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The Hulk Family Tree: Who’s Who? From the Banners to the Walters

If you are a reader of Marvel’s Hulk’s Adventures, you may already be familiar with the fact that Bruce Banner has family issues and not just with his abusive father. His extended family is not always on good terms with him—even his own multiple personalities can’t seem to tolerate each other. It’s complicated.

Dr. Robert Bruce Banner was introduced in Incredible Hulk #1 in 1962—and you can read a lot more about his origins in the article dedicated to his creation. Since then, his family has grown, he made new friends, and a lot of monsters appeared, some were totally normal family members and acquaintances at first, which can complicate things even further.

Anyway, after more than 60 years of smashing, Hulk’s family evolved and, today, we are taking a look at it, exploring Bruce Banner, Jennifer Walters, and others, plus their green (or red) monstrous alter egos.

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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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Donald Duck’s Family Tree: Who’s Who, from Grandma Duck to Scrooge McDuck?

One of Don Rosa’s most notorious illustrations is the Duck Family Tree, a genealogical representation of Donald Duck’s family. Being one of the most influential writers/artists to have contributed to the development of the mythology surrounding the legendary Scrooge McDuck and his relatives, Rosa added more than a few ducks to the tree. Of course, the one who really planted the seed and helped it grow to a massive size was Carl Barks.

Their stories are classics—and you can take a look at our reading order for the Fantagraphics collection to see if you missed some of them—and took us through time and around the world more than once. During the small and big adventures of Donald, Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, we met more Ducks, MacDucks, Coots, Gooses, and Ganders.

But who are all those characters who are represented in the famous “Duck Family Tree”?

Read More »Donald Duck’s Family Tree: Who’s Who, from Grandma Duck to Scrooge McDuck?

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!

Read More »Cloak and Dagger Reading Order (Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen)

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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25 Best DC Comic Books to Read: Our selection of the best DC Comics

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Everybody knows Batman and Superman and with the DC Universe expanding on the big screen, the general public has been introduced to less familiar characters such as Shazam and Blue Beetle.

Like the Marvel Superheroes, those characters have lived decades of adventures on paper before. As DC is also renowned for its complicated timeline, those characters have been rebooted and rewritten (some more than others) throughout the years, making it sometimes more discouraging for new readers to dive into this world.

It would be regretful to miss out on great stories because of some temporal shenanigans that, more often than not, are not so important to enjoy the wild, fun, and diverse style of adventures you can find on the DC Universe. From some good detective stories to adventures in time and space, horror, comedy, and more, there is something for everybody.

To help you find some of the best DC stories out there, Comic Book Treasury has made a selection of 25 of the Best DC Comics to read. This is not an exhaustive list, and there are easily more great stories from DC out there.

Whether you are a new reader, an old one, or someone who read DC Comics for some past decades and wants to reconnect with the characters, we hope you’ll find something you want to read or re-read in this list.

As said above, this is not an ultimate list, so don’t hesitate to leave your own suggestions for the best DC Comics in the comments below!

Here is our selection of what we consider 25 of the best DC comics to read (in chronological order):

Read More »25 Best DC Comic Books to Read: Our selection of the best DC Comics

Dear Readers, tell us what you think!

Let’s Rap!* Here’s a chance to tell us what you think about Comic Book Treasury.

As of today, there are more than 480 articles published on the website, including 432 reading orders. We have started developing more articles about comics, exploring the origins of our beloved characters in the hope of offering some companion pieces to our reading guides.

We also try, as much as possible, to update our guides. We admit some lateness on the subject and, actually chose sometimes to wait to have more trades collected out there and enough distance to offer a better order for the character. If you want a guide to be updated, don’t hesitate to leave a comment, we will do it!

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Who is Monica Rambeau? From Captain Marvel to Photon, a brief history of Marvel’s heroine

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What do you know about Monica Rambeau? As the character is back on the big screen with the release of The Marvels, we take a new interest in the Marvel superheroine created by Roger Stern and John Romita, Jr. who has been known as Captain Marvel, Pulsar, Photon or Spectrum and a leader of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

With four decades of history behind her, Monica Rambeau has proved more than once that she was worth reading about!

The Creation of Monica Rambeau

Her story started in the late 1960s, when Marvel gained the trademark “Captain Marvel”, leading to the creation of the first Captain Marvel comic book. But Captain Marvel was not popular, and the decision was made to kill him in one of Marvel’s first-ever graphic novels, The Death of Captain Marvel, in 1982. 

If Marvel wanted to keep ownership of the name “Captain Marvel”, the company needed to use it. Enters the scene: Monica Rambeau. Created by Roger Stern and John Romita, Jr., Monica was conceived to take the mantle of Captain Marvel, though she had no connection with the First Captain, Mar-Vell. Even her powers were different. Monica was still a trailblazing in her own right, as a black female superhero was rare then, but Marvel never intended to give her her own series.

It didn’t mean Monica Rambeau wasn’t destined for great things. On the contrary, since her first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16, Monica joined and ultimately became the leader of the Avengers. She has also been a member of Nextwave and the Ultimates. Her superhero identity has evolved throughout the years, leaving the Captain Marvel name behind her to take other aliases: Photon, Pulsar, and recently Spectrum being the most famous of them.

Read More »Who is Monica Rambeau? From Captain Marvel to Photon, a brief history of Marvel’s heroine