10
Peter Parker: Spectacular Spider-Man
Chip Zdarsky & Adam Kubert
beginning with #297
Chippy is quickly becoming my favorite Marvel writer. His entire run on Spidey has been great (the previous issue is an all-time favorite of mine now). He keeps up the trend with this issue and manages to make it both a great character piece and action story. The heart of Peter and the humor of Spidey is in full force. I’m going to follow this run for the entire time. – MeanOldPig
Collection: Spectacular Spider-Man Volume 2:
Most Wanted (April)
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9
Hawkeye
Kelly Thompson & Leonardo Romero
beginning with #13
This was great. Reminded me of Fraction/Aja run that everyone fell in love with years ago. Kelly Thompson has a great handle on Kate and Clint and I could have watched them interact for awhile. The book made me laugh a lot and moved at a good pace. Leonardo Romero’s art is good as well! Reminds me of Aja without being a rip-off. I will read more of this. – MeanOldPig
Collection: Kate Bishop: Hawkeye Volume 3 – Family Reunion (May)
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8
Avengers
Mark Waid & Jesus Saiz
beginning with #672
I was worried that I wouldn’t love this book as much without Del Mundo, but Jesus, Jesus! Saiz’s art is unbelievable, and I’m so stoked that Waid kept this Avengers/Champions crossover in the chamber for the Legacy initiative. Counter-Earth? Genius. What a great way to honor the premise of drawing on Marvel’s past to tell bold new stories in the present. – MMDG
This crossover has a lot of potential; Champions and Avengers were two of my favorites from the last Marvel initiative and there’s a lot of interesting relationships at play when these two teams interact. The art is excellent, the story predictably great. Loving this story so far. Looking forward to Champions #13. – IP
Collection: Avengers & Champions: Worlds Collide
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7
Champions
Mark Waid & Humberto Ramos
beginning with #13
Champions has been Marvel’s strongest team book and one of their best overall since its launch. Waid has the best handle on the next group of Marvel’s heroes and it continues the excellence from the Avengers book. Ramos’s art style is the perfect complement for the book, especially when it comes to frenetic action. One of my favorite things has been Waid making young Cyclops back into the character people like. All in all, great and a prime example of the Legacy concept being used well. – MeanOldPig
Collected in Avengers & Champions: Worlds Collide
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6
Uncanny Avengers
Jim Zub & Sean Izaakse
beginning with #28
I’m a sucker for these Superheroes Getting Coffee issues, and the fact that I’ve grown to really like the Unity team has helped. Zub’s other books didn’t impress me, but this has been strong. Also love that here, of all places, we get ground zero for a focus on THE staunchest pillar of Marvel legacy, the Fantastic Four. However… this weekly Avengers mash-up has me a little worried. – MMDG
Has Zub’s entire Uncanny Avengers run been this good? Holy crap, I ate this up. The perfect balance of moving the story forward, great interactions, and two heroes grabbing a beer. I’ve never really bought the conceit of these UA books but I really like the team on this one. Everyone’s role on the team is clearly defined and I want to see these Avengers succeed. I am definitely going to be reading more of this. – MeanOldPig
Collection: Uncanny Avengers: Unity Volume 5 – Stars & Garters (March)
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5
Doctor Strange
Donny Cates & Gabriel Hernandez Walta
beginning with #381
I love Walta’s art so much and this book was no exception. I think there is a lot of potential for this to become one of the best books of the new batch. Nice mystery, fun Loki, and I like all of the supporting characters. Will definitely keep reading. – MeanOldPig
Collection: Doctor Strange: God of Magic (July)
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4
Black Bolt
Saladin Ahmed & Christian Ward
beginning with #8
Quelled any concerns I had that the story and art would suffer when it moved back to Earth. Also really impressed that Ahmed has transformed this formerly emotionless character into someone a reader can finally connect with. He explores what it means to be a king and, more importantly, what it means to be part of a family. All the while, artist Christian Ward portrays the King of the Inhumans as someone suddenly vulnerable, soft-shouldered and somewhat undersized, but with a strength and dynamism that comes not from his mountain-shattering vocal cords, but from his character. My personal favorite of all the Legacy relaunches. – MMDG
Whoa, I really really liked this. I initially thought I would only dig the art because Christian Ward is one of my favorite artists out there but I think a psychedelic Black Bolt book is the perfect fit for him. His crazy designs of the all the Inhumans are beautiful and I could just stare at this book for a long time. The internal narration of BB hit hard and even though I haven’t followed the story, I think this was a good jumping on point. I am definitely going to read more. – MeanOldPig
Collection: Black Bolt Volume 2: Home Free (June)
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The Institute of Idle Time 