It's the end of 2012 and for the second year in a row, Comic Accurate is compiling a Top 10 list! This edition will spotlight the ten teams from the funnybooks that can be built using figures from sets that came out this past year!

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For those that may have missed it, here's last year's list.

This year, the Clix landscape was a little bit different. First off, this was the first year where we saw Heroclix roll out a LOT of content that wasn't restricted to the typical Marvel and DC fare. We had movie sets for Kick-Ass 2, Pacific Rim and Lone Ranger. More Star Trek Tactics. More Lord of the Rings. Then there were the sets that are more media tie-ins than to the comics that inspired them. Stuff like mini-sets based of movies such as Man of Steel, Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World. Also the mini-sets for Batman based off the 1966 TV series and the latest video game Arkham Origins.

All this left us with the following sets used for comic based teams: Marvel had Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine and the X-Men, Fear Itself and Invincible Iron Man. While DC? All they had was Teen Titans. So when looking at this year's list, you're going to see way more Marvel than DC.

Like last year, because of how this list will shake out, we're not going to be posting any specific builds and dials. It's all about discussing certain rosters in a Golden Age format, regardless of keywords and team abilities. Now let's get this long list under way. First, with a few honorable mentions!


At the time I wrote last year's article, the Streets of Gotham set had not yet come out. So when it went live, attentive posters noticed that the Birds of Prey did not make the list. And truth be told, the ladies did get a lot of love for both the OG roster of Black Canary, Oracle and Huntress, along with the contemporary New 52 lineup. So here they are now. Sorry, gals.

The Justice League make the honorable mentions this time around because while we got the exact same lineup in the Teen Titans set that appeared the year prior in the JLA New 52 one, this time they were a part of the controversial team dial. The 600 point monster that could mow its way through darn near anything that wasn't specifically designed to take down team dials. In contrast, the Gen13 team dial wasn't as vicious, but it was really nice to see one of those 90's Image teams make its way into Heroclix in a complete group. But in terms of stuff from the comics, their inclusion ended up being sort of insular. Outside of playing Gen13, there's not much to do with them. No other groups to pair them up with aside of the few crossovers they had with titles from other companies. While Gen13's problem is even worse for a team like the Ravagers. If you formed that team from the Titans set or the fast forces pack, that was it. Not a lot of room for branching out since the series didn't last long and made zero impact.

Okay, now for the main list...

When the characters from Marvel's horror books were announced to be a subset in Amazing Spider-Man, there was a cry of joy from fans. Even better was when the set came out and we saw how many of those characters got made: A lot. Ranging from in demand characters like Jack Russell, Werewolf by Night to lesser-knowns like Manphibian. And thanks to the diversity of that, we can make a wide variety of monster teams. The Midnight Sons roster from Marvel Zombies 4? Check. The Howling Commandos from a recent episode of Ultimate Spider-Man? Check. Nightstalkers, the monsters that (re-)assembled FrankenCastle and the original Midnight Sons? Check, check and check. Multiple options from a highly demanded and wonderfully diverse subset. However, there is one standout in this crowd that deserved his own place on this list we'll discuss later.

We've been fairly lucky that a lot of modern day lineups of the Teen Titans are buildable in HeroClix. Okay, maybe save for ones with Bombshell, but for the most part we can build a variety of contemporary Titans rosters. But as the book transitioned into the status quo of the New 52, three new characters were introduced: Solstice (who really debuted prior to the New 52 reboot), Skitter and Bunker. All three were included in the Teen Titans set along with new versions of the rest of the team. And not a bad lineup in terms of a variety of powers.

After playing in tournament event series like the Infinity Gauntlet and No Man's Land, I could not have anticipated how different it felt when playing the pieces in the Fear Itself boosters. In an exclusive set available only in the tournaments, players could pull members of the factions of The Mighty (the good guys) or The Worthy (the bad guys). Both factions being completely represented in terms of characters, if not in points. Seriously, the gap in points between The Worthy and the Mighty is crazy huge. And both teams are wildly tough in terms of their offenses, even moreso when we pile those hammers, the Book of the Skull and even the ATA's on them.

It used to be that if you were running a Starjammers team, you were looking at an uphill battle. Corsair and Hepzibah alone were just begging to be turned to their KO clicks. Now, while that hasn't really changed for the original roster since neither of those two got remade, the same can't be said for the incarnation that came later. When Ed Brubaker shook the roster up during the "Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire" storyline to include Havok, Polaris, Rachel Grey/Summers, Korvus and original member Ch'od. We got strong remakes of three of them and an all-new character for another in the Wolverine and the X-Men set. Now you can play a roster of Starjammers and not have to just count down how many turns it'll be until your team gets wiped out. Now you can put up a real fight!

Playing the varying groups of Spider-Man's greatest enemies has never been that difficult over the years in this game, but for a few years now, the Sinister Six has been a little bit wanting. Now this isn't an instance of a team missing a character that hasn't been clixed yet, but rather we're just way overdue on playable versions of members of the team. Namely Rhino, Electro, Lizard, Kraven, Hobgoblin and Vulture. The Amazing Spider-Man set gave us those needed remakes and when coupled with some figures from the Web of Spider-Man set, we can play a lot of solid versions of the Sinister Six that get stronger with the ATA. Whether you're looking at lineups from the comics or varying cartoons, you should be able to get a fairly strong team comprised of range and close combat fighters with some decent support. Only disadvantage is that to capitalize on the TA and sharing attack values, you've got to keep the chain together.

FINALLY. That's the word I'd have used to express my feelings about being able to play the original lineups of the Masters of Evil after all this time. to have the Avengers' greatest enemies slowly trickling out set over set was so unbelievably frustrating. But here we are now, and Melter was worth the wait. Finally the original Masters can be played: Heinrich, Melter, Radioactive Man and the original Black Knight (along with the variations on the lineups that followed). And as if this wasn't enough, the Iron Man set gave us remakes of longtime MoE members The Wrecking Crew. Complete with rookie point levels to make them affordable, since one of the drawbacks of a Masters team is the high cost of the characters.

The first of two teams on this list to have been penned by Peter David, Young Justice appearing as a subtheme in the Teen Titans set was not entirely expected. DC sets lately tend to focus more on contemporary characters, and the closest tie-in was a cartoon with largely unrelated characters which had gotten cancelled prior to the set's release. But we got them anyway! And not just characters to fill out the very first lineup as they appeared like Secret and a remade Red Tornado. We got dark horse lesser known characters like Arrowette, Empress, L'il Lobo, Slobo and a surprising inclusion of a Ray remake! Just enough to make you dig out all those back issues and start building the team. Though the biggest hurdle you'll have with a YJ lineup will be the mediocre attack values and an ATA that basically prolongs the inevitable.

The second of our PAD teams is a lot stronger than Young Justice. Featured as a subtheme in Wolverine and the X-Men, X-Factor got some love in the form of remakes of all its members during their goverment agent run: Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, Madrox and Wolfsbane and Quicksilver as part of seperate team dials. Then there's the roster from the 2005 team: The aforementioned Strong Guy, Madrox and Wolfsbane along with highly demanded characters like Layla Miller, M and Rictor plus the remakes of Shatterstar and Longshot. The beauty there is while we're still waiting on the likely ATA, X-characters have always been moderately priced for great dials worth of powers. The only question to ask when you're playing X-Factor is: How many Madrii are you going to add on?

In the past, there would be times where I'd run and Alpha Flight team (or a team utilizing characters from Alpha Flight) and more often than not, they would not fare all that well. Sure back then, they had a terrific free ATA and long dials, but over time, their defenses never held up. Along comes Invincible Iron Man and that's all changed. It's all aboot high attack values. You play the Flight with Guardian from the main set and your force has a +1 to attack. Pay for the ATA now? Another +1 to attack. The gravity feed of Northstar and Aurora. A Shaman that can shut down the flight ability and Perplex. Outwit on Sasquatch. A Snowbird that isn't insanely overpriced and worthless? Alpha Flight got so good, that you take off and can play the team as they debuted in Uncanny X-Men #120, put them up against the roster of the X-Men that appeared in that same issue for the same points and you will send those Mutants scrambling for that sweet Canadian socialized health care. Even better, the remakes of certain AF members like Northstar and Puck make for some stronger builds of lineups like Austen's X-Men and the current Uncanny X-Force respectively. It's the best thing to come out of the Great White North since the mint Aero bar.

I know, it's kind of unsual for a single character to make the list of top teams from comics for the year, to say nothing of topping it. But this one piece from the horror/mystical/monster character subtheme in Amazing Spider-Man is such a standout. He's such an incredibly solid figure that it's no surprise he saw a lot of competitive play this year. Great attack and damage values; High speed and terrific movement powers; Mystics TA; Indomitable; Exploit weakness; Powers that let him dish out damage without having to roll a single attack. Even if he comes in via Johnny Blaze's alter ego mechanic, he's still a good piece. It's that superiority that also helps make a lot of the teams he was a member of phenomenally better. The Champions, The Midnight Sons, The Supernaturals, Heroes For Hire and even a Defender for a day (back in issue #96). Heck, play him with Heimdall from the Avengers or Thor movie sets and reenact "Spirit of Vengeance". This guy is a tentpole and one that makes for some nifty comic teams in addition to typically competitve ones.

Well, that's it for our look at 2013's top teams (and character). We'll be back in January with a spotlight on a well-known archer. Have a safe and happy new year!

you nailed it! excellent write up.

p.s. everyone at my venue was pretty excited for the new full roster of the wrecking crew (including Titania) this year

great write up. You reminded me that I still want to play the X-Factor, Sinister Six and Champions line ups.

I am going to try to bust at least one out this month.

Also you get some rep for the Ditko cover

Yes Alpha Flight made #2! I have to admit I was nervous during the first few alpha reveals as the figures were low pointed and hardly effective. When ALL of them were released that's when their potential started to show. They are the epitome of a synergetic team. They each help each other out from guardian carrying two members all the way to pucks empower clicks, this team was designed to be played together. Rip the guardian sculpt off the main set and glue the old heather Hudson unique sculpt on then play the gravity feed guardian to watch a wicked married couple defend each other. One of the best aspects of these figures is they don't leave the older figures behind in the dust! Namely Box from mutations and monsters benefits the most. His attack values are now tripled with guardians trait, the ATA and his own perplex. Box can devour an object then heal two clicks....lo and behold Shaman has a new ability to pump out light objects thus making the box figure even MORE effective! I recently played the new figures and watched as snowbird and prime sasquatch destroyed a convention exclusive Giant man colossal....such a good team. Thanks for the write up!

This was a good year for comic accurate play! Here are some thoughts to expand the list:

X-Factor

The article focused on the later runs, but I feel that the original lineup (with the semi-evolved original X-Men) has become incredibly playable thanks to the remakes of (single figure) Jean Grey and the teambase versions of Iceman and Beast. The only weak point IMO is the pre-Archangel version of Warren Worthington, but I have hope that the upcoming single-figure X-Men: Days of Future Past set will provide an awesome version with a power set for that era.

Spider-Man (Family)

I've been catching up on the Dan Slott run (and the lead-ins), and so its nice to see how several of the figures in the ASM set fit into the scheme of comic-accurate play. There are no particular game-changers (except possibly the ATA) but I appreciate having these figures to build comic-accurate teams.

I have very mixed feelings about Chase mini-sets. I like that figures like Prime's Titans and Amazing Spider-Man variants, the Phoenix Five and even Awesome Prime figures exist because it is a mechanism to squeeze extra flavor-full figures into a set...but trying to collect them to play them is a terrible pain in the wallet/tuckus.

Ghost Rider and Heimdall? Spirit of Vengeance? What issue was that?

I'd've personally bumped MoE a littler higher on the list and maybe left of Ghost Rider as a solo act, but really that's just nitpicking. It was a great year for Marvel, and I hope that SLoSH/WoL brings us the same love for DC in 2014!

did you say reenact "Spirit of Vengeance" i hope your joking i dont want to make my ghost rider stare at people for 5 mins or spin the bottle or walk around autistic around i hate autistic ghost rider i hate that 2nd movie

Strangely, I never played a single Mighty or Worthy figure in any FI event. The other pieces were just so much better for their points. #8 should be non Mighty and Worthy teams.

I've only been playing Heroclix for about two years, and was staunchly a DC player as I'm just burned out on the Avengers/X-Men/Spiderman focus by Marvel.

This year changed all that for me and made me a Marvel player. Alpha Flight, Wrecking Crew, MoE (IIM and Chaos War figures) and Sinister Six! I've been having a blast playing these teams.

Agreed.

Great Article.

Midnight Sons is my top list, and I'm incredibly happy with the flushing out that they very much needed, and received in ASM.

To me, the Shi'Ar deserve more mention that Ravagers but that's my two cents. Not talking about the TB itself, just very happy we got the members...and amen to a new Wrecking Crew for that matter!

Very happy to have Ghost Rider help a Marvel Knights team, even tho no key word , when it's allowed at venue. Also on the LoM teams !! The WRECKING CREW.... specially being playable, as compared to the overpriced ones beforehand!!!! OH YEAH!!!!

Great review for those mentionned.

I thought for sure the Shi'ar would be there, somewhere on top, though.