Carole

Assassin’s Creed Comics Reading Order

by Carole
April 16, 2025

First conceived as an entry in the Prince of Persia series, Assassin’s Creed is now one of the biggest video game franchises that includes thirteen mainline and several spin-offs that also spanned novels, audio drama, comic books, encyclopedias, board games, and a live-action film.

Created by Patrice Desilets and published by Ubisoft, Assassin’s Creed is a mix between historical fiction, conspiracy thriller and sci-fi. It takes place across various periods and revolves around the secret war fought for centuries between The Templar Order, who wish for mankind to be united in peace under their control, and the Assassin Brotherhood, who believe in flawed humanity and fight to maintain the freedom of all humanity.

The Assassin’s Creed video game franchise is famous for telling its stories across two timelines. Most of the game takes place in the historical timeline where players control an Assassin. The Present-day timeline serves as a framing story, tying everything together, showing how past events influence the present and future.

This format is often respected in the Assassin’s Creed comic books. For this reason, this reading guide doesn’t follow a chronological order or a publication order. Instead, the comics have been organized based on storylines, key characters, or specific game tie-ins.

Comic Book News of The Week: The first biography of Robert Crumb and More!

by Carole
April 12, 2025

What’s going on in the Comic Book World? Life can be pretty busy, so we highlight recent news and articles that may catch your interest in our fourth edition of Comic Book News.

This month sees the release of Crumb: A Cartoonist’s Life, a biography by Dan Nadel, a curator and writer specializing in comics and art who “shares how this complicated artist survived childhood abuse, fame in his twenties, more fame, and came out the other side intact.”

If you are not familiar with Robert Crumb, here is a short introduction by publisher Scribner: “Robert Crumb is often credited with single-handedly transforming the comics medium into a place for adult expression, in the process pioneering the underground comic book industry, and transforming the vernacular language of 20th-century America into an instantly recognizable and popular aesthetic, as iconic as Walt Disney or Charles Schulz.”

Chris Vognar at the Los Angeles Times wrote about the book:

Generously illustrated with work from throughout Crumb’s career, “Crumb” is an artist biography that astutely connects the work to the life story without forcing or simplifying anything. It works as cultural history and criticism; you won’t find a sharper analysis of the underground comix movement. Nadel honors the complexity of his subject, even, perhaps particularly, when it gets ugly.

Maxwell Lord: The Comic Book History of a Master Manipulator

by Carole
April 11, 2025

« Lord was always sort of a nebulous, self-serving hard ass » said Keith Giffen (RIP) in a CBR interview twenty years ago. He’s talking about Maxwell Lord, power broker, master manipulator, cyborg for a time, spy and full-blown villain.

The Maxwell Lord appearing in the pages of DC Comics today is not the same man readers encountered when he made his first appearance almost 40 years ago in Justice League #1 (May 1987). His origins were rewritten post-Flashpoint to better align with his modern characterization. Once an amoral power broker, Lord has since become a more straightforward villain.

With a new version of Maxwell Lord set to appear in the upcoming Superman movie this summer, we take a look back at Maxwell Lord’s history, and how the character has changed over time.

Mystique Reading Order (X-Men)

by Carole
April 7, 2025

Some mutants are older than they look. We all know that Wolverine‘s healing factor slowed down the effects of aging granting him an extended lifespan. But he is not the only Marvel mutant to have quite a long life. This is also the case of the mysterious and dangerous Mystique.

Mostly known as Raven Darkhölme, Mystique has hidden behind many aliases, such as Sherlock Holmes, Foxx, Surge, Raven Wagner, and more. Her true identity is still a mystery, despite having made her first appearance in Ms. Marvel #16 (January 1978), more than 47 years ago.

This unknown past fit quite well with the shapeshifting mutant terrorist who found her way to the Marvel Comics page by accident. Artist Dave Cockrum simply drew a beautiful woman who was colored by Paty Greer (the future Mrs. Cockrum) and Marvel colorist Andy Yanchus. When Claremont saw the design, he asked for information about her and if he could use her. He came up with the name Mystique and included her in Ms. Marvel.

What to Read This Month: The Best Comics of April 2025

by Carole
April 1, 2025

Last month, we launched our new column, helping you navigate the overwhelming number of collected editions released each month. Between Marvel or DC Omnibus, the Epic Collection, DC Finest, Compact editions, and everything else publishers put out, there’s always way there’s always more to discover!

That’s why we’re back with a selection of notable releases for April, highlighting some great stories from members of the Batfamily, sci-fi stories, and an ecological tale.

Without further ado, here are our picks for April!

Comic Book News of The Week #3: A New History of the DC Universe and More!

by Carole
March 28, 2025

What’s going on in the Comic Book World? Life can be pretty busy, so we highlight recent news and articles that may catch your interest!

Lost in the DC Universe Continuity? Mark Waid and a team of artists will make it easier to understand soon with New History of the DC Universe, a four-issue series that will align all of DC’s continuity over the past 90 years through the eyes of Barry “The Flash” Allen.

“This is my dream project,” said series writer Waid. “It’s a chance to realign all of DC’s sprawling continuity into one master timeline, and to be joined by some of comics’ greatest artists to make it shine. With new information for even longtime fans, plus Easter eggs galore, this series will be an essential read for DC fans.”

The debut issue features art by Jerry Ordway and Todd Nauck, who join Waid in chronicling Barry Allen’s journey from the birth of the DC Universe to the rise of the Justice Society and the Golden Age of Heroes.

“I’m having an absolute blast with this project,” said co-artist Nauck. “Mark has come up with something cool for me to draw on every page, and it’s been an honor to share art chores with a comics legend like Jerry Ordway. The DC editorial team has coordinated a wealth of deep-dive references for me to draw from, and I’m learning new aspects of DC history I hadn’t known before—and I’ve been reading DC comics for decades!”

“As one of the artists who was part of Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 1980’s, added co-artist Jerry Ordway, I am thrilled to be involved in telling the story of this newest DC Universe with Mark and Todd.”

45 World War II Comics and Graphic Novels to read

by Carole
March 24, 2025

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Armistice of the Second World War. Considered the largest and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries, WWII shaped the world we live in today. Causing immense human suffering and physical destruction on an unprecedented scale, its conclusion resulted in a reshaping of the world’s political, economic, and social systems, laying the groundwork for international relations for the remainder of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century.

When it comes to our duty of memory, comics offer a unique way to revisit World War II. From historical accounts to personal experiences, they depict the war’s events, and figures, providing different perspectives on a conflict that shaped the modern world.

Today we invite you to continue exploring and discovering stories from World War II with our selection of comics, ranging from family stories transformed by war to the bloodiest battles and everything in between, exploring both intimate tales and large-scale events, capturing the trauma, sacrifice, and lasting impact of this defining moment in history.

Comic Book News of The Week: Batman Initiative and More

by Carole
March 15, 2025

What’s going on in the Comic Book World? Life can be pretty busy, so we highlight recent news and articles that may catch your interest!

Batman #1 by new Ongoing Creative Team Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez will be published in September. DC Comics has decided to create an initiative around that book to offer jumping on point in the Batman line for new readers, as Scott Snyder explains in his newsletter:

We launch Matt Fraction’s Batman with Jorge. Amazing, right?

But are you going to go in and try more Bat books? I don’t know if you will. That’s why we created an initiative around that book. We’re doing almost a mini moment of jumping on points for all those books where everybody has the new costume. Everyone is sort of beginning stories. There’s some cool new books coming out. So that group of books as a moment where you can explore all of them at once, the way you can explore the Energon Universe. So to my mind, what this is saying structurally, the success of the Absolute and Ultimate Universes and the Energon Universe and Ghost Machine and a lot of these things happening right now, the Massive-Verse that

and his co-creators are doing so well, is that people want to feel like they’re getting in on something that is kind of a moment. It feels tectonic. It feels seismic. It feels inviting. It feels like you can lose yourself in it. And it’s a bunch of books that are all speaking the same language. And you have all of a sudden this whole thing to explore, this whole landscape to explore.

Life is Strange Comics Reading Order

by Carole
March 12, 2025

While the world of comic books has inspired many video games, such as Batman: Arkham, The Wolf Among Us, Midnight Suns, and more recently Marvel Rivals, many comics have also spun out of video games. Sonic the Hedgehog, Tomb Raider, Assassin’s Creed, and the subject of today’s article, Life is Strange, are among them.

Created by Dontnod Entertainment, Life is Strange is an episodic adventure game following Maxine ‘Max’ Caulfield, an 18-year-old photography senior who discovers she can rewind time and change the course of events. Back in her hometown of Arcadia Bay after a five-year absence, Max reconnects with her old friend Chloe Price, and the two women start to track down Rachel Amber, Chloe’s missing friend. Their investigation exposes them to the darker side of Arcadia Bay. Meanwhile, Chloe and Max attempt to understand the consequences of Max’s new power, driven by Max’s frequent visions of a tornado destroying the town in four days.

Released in 2015, the Life is Strange video game found critical and commercial success and marked the beginning of a franchise that includes multiple video games, a comic book series, and other books. Today, we are exploring this universe—a guide to the Life is Strange franchise, from the original video game to the comics and beyond.

The Best of Jubilee Comics, Your Recommended Reading Order (X-Men)

by Carole
March 10, 2025

Being part of the mutantkind comes with a different set of powers. Some people have telekinesis or pyrokinesis—and plenty of other -kinesis. Others can shoot energy from their eyes, control a planet’s magnetic field, or heal from any injury.

If your name is Jubilation Lee, you’re most known for your “fireworks”! While some people have called Jubilee’s powers one of the lamest, that didn’t stop her from becoming popular, especially in the nineties. And since it’s clear she can go nuclear on you, it’s safe to say you should never underestimate any power!

Created by Chris Claremont and Marc Silvestri in 1989, Jubilee joined the X-Men and became Wolverine‘s sidekick, forming a father-daughter bond with him. Later, she joined Generation X and became a fan favorite on X-Men: The Animated Series. Over the years, Jubilee’s life took some wild turns: she had a stint in Hollywood, lost her powers, worked for a pro-mutant group, became a vampire, adopted a child, got her powers back, and even turned human again!

To discover these stories and more, you can follow our Jubilee reading order guide for the best comics to read about one of Marvel’s most popular Asian American superheroes.