Welcome to Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them… and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all…
This is the premise of Locke and Key, the comic book series written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodríguez published by IDW, which is also now a Netflix series. The original run of the series has been published as a set of limited series, followed since then by a series of short stories set in the past. The Locke and Key universe continue to expand, slowly, but still…
And, as a very popular comic book, there are multiple editions. Here is a guide to help you navigate all this.
In the Marvel Universe, Wolverine is so popular, there’s more than one! We are not speaking of X-23 today but of Old Man Logan. He is an aged version of Wolverine coming from an alternate future universe where the supervillains overthrew the superheroes, Earth-807128. He is a creation of writer Mark Millar and artist Steve McNiven.
This Old Man Logan – he in fact no longer calls himself Wolverine – was introduced in a storyline published in the regular Wolverine series (in 2008-09) set after the Death of Wolverine story – at that time, X-23 took the Wolverine mantle. His own solo series started later, during the Secret Wars event (reading order here). After that, Old Man Logan came back in the newly rebooted Marvel Universe.
Here is the story: Fifty years from now, Logan will have endured many atrocities: The Marvel Universe’s villains will have banded together and rid the world of its heroes. Logan’s closest friend, Hawkeye, will have been murdered in cold blood right before his eyes. And driven mad by the same radiation that gave him his superhuman strength, Bruce Banner will have fathered a family of hillbilly Hulks…that eventually went on to slaughter Logan’s wife and two children. But now, in the present, Old Man Logan wakes up to discover himself in a world before these atrocities, before the Wasteland. And he’s going to seize this opportunity and change history to ensure that his future never comes to pass…
Once Old Man Logan finds his place in the regular universe, he joined Jeff Lemire’s team of Extraordinary X-Men. Later, he also appeared in X-Men Gold, Weapon X, and Astonishing X-Men. Of course, he also appeared in major events of that time like Civil War II, Inhumansvs X-Men, and Secret Empire. His story ended with the 2018 miniseries Dead Man Logan.
What if Gotham was a utopia where everybody is happy and no crimes happen? This is the reality shown in Batman: Gothtopia, a little Batman crossover published in 2014, during the New 52 era.
Here is the official synopsis: Who – or what – created this twisted vision of the Dark Knight’s hometown? As far as anyone knows, Gotham City is and always has been a crime-free utopia, patrolled by the white-clad Batman and his sidekick Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catbird.
What to read before Gothtopia?
Gothtopia is a stand-alone storyline and doesn’t require any pre-reading. You can still pick up Birds of Prey (Volume 3) #27 in which there is a hint something weird is going on in Gotham, but nothing is shown.
With Chris Claremont at the helm, the X-Men became big business for Marvel Comics in the ’80s. Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter decided to expand the franchise with a spin-off call The New Mutants. Claremont was a bit reluctant to do it at first, but the series will soon—with the arrival of artist Bill Sienkiewicz (Bob McLeod was the artist at the beginning)—become something different and a real success.
But what New Mutants is about? Here is the official synopsis of the beginning of the series. Meet the future of the X-Men! Karma. Wolfsbane. Sunspot. Cannonball. Moonstar. They’re teenagers, thrown together by the X-gene that makes them different. Follow the adventures of these young mutants from Karma’s first meeting with Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four to their early days at the Xavier School!
The New Mutants’ on-the-job training begins in earnest with battles against Sentinels, the Silver Samurai, Viper, and the Hellfire Club; a team-up with Spidey and Cloak and Dagger — and the team gets a taste of life as X-Men in a disturbing encounter with the Brood! Plus: Meet fiery new recruit Magma, and discover how Colossus’s sister, Illyana, became the demon sorceress known as Magik!
Being part of the X-Men Universe, you can find how to read the New Mutants with the other X-series in our complete X-Men Reading Order.
From 2001 to 2007, J. Michael Straczynski was the main writer of The Amazing Spider-Man series. An important run, even if Marvel’s editors ruined it at the end (Civil War! One More Day!!!). In January 1999, Howard Mackie started to write volume 2 of the series, and Straczynski took over with issue #30.
His run is mostly famous for his great and lengthy “Spider-Totem” arc that questioned the source of Spider-Man’s powers (Magic?). Also, Aunt May discovered the truth about her nephew, Mary Jane came back, and Peter started to teach at his former high school.
Of course, with the Civil War, things didn’t go well for Spidey, everything changed until it was time to clean up and let another writer take over (after a short while, Dan Slott started his 10-year run).
What to read before Spider-Man by J. Michael Straczynski?
First, you can check out our Spider-Man Reading Order that covers the adventures of Spidey from the start to today.
As J. Michael Straczynski took over The Amazing Spider-Man after Howard Mackie, you might be tempted to take a look at what was done at that time (it’s optional, of course). Mackie’s run is not fully collected for now, but you can find the last storyline, which was published after the Marvel Crossover event Maximum Security.
Spider-Man: Revenge of the Green Goblin
Collects Amazing Spider-Man (1999) #20-29, Annual 2001; Spider-Man: Revenge of the Green Goblin #1-3; Peter Parker: Spider-Man (1999) #25, 29.
Carl Barks is one of the most influential American cartoonists. Dubbed The Duck Man or The Good Duck artist by his fans, Barks is known for his work in Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and the creator of the iconic and rich duck, Scrooge McDuck.
If Scrooge McDuck is his most famous creation, he is not the only one as Barks is the architect of Duckburg, located in the fictional U.S. state of Calisota, and many of its inhabitants such as Gladstone Gander, Donald’s cousin and The Luckiest Person in the World; the Beagle Boys, the family clan of organized criminals who try (and fails) to rob uncle Scrooge; Gyro Gearloose, genius inventor and friend of Donald; Magica De Spell, the Italian sorceress; and more. Let’s simply say that if Disney created the Donald Duck universe, Carl Barks really built it–and for this reason, Don Rosa called it the Barks Universe.
Like many European people, I grew up with the Duck clan (and other classic Disney comics), and those stories were and still are popular in Europe. It was one of those things that most households had, with Asterix and Tintin.
If those comics seem to not have the same iconic status in the US as in Europe, readers can at least now enjoy all of Carl Barks’ amazing Duck work with the ongoing collection The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library by publisher Fantagraphics. It’s an amazing way to read Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, and Louie’s adventures.
Written and illustrated by Dan Jurgens, along with Jerry Ordway and others, Zero Hour: A Crisis in Time was the major event of 1994 in the DC Universe. In fact, it was the biggest since 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths as it involved almost every DC Universe monthly series published at the time, and, in the end, some past events were changed—and some series were rebooted.
Here is the official synopsis of Zero Hour: A Crisis in Time: All of reality comes under attack when a mysterious force of entropy begins slowly erasing time itself—making its way from both the past and future toward the present! As history itself unravels around them, the heroes of the world—including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, The Justice Society, and the Titans—scramble to fix the broken timestream. But even if they stop the true source of the chaos, the world they save will never be the same!
What to read before Zero Hour: A Crisis in Time?
Being an event affecting all of the DC Universe, every character came in with baggage, but what’s really important is the motivations of Hal Jordan. Here is what is recommended before reading Zero Hour: A Crisis in Time:
The Death and Return of Superman Omnibus
Collects Superman: The Man Of Steel #17-26, Superman #73-83, Adventures Of Superman #496-505, Action Comics #683-692, Justice League America #69, Superman: The Legacy Of Superman #1 and Green Lantern #46.
Ben Reilly is back! He can die, go live in another city, disappear for years, but he always comes back. But who is Benjamin Reilly? His story can be a little convoluted because it’s about clones, fake deaths, mistaken identity, and more.
Created by Gerry Conway in 1975, he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #149… and is immediately killed. But he came back years later during the (in)famous “Clone Saga” storyline (see reading order) as the “Scarlet Spider,” an ally of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Together, they fought against The Jackal and Kaine, the unsuccessful first clone of Spider-Man, but also another clone of Spider-Man who became the villain Spidercide, and more.
After some confusion about the identity of the real Peter Parker and other complicated twists and turns, Peter left his superhero life behind him and Ben Reilly became the official Spider-Man. Until his death. After that, he just appeared in the occasional flashbacks. Then he returned to life in 2010 during The Clone Conspiracy (see reading order). Once again, things got complicated for Ben, but he stayed alive this time and got his new ongoing series for a while, then he faded away.
With the new Spider-Man Beyond storyline (that began with The Amazing Spider-Man #75), Ben Reilly came back again as Spider-Man again, for a short time, then came the Dark Web. When will he be back again?
In 1996, Frank Miller reinvent Batman as a more controversial and ruthless figure in The Dark Knight Returns. And he followed up with Batman: Year One, cementing his version of Batman which will influence many writers.
In the DC Universe pre-flashpoint, all these tales are part of the Earth-31, also known as The Dark Knight Universe or Millerverse. On this Earth takes place the best and the worst of Batman’s stories.
Written by Alan Moore (Watchmen) and illustrated by Kevin O’Neill, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen started getting published in 1999, but only concluded recently. It’s composed of four volumes, a spin-off series, and a bit more material.
The story takes us back to London, 1898. The Victorian Era draws to a close and the twentieth-century approaches. It is a time of great change and an age of stagnation, a period of chaste order and ignoble chaos.
It is an era in need of champions. Allan Quatermain, Mina Murray, Captain Nemo, Dr. Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde, and Hawley Griffin, the Invisible Man, form a remarkable legion of intellectual aptitude and physical prowess: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
