My Top 10 Avengers

I have always been a comics fan and at a young age I clung to Marvel over DC, sure I enjoyed a lot of what both companies offered but for me Marvel was tops. That said I was never a big fan of The Avengers. Sure I liked a lot of the characters on the team but for some reason it wasn't until the 2005 launch of New Avengers that I was a real Avengers fan with that in mind, which long time Avengers purists should keep in mind, here are my top 10 Avengers.

#10 Spider Woman


Sure The Spider Woman that was in The New Avengers for a damn long time turned out to be the imposter Skrull Queen but after she was defeated and The Secret Invasion was ended we got the real Jessica Drew back and now she was in a very interesting situation. She was an Avenger but since she was the person that The Skrull Queen impersonated no one trusted her which made for some very interesting character development.

#9 Black Panther

Not only is The Black Panther the King of Wakanda but he is also one of the greatest Avengers of all time. T'Challa broke down a lot of racial barriers when he joined The Avengers. Not only was he one of the first black super heroes but unlike many of the other black heroes who debuted at the time he was never the victim of blackplotation and always was portrayed as the equal to any of the white characters in the Avengers.

#8 Black Widow

She's a smoking hot red headed Russian super spy who can kill you dead five times before you even hit the ground, what more could you ask for? About about the fact that she can kick the ass of nearly any male hero in the Marvel Universe before they even knew they were under attack? Still not good enough? How about the fact that she has made Iron Man, Daredevil, Hawkeye and Captain America (The Bucky version) among others all her bitch? Yeah Black Widow has skills and shes not afraid to use them.

#7 Thor


Sure Thor might be one of "the big three" Avengers but he has never appealed to me the way that some other Avengers have. That said when The Avengers need a powerhouse there is no one that's better then The Asgaurdian God of Thunder, Thor.

# 6 Spider-Man

Sure he has only been an Avenger for a little over five years but if there is any Marvel hero that has lived up to the ideals of what it takes to be an Avenger for the entirety of their existence its good old Peter Parker. Since he has become an Avenger he has spread his ideals of with great power comes great responsibility to his other team mates. He also shows that he lives by this motto more then ever as an Avenger by going up against villains way out of his power range.

#5 Ms. Marvel

You ask who DCs leading lady is and without doubt the answer is Wonder Woman. You ask who Marvels top female character is and there is no real clear cut answer. Sure Marvel has a lot of strong female characters, The Invisible Woman, Jean Grey, and Storm are all names that might get thrown in the conversation but over the last decade Ms. Marvel name has to be thrown in the hat too. She has really made a name for herself to become one of Marvels top super heroines and if her awesomeness continues then maybe one day she might be to Marvel what Wonder Woman is to DC I mean if nothing else shes got a good name for it.

#4 Luke Cage

Of all of the New Avengers there isn't a single one of them that has made as big an impact on the team or increased his own worth then Luke Cage. Before joining The Avengers Cage was a gold shirt steel tiara wearing, jive-talking, hero for hire. Since joining the team he has stepped up his game to the point that after Civil War he became the unofficial leader of The New Avengers.

#3 Iron Man


Of all of the original Avengers, Thor, Hulk, Wasp and Ant Man, its Billionaire playboy Tony Stark, A.K.A Iron Man who is my favorite. I have always had a thing for this guy, first off hes a drunk and everyone loves a good drunk every now and again. Also on top of that he doesn't care what you think of him for standing up for what he believes in which is pretty much what cause that whole super hero Civil War thing a few years back. Think hes an ass? He doesn't care and that right there is enough to give this old souse a thumbs up.

#2 Captain America



You knew Captain America was going to be on this list somewhere it was just a matter of where, turns out hes not at number 1 which itself is a bit surprising even for me. Cap may not of been one of the original members of The Avengers but that doesn't matter at all the only ones who were that made the list were Thor and Iron Man. (which means number one isn't Hulk, Wasp or Ant Man, big surprise right?) Thing is Cap has been a part of pretty much every line up of The Avengers since he was reintroduced in the Marvel Universe in the early days of The Avengers and when hes not a part of the team it just plain feels wrong.

#1 Hawkeye

Hawkeye was nothing more then just an ex-con until he was given a chance by The Avengers and he has made more of that second chance then anyone real or fictional has ever made of a second chance. He has come to represent everything that The Avengers represent. Bravery, loyalty, a never surrender attitude and one of the best team players The Avengers has ever seen. Sure he has no super powers but he can shot a arrow better then anyone else and despite being over powered by every villain that ever comes The Avengers way he is always on the front line ready to give everything so we don't have to. Hawkeye is the man and in short, Hawkeye IS The Avengers.

My Favorite Comics of 2011

Since 2011 is pretty much all wrapped up now I think its pretty safe for me to name my favorite comics of the year and some that were a little more disappointing. First The Good.

The Amazing Spider-Man:



Yeah no big shock here, I'm a big time Spider-Man fan and if the comic is being written even remotely well then I love it. Thankfully we have Dan Slott writing the book and its obvious that he is as big a fan of the web head as the rest of us. Plus the big Spider-Man event Spider Island didn't disappoint me in the end which most events tend to do.

The Walking Dead:



I may be a little behind here with this book since I buy it in trade but its one of those books I'm pretty sure is safe to say has been amazing all year round even if I haven't read what the later half of the year has had to offer as of yet.

Chew:



Much like The Walking Dead I read Chew in trade but much like The Walking Dead this book has been so great that I find it hard to believe that it would get botched. Its original, twisted and most importantly fun just like any good comic should be.

Daredevil:



For years now Daredevil is a character that has been defined by how much he gets put through the ringer, if its not one thing its another and its always bad. With this latest re-launch however things have been changed up, Daredevil is catching a break, hes happy and hes enjoying kicking the crap out the of the villains. How would of thought in a day and age like this that taking a dark and brooding character and lightening up the mood would be just what the doctor ordered.

The Flash:



I haven't read anything from DC since the whole New 52 Reboot. Its not that I don't plan to but these days with my limited space and not to mention the fact that they don't cost as much, trades are the way to go for me. The relaunch was the perfect time for me to stop buying DC and start picking up the trades. Before the reboot however The Flash was on the top of my pile every week that it came out since it was being better then it had been in years, not to mention looking incredible.

Jonah Hex:


Much like The Flash Jonah Hex was another DC book that I was loving this year before the reboot. Jonah Hex was pretty much a one and done every single issue, you didn't need to read every issue to know what was going on you could pick up any issue at any time and get right into it and if you did pick up a issue I defy you to not be hooked by the pure bad ass that is Jonah Hex, one book would be all it would take.

Moon Knight:



I have always been a fan of this character but he one that's hard to write, basically the guy is a nut case and its pretty hard to write a nut case who is supposed to be the hero of the book as opposed to a villain who would be gone after a few issues. So far Brian Michael Bendis has been able to keep Moon Knight great and has been succeeding where others have failed. Hopefully this keeps up.

Those are the favorite comics of mine that pop into mind off the top of my head, sure I read a lot more then those this year, all Avengers books and Green Lantern books for example. I also read these books that didn't light my world on fire.

Flashpoint:


Flashpoint was DCs big event book of the year that would lead the way into the new DC reboot. I read the whole thing and it had its moments but for the most part it left me flat. Flashpoint felt like a chore to read after a while for me while I was actually having more fun with some of the other Flashpoint books instead like Emperor Aquaman and Citizen Cold.

Captain America:



Captain America had a pretty solid run there for a very long time starting when Brubaker took over the series and did the unthinkable by bringing Bucky back from the dead as The Winter Solider and then blew the book into heights that Captain America hadn't seen in years with The Death of Captain America and having Bucky take up the mantle. It seemed like he could do no wrong but after Steve Rogers came back from the dead it seemed like the book went on auto pilot as we all waited for Rogers to reassume the role of Captain America while the book seemingly did the impossible by both having Bucky-Cap being super awesome the entire time while the book itself got stale and boring. I still don't understand how that works.

Fear Itself:



This is unquestionably the biggest disappointment of the year for me. Marvels big event books have slowly gotten more and more tedious over the years since the massive hit that was Civil War each usually a little worse then the one before it but this one was just awful. I couldn't get into it from day one and have no idea why I punished myself by continuing to read this mess.



So what do you think of my picks? Agree? Disagree? Comment below and let me know as well as telling me what your favorite comics of the year are.