Below you’ll find our reading selections for the year of 2002, and once we’re finished reading, I’ll post the winners for hero, villain, issue, artist, and writer.
Feel free to discuss the comics and any related thoughts below in the comments!
2002 Comic Reading List
(Check Patreon for Full List & Bonus Round!)
| 2002 | Comic Book Title | Issues |
| 1 | Daredevil | #26 to #40 |
| 2 | Origin | #1 to #6 |
| 3 | Fantastic Four: 1234 / Fantastic Four | #1 to #4 / #51 to #54, #60 to #64 |
| 4 | X-Force / X-Statix | #122 to #129 / #1 to #5 |
| 5 | Amazing Spider-Man / Peter Parker: Spider-Man | #38 to #46 / #44 to #47 |
| 6 | Infinity Abyss | #1 to #6 |
| 7 | Exiles | #6 to #19 |
| 8 | Elektra | #7 to #15 |
| 9 | New X-Men | #121 to #133 |
| 10 | Avengers | #48 to #56 |
Bonus Reading Orders:
https://www.comicbookherald.com/the-complete-marvel-reading-order-guide/ultimate-marvel-universe-reading-order/
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Oh man, there was SO MUCH to read this month. I finally finished all of it last night and when I went back to look at everything for voting, I felt like I had read the first couple of issues months ago! I’m going to be much more brief in my comments here because of the sheer volume of material. I started taking longer notes, but I stopped after the first couple of series, so after Fantastic Four, things will be short.
– Daredevil was fantastic. I’d read the trial issues before but not the issues before them, such as the Underboss arc, and they were so good. Bendis is really on a roll during this time period, with this and Ultimate Spider-Man being so excellent. I also found the artwork notably strong in these issues. I agree with Dave’s assessment that this is the best Daredevil since Frank Miller. Oh, and a companion silent issue to the Elektra one from last year!
– Origin was wild. I confess to not following the X-Men movies after X-2, so I haven’t seen Wolverine: Origins and had no idea what was coming with this. Definitely not what I was expecting. I’m not sure how I feel about knowing Wolverine’s origin story now; it definitely takes some of the mystique (pun sort of intended) away from him. I read a review somewhere online that talked about how the pacing is odd in this, and I’d agree, with the first three issues being very intense and eventful and then the last three, until the very end, being very slow (though not boring for sure). I’m also not sure how well it worked having there be stand-in characters for the X-Men here, like Smitty for Cyclops and Rose for Jean Gray; it felt quite a bit forced near the end. Still, I mostly enjoyed this, and I thought the artwork, from I believe the same team as The Dark Tower comics, was beautiful.
– Fantastic Four was a mixed bag. I have a real love/hate (well, really more like love/meh) relationship with Grant Morrison, and 1234 definitely falls in the meh category. Very dark and at times confusing, and I’m not really sure what the ultimate point was other than to show just how dark and twisted Doom can get. Then 51-54 was OK but boring for my taste. But oh man did this rebound when Mark Waid took over. The tone with Waid is so good (and actually quite old-school with the family bickering), and for the first time in a while, the Fantastic Four really feel like their old selves again. Though let’s be honest, Modulus is not the best villain (though certainly one of the craziest).
X-Force/X-Statix: Totally nuts and so different than everything else. I continue to love this, though the transition to X-Statix was odd.
Amazing Spider-Man: Very, very good. I’m a big JMS fan and a big fan of this take on Spider-Man, and the artwork is a big stand-out. Peter Parker material was fine. The Conversation is a huge stand-out issue.
Infinity Abyss: Disappointing given Starlin’s return to Thanos, but fine.
Exiles: Excellent stuff. It somehow feels weighty and meaningful while maintaining a breezy pace.
Elektra: A solid meh. I thought this was all right, and I thought some of the artwork was neat, but overall trying too hard to be subversive and not succeeding.
New X-Men: I really got into this run of issues. Still not the biggest New X-Men fan at all, but I liked these fine. I like Ultimate X-Men much more though.
Avengers: I liked these a lot. A crazy and devastating end to the Kang Wars, and I enjoyed the post-war issues.
Paradise X: At first, I was really enjoying this, but as it went on (and on and on), I became indifferent and then it clearly got rushed at the end and just all wrapped up neatly, which doesn’t seem like the direction it was going at first. The last two issues were very short compared to other specials. I did love the very last image, and I appreciate how bizarre this was. Overall, Earth-X is by far the best of the three series.
Tangled Web: Both were excellent and super wacky. Very different and notable issues.
Incredible Hulk: I can easily see why these wouldn’t be someone’s taste, but I enjoyed them quite a bit. I loved the style of these, though I think they work MUCH better collected in one flowing narrative as opposed to individual issues. The End was amazing and a very depressing take on the future of both The Hulk and Earth in general.
Punisher: Unbelievably bad. Wolverine in particular was a total mess. Embarrassing work by Ennis, who I usually love.
Black Panther: Hate to say it, but Priest’s entire run just wasn’t my thing. I appreciate the style and how he writes T’Challa, but the storytelling was just odd and needlessly confusing for my taste.
Tigra: This was fine. I enjoyed the take on Tigra; it was much grittier and more serious than I was expecting.
Captain America: Oh man, SUCH a product of its time, with 9/11 still fresh in everyone’s minds. This wasn’t bad by any means, but it felt very, very forced to me. The artwork was excellent.
Weapon X: Didn’t do much for me. Have to be honest and say that I barely remember it beyond feeling bad for Sauron getting bullied by everyone. The whole energy of the run was icky.
Spider-Man: Blue: A marked improvement from Daredevil: Yellow. Very gimmicky with the tape recorder frame, but it’s very well written, and Sale’s artwork is wonderful.
Thing: Freakshow: An odd but also quite affecting story. Very readable.
Spider-Man/Black Cat: At first I was enjoying this, though Kevin Smith was being very juvenile with Black Cat’s, um, attributes. Then I got to the last couple of issues, when the big “reveals” happened, and oh my god. Unbelievably horrible taste and poor storytelling. Kevin Smith got my write-in vote for Villain of the Year for this.
Agent X: I actually found myself enjoying this after a while, though I didn’t at first. The manga-style artwork is striking, and the writing was fun.
Spider-Man/Daredevil: Short and sweet. A fun quick read.
Ultimates: Found myself enjoying these a lot. There’s some weird stuff here and there (not sure how I feel about Tony’s brain tumor, for example), but in general I give these a thumbs-up. You also have to love this more or less being the origin of the idea to cast Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.
Ultimate Spider-Man: My favorite series right now. This had so many twists and turns, and the way that it both subverts expectations (like the iconic Green Goblin bridge scene happening totally differently than in the original version) and reimagines famous Spider-Man moments in powerful ways makes for a thrilling read. I was especially moved by the Captain Stacy death scene; I wasn’t expecting it to happen right there and it blindsided me. Fantastic storytelling.
Ultimate X-Men: I’m a big fan of this take on the X-Men; I actually enjoy it more than New X-Men. My only negative reaction to this is that I don’t enjoy this version of Kitty Pryde as much as the original. Jean Grey’s first vision of the Phoenix took my breath away.
Marvel Team-Up: These were all right, but definitely my least favorite of the Ultimate Universe.
Whew! That took forever to write even with extremely brief summaries. Overall, I thought this was an excellent year with a couple of exceptions. There was some great experimentation and in general, the writing quality was very high. Quesada taking over clearly made a huge difference. Also, I really love the Ultimate Universe and am deeply enjoying reading it for the first time. Onto 2003!
There is so much to read and so much to say about 2002, but I will try and be brief.
As I said earlier in the month, the talent behind these books makes the reading so much more pleasant than prior years.
Looking first at the main Reading List, Daredevil, FF (main series), ASM &PPSM, Exiles and Avengers are all stand out series. Some of the best writing any of them have had in (at that point) 40 years of publication. If it were not for the Ultimate line, these books would be the top of the heap in my view. Exiles fits in well with these top tier books. Nuff Said.
There are a few middling books that I kinda enjoyed, but had problems. I think it is more along the lines of stylist or plot, not so much the production.
– Infinity was nice. And if Starlin had not written the same story at least once in the last three preceding decades, I would have loved it. No one does cosmic like Starlin. But it was a lot of old hack. Sorry.
– The X-Force/X-Statix series was alright, but my interest is waning. The reality series take is a little thin in its second year, and the transience of the characters causes a lack of depth, doesn’t allow me to get attached. I probably would not have continued reading this on my own.
– And the same can be said of Elektra. I was not impressed by the Rucka run. This whole break down/ruin Elektra story did not ring true to me. She spent a large part of her life involved with DD and the Kingpin. If she really needed to get work or just get into a fight, she could have done it. And the denouement brought her back to square one. Not very satisfying.
– And Origin just sits there. I do not see the point of the hype around the book. It was well written and the art is great, but there really is no “wow” to it. It is not really the origin. That seems to come later. It’s like telling Batman’s origin, but stopping with him going around the world to train. Or Spidey got bitten by a radioactive spider and it gave him powers, the end.
There were two within the main reading that were virtually unreadable: FF 1234, which is horrid. And New X-men, which I just gave up on. I love Morrison. Really, I do. But I can’t get through his X-Men. I read them before, and was looking forward to giving them another go, but it’s not working for me. Morrison in DC? Any day of the week. Morrison in Marvel, pass.
In the bonus round Hulk was great. Tigra was a decent pass time. Captain America was very well done. A little dated, maybe, but good stuff. Spider-Man: Blue may be Loebs best Color series. Spidey/Black Cat has great art. Thing is a good story. And that is all I have gotten to.
In the end, for Marvel 2002, Ultimate is where it is at!
The weakest book in the bunch is X-Men, and I still read it all in one sitting. Team-up is best summed up as good old fashioned comic-book fun. The Dr. Strange story was great.
The Ultimates is must reading. Really. The art cannot be beat. I love Romita. Starlin is almost a god. Wieringo is great. But this year I have to go with Hitch for artist. So well done. The facial expressions, the detail, the action. Amazing. And the writing? Wow. Here is a book where all of the characters are a-holes in some way. But I actually care about them and want to read more. They feel real. They have depth. I would almost have to give Millar writer of the year, but…
Ultimate Spider-Man is still my favourite. Nothing is quite as good in my view. It is a page turner. The art is still great. Expressive and clear, with action that flows from panel to panel in a way that Spidey requires. The characters have depth, and they are authentic. Plus they are all likeable. The situations that Peter faces are grounded in reality. If I was half the writer Bendis is, maybe I could express just how good this book is.
So much for brief.
zomg halfway point and I’m actually more than halfway through! I might actually finish and vote this time around!
(it helps that I read Origin, X-Force / X-Statix and New X-Men last year)
Highlights so far, for me, have been Daredevil, Exiles and the bonus Spider-Man’s Tangled Web issues. This Daredevil run is just fantastic. Exiles really surprised me – from the premise, I really didn’t think I’d enjoy it, but it is so well written and really makes me love the characters. I’ve only read the issues of Tangled Web from last year and this year’s reading lists, so I don’t know how cherry-picked they are, but they have all been wonderful.
Oh and so far, for issue of the year, I’m tossing up between Amazing Spider-Man #38 (The Conversation) and Exiles #11 (Morph and Sunfire go shopping).
Here are my comments for the year (minus Agent X, which I will read this week). Anything else I don’t mention is something I have no interest in reading.
General note: Nuff Said was a bad idea for a forced promotion. It could have been targeted to issues that warranted the silent treatment, but in general, it meant that all but the most basic plot progression was put on hold for a month. Words are helpful in conveying information in a way that pure visuals cannot.
Daredevil: Bendis does a good job with Daredevil and his supporting cast. He brings out both the lawyer and the crime fighter in Murdock. I like Bendis’ style of dialogue and writing, but the abundance of word balloons makes it harder for the artist’s work to shine. The best issues were #30, #34, #37, and #40.
Fantastic Four: 1234: Bad
Fantastic Four #51-54: Decent, but the story builds into a very good conclusion
Fantastic Four #60-64: All great stuff from Waid and Weiringo; #60 is a nice acknowledgement of how it all began, and I love how strong the family angle is in this run
X-Force, X-Statix: I don’t really like any of the characters except Doop, and the art style by Allred does not help. Even so, the writing was strong enough for eight of the issues to be at a decent level.
Amazing Spider-Man: “The Conversation” is awesome. It is my pick for issue of the year. It amazes me that this came out before Rosemary Harris showed us all how cool Aunt May could be. “Meanwhile…” is my one exception to my Nuff Said comments above. It works with no dialogue (although it is not textless). The rest of the issues work well enough but do not stand out too much.
Peter Parker: Spider-Man: Decent
Infinity Abyss: Decent
Elektra: #8, #11-12, and #15 are decent, and the rest are bad
New X-Men: Except for the Nuff Said issue, these are all decent
Avengers: I like that Busiek was trying new things, even as he was doing his best to honor Avengers history and stay within continuity. #50 and #55 are both great issues. As an accountant, you’d think I would like #56 more, but it is just average. It does have a few good jokes, though, involving Cap, USAgent, and She-Hulk.
Tangled Web #11: Bad
Incredible Hulk: This is mostly bad, and the ones that I rated three stars, I feel I am being generous to. Not very much happens in each issue, and I just can’t get into the characters in any meaningful way in this Bruce Jones run.
Black Panther: Priest makes his Black Panther run readable, even if it’s hard to keep all the subplots straight sometimes. Return of the Dragon was a cool story with even better dragon art.
Captain America: Decent
Thing: Freakshow: Decent; those covers really pull on the heartstrings, don’t they?
Ultimates: #3 is decent, and the rest are bad (#6 is horrible).
Ultimate Spider-Man: Consistently at least decent; #23, #24, and #27 are the standout issues of the year
Ultimate X-Men: Variable quality; #21 and #23 are the best issues this year
Ultimate Marvel Team-Up: Variable quality; #11 is the best issue of 2002 for this series
What a difference a decade makes…
What a difference a writer makes…
Just a general observation that a decade ago Marvel was in the midst of it’s “hot artist” driven “event comic” period, and reading a lot of the stories was difficult. Now, a decade later, and while I will always hate him for taking away my Spider-Man, but I have to give due respect to Quesada for bringing about a period of strong story driven writing at Marvel.
During the 90’s part of MMY I used to struggle through all of the various event books, and a week never seemed to be enough to get through all the stories. Now we are on the monthly format, and I am able to breeze through these wonderful stories in a week.
I’ve already read all the Hulk, ASM, Daredevil, Avengers, Origin, Ultimates and the finale of Captain America Vol 3. (And I mean all, I’m not just sticking with the suggested issues of ASM and Avengers.) But it is such a breeze to read. They are all page turners with brilliant dialogue. Millar, Stracznski, Bendis, Busiek and Jenkins have made this ere of Marvel a must read one. And the key word for me there is “read”.
And the art! John Romita is such an amazing artist. The combination of his art with Straczynski’s writing makes this a real high water mark for ASM. Maleev on Daredevil gives the Bendis story the right flavor. And Hitch on the Ultimates makes it one for the ages. There guys are able to tell a story well without too much flourish or giant guns. I think you’d have to go back to Byrne/Claremont to find such great pairings of writer and artist.
X-fans: Uncanny X-Men #410-414 (the “Hope” story arc) is a good story, despite being part of the reviled Chuck Austen run.
Wow, nice list. Long, but looks really good. Great that you have it up a few days early, too. But why no Alias?