10 Best Modern Age Marvel #1 Comics

4. New Avengers #1

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Marvel Comics

By the early 2000s Marvel's flagship title, The Avengers, was in trouble. Kurt Busiek had finished a legendary run which was a love letter to everything the team had been. The problem was fans didn't want to read about those characters anymore.

The line-up at the time was Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and a bunch of lesser-known heroes that whoever was writing the book favoured. These Avengers were not the core around which Marvel could build its universe - it was just another title lost in the monthly shuffle. Enter Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch with a plan to change people’s perception of the team.

New Avengers would remove the deadwood and give fans a line-up of Marvel's most popular heroes. Along with stalwarts like Cap and Iron Man, fan favourites like Wolverine and Spider-Man would join the team.

Armed with an all-star line-up both on the page and behind the scenes, the first issue set loose most of the villains in the MCU, laid the groundwork for several long-running story arcs and told readers this is THE Marvel book now.

Contributor
Contributor

Kevin McHugh is a code-monkey by day and a purveyor of the unpleasant by night. Having had several comics published by Future Quake Press he is now moving into prose. An avid fan of punk rock, cheap horror movies and even cheaper fast-food Kevin can be found pontificating either on Twitter or over at WhatCulture Comics where he is a regular contributor. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife and two daughters.