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Stephanie Brown Reading Order (Spoiler, Robin, Batgirl)

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Stephanie Brown Reading Order (Spoiler, Robin IV, Batgirl III)

Created by Chuck Dixon and Tom Lyle as a plot device in Detective Comics #647–649, Stephanie Brown is a DC superheroine considered part of the Batfamily. She is first introduced as the vigilante Spoiler, had a brief stint as Robin, and has also taken the mantle of Batgirl.

Pre-New 52, Stephanie Brown had a difficult life, one with some similarities with Jason Todd. Her mother was an addict and her father was the third-rate villain Cluemaster. It was in order to stop him that Stephanie Brown became the vigilante named Spoiler (as she was trying to ‘spoil’ things for her abusive father). She lived in poverty and didn’t have a great track record when it comes to her love life.

She served almost immediately as the love interest/girlfriend for Tim Drake/Robin II, which she didn’t know his real name for a long time. Stephanie’s relationship with Batman was a difficult one, a sort of reflection of the way some people at DC seemed to perceive her– leading us to some mistreatment of her character.

In the New 52 era, Stephanie Brown’s story has been rewritten, making her past and her relationship with Batman way less harsh and complicated than it has been before. Right now, Stephanie Brown is protecting Gotham City as one of the Batgirls, alongside Cassandra Cain, while being guided by Oracle/Barbara Gordon.

The Following is Stephanie Brown’s reading order to discover all her adventures.

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The Final Night Reading Order, 1996 DC crossover event

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Published in 1996, The Final Night is a DC Comics crossover event written by Karl Kesel with art by Stuart Immonen. For a change, it was not about a Super-Villain fighting the Heroes, but about an extraterrestrial entity called the Sun-Eater that envelopes and extinguishes the Sun, causing Earth to freeze and wither into ecological collapse. It’s an End of the World scenario in which heroes, villains, and everybody else had to work together to surmount the impossible.

Here is the official synopsis: In The Final Night, the heroes and citizens of Earth face the impending end of the universe. When a cosmic force of nature known as the Sun-Eater extinguishes the Sun, Earth is thrust into its final night. Deprived of the massive star’s illumination and heat, the world experiences a catastrophe of epic proportions.

But even in a situation devoid of hope, the world’s greatest champions struggle on against the inevitable. Featuring many of the heroes of the DC Universe, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman, this book graphically illustrates the true definition of a hero, as Hal Jordan, the former Green Lantern, makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the world.

What to Read Before The Final Night?

The Final Night is a self-contained event, but you may want to be familiar with the character of Parallax to have a better understanding of his decisions in this story. First, the famous Emerald Twilight storyline (Green Lantern Vol. 3 #48–50), collected in:

Second, the event “Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!” You can find our reading order here.

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Carnage Reading Order

Created by writer David Michelinie and artist Mark Bagley in The Amazing Spider-Man #361 (published in 1992), Carnage is a supervillain, pure and simple. Being an offspring of Venom (see reading order to know more), Carnage is a Symbiote, an extraterrestrial organism who bonds with a host to which he gave superpowers.

In this case, even if it had multiple hosts through the years, Carnage is famously connected to its first, the sadistic serial killer Cletus Kasady. Everything began when, after Venom left behind him its offspring in a prison cell, the new symbiote connected with Eddie Brock’s cellmate, Kasady. Together, they left behind them chaos and deaths.

Envisioned as a darker version of Venom, Carnage is more violent, powerful, and – simply put – deadly. He became an adversary of Spider-Man of course, but also the archenemy of Venom. At times, Carnage was put at the center of multiple storylines, crossovers, and events, spreading fear throughout the Marvel Universe.

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Justice League Rebirth Reading Order (with Justice League of America, Justice League Odyssey and Justice League Dark)

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Following the ending of The New 52 era, DC Comics relaunched its entire line in 2016 under the Rebirth banner. For this occasion, the company restored the timeline to a form much closer to what it was before the famous Flashpoint storyline while still maintaining several elements of the New 52.

What does it mean for the Justice League? The most famous DC superteam still continues saving the world! No continuity changes were introduced at the beginning, but the team’s roster changed with the two Green Lanterns Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz joining the League (taking the place of Hal Jordan).

Here is the official synopsis: Superman. Batman. Wonder Woman. The Flash. Cyborg. Green Lantern. They’re more than just a team of superheroes. They’re the Justice League…and they’re about to enter a whole new era! The Superman these incredible heroes once knew is dead, leaving an older, wiser Man of Steel from a vanished universe to take up the fight against evil. Hal Jordan, the greatest of the Green Lanterns, has taken to the stars, entrusting his place in the League to his powerful but untested young protégés, Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz. Now the Justice League must get used to these new faces and learn to work as a team once more. But they’d better do it fast. They’re about to confront the biggest threats they’ve ever faced, from godlike machines capable of converting all life on Earth into a weapon, to a humble hacker who’s ready to hit them where it hurts most…

What to Read Before The Justice League Rebirth Comics?

As a new era is launched, it’s fairly safe to simply jump right in with the one-shot DC Universe Rebirth #1 serving as an introduction. But if you want a little more context, here are the comics you may be interested to read before:

As the Justice League has been active since the 1960s, you can obviously explore the team’s past.

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Batman: War Games Reading Order

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Batman War Games Reading Order

Published in 2004-2006, the Batman: War Games Saga is a Batman crossover event that spanned every Batman Family title being published at the time. Part of the Batman Modern Age (check out our reading order), the story was written by Devin Grayson, Andersen Gabrych, A.J. Lieberman, Bill Willingham, Dylan Horrocks and Ed Brubaker, with illustrations by Ramon Bachs, Pete Woods, Brad Walker, Mike Lilly, Al Barrionuevo, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Sean Phillips, Paul Gulacy and Kinsun Loh. 

Taking place after No Man’s Land and Bruce Wayne: Murderer, Batman: War Games tried to be a sort of mix of those two stories, with stakes on a street level as it is an all-gang war, but still on a big full scale like No Man’s Land. It’s also an event happening when Tim Drake had given up on his Robin role and Stephanie Brown had taken his place — and for her fans, this story is simply her character assassination.

But what is really Batman: War Games about? Tensions escalate and war comes to Gotham City when Batman is drawn into a skirmish between rival gangs. As Gotham’s biggest gang battle ignites, Batman must call on all his available allies—Oracle, Batgirl, Nightwing, Orpheus, Onyx, and Tarantula—to preserve life and contain the chaos while trying to determine who started this outbreak of violence.

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Venom Reading Order

A few decades before becoming the star of his own movie franchise, Venom was just a new, improved, and dark costume used by Spider-Man. Introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984), the black costume really became Venom in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988) from David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane, the sentient alien symbiote with an amorphous, liquid-like form, that bonds with a host.

Venom became one of Spider-Man’s most prominent villains when he bonded with Eddie Brock, a disgraced journalist who, after having wrongly accused a man to be the serial killer known as the Sin-Eater (the truth was exposed by Spider-Man!), became suicidal. That’s when he came into contact with the symbiote. They bond together, and Venom is born.

First a villain, Venom evolved to become an antihero (before reverting to his old ways… for a time). Eddie Brock is not the only host for the symbiote. He bonded with Mac Gargan (Scorpion), Flash Thompson, and more. He spawned several “children” like Carnage, Scream, Lasher, Phage, and more. Recently, the mythology surrounding the Alien symbiotes became massive to the point of menacing the entirety of the Marvel Universe.

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Dick Grayson as Robin Reading Order (Pre-Crisis)

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Dick Grayson Robin Reading Order (Pre-Crisis era)

Despite the fact that Batman has a reputation as a solo vigilante, Batman’s readers know the truth is quite different. Just under a year after Batman’s first adventure, Dick Grayson, the first Robin debuted in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940). Created by writer Bill Finger, artist Bob Kane and illustrator Jerry Robinson (who also came up with the character’s name inspired by Robin Hood), Dick was designed to appeal to younger readers. It was a success, as sales doubled and critics were overwhelmingly positives.

Dick Grayson was the son of John and Mary Grayson and part of the “Flying Graysons”, a family of trapeze artists working at Haly’s Circus and famous for always working without a net. As tragedy is never far away, Dick’s parents are killed following the sabotage of their trapeze by Tony Zucco, a mafia leader. Present that day at the circus was billionaire Bruce Wayne who choose to take little under his care and train him as his sidekick. Dick became his crime-fighting partner Robin. Batman and Robin became known as the Dynamic Duo, and there was rarely a Batman published story without the Boy Wonder. From 1947 through 1952, our original Robin appeared in Star-Spangled Comics, in stories devoted to him. Our original Robin also stars alone in Star Spangled Comics for nearly five years (1947-1952), and was a founding member of the Teen Titans team, created in July 1964.

Before becoming Batman’s sidekick, Dick Grayson was already a young talented athlete with amazing acrobatic skills. Batman trained him to become an expert tactician and field commander, as well as a martial artist, hand-to-hand combatant, and a highly skilled detective. Not to mention the use of all Batman’s gadgets.

To know more about Dick Grayson’s time as Robin, the iconic Batman’s sidekick, check out the following reading order!

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Transformers IDW Reading Order

Like with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Buffyverse, or the G.I. Joe franchise, IDW took over the Transformers franchise and launch its own continuity – and there are some discussions about the more legitimate continuity, but it’s not the subject of this article. We are here to talk about the third Transformers series. The first was published by Marvel (from 1984 to 1991), the second by Dreamwave Productions (from 2002 to 2004). After that, IDW took over with the third series (the Generation 1 continuity) written by Simon Furman starting with an issue #0 in October 2005 and a regular series starting in January 2006 to November 2018. The fourth series is a relaunch at IDW that started in 2019.

And so, as the official synopsis tells it, it began on Earth, 2006. The fate of the planet is already sealed, its destiny decided… by the marauding mechanical beings known as Decepticons. In their way stand an embattled crew of seven hardy Autobot warriors, sworn to prevent the impending Armageddon at any cost, and an unlikely trio of human misfits, pulled kicking and screaming into a hitherto hidden world of pain and hurt. The can of worms is open, the genie out of bottle… and nothing will ever be the same again! It begins again — here, now — the saga of the war-torn robots in disguise, the Transformers!

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Dark Crisis Reading Order, the Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths (DC Comics)

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Dark Crisis Reading Order

Since the launch of the Infinite Frontier era, Joshua Williamson has been building up to his first major crossover event, Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths (originally named “Dark Crisis,” the event was officially retitled “Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths” after it launched).  Williamson teamed up with artist Daniel Sampere, colorist Alejandro Sánchez, and letterer Tom Napolitano for this crisis. As the official synopsis puts it:

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the Justice League are dead. The remaining heroes are left to protect the world from an onslaught of violent attacks by DC’s greatest villains! Leading the charge is a super-powered Slade Wilson … but this time there’s something dark fueling his rage.

Can the younger heroes, led by the 21st century Superman Jonathan Kent, step out of the shadows of the classic icons to form a new Justice League? And will that be enough to stop a darkness greater than anything they’ve ever faced from destroying everything? The world burns as Pariah and the Great Darkness make their play for planet Earth!

Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths is an event built on older stories, as DC Comics explains it:

“In the original Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, the homeworld of Pariah, along with the infinite Multiverse, was obliterated. Now, this mad sole survivor has found a way to bring his homeworld and the entire infinite Multiverse back from the dead: Earth-0 must die. An ancient destructive force called the Great Darkness, first appearing in Swamp Thing by Alan Moore and Stan Woch, is the weapon Pariah will wield as he paves a path to rebirth and vengeance.”

Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths marked the end of another short era in the DC Universe, but it also introduced a new roadmap to follow for the year to come. Before diving into the event, you may want to do some reading. Here is our reading guide.

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Usagi Yojimbo Reading Order, the comics that inspired Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles

Now adapted on Netflix under the title “Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles,” Usagi Yojimbo is certainly not a new series. In fact, this creator-owned comic book series was created by Stan Sakai in 1984 – Usagi Yojimbo first appeared in Albedo Anthropomorphics #2, published by Thoughts and Images in November 1984. 

Openly inspired by Japanese cinema and real-life samurai Miyamoto Musashi, Usagi Yojimbo explores Japanese history, folklore, arts, and more. The story tells the adventures of the Miyamoto Usagi, a rōnin samurai rabbit, in Japan at the beginning of the Edo period (early 17th century) – it is an anthropomorphic comic where humans are replaced by animals – as he travels the country on shogyusha, sometimes monetizing his services as a bodyguard. 

The concept of the series, with Usagi meeting new people which each new adventure during his travels, makes reading Usagi Yojimbo easy as you don’t have to track down every book in order of publication. You can just pick a story at random. Of course, if you like what you read, you can also start from the beginning.

The publication history of Usagi Yojimbo is not clear and simple, as the series has been published by multiple publishers: Fantagraphics Books (Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 1), Mirage Studios (Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 2), Dark Horse Comics (Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 3), and lately IDW Publishing (Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 4). The samurai also appeared in occasional short stories published by other companies.

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