Universe and publishing line, leading to a number of spinoffs and continuations building from the strong foundation that they set together.
9. Louise and Walter Simonson on X-Factor
Across her work as a writer and editor, Louise Simonson’s impact on superhero comics, especially at Marvel Comics, simply cannot be understated. As a writer, Simonson’s most influential work at Marvel was on the X-Men spinoff title X-Factor, writing on the title for about five years and joined by her husband Walter Simonson as her run’s primary artist. Under Simonson, X-Factor became the darker and more seriously toned X-Men book at the time, often putting its superhero team through the wringer.
With her very first issue on the title, Simonson, with artist Butch Guice, created the supervillain Apocalypse, who became a recurring adversary during her run and one of Marvel’s most iconic villains. During her run on X-Factor, Simonson transformed the original X-Man Angel into the metallic Archangel and worked with longtime X-Men writer Chris Claremont on the first major multi-title crossover Mutant Massacre and its subsequent follow-ups. Through X-Factor and her later work on The New Mutants, Simonson helped the X-Men grow into Marvel’s premier franchise in the ‘80s and gave them their most formidable villain.
8. Grant Morrison on New X-Men
Coming out of the ‘90s, the X-Men comics were largely tied up in years of convoluted stories and character arcs as the property was adapted into film for the first time. In 2001, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely launched New X-Men, which revamped the X-Men line with a clean jumping-on point and elevated stakes. While primarily working with Quitely, Morrison would be joined by a number of impressive artists during their time on the title, including Phil Jimenez and Marc Silvestri.
Morrison’s New X-Men started off with a bang, opening with the eradication of the mutant nation-state of Genosha by Sentinels while introducing the idea of secondary mutations. Morrison and their collaborators explored the X-Men through the storytelling lens of it being a superhero soap opera writ large, mixing epic-scale stories with intimate character arcs. Morrison’s New X-Men run is among the best Marvel’s Merry Mutants have ever had and stands as a clear narrative influence on X-Men ‘97.
7. Ed Brubaker on Captain America
- Captain America: Winter Soldier Collection on Amazon
- Captain America: Winter Soldier Collection on Walmart
Captain America is often mistaken for an overly jingoistic figure or sometimes caught up in heavy-handed social commentary given the character’s themes and costume choice. For Ed Brubaker, who relaunched the title in 2005 with Steve Epting, the contemporary messaging there but the story was primarily a political conspiracy thriller. Steve Rogers continued his vendetta against the Red Skull and other enemies around the world, including the Red Skull’s deranged daughter Sin.
Brubaker, with a number of superstar comic artists including Epting, Mike Perkins, and Butch Guice, made several bold moves with Captain America during the run, opening with the death of the Red Skull and revealing that Steve’s long-lost friend Bucky Barnes was brainwashed into a Soviet assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Among the most ambitious moves for the run was Captain America being assassinated in the immediate aftermath of Civil War, leading a restored Bucky to replace his friend and mentor. Tautly paced, Brubaker’s Captain America run remains the best superhero work he has ever done and a high-water mark for the character overall.
6. Walter Simonson on Thor
If there is any single comic creator who completely redefined a Marvel character and significantly expanded on their mythos, it’s Walter Simonson and his impact on Thor. Simonson took the helm of the Thor ongoing series for nearly four years, working as both the title’s writer and artist for much of that time. Under Simonson, Thor faced both cosmic elements, like the introduction of Beta Ray Bill, along with figures in line with Thor’s mythological roots, like Malekith the Accursed.
Virtually every Thor writer following Simonson has been visibly influenced by his stories and themes moving forward, balancing the science fiction and high fantasy in an organically cohesive way. Among the highlights of Simonson’s run is Skurge the Executioner’s last stand, a moment and story that stands among the best in Thor’s long history. Simonson’s influence can also be felt beyond the comic page, strongly inspiring the MCU’s handling of the character.
5. Jonathan Hickman on Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four are one of the pillars of Marvel’s publishing line, bringing the most overtly science fiction-tinged superhero action and adventure to the Marvel Universe. Though the team has had plenty of great runs, one that stands above the rest is Jonathan Hickman, who wrote a number of Fantastic Four titles from 2009 to 2012. Initially joined by Sean Chen and Dale Eaglesham, Hickman’s Fantastic Four run would launch a concurrent spinoff series, FF, which also saw its own set of rotating artists.
Under Hickman, each member of the Fantastic Four would receive their own spotlight, from Mister Fantastic discovering a council of his multiversal counterparts to the Human Torch making his last stand against Annihilus. The run catapulted Hickman to become Marvel’s top writer at the time, leading to his eventual role in building line-wide events like 2015’s Secret Wars and relaunching Ultimate Spider-Man in 2024. Hickman’s Fantastic Four run stayed true to the heart of the characters while taking big creative swings in driving them forward, and the team has rarely had it better.
4. Garth Ennis on The Punisher
If there is a single comic book creator synonymous with Marvel’s most infamous antihero, the Punisher, it’s Northern Irish writer Garth Ennis. Ennis brought gun-toting vigilante Frank Castle back down to Earth, joined by artist and frequent collaborator Steve Dillon, for The Punisher, published as part of the Marvel Knights imprint. Ennis then launched The Punisher on Marvel’s mature reader imprint MAX, no longer encumbered by the main line’s continuity as it was set in a world without superheroes.
Working with a rotating roster of artists, including Goran Parlov and Jacen Burrows, Ennis reimagined the Punisher as a sociopathic loner who dispensed his lethal approximation of justice to any criminal unfortunate enough to cross him. Unrelenting and bleak, Ennis’ MAX run on The Punisher is his greatest Marvel work, while his underrated Marvel Knights run effectively brings plenty of dark humor. Ennis has since returned to the Punisher in a number of miniseries, underscoring his reputation as the definitive Punisher writer.
3. Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley on Ultimate Spider-Man
In order to bring in new readers with titles free of decades of continuity and better reflecting modern sensibilities, Marvel Vice President Bill Jemas and editor-in-chief Joe Quesada launched the Ultimate Marvel imprint in 2000. Featuring its own fresh continuity, the flagship title of this growing line was Ultimate Spider-Man, by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley. Bringing back Peter Parker to his high school roots, the series reintroduced familiar elements of the Spider-Man mythos with plenty of originality and its own unique storytelling voice.
With a record-breaking run that ran well over 100 issues, Ultimate Spider-Man distilled everything timeless about the iconic superhero into an accessible and exciting new direction. The creative team not only created a Spider-Man for the 21st century but one that served as the springboard for an entire shared universe as the Ultimate Marvel line expanded quickly. Regardless of publisher, Ultimate Spider-Man is one of the most important titles in superhero comics as the industry and medium entered a new millennium, reinvigorating what made the genre great in the first place.
2. Frank Miller on Daredevil
- Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson on Amazon
- Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson on Walmart
When Frank Miller took over Daredevil in 1979, the comic title was on a downward spiral commercially, with Marvel editorial giving Miller relative creative free rein. Miller turned Daredevil into an overtly crime noir comic book instead of a standard superhero action title, with protagonist Matt Murdock tortured by self-guilt as he took on more grounded supervillains. As Daredevil squared off against the Kingpin and Bullseye, his old college girlfriend, Elektra Natchios, resurfaced, now a highly trained assassin.
Taking inspiration from Japanese manga, like Lone Wolf & Cub, Miller and collaborator Klaus Janson presented Daredevil with paneling layouts that were largely unused by Western publishers, giving it ground-breaking visual sensibility. Miller also brought an unabashedly hardboiled noir tone to Daredevil that really made it stand out from other superhero comics at the time, reinvigorating interest in the crime genre in the medium. Years before Alan Moore completely revamped Swamp Thing, Miller’s indelible influence on Daredevil has been felt ever since, including how the character has been portrayed in film and television.
1. Chris Claremont on Uncanny X-Men
When it comes to completely redefining a property, creating countless new characters, and setting a bar that has yet to be matched by any subsequent creative teams, it’s impossible to top Chris Claremont’s run on Uncanny X-Men. With a run stretching from 1975 to 1991, Claremont worked with legendary artists like John Byrne, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Lee to grow the X-Men into an entire line of titles at Marvel from Uncanny X-Men’s prolonged success. With a run lasting 16 years, Claremont’s mark on the X-Men has permeated not just through subsequent comics runs but also adaptations of the mutant superheroes in television, film, and video games.
Through Claremont, the X-Men became more of an increasingly complex and enriched human drama as the team navigated their personal lives in between saving the day. Claremont also leaned heavily into the sci-fi possibilities for the X-Men, notably with classic stories like “The Dark Phoenix Saga” and “Days of Future Past.” So many classic X-Men moments and stories can be traced back to Claremont’s extensive run, and if there’s any one person who has thoroughly defined the property, it’s him.
And those are the 13 best Marvel comic runs of all-time.
Published: Jun 24, 2024 07:31 am