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Reading Order

Batman Comics, Classic Tales from the Golden Age through Bronze Age!

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Holy Batman! The Cape Crusader is one of the most popular comic book superheroes out there and at Comic Book Treasury, but we – until now – didn’t explore his glorious comics past! And by that, I mean the publication from the Golden Age to the Silver/Bronze Age, before the famous Crisis on Infinite Earths and the start of the modern Batman era.

As you know, Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics #27 (1939) and became so popular that he soon had his own ongoing series with his name on it. And only one year after his debut, he was joined by the most iconic sidekick, Robin!

From the 1940s to the mid-1980s, there have been many Batman (and Robin) adventures, and DC Comics has reprinted them in different collections. This article is here to help you navigate all those collections (some only available second-hand, very pricey or not), and explore those old colorful times for Batman!

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My Hero Academia Reading Order (with Vigilantes, Team-Up Missions, School Briefs)

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Written and illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi, My Hero Academia is a Japanese manga series that has been serialized since July 2014 and spawned a media franchise with several spin-off manga, light novels, stage plays, video games, an anime television series, and several animated films. Simply put, My Hero Academia is a big success, and one of the best-selling manga series of all time, even appearing on the New York Times bestseller list.

My Hero Academia is also a manga inspired by American comics and more precisely by superhero comic books. Mangaka Kōhei Horikoshi has never hidden his love for the superhero genre, particularly influenced by Marvel Comics with Spider-Man as his favorite character.

Set in a world where 80% of the world’s population has superpowers, known as “Quirks”, My Hero Academia follows the adventures of Izuku Midoriya, one of the few humans without a quirk who still dreams of becoming a hero. After an encounter with his idol, All Might, the world’s greatest hero, Izuku is chosen by All Might to inherit his Quirk “One For All” (which gives him the ability to stockpile his raw power and pass it on to others) and to become his successor. The young man then joins U.A. High School, the top Hero Academy in Japan.

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Kaine Parker Reading Order, The (second) Scarlet Spider (also Peter Parker’s clone)

Just as there are multiple superheroes named Spider-Man and several superheroines known as Spider-Woman, there are also two members within the Spider-Verse who took the mantle of Scarlet Spider. And they are both clones of Peter Parker. We already covered the life (and multiple deaths) of Ben Reilly. Today, we are covering the superior Scarlet Spider (in my own personal opinion), aka Kaine.

Created by Terry Kavanagh and Steven Butler, Kaine Parker made his first appearance in Web of Spider-Man #119, during the infamous Clone Saga. It was then revealed that Kaine was the initial unsuccessful experiment by Jackal to clone Spider-Man. Dying from day one, Kaine’s life was marked by violence and villainy until Spider-Man intervened and offered him a second chance.

Sometimes presented as a sort of mash-up between Punisher and Spider-Man, Kaine has evolved a lot throughout the years as a character, from his mysterious introduction to his murderous actions, his redemption, and his own cool run as Scarlet Spider.

Let’s dive into his story with this Kaine Reading Order!

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Predator & Alien Comics Reading Order!

Based on the movie franchises respectively launched by Alien (1979) and Predator (1987), the Alien & Predator comics were published by Dark Horse Comics–from 1988 to 2020. 

Because they thought it would give the writers and artists more creative freedom and flexibility, the heads of Dark Horse Comics decided early on not to publish ongoing or unlimited titles from the license and to compose the line as a series of limited series, one-shots, and short stories with a main focus on limited series. The first three books were a sequel to the first two Alien movies.

Quickly, the Predator franchise was added to the line, following the same editorial directive. Dark Horse Comics published continuously new miniseries, one-shots, and graphic novels set in the Alien and Predator universe, and in both of them as “Aliens vs. Predator” stories were also regularly published, for a good decade. But between 1999 and 2008 the line was on hiatus.

In 2020, after Disney acquired FOX Studios and took control of the characters’ rights, Dark Horse lost the license to publish more Alien and Predator stories, and could not reprint anything anymore. Marvel Comics being a Disney property took over and started by reprinting all the stories in new omnibus collections (and now Epic Collection). Marvel also launched new miniseries (or short ongoing series).

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Hyperion Reading Order, the multiple versions of Marvel’s Own Superman

Superman is one of the most iconic superheroes and many pastiches of the character have been created since his first appearance in 1938. Several Marvel Comics characters were clearly inspired by Superman, including Sentry and Gladiator. Created before them is the subject of today: Hyperion!

Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Sal Buscema, Hyperion made his first appearance in The Avengers #69 (October 1969), with Thomas having said that he was intended as a pastiche of DC’s Superman. In case of doubt about it, there were various obvious similitudes between the two characters beyond powers, such as his aliases. Hypersion’s civilian name is “Zhib-Rhan”, a reference to Superman’s Kryptonian moniker “Kal-El” via the Lebanese author Kahlil Gibran. He also used the alias “Mr. Kant”, similar to “Clark Kent.”

No doubt about it, Hyperion is one of the mightiest super-character in the Marvel Multiverse. Multiverse as there are many versions of the character across the various parallel realities. A second Hyperion was in fact introduced less than two years later, in The Avengers #85 (February 1971), this one named Mark Milton from Earth 712.

The character will be reimagined several times, often associated with the super-team Squadron Supreme, but also as a member of Thunderbolts and the Avengers at some point.

Let’s dive into more comics to discover the different versions of Hyperion with this reading order!

This reading guide was suggested by Dragonoid, one of our readers! Don’t hesitate to leave a comment or write to us with other suggestions!

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Cloak and Dagger Reading Order (Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen)

Created by Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan, Cloak and Dagger is a Marvel superhero duo that came into the scene more than 40 years ago, in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #64 (March 1982). They are teenagers who were injected with a synthetic heroin that granted them the dual ability to control both light and dark forces.

Cloak and Dagger represent two opposites, from their powers to their backgrounds. Tyrone “Ty” Johnson is a young man from Boston suffering from a chronic stutter and who felt responsible for the death of his best friend after they both witnessed a robbery and Tyrone was unable to talk and defend his best friend to a police officer. Following this tragic event, he ran away to New York where he met Tandy Bowen.

Like Ty, Tandy ran away from home, but she comes from a completely different background. She left behind her privileged upbringing, as her multi-millionnaire mother was more interested in her career and social life than in passing time with her daughter. Oblivious to the danger you can encounter on the streets, Tandy accepted an offer of shelter, with Ty accompanying her to protect her. They are in reality delivered to the criminal chemist Simon Marshall, who injects them with a new synthetic heroin that has killed everyone until then. This time, Tyrone and Tandy survived and fled the scene, but the injection changed them into super-powered beings. Engulfed by darkness, Tyrone can teleport and turn intangible through the darkforce. Dagger can create daggers of light and use her power to heal. They chose to call themselves Cloak and Dagger and to help others.

They have done that since then, with headlining their own titles, many guest appearances, and as part of different teams. They also found their way into television, as the duo was the star of a two-season live-action television series, with Aubrey Joseph as Ty Johnson and Olivia Holt as Tandy Bowen.

Let’s dive into their comic book adventures with this Cloak and Dagger reading order!

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Battle Angel Alita Manga Order

One of the most influential and popular seinen manga from the beginning of the 1990s, Gunnm also known as Battle Angel Alita is a cyberpunk series from Yukito Kishiro published initially in Japan between 1990 and 1995.

The story of Battle Angel Alita is a dystopia set in a future where a natural catastrophe caused by a meteorite colliding with the Earth has taken humanity to the brink of extinction. The world is then divided between Zalem, a suspended city reserved for an elite few, and Kuzutetsu, the land that serves as its “dumping ground”, where humanity survives in violence.

The story follows the rebirth of an amnesiac cyborg named Alita (or Gally if you are not reading the English version), as she searches for meaning in her life. Daisuke Ido, a bounty-hunting cybermedic expert, discovers her intact head and chest in suspended animation in the local garbage dump. Ido revives her and, upon discovering she has lost her memory, names her Alita after his recently departed cat.

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DC Black Label Comics, The Complete Reading List

The World of DC always finds a way to expand and craft new and/or stand-alone stories – mostly outside the current DC Continuity, in the specific case of DC Black Label. Presented at first as an imprint for adults featuring alternate versions of familiar DC Comics characters, DC Black Label was founded in 2018, with Batman: Damned, the first title of the imprint. The limited series made more of a splash for a scene with full frontal nudity than for the story.

Before the official end of Vertigo Comics, DC Black Label had clearly been developed to take the place of the famous imprint under which classic titles like Hellblazer, Fables, Preacher, The Sandman, and more have been published. However, Vertigo declined in the 2010s and was officially discontinued in 2020. New and old titles published under the now-defunct imprint were now published as part of DC Black Label.

No surprise here, you’ll find under the Black Label imprint many Batman stories, as well as several stories with Harley Quinn and the Joker, but also some new takes on Superman, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, and more…

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Pokémon Adventures Manga Order, Read them All!

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Almost 30 years ago, Pikachu was introduced to the world in the Japanese video games Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green. This was the start of what would become the gigantic Pokémon franchise, bigger than Star Wars, Harry Potter, Batman or Spider-Man. Set in a world where people and animals known as Pokémon coexist, human trainers must run around and catch some Pokémon to then train them and engage them in battle where they gain experience and get stronger.

This simple, classic but effective concept spawned many video games, animated series, films, trading card games and, you guessed it, many many manga!

There are several Pokémon manga series out there, the most important one–and generally the one being referenced when someone is talking about the manga–is Pokémon Adventures. Launched in 1997, this is a manga adaptation of the Pokémon game series. As such, each manga arc (or chapter) corresponds to a specific game. Each story is set in a region that is introduced in the video game and focuses on different characters. The series is written by Hidenori Kusaka and was illustrated by Mato for the first nine volumes and has subsequently been illustrated by Satoshi Yamamoto.

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Junji Ito: Your Reading Order to the Japanese horror manga artist

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Welcome to Junji Ito’s World of Horror! Junji Ito, one of the best horror mangakas, has established himself as a renowned manga artist and gained a cult following for his works, which include Tomie, Uzumaki, Gyo, and The Enigma of Amigara Fault.

Reading Junji Ito is entering an unforgiving and irrational world that is dominated by phobias, obsessions, fears, and paranoia, with the every day turning bizarre. Junji Ito, influenced by artists such as Hidesho Hino, Shinichi Koga, and the Father of Cosmic Horror, H.P. Lovecraft, frequently has his characters deal with malevolent supernatural circumstances for no obvious reason or suffer excessive punishment for small offenses. He evokes beauty and terror and a sense of dread with powerful imagery.

Previously published by Dark Horse in America, Junji Ito’s works are now released by Viz Media, under the Viz Signature Imprint. Let’s enter the Ito-Verse!

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