As everyone knows, it’s been the big events that have dominated the comic book newswires the past twelve months or so, but once you get past all the House of Ms and Civil Wars, what I don’t think a lot of people realize is that Marvel’s been producing a number of lower profile gems on a remarkably consistent basis. Now, some of these you’ve most assuredly heard of, but have you actually read them?

1 - Planet Hulk
Probably the highest “low-profile” storyline on this list, Planet Hulk is also the best. It’s a simple idea that sprung out of the basic need to get Hulk out of the way so that Civil War could run towards it’s (theoretically) logical end - a group of Marvel’s head honchos team up in order to trick the Hulk onto a rocket ship so that he can be exiled to a supposedly friendly planet while Tony Stark, Reed Richards et al begin their world domination tour. Of course, the paradie planet is anything but, and we’ve been treated to a Hulk-as-Conan storyline that writer Greg Pak has made into the most interesting time in the Jade Giant’s life since Peter David left the book. Combine the writing with stronger than I’d expected art and amazing covers from Ladronn (which seems to have been inexplicably left off the hardcover collection’s cover) and you have the biggest surprise from Marvel in years.

This is where Wizard would insert that with World War Hulk on the horizon these issues are looking to shoot through the roof in value, but I’m just gonna say that you should absolutely get thse issues to read by any means necessary, be it at your local comic shop, downloads or, say, this fancy hardcover collection.

2 - Annihilation
Coming in a close second behind Planet Hulk is Marvel’s current (and most successful) attempt at sci-fi, Annihilation. Now, I’ve only read the first hardcover collection, but combining my enjoyment of the storylin thus far with previous positive reviews for the series of mini series and the fact that it’s been successful enough for Marvel to spin off another line of mini series for later this year, I’v no qualms about reccommending it to you. Keith Giffen’s basically taken the sensibilities of Heroes and Battlestar Galactica, mixed them together and spewed them onto the printed page creating the most enjoyable space epic I’ve ever read from Marvel.

Utilizing a number of pre-established cosmic characters from various corners of the Marvel Universe, Giffen and Co. have recast them in a more raw light, stripping away the shine that has traditionally accompanied stories populated by Nova, Quasar, etc. The result is a truly epic story that has in one fell swoop reinvigorated and opened up an aspect of the MU that has traditionally been successful only when Jim Starlin’s been on the job. The different art teams are more than up to the task, which is a welcome surprise considering that when this whole thing began, Marvel had no way of knowing if anyone was going to care one way or the other and could have very easily saddled the books with untried and untalented young talent.

As an added bonus, Giffen puts the finishing touches on his co-creation Lunatik, Marvel’s one-time answer to Giffen’s other co-creation, Lobo.

3 - Beyond
Dwayne Mcduffie’s been writing comics for a long time now, but he’s probably best known as the greatest Justice League creator to have never actually written the JLA comic. While helming the JLU cartoon, fans took notice that McDuffie was able to introduce the public to a wide variety of lesser known characters from the DCU and immediately make them interesting to viewers, many of whome had never even heard of the likes of Wildcat or Vixen before. Marvel let McDuffie do the same thing in Beyond, a mini series mixing Spider-Man and Venom with a bunch of B and C listers like the new Kraven, The Hood and Gravity.

Beyond is a sort of sequel to the original Secret Wars with the added bonus of skillful writing and some truly clever twists and surprises. Scott Kolins provides his best artwork since his Flash run, as he and McDuffie keep both the action and dialogue moving forward at an enjoyable pace. Much like the next two titles on our list, Beyond harkens back to the Marvel of the 80s with it’s blending of melodrama, humor, tragedy and, most of all, sense of fun while maintaining a throughly modern approach to it’s storytelling.

4 - She-Hulk
Of all the titles listed here, Dan slott’s reinvention of She-Hulk is probably the one you’ve heard the most about, but with good reason. The series is just ridicuilously good, and yet seems to be staying just below the radar of the majority of comic book fans today. The latest collection, which should have been a complete disaster considering it’s rather tight tie-in with the main Civil War series, is a perfect example of how talented Slott is. Not only does the reader not feel like they’re being screwed out of a chunk of the story, but Slott manages to explain and articulate She-Hulk and the rest of the Marvel Universe’s reactions to the events of Civil War better and more convincingly than Millar does in the main mini.

Better yet, despite being saddled with a forced crossover plotline, Slott still manages to maintain his own storylines and plots, introducing them, fleshing them out and bringing them to genuinely entertaining and satisfying conclusions. For longtime Marvel fans the payoffs are especially satisfying due to Slott’s blatant love of Marvel history and his ability to revisit and modernize classic characters and plot points without making them feel like fan-fic. There are 4 collections available so far, and each one is more intelligent and entertaining than the majority of Marvel’s output from the last 2-3 years.

5 - The Thing: Idol of Millions
Of all of the titles on this list, this is the one I’m most willing to concede is the weakest choice. There’s absolutely nothing groundbreaking or incredibly inventive about Dan Slott’s short-lived Thing series (unless you count Ben Grimm getting bar mitzvahed), but the simple fact of the matter is that this book is a perfect walk down memory lane for any Marvel fan in their mid-30s while still managing to be a genuinely fun story for readers of any age. The collection is a total throwback to the mid-80s MU when there was a place for some good old-fashioned superhero stories that were fun rather than overly melodramatic and world-changing. While I’m generally happy that comic books have “grown up” for lack of a better phrase, I still lament that fact that for the most part books like The Thing and She-Hulk have such a difficult time surviving in the modern marketplace. This is a series that is unlikely to be remembered too widely in another 5 years, but you can do far, far worse if you’re simply looking for the 4-color equivalent of an enjoyable night at the movies.

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