Comic Book Treasury

The Venomverse: A guide to Marvel’s Main Symbiote Characters

by Fabien
Updated on June 7, 2023
1 Comment

For a long time, there was only one symbiote: Venom. Today, there are apparently more than 40 known symbiotes in the Marvel Universe. But who’s counting?

Introduced into the Marvel Universe during the 1985 Secret Wars event, the “black costume” was more than a new look for Spider-Man. This was an alien creature that bonded with the superhero and started to influence him. When Peter Parker realized that his new clothes were in fact a conscient being that was changing him not in a good way, he got rid of him… But that was just the beginning.

After that, the symbiote found a new host and was officially named Venom. He instantly became one of Spider-Man’s archenemies. That said, as writers explored the creature from outer space, it evolved as well as its mythology. Venom also had children, some really deadly ones! All had different hosts and powers, but all are vulnerable to intense heat and sonic vibrations.

Also, we are calling them the Symbiotes, but Venom is a member of the extraterrestrial species known as Klyntar. As we learned during the last few years, they were created by Knull, a malevolent god, a primordial Deity–and certainly one of Marvel’s most powerful supervillains –read the King in Black storyline for a better understanding of the menace he represented–, and creator of All-Black the Necrosword.

We are not here to talk about Knull (this is a subject for another article), but to speak about his creations. From Venom and Carnage to Rascal, here is a guide to the major symbiotes that appeared in the Marvel Universe during the last three decades.

Knight Terrors Reading Order, DC Comics’ horror event of the summer

by Carole
Updated on August 31, 2023

Introduced as the next Dawn of DC milestone event, Knight Terrors is this summer’s massive crossover event at DC Comics. Horror is invading the DC Universe as Super Heroes or Super-Villains must confront their worst nightmares in a “Nightmare Realm.”

The main Knight Terrors event starts with the oversize special Knight Terrors: First Blood #1 from Joshua Williamson (Dark Crisis) and Howard Porter (The Flash). This introduction sees Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman find the body of one of their earliest enemies inside the Hall of Justice, their investigation takes them past the land of the living, beyond the land of the dead, and directly to a new villain called Insomnia, who uses his powers to engulf every single hero and villain in their own dark and twisted nightmares. The only way to save the world is to call for the help of an unlikely hero—Deadman!

What follows is the four-issue Knight Terrors miniseries written by Williamson with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli (The Joker), Stefano Nesi, and Caspar Wijngaard (Home Sick Pilots), in which Boston Brand—a.k.a. Deadman—serves as the supernatural tour guide. Everyone in the world is trapped inside their nightmares, and Batman and Deadman are trying to figure out who Insomnia really is…and why he wants revenge on the heroes of the DC Universe!

Then, Wesley Dodds, the Sandman, teams up with Batman and Deadman to uncover one of his oldest cases, which haunted him until the day he died. The trio are pointed in the direction of the Nightmare Stone, but Insomnia has unleashed his army, the Sleepless Knights, to hunt them down.

Most of the event is composed of a host of two-issue miniseries featuring the nightmares of superheroes, but also of villains.

Explore the Spider-Verse: Your Guide to Marvel’s Spider Family

by Carole
Updated on June 13, 2024

There is more than one Spider-Man out there! It’s no secret, especially since the release of the animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, where a whole new universe of spider heroes swung into the limelight, introducing the large Spider-Family to a new public.

At the center of the web, we naturally find the original and most well know Spider-Man/Peter Parker, created by Stan Lee and Steve Dikto in 1962. Between the comic books and the adaptations on the big screen, Peter Parker’s story is quite known today: When everything started, he was a nerdy high school student from Queens, New York, and an orphan raised by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. After being bitten by a radioactive spider at a science exhibit, Peter acquired the agility and proportionate strength of an arachnid! At first, he decided to exploit his heightened athletic abilities to make money. But when the robber he refuses to stop becomes responsible for his Uncle Ben’s murder, Peter learns a painful lesson: “With great power there must also come—great responsibility!”

The world of Spider-Man only expanded from there, at first in the mainstream universe with all those clones and the introduction of Jessica Drew as the first Spider-Woman. Then , with all thos different incarnations of the character in alternate universes. From Miles Morales from the Ultimate Universe to the futuristic Miguel O’Hara and more extravagant versions like Spider-Ham, there’s no shortage of Spider-people in the large Marvel Comics Multiverse.

Though most arachnids evolved separately from each other, they had to come together with the event Spider-Verse, and its sequel Spider-Geddon, to defend the multiverse. Such stories are always great occasions to explore old forgotten characters as well as create new ones such as Spider-Gwen. The Spider-Verse is always evolving and growing!

What follows is not an exhaustive Spider-People Guide as there are too many of them out there for that. But you’ll find the most important Spider-Men and Spider-Women, the ones you should know, some fun characters and newly additions to the Spider-Verse in order for you to find your way across the multiverse!

ElfQuest Reading Order

by Fabien
Updated on May 22, 2023

Published by Dark Horse Comics (home of Hellboy) since 2013, ElfQuest is much older than that as it was launched in 1978. Back then, the Fantasy series created by Wendy and Richard Pini was self-published, taking advantage of the emerging Direct Market. Things didn’t start without a bump.

The first Elfquest story was the lead feature in Fantasy Quaterly #1. But with Independent Publishers Syndicate immediately going out of business after one issue, the adventure could have ended pretty quickly, especially as the publisher refused to give the Pinis back the work they already provided for issue 2. Richard had to take a very long trip to get everything back. After that, the couple learned as fast as possible how to become publishers. They formed WaRP Graphics and put ElfQuest #2 out.

ElfQuest became a success story, one of the most popular self-published comic books (and brand). There were difficult times through the years, like the 1990s bubble. WaRP Graphics was closed in 2003, but ElfQuest is still here.

The story of ElfQuest started with the “Original Quest.” It was about Chief Cutter and the Wolfriders being driven from their forest home by the threat of annihilation. As they wander an ever-changing landscape inhabited by excitable humans–and other odd creatures–they discover other elf tribes as well. Alliances are forged, enemies discovered, and savage battles fought…

It is an epic fantasy adventure with sci-fi elements about nature-loving elves trying to survive on a world that isn’t theirs to begin with.

The Story of Claire Voyant: The First Black Widow of Marvel Comics

by Carole
Updated on February 23, 2024

Natasha Romanoff made her first appearance in 1964 as the Black Widow of the modern mainstream Marvel Comics. If she is, without a doubt, the most famous Black Widow, she is not the only Marvel character to have taken on the codename. Yelena Belova also used it.

And before Natasha and Yelena was Claire Voyant. The Black Widow of the Golden Age is also considered the first Marvel’s superheroine. She was created by writer George Kapitan and artist Harry Sahle in the pages of Mystic Comics #4 (August 1940) published by Timely Comics, which will later become Marvel Comics.

She was not a spy, but a small-time medium who was given by Satan the ability to kill with a single touch. Like all Black Widow, Claire Voyant was a mysterious and deadly woman…

Emiko Queen Reading Order (Red Arrow)

by Carole
Updated on November 11, 2023

In March 2013, Team Arrow expanded with the introduction of a new member, Emiko Queen. Created by writer Jeff Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino, Emiko made her first appearance in Green Arrow, Vol. 5 #18 as Oliver Queen’s half-sister.

For those of you who were watching the TV Show Arrow at the time, Emiko was inspired by Thea Queen, an original character from the Arrowverse, before being introduced in the series in season seven. She was played by Sea Shimooka.

In the DC Comic Book pages, Emiko is the daughter of Shado and Robert Queen. She was kidnapped and raised as an assassin by Simon Lacroix/Komodo, ignoring her real origins for a long time. She freed herself of her oppressor and followed Oliver Queen back to Seattle for a fresh start.

A skilled archer, she first chooses to also call herself Green Arrow, but will later take another codename, becoming the second Red Arrow – the mantle was used pre-Flashpoint by Roy Harper.

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

by Carole
Updated on May 7, 2024

From Spider-Man to Captain America, the world has become quite familiar with Marvel Superheroes. Before becoming iconic characters on the big screen, those heroes were already living great adventures on paper for several decades.

If you are unfamiliar with the Comic Book World, getting into Marvel can look daunting. As the Marvel Universe is continuously growing, there are new stories to discover as well as old ones to explore. And you can’t read everything as it is obviously the sort of mission only reserved for Ethan Hunt’s team (meaning: impossible!)

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

Whether you are a new reader, an old one, or someone who read Marvel 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 of the best Marvel Comics in the comments below!

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

30 Days of Night Reading Order

by Fabien
Updated on October 10, 2023

Published by IDW in 2002, 30 Days of Night is a three-issue horror comic book series written by Steve Niles (The October Faction) and illustrated by Ben Templesmith. Multiple miniseries followed, as well as novels and movie (and audio) adaptations. It did in fact become a movie after Niles wrote the comic version of the unsuccessful film pitch he had developed.

The story is about vampires in Barrow, Alaska, a place where the sun sets for about 30 days. As most of the locals go away during that nightly time, the ones who stayed become the target of a group of vampires. The town’s only hope of survival lies in the hands of Stella and Eben, the local husband-and-wife sheriff team. They have to face the vampire elder Vicente and survive until the sun came back.

Summer of Symbiotes Reading Order, an entire season of symbiote insanity at Marvel

by Fabien
Updated on October 10, 2023
4 Comments

To celebrate 35 years of the first appearance of Venom, the flavor of the summer ’23 at Marvel will be coming from space. It’s the Summer of Symbiotes! It will be Symbiotes crossovers after Symbiotes crossovers with even more Symbiotes. Yes, a lot of Symbiotes.

In fact, everything begins this spring with Carnage Reigns, a crossover that is presented as Miles Morales vs Carnage written by Alex Paknadel and Cody Ziglar and featuring art by Julius Ohta, Jan Bazaldua, Federico Vicentini, and Francesco Manna. Here is how it starts:

Cletus Kasady is back, and of course, he is more powerful and bloodthirsty than ever before! “With his soul trapped within the Extrembiote Armor created by Tony Stark during the King in Black event, Cletus has the means to level an untold amount of chaos and, well, carnage on New York City and the entire Marvel Universe. But like any good Tony Stark invention, the Extremis coursing through Cletus’ symbiotic veins needs POWER, and that means Cletus is HUNGRY. Good thing Brooklyn’s very own Spider-Man is there to stand in his way! If he survives their first encounter, that is.”

Doctor Fate Reading Order

by Fabien
Updated on April 10, 2024

Like with Captain Marvel or Robin, there are multiple superheroes named Doctor Fate. The original version of the character was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Howard Sherman during the Golden Age of comics era, in the pages of More Fun Comics #55 (May 1940).

Wearing blue-and-yellow tights and a golden helmet, Doctor Fate was operating from a stone tower, windowless and doorless, situated on the outskirts of Salem, Massachusetts–so you know it was about magic. Under the costume, there was Kent Nelson who, while on an archaeological expedition in the Valley of Ur with his father, accidentally awakened Nabu by opening its tomb–and kills his father in the process.

Nabu is a fictionalized version of the Mesopotamian god of the same name, a cosmic being affiliated with the Lords of Order. He takes Kent under his wing, teaching him how to become a sorcerer and fight his enemies, the Lords of Chaos. After two decades, Nabu gave him a mystical helmet, an amulet, and a cloak. Now well-equipped, Kent went back to America and started fighting crimes and supernatural evil–like armies of the undead, the green-skinned Wutan, and other fish creatures and elder gods. Kent also became a founding member of the All-Star Squadron and the Justice Society of America.