While historically ‘best of’ lists are best suited at year’s end, the reality is that waiting until then actually leaves some doubt throughout the year itself what is considered great as it’s happening. With that in mind, throughout 2021, I’ll be regularly updating Comic Book Herald’s best comics of 2021 guide, so that the work can function as a check-in for your next series to read, and by year’s end, a summary of everything we recommend.
Best of Lists
Spider-Man History: 6 Significant Sinister Six Squads!
The Sinister Six is a concept elegant in its simplicity. Take six of Spider-Man’s deadliest foes and team them up to accomplish what they’d previously failed to do individually: defeat that pesky wall-crawler. Of course, Spider-Man being Spider-Man, he usually finds a way to win. That doesn’t stop various incarnations of the Sinister Six from trying to make their fiendish “six on one” path to victory a success.
With Spider-Man: No Way Home arraying the MCU’s wall-crawler against the largest assemblage of cinematic villains yet, let’s take a look at the history of the Sinister Six as rendered across, yes, six notable incarnations of the team which have appeared in comics throughout the years. [Read more…] about Spider-Man History: 6 Significant Sinister Six Squads!
The 10 Best Marvel Miniseries of 2021!
Okay, obviously Marvel is publishing too many minis to keep track of nowadays. But a sizable portion are tied to events big and small, and to what’s happening on Krakoa, so here, we’re instead* going to focus on five self-contained stories that are doing their own thing**, spotlighting lesser-known characters and/or acting as a canvas for creators gone wild, whether that means creating an alternate reality or eschewing verisimilitude altogether in favor of glorious cartoonish mayhem.
(*In the “also worthy” section, listing another five honorable mentions, we will look at one peripheral and perfectly self-contained Krakoan story arc available only in Infinity Comic format on Marvel Unlimited.)
(**I suppose it would be a waste to argue that any story Marvel puts out now is truly self-contained, but these minis are as close as they get these days 😉.) [Read more…] about The 10 Best Marvel Miniseries of 2021!
The Best Comics To Read Before Spider-Man: No Way Home!
You may have heard, but Spider-Man: No Way Home is poised to be kind of a big deal. The multiverse hopping mega movie has been hyped up for months, with rumors swirling about the return of virtually anyone who has ever had a major moment in the 2000s Spider-Man movie-verse! Whether you’re here for JK, Alfred, Willem, Tobey, Andrew, Jamie, or all of the above, we know No Way Home is set to deal with the fallout of Peter Parker’s double life revealed at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, and that the Marvel multiverse is very much at the center of where the MCU is heading. [Read more…] about The Best Comics To Read Before Spider-Man: No Way Home!
The Best Marvel Comics of 2021!
After the pandemic-impacted 2020, Marvel’s 2021 is slowly but surely back on track, with a wide variety of excellent comics. All in all, it’s a good time to be a Marvel fan, and I’m listing out my favorite picks for those looking to dive in.
It’s an interesting year for Marvel, three years after the launch of the “Fresh Start” era, as some of the line’s biggest titles (Black Panther, Immortal Hulk, Venom, & on a technicality, Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men) wind down throughout the year. Even with that turnover, “Fresh Start” is heartily sustained through the Krakoa era of X-Men, an exciting new Marvel Space Age, and a healthy variety of quality throughout the broader universe. Honestly, even some of the big time runs I’m least enthused by (Jason Aaron’s Avengers and Nick Spencer’s Amazing Spider-Man) are remarkably consistent, and offer plenty of intriguing moments. It’s a truly good time to be a fan of Marvel Comics. [Read more…] about The Best Marvel Comics of 2021!