JED MACKAY’S MUST-READS
Writer Jed MacKay, (INFINITY WARS: GHOST PANTHER, MAN WITHOUT FEAR), shares his Marvel pull list! Be sure to visit Marvel Digital Comics Shop, Comixology, or Kindle to pick up Daughters of the Dragon - Marvel Digital Original, an all-new, digital-exclusive series starring Colleen Wing and Misty Knight! Start with the DOUBLE-SIZED #1 by Jed and artist Travel Foreman!
READ JED’S PICKS!
Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu
In Master of Kung Fu (1974) #17
As a formative text, MOKF stands out as the epitome of sexy and cool in a Marvel book for me. Shang-Chi, an idealist fish out of water, doesn't come across as trite or lame – he's cool. MOKF takes the over-the-top grandiose spy-fi of the 60s and 70s and filters it through the smoky lens of Kung Fu with some of the best art that's ever been in comics.
Iron Fist by Brubaker, Fraction, Aja & Hollingsworth
In The Immortal Iron Fist (2006) #1
Kind of a spiritual inheritor to MOKF, Immortal Iron Fist blindsided me when it came out – the perfect combination of martial arts violence, super-spy shenanigans and secret history, all wrapped up in a package of evocative and unmistakable art. Perhaps most importantly (to me), I think this was my first intro to the Daughters of the Dragon, who I later picked for my first Marvel job back in 2011.
Adam Warlock
In Strange Tales (1951) #178
No one does cosmic like Jim Starlin – his sci-fi vibrated with the power of fantasy, and Warlock was the greatest example. Warlock coming into conflict with the Magus and the players brought into that struggle (one in particular!), remains a masterclass of cosmic greats butting heads at a big-picture level while remaining personal. And the art! The blacks, the shadows! Read through #181 and try Warlock (1972) too!
New X-Men by Morrison, Quitely & Townsend
In New X-Men (2001) #114
When I was a kid in the 90s, the X-Men were the coolest that ever were. In 2001, New X-Men took that cool and re-examined it at the dawn of a new century. Everything about New X-Men was exciting – amazing art, big ideas, great new characters, sweeping, apocalyptic changes to the status quo, and a new view of the mutant community and their place in the world.
Maple Leaf Mavericks
In Alpha Flight (1983) #1
My first exposure to Alpha Flight was their appearance in the 1990 Marvel trading cards, and it was a light bulb moment: "Wait, there are Canadian super heroes? We can do that?" Reading Alpha Flight years later, I came to love the gang of misfits that represented my country – their adventures were always weird, they screwed up a lot, and nothing ever went easy for them. But despite all that, they were great.