Comic Book Treasury

The Origins of Wolverine, Before he joined the X-Men!

by Fabien
October 20, 2023

Created by Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and John Romita Sr.–but first drawn for publication by Herb Trimpe–in the pages of The Incredible Hulk #180-181 in 1974, Wolverine is not your typical Canadian of small stature, he is a fierce character with retractable claws, a mysterious past, an iconic design, and a popularity that surpassed most of the other Marvel superheroes.

After being introduced as an agent of the Canadian government, Wolverine made a quick comeback. In his second appearance, in the classic Giant-Size X-Men #1, he joined the new team of X-Men but stayed a mystery for a long time. In fact, the mystery past is a big part of the character as it offers a lot of space for the writers to build stories full of twists–and not told in chronological order.

Who was Wolverine before being transformed by the mysterious Weapon X program? How many lives did he have as his healing factor keeps him young and healthy?

Who Are The New Gods in the DC Comics Universe?

by Fabien
October 17, 2023June 13, 2024

In 1970, after failing to get Marvel to recognize his true value and the extent of his contribution, Jack Kirby joined DC Comics–certainly one the major event of the time in the industry. After lengthy negotiations, he signed a three-year contract and was ready to create new worlds, and also some magazines. The magazines were quickly canceled after only one issue though.

Everything started with Kirby taking over Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen. With issue #133 (Oct. 1970), he launched the “Fourth World,” a saga that will encompass multiple series (The Forever People, Mister Miracle, and The New Gods), and introduced numerous revolutionary concepts and characters that still influenced the way the DC Universe worked to this day.

Based on ideas he developed during his run on Marvel’s Thor, Jack Kirby introduced us to The New Gods.

Last Updated on June 13, 2024.

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

by Carole
October 13, 2023February 18, 2024

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!

Last Updated on February 18, 2024.

Black Lightning Reading Order

by Fabien
October 10, 2023October 25, 2023

Created by writer Tony Isabella and artist Trevor Von Eeden, Jefferson Pierce made his first appearance in Black Lightning #1 (April 1977). This Afro-American schoolteacher from the crime-ridden Suicide Slum area of Metropolis gained electrical superpowers and started fighting crimes under the name Black Lightning as a response by DC Comics to the success of Marvel’s Luke Cage.

This didn’t work exactly as DC envisioned it as financial difficulties put a quick end to the title, but Black Lightning survived and started to appear in other series and fight crimes as part of a team.

Originally, Tony Isabella had been tasked to retool a series called The Black Bomber with a strange and disturbingly bad premise that the writer described as DC’s first black superhero being a white bigot. He didn’t want to touch that and convinced DC to change the story. To draw the new title, the company recruited a young prodigy. Trevor Von Eeden was only 16 when he was offered the job–at the time though, Von Eeden didn’t know if he got the job for his talent or because he was black.

Through the years, Jefferson Pierce’s origin story evolved. His powers first came from a technologically advanced power belt and the schoolteacher also had an Olympic athlete background. He needed something like that because his powers were not the result of a mutation or a science experiment. This didn’t stay like that as it was later revealed that the character possesses a latent metagene.

At first, Black Lightning fought criminals in his neighborhood, especially the members of the criminal organization called The 100. But Black Lightning is not your typical superhero, he’s also a father–and his two daughters also became superheroes, Thunder and Lightning. Pierce is certainly a team player and he worked alongside Batman as a founding member of the Outsiders superhero team.

Last Updated on October 25, 2023.

Marvel’s Gang War Reading Order, Spider-Man and friends against the Gangs of New York

by Fabien
October 6, 2023March 6, 2024

A few months after the Dark Web event, Spider-man is once again throttled at the center of a crossover event as chaos reign in the street of New York City with a Gang War taking place–the old Spidey fan will remember that there’s already a storyline titled Gang War in the series, in Amazing Spider-Man #284-288.

Set up during Zeb Wells’s run of Amazing Spider-Man, the Gang War event revolves around a violent conflict between the gang lords of New York City that is causing chaos throughout the Big Apple. It’s about the bad guys fighting the other bad guys to the point that even a proactive superhero like Spidey can’t keep up.

Hobgoblin, Mr. Negative, the Owl, Shotgun, Diamondback, A.I.M., Hydra, and more battle with and against each other for gaining total control of the city. To stop this folly, Spider-Man has to lead a group of heroes–including Spider-Man Miles Morales, She-Hulk, Daredevil, Shang-Chi, and Spider-Woman–in order to take down the super-gangs in under 48 hours.

But what do Mayor Luke Cage and the city’s strong anti-vigilante laws have to say about it? Will Jackpot gamble on getting involved? And is Shang-Chi a friend or foe? They better all figure it out before two classic villains make a game-changing return!

The main event is taking place in the Amazing Spider-Man series written by Zeb Wells, with art by Ed McGuiness and John Romita Jr.

Last Updated on March 6, 2024.

17 Horror Comic Books for a Chilling October

by Carole
October 3, 2023October 3, 2023

The horror genre always finds a way to creep out of some dark corners to find its public. Thanks to pulp magazines in the early 20th century, horror stories quickly established themselves via the “weird menace” subgenre, giving readers tales with sadistic villains and graphic scenes of violence.

By the late 1930s, and the influence of Universal horror films, vampires, mad scientists, and other creatures began appearing in superhero stories. The horror genre peaked in the comic book sphere in the late 1940s and early 1950s before some worries and the establishment of the Comics Code Authority came to put a halt to numerous graphic tales while simply leading to the toning down of many others.

The Kingpin: The Origin Story of Wilson Fisk, Daredevil’s Archenemy

by Carole
September 28, 2023

Wilson Fisk, known as the Kingpin, has established himself as one of Marvel’s most memorable comic book villains. His rise to this position, however, was not so quick. This dangerous criminal lord has progressively carved out a significant place among Marvel’s rogues’ gallery since his debut in 1967, owing in large part to Frank Miller’s famous portrayal in Daredevil and, more recently, Vincent D’Onofrio’s gripping portrayal in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Wilson Fisk commands attention with his intimidating size, bulging muscles, and fearsome combat skills. He emanates unquestionable authority and strength while wearing his suit jacket and distinctive cane. The presence of the Kingpin cannot be ignored, whether in comic books or on the screen. Today, we retrace the origins of this now iconic character.

Titans Beast World Reading Order, a Titans crossover for the Dawn of DC era

by Carole
September 26, 2023May 16, 2024

Following the events of Dark Crisis, the Justice League decided to disband and let the younger superhero take care of the world instead. So, Titans became the world’s premier superhero team, with their new Titans Tower based in Bludhaven. As the new number-one team, it was only a matter of time before they found themselves embroiled in an event!

The World is naturally in peril and it seems that the only superhero who can save it is… Beast Boy?! At least, this is what DC teases in their official synopsis: “Clawing its way out of the pages of Titans comes an unprecedented threat to the DC Universe. Superman, Wonder Woman, Starfire—all are powerless to stop the Necrostar from ending all life on Earth. The only hero who can save the world is…Beast Boy?! With Nightwing, Raven, Cyborg, and the Titans beside him, can Garfield Logan rise to battle an ancient evil? What will Amanda Waller do to take advantage of the situation as millions of people are changed into rampaging creatures? Can humanity survive all-powerful heroes and villains transformed into ferocious beasts? Friends will fall. Heroes will rise. And nothing will ever be the same again. Earth is about to become…Beast World.”

Starting in October, this event is brought to you by the creative team of writer Tom Taylor and artist Ivan Reis.

Last Updated on May 16, 2024.

The Best Dark Horse Comics Series: 15 must-read comics books

by Fabien
September 20, 2023May 21, 2024

Following the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, what is now called the Black-and-White Boom took form with the apparition in 1986 of a LOT of new publishers ready to make a fortune. Apple Comics, Fantagor Press, ACE Comics, Crystal Publications, Eternity Comics, Imperial Comics, Quality Comics, Malibu Comics, and more! Most of them produced forgettable books and rapidly closed shops. Not all of course, or else we wouldn’t be here to talk about Dark Horse Comics.

Mike Richardson used the profit generated by his comic book shop to launch the company with his friend Randy Stradley. Dark Horse Comics started with the anthology Dark Horse Presents and James Dean Smith’s parody comic Boris the Bear. The two titles became hits and helped the company to go much further than most of its competitors.

Using its successful launch, Dark Horse Comics adopted a strategy based on popular franchises. Mike Richardson began buying the rights to make Godzilla comics, then it was Aliens, Predator, Star Wars, and Tarzan. The company soon started producing toys and producing movies (via Dark Horse Entertainment).

Dark Horse Comics even tried to invade the world of superheroes with the imprint Comics’ Greatest World. But as the industry changed, DH had to refocus its ambitions on the creators–this led to the publication of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy.

Last Updated on May 21, 2024.

Batman: The Animated Series: A Look Back at The Best Adaptation That Ever Is (and ever will be?)

by Fabien
September 16, 2023September 17, 2023

We chose to publish this article today as this is the third Saturday in September, which means it is Batman Day! For more Batman-related articles and reading orders, we invite you to check out our Batman archives!

During the 1980s, as Disney dominated the afternoon on TV, some affiliate stations contacted FOX to ask if the young network wouldn’t be interested in entering that market. This led to the creation of the Fox Kids Network which debuted on September 1990. Margaret Loesh who was head of Marvel Productions at that time was recruited to launch the new venture. To achieve her goals, she started working with Warner Bros. Animation.

It started slow, but things became serious in the third season with shows that eventually impacted a generation of kids and the comic book industries: X-Men and, of course, Batman: The Animated Series!

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