Created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, The Runaways debuted in July 2003 as part of Marvel Comics’“Tsunami” imprint (created to appeal to manga readers, it didn’t last long). It was saved from cancellation by high numbers of trade collection sales and came back in 2005. After 30 more issues, Vaughan and Alphona left the title and the Runaways keep fighting for a while before the band got disbanded.
They were six normal teenagers linked only by their wealthy parents’ annual business meeting … until a chance discovery revealed the shocking truth: their parents are the secret criminal society known as the Pride! For years, the Pride controlled all criminal activity in Los Angeles, ruling the city with an iron fist … and now, with their true natures exposed, the Pride will take any measures necessary to protect their organization—even if it means taking out their own children! Now on the run from their villainous parents, Nico, Chase, Karolina, Gertrude, Molly and Alex have only each other to rely on.
Created by writer Brad Meltzer and the artistic team of penciler Rags Morales and inker Michael Bair, Identity Crisis was the event that shook the DC Comics superhero community in 2004 (published from June to December 04). It revolves around a murder mystery that exposed the dirty deeds of the heroes.
Here is the story: After the spouse of a member of the Justice League of America is brutally murdered, the entire superhero community searches for the killer, fearing their own loved ones may be the next targets. But before the mystery is fully solved, long-buried secrets of the heroes rise to the surface, threatening to tear apart and divide the heroes before they can bring the mysterious killer to justice.
What to read before Identity Crisis?
Being the first “crisis” in the DC Universe continuity after the massive event Crisis on Infinite Earth (see reading order here), Identity Crisis is, of course, a notable event, even if its reputation is quite bad.
The fact is that this event is important for what followed, meaning Infinite Crisis (see reading order here). But it’s pretty much a standalone story in the sense that no prior readings are required—except if you are not familiar with the characters (do not start exploring DC Comics with this event!).
Based on the Norse deity of the same name, Loki is now part of the most famous Marvel characters, thanks to his presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where Tom Hiddleston played him. And he is now the star of his own television series.
Since his first appearance in 1949, Loki has been portrayed as both a supervillain and antihero. Half-brother of the superhero Thor, the God of Mischief is a master of manipulation and deceit with superhuman strength, speed, and longevity.
First stereotypically evil (but not really threatening), years and years of stories shaped him as one of the greatest villains of Marvel, and one of the most multi-faceted characters. There is, after all, more than one incarnation of Loki. Like most Marvel figures, he died multiple times and writers used those opportunities to have him come back changed — as a woman, as a kid, as a person searching for redemption and much more…
Where to start with Loki? The Recommended Reading Order List
Loki Omnibus Vol. 1 – Wants to discover Loki in the Silver Age era? Marvel released an omnibus collecting the major appearance of the character during this era, including his first appearance as modern-day Loki in Journey into Mystery #85.
Thor: Trials of Loki– A recent Loki’s origin story by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and illustrated by Sebastian Fiumara.
Loki: Journey Into Mystery by Kieron Gillen – With artist Doug Braithwaite. The god of lies has been reborn as Kid Loki but can he be Asgard’s savior? A run that helped redefined the character and can be an entry point for new readers.
Loki: God of Stories Omnibus– Want all the Loki series? This is the perfect omnibus for you as this collects all the stories starring the 21st-century trickster in all his glorious forms! From the first Loki series in 2004 to Agents of Asgards, Original Sin, Vote Loki and more!
Published since 1998, The Goon is a famous horror comedy indie comics series written and illustrated by Eric Powell, first published by Avatar Press, then by Powell’s own Albatross Funnybooks, then by Dark Horse Comics, and now again by Albatross Funnybooks. It was a journey! But a great, funny, dark, and violent one. Goon is not a nice guy, but he is not a bad one either.
When we met The Goon, he is the enforcer for the gangster known as Labrazio. He runs his operation, collecting money and offing deadbeats, and basically being just violent with the help of his best friend/wise-cracking sidekick, Franky. In Lonely Street, The Goon and Franky must now deal with zombies raised from the dead by a Zombie Priest and more craziness.
The Marvel Universe is full of thousands of separate universes. We read a lot of stories happening in the mainstream Marvel continuity, or Earth 616 aka Prime Earth. But sometimes, we discover other versions of our heroes, like in Ultimate Marvel. It’s also with the Fantastic Four of this particular earth that we have been introduced to Marvel Zombies.
Created by Mark Millar, Greg Land and Robert Kirkman (of the Walking Dead fame), Marvel Zombies, sometimes called the Zombieverse, features zombie versions of Marvel Universe superheroes and supervillains. It’s actually not the only Marvel world with zombies, but it’s the most important one.
Created by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo in 2017, Batman Who Laughs was the breakout star of Dark Nights: Metal. This evil version of Bruce Wayne comes from Earth-22 of the Dark Multiverse.
Presented as Batman’s worst nightmare, he is a sort of hybrid of Batman and Joker. He is stripped of all sense of ethics, with Bruce Wayne’s intelligence and physical strength and the Joker’s psychopathy and warped, sadistic sense of humor. Without surprise, he has no problem killing people.
When Batman Who Laughs is introduced, he is a member of The Dark Knights, a team he assembled for Barbatos who wants to destroy the regular Multiverse.
This reading order gives you a listing to discover his story.
Before Calvin and Hobbes, there was Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts which is actually one of the influences of Bill Watterson’s creation.
One of the most popular and influential comic strips, Peanuts was a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz between 1950 and 2000. It has also been described as “the longest story ever told by one human being”.
Peanuts tells the story of a young boy named Charlie Brown, his dog Snoopy and his friends. Philosophical, psychological, and sociological overtones with complex humor made Peanuts one of the most celebrated comic strips.
You can now have the complete collection thanks to publisher Fantagraphics!
At one point, Marvel Comics had fun with Gwen Stacy on the covers of a certain number of issues, delivering reimaginations of the famous Spider-Man character (because Spider-Gwen looks so cool). One of them was on the cover of Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars #2 in June 2015. At that time, Gwenpool was not in any story, but she was already a popular character.
Like Deadpool, Gwenpool is a fourth-wall-breaking character. Gwendolyn Poole was introduced as a character from ‘the real world’ who knew that she was living in a Marvel comic book. She got her own costume and started to use her knowledge to fight crime, believing that her actions were pretty much without any consequences. Of course, she had no training and mostly improvised. Since then, her backstory was retconned to help her find a real place in the Marvel Universe. Recently, Gwenpool came out as an asexual icon!
Created by writer Mort Weisinger and artist Paul Norris, Aquaman debuted in More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941), where he co-starred with Doctor Fate, The Spectre, Johnny Quick, and Green Arrow (who made his first appearance in the same issue as Aquaman). In his first story, Arthur was saving refugees whose ship was torpedoed by a Nazi submarine.
A few years later, he left the pages of More Fun Comics in favor of Adventures Comics, but it was during the 1950s and 1960s that the character took a more important role. New elements to his backstory were introduced, as well as new supporting characters. And he was a founding member of the Justice League!
Still, despite growing popularity in the 1960s thanks to his animated series, and having his own title, Aquaman fails to grab readers the same way the other major DC superheroes did. Launched in 1962, his first solo series was canceled in 1971, before being revived in 1977 for a short time. After that, it would take 8 years for the character to have his own title again, yet again for a brief time.
Aquaman will have to wait for the nineties and Peter David to be redefined for a new generation, but the title will lose in popularity after the writer’s departure and poor Arthur Curry was again without a title.
Aquaman was not considered a bona fide superhero for a long time, and was perceived as a lesser one, even a joke — everybody who watched Entourage will never forget that Aquaman storyline in seasons 2 and 3!
But all of that changed with Geoff Johns, who confronted the public perception and rehabilitated the character. It was the beginning of a new era for Arthur Curry, one that launched the character towards good to great storylines. And of course, the cherry on the cake for his fans was the DC movie, where Jason Momoa plays the famous King of Atlantis, making him as mainstream as he has ever been.
Arthur Curry well deserved some love, and Comic Book Treasury has put together a recommended Reading list to discover the best Aquaman stories.
Published at the beginning of 2010, Siege is the culmination of the Dark Reign, but what was the Dark Reign? Everything began with the ravaging effects of Avengers Disassembled and following the aftermath of House of M, Civil War, and Secret Invasion, the Marvel Universe needed order and Norman Osborn used the chaos to take power. He became the United States primary defense officer, leading H.A.M.M.E.R. as well as employing his own evil Avengers.
So here is the official synopsis for Siege, an event by Brian Michael Bendis and Olivier Coipel: Coerced by Loki and on the brink of madness, Osborn, in his final bid to take total control, targets the final obstacle in his mission…Asgard. Events are set in motion forcing our heroes to put aside the deep rifts that have grown over the past seven years. Opposing them stand a horde of evil that has begun to take down the gods of the Golden Realm!
What to read before Siege?
Being the end of the Dark Reign era, you may want to begin with what started it, the Secret Invasion event (reading order here). You’ll find a reading order here.
New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collection Vol. 5
Collects Free Comic Book Day 2009 (Avengers), New Avengers #55-64, Dark Reign: The List – Avengers One-Shot, New Avengers Annual #3, New Avengers Finale; Material From Amazing Spider-Man #601, Breaking Into Comics The Marvel Way #1. Attn!this book collects issues set during Siege, take a look at the reading order to know how to read them.
