This has been less than ten years since Duke Thomas made his debut in the DC Universe. Created by writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo during their already classic run on Batman, Duke first appeared in Batman (vol. 2) #21, as an unnamed character, then he made his real entry in Batman (vol. 2) #30 as Duke Thomas.
Raised in the Gotham Narrows by his mother Elaine, a social worker, and Doug Thomas, a humble construction worker, Duke had an ordinary childhood. He was then unaware of who his biological father was (a villain named Gnomon) and that he was a metahuman and had powers.
Anyways, no one in Gotham can claim to have an ordinary life too long. Like so many Gothamites, Duke’s life was changed by the Joker during the events of Endgame with the disappearance of his parents. He was placed into the foster system and soon after, became the leader of a youth movement inspired by Robin.
Duke’s parents were later found, but permanently jokerized. Following this discovery, Bruce officially took Duke under his wings to make him his latest ward and partner-in-crime-fighting. He officially became The Signal in Batman and The Signal #1 (March 2018). He also joined the Outsiders, under Black Lightning’s supervision. You can’t miss him in the streets of Gotham with his yellow armor!
Long before Neil Gaiman introduced his version of the Sandman in the DC Universe, another Sandman haunted the pages of comic books. For a long time, I mean 60 years. The original Sandman was one of the first “superheroes,” a DC Golden Age superhero.
Really, this Sandman was more of a pulp hero. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Bert Christman for Adventure Comics #40—but he appeared a bit earlier in the New York World’s Fair Comics #1 (April 1939), a book published on the occasion of the 1939 World’s Fair—, The Sandman was one of the one original mystery men, a vigilante wearing a green business suit, a fedora, and a World War I gas mask, who used a gun emitting a sleeping gas to incapacitate criminals.
Not to be confused with the X-Men, The Inhumans are another group of Marvel Superpower beings created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. The difference resides in the way each group comes into their meta-human abilities. To put it simply (as nothing is really that simple in the comic book world), Mutants are a group of people possessing the X-Gene that generally comes into their powers during puberty. Inhumans are the result of a Kree science experiment and only get their powers if they are exposed to Terrigen Mist and undergo a transformation called Terrigenesis. Inhumans were created with a purpose, as weapons to assist the Kree in their war against the Skrulls.
So what is Terrigen Mist, you ask? Well, this Mist is produced when Terrigen Crystals, a rare mineral created by the Kree, are exposed to water at a specific temperature. So when an Inhuman inhales the Mist, it activates the Inhuman gene and he becomes a meta-human.
Inhumans also differentiate themselves by usually being a close-knit society preferring to trust no one but its own people. Living in isolation, they are ruled by the Royal Family and the Genetic Council. They even had their own kingdom on the moon before humanity learns of their existence.
The most famous Inhumans out there are part of the Royal Family. Black Blot is the king of the Inhumans and has a destructive hypersonic voice whose slightest whisper will release his power. For this reason, he remains silent. He is married to Medusa, Queen of the Inhumans, which has prehensile hair. Crystal, Medusa’s sister, can manipulate the elements, and Maximus, Black Bolt’s brother has the ability of mind-control and thirst for power.
There are also Gorgon with legs that can create massive shockwaves; Karnak, a martial art artist, priest and philosopher to the Inhumans who chose to never be exposed to the Terrigen Mist; Triton, who can breathe underwater; Good ol’ boy Lockjaw, a bulldog that can teleport; and more…
More recently, the NuHumans, or Inhumans Hybrids, were introduced, and with this new tribe came a lot of new characters like Daisy Johnson, Kamala Khan, Lunella Lafayette.
Introduced in Fantastic Four #45 in december 1965, The Inhumans have more than 50 years of history, where their complex origins, their relationships and their place in the Marvel Universe have been explored. Now is the time to jump into the Inhumans Reading order to know what to read!
Created by writer Arnold Drake and artist Carmine Infantino for DC Comics in the pages of Strange Adventures #205 (October 1967), Deadman was a tough sell at first as the Comics Code Authority frightened the editor into staying away from potential horror material. After all, Deadman is a ghost.
It’s a bit more complicated than that as the late 1960s saw an interest in the mystic growing in America. Drake was interested to use the Zen movement, Hare Krishna, and things like that in a story to explore the “notion of a being that was neither living nor dead.”
The story begins when Boston Brand, a circus trapeze artist who performed under the name Deadman, is shot dead during a performance by the mysterious murderer known as the Hook. Brand didn’t really die as a Hindu god named “Rama Kushna” gave his spirit the power to possess any living being in order to find his killer.
Even if Arnold Drake left the title after two issues over creative differences, Deadman continued his search—and found the truth. After that, when Neal Adams took over the series, Deadman got a new mission: to establish a balance between Good and Evil. Nevertheless, Strange Adventures was canceled soon after.
Deadman became a recurring supporting character in the DC Universe. In the mid-1980s, he finally got a new series, but it was a short one. It also was not the last one as the character continued to appear in limited series as well as a guest star in other titles. He became part of the mystical part of the DC Universe, which led him to the Justice League Dark (during the New 52 era and beyond).
Namor the Sub-Mariner is one of the first Marvel characters, even sometimes considered the very first original Marvel character. He was created by writer-artist Bill Everett for the comic Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1. The title was never released and Namor made his real first appearance in Marvel Comics #1 (October 1939), next to the Human Torch. At the time, he was one of the most popular characters of Timely Comics (Marvel’s predecessor) along with the Human Torch and Captain America.
Though Namor is not as popular today as he was in the Golden Age era of comics, the character remained a historically important figure and still a popular character, with a history spanning over 80 years of publication.
Also known as the Sub-Mariner, Namor McKenzie is the mutant son of a human sea captain and an Atlantean princess. As the current king of Atlantis, he will do anything to protect his people. For this reason, Namor can be a villain, a hero, or an antihero, depending on the circumstances, for the surface dwellers. He’s almost always a hero for the people of Atlantis.
Namor is also a very powerful character, with Superhuman strength, speed, durability, agility, senses, and reflexes. He can breathe underwater like all Atlanteans and can communicate and command sea life. He possesses vestigial “wings” on both of his ankles which permits him to fly, he is capable of manipulating the weather like Storm and much more. With all these powers comes a quite volatile and arrogant personality!
He is now played by Tenoch Huerta in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making his live-action debut in Black: Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Let’s dive into the Sub-Mariner’s history with this Namor Reading Order!
Marvel introduced a western character named Ghost Rider in 1967, but he is now known as the Phantom Rider. The Ghost Rider we are talking about here made his burning entrance in 1972 in Marvel Spotlight #5 and was created by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, and Mike Ploog.
The original idea behind Ghost Rider came from Gary Friedrich as he developed a villain to be used in the page of Daredevil. Intrigued, Roy Thomas decided that the character should have his own series. He even suggested that the costume should be inspired by one Elvis wore in his comeback special in 1968. Mike Ploog took their concept and designed the biker, introducing the head on fire just because he thought it looked cool.
There is more than one Ghost Rider. The first was Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcyclist who gave his soul to Mephisto to save his adopted father’s life. After that, he discovers that he was bonded with the demon Zarathos. Now, he is forced to punish the wicked and evil as the Ghost Rider, a violent biker with a flaming head. Though, he only transformed when he is in the presence of evil.
At the beginning of the 1990s, Marvel introduced a new Ghost Rider, the young Danny Ketch. In 2014, it was the turn of Robbie Reyes, a Mexican-American resident of East Los Angeles, who’s not a biker. His ride is a muscle car.
Others became temporarily Ghost Riders, and the mythology behind the characters, as well as its history, evolved through the years. As the host or the ride changed, the Ghost Rider’s abilities also changed. Every rider is different, but the fight against Evil never stops.
The Huntress is a DC Character considered part of the Bat-family. But there is also more than one Huntress in the DC Universe, though the one that interests us today is one of the most famous women to bear the name: Helena Bertinelli. She was also the last one to date to become the Huntress…
Way before Helena Bertinelli made her debut, Huntress was a recurring villainess with no name from the Golden Age. Created in the pages of Sensation Comics #68 by artist Mort Meskin and an unnamed writer in 1947, she was retconned in the Bronze Age by writer Roy Thomas.
He gave her the name Paula Brooks and built her a real backstory in Young All-Stars, a title set in DC’s Golden Age. Over the course of the series, Thomas recounted Paula’s transformation, from the superheroine to the villainess named Huntress.
During her short stint, Paula stayed an obscure character. It was a certain Helena Wayne who popularized the name Huntress during the Bronze Age. Created by Paul Levitz and Joe Staton, she made her debut in DC Super Stars #17 (1977).
The daughter of Batman and Catwoman from Earth-2, Helena became a vigilante to avenge her mother’s death and choose the code name The Huntress when she decided to continue to fight crime. Later, Helena found herself fighting against Paula Brooks and winning the right to the name Huntress in All-Star Comics #72.
She bore the name until the destruction of the DC Universe in Crisis of Infinite Earths.
Following the reboot, Helena Wayne died and her family never existed. In this new continuity, Helena Bertinelli is introduced as the Huntress.
Created by Joey Cavalieri and Joe Staton, Bertinelli was conceived at first as a new interpretation of Helena Wayne. Making her debut in The Huntress #1 in 1989, this Helena has no link with Batman/Catwoman, but was born in one of the most powerful mafia families. She became a ruthless vigilante, ready to do justice by any means necessary. It puts her at odds with Batman, and she was for a long time the black sheep in the Bat-family, before Jason Todd/Red Hood was attributed that role. Her origins have been rewritten more than once, and she became the third member of the team Birds of Prey.
She was also recently played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead in the 2020’s film Birds of Prey.
To avoid confusion with Helena Wayne, what follows is a comprehensive reading order for Helena Bertinelli.
Marvel Comics supervillain Thanos made his first appearance in The Invincible Iron Man #55 (February 1973) and was created by writer-artist Jim Starlin who was then inspired by Jack Kirby’s work on DC’s New Gods. He was Marvel’s response to Darkseid (following the direction given by Roy Thomas), but he and Drax the Destroyer were inspired by Starlin’s psych classes in college.
Thanos is from Titan, Saturn’s moon, and is the son of Eternals A’lars and Sui-San. After falling in love with the physical embodiment of Mistress Death, Thanos finally became the nihilist murderous monster the universe would fear. He killed millions on Titan, but it was just the beginning. To do more, he started seeking universal power in the form of the Cosmic Cube.
His quest for powers led to the creation of his enemy Drax the Destroyer, to a confrontation with Captain Marvel and more superheroes. But his story ended… for a time. His was indeed resurrected in the 1990s when Jim Starlin launched his Infinity Saga, a classic Marvel tale of epic proportions. Thanos resumed his quest to find the Infinity Gems.
After that, Thanos became a constant menace, concocting evil plans that he always justified in a way that only make sense to him. Even defeated, he always comes back.
For a few short years during the 1970s, Jack Kirby joined DC Comics and introduced revolutionary ideas that are still affecting the DCU to this day–he was not the king of comics for no reason.
His major DC work was what is called “The Fourth World,” a series of interconnected series based around a new mythology surrounding The New Gods–find more about it in our Fourth World Reading Order. Kirby mostly developed it we three titles: New Gods, The Forever People, and Mister Miracle. The last one is the heart of our article today.
Introduced in Mister Miracle #1 (April 1971), Scott Free is the son of the sage Highfather, ruler of New Genesis, the positive counterpart to the hellish planet Apokolips ruled by Darkseid. To stop the war between the two planets, heirs were exchanged. That’s why Scott grew up in one of Granny Goodness’ “Terror Orphanages” with no knowledge of his own heritage–he still rebelled against the corrupt and violent ideology of Apokolips.
Scott joined the Resistance where he met Big Barda who would later become his wife. He also finally found an exit and fled to Earth where met circus escape artist Thaddeus Brown–whose stage name was Mister Miracle. After Thaddeus was killed, Scott took over his stage identity and became an escape artist, with the help of his assistant and friend, a dwarf named Oberon.
Of course, the war against Darkseid had not ended and, joined by Big Barda, Scott Free kept fighting. He became a hero, and eventually joined the Justice League. He died at some point, like the other New Gods, and was later resurrected too.
With issue #15 (May 1962), the anthology comic book Amazing Adult Fantasy was renamed Amazing Fantasy, because teenagers were not comfortable buying a book with “Adult” in the title. It was a good choice as this issue was introducing “The Spiderman,” a teenage superhero created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko who was destined to become the headliner of the book, but the Amazing Fantasy comics was canceled. As you know, Spider-Man (the hyphen was added soon after) became an instant hit and, a few months later, got his own comic book series.
The story starts with Peter Parker, a geeky high school student from Queens, New York, and an orphan who was living with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. After being bitten by a radioactive spider at a science exhibit, Peter acquires the agility and proportionate strength of an arachnid! At first, he decided to use his heightened athletic abilities to make money as a wrestler on television. But when the thief he chose not to stop ended up being responsible for the death of his Uncle Ben, Peter learned a hurtful lesson: “With great power there must also come—great responsibility!”
From that point on, Peter Parker fought criminals, with or without superpowers. But he also struggles to help his widowed aunt pay the rent and to study at the same time. He started working as a photographer for the Daily Bugle, selling pictures of Spider-Man to its loudest opposition, newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson. It was difficult, but he kept on going, joining Empire State University where he met his new roommate and best friend Harry Osborn, and girlfriend Gwen Stacy—also, his aunt soon introduced him to the beautiful Mary Jane Watson.
Peter’s life is punctuated by tragedies as he fights his enemies like the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, the Sinister Six, and a lot more. He lost friends and lovers (but gained new ones along the way). Aunt May had a lot of health issues, as well as money problems. The Marvel Universe expanded and Spider-Man had to fight cosmic entities, insect and animal-themed villains. He sometimes worked with the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers, and he teamed up with almost everybody.
With J. Jonah Jameson telling his readers that Spider-Man was a menace, Peter Parker is as much loved and hated by the public, but Marvel Comics certainly loves him as he became the most popular superhero at the company.
Spider-Man doesn’t really need an introduction. He is the most recognizable comic book hero next to Batman and one of the most popular characters in all fiction. He is the star of movies, TV shows, video games, and even a Broadway show… His face is on lunch boxes, pens, and every other thing you can put it on.
Today, we are only talking about comic books though, and there are a lot of them. We already covered the biggest part of the last thirty years in previous articles, but we are going back to the beginning.
