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Hilda Graphic Novels, a Reading Guide for the Luke Pearson series and the Netflix tie-ins

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Hilda Graphic novels, Reading Guide for the Luke Pearson series

Hilda is the star of her own animated TV series on Netflix, but the young heroine with blue hair originated from the graphic novels by cartoonist Luke Pearson.

The adventures of Hilda take place in a world that looks a little bit like a late 20th century Scandinavia place, inhabited by regular people and fantastical creatures like trolls, giants, elves, and spirits. In the beginning, Hilda lives with her mother in a cottage, before moving to the city of Trolberg. This fantasy world is inspired by Scandinavian folklore and The Moomins.

Hilda can never sit still for long without setting off on another adventure. She can’t resist exploring her enchanting world—a place where trolls walk, crows speak, and mountains move. The magic and folklore of the wild, windswept North come alive in this book about an adventurous little girl and her habit of befriending anything, no matter how curious it might seem.

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Marvel’s The Last Annihilation Reading Order (Guardians of the Galaxy)

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All of the “Annihilation” events are not created equal. In fact, it seems that “The Last Annihilation” is a minor event in comparison to the previous Annihilations, and it mostly involves the Guardians of the Galaxy written by Al Ewing with art by Juan Frigeri.

What is it about? Here is the official synopsis: The entire galaxy is under attack, the likes of which haven’t been seen since Annihilus first waged war. Now, five different planets are simultaneously under threat from a mysterious foe. This is what the new Guardians were built to do. But will it be too much? This summer… the war to end all wars begins. And not everyone’s going to come home.

What to read before The Last Annihilation?

The Last Annihilation being a cosmic event, you may also want to read the two previous events that had a considerable impact on the cosmic part of the Marvel Universe. First, there was Empyre (full reading order here), then we’ve got the King in Black event (full reading order here).

Al Ewing recently took over the Guardians of the Galaxy book. If you want to familiarize yourself with the new team, you can read the previous TPBs:

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Superman: Doomed Reading Order (from New 52)

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Superman Doomed DC New 52 Reading Order

Superman faces Doomsday in this Superman crossover story arc from the New 52 era co-written by Greg Pak, Charles Soule, and Scott Lobdell, with artwork by Ken Lashley, Aaron Kuder, and Tony Daniel.

Here is the official synopsis: Its name is Doomsday. It came from the Phantom Zone, where the Man of Steel had banished it once before. Bigger. Deadlier. Capable of killing life on Earth. Only Superman can stop it. But even that is not the end. Evil is in its blood. And when that blood is spilled, the innocent will fall — and Superman himself will discover the monster within. The Last Son of Krypton may become a destroyer of worlds himself, leaving the Earth without its greatest protector.

Superman and his allies each must make a choice. If they unleash the monster, will they lose the man? Is this Earth’s last shot at salvation, or are Superman and everyone he cares about…

What to read before Superman: Doomed?

Naturally, you can explore our complete reading order for Superman and Action Comics during the New 52 era. For a more specific start, as Superman: Doomed is mostly a crossover between the titles Action Comics and Superman/Wonder Woman, the setup for it takes place in those two series:

Totally optional, DC also teased Doomsday’s appearance in Batman/Superman #3.1 during Villains Month (part of Forever Evil and collected in DC Comics The New 52 Villains Omnibus).

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Captain America by Ed Brubaker Reading Order: How to read the most celebrated adventures of Steve Rogers and the Winter Soldier

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Everybody knows Captain America. But if you were in a coma for most of your life, he is a Marvel Comics Superhero and the alter ego of Steve Rogers, created in 1941 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

As a young man, Steve wanted to fight for his country against the Nazis, but couldn’t … until he participated in an experiment that transformed him into a super-soldier. Near the end of the war, he and his sidekick Busty were left for dead. Trapped in ice and saved by the serum that changed him, he later came back to fight evil everywhere.

In January 2005, Ed Brubaker started to write the Captain America ongoing comics with the fifth volume. The Criminal author wrote 100 issues (with art by Steve Epting), bringing back Bucky as the Winter Soldier, dealing with Cap’s death and resurrection, and more including the death and life of his greatest enemy, the Red Skull, and the emergences of a new threat, General Aleksander Lukin, the head of one of the most powerful corporations in the world!

It’s the most celebrated run on the Captain America modern series.

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Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive Reading Order

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Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive Reading Order

In the middle of the Post-Crisis era, The end of the 1990s was quite exhausting for Batman with the “No Man’s Land” storyline during which Gotham City was ravaged by a large earthquake. Now, Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka started to write for the main Batman series and they put Bruce Wayne on the run in a two-part storyline called Bruce Wayne: Murderer? and Bruce Wayne: Fugitive.

Here is the official synopsis: After being found with the dead body of Vesper Fairchild in his arms, Bruce Wayne is arrested for her murder. Looking to prove Bruce’s innocence, Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl quickly begin an investigation to discover the true killer. But as the mystery unfolds, evidence of Bruce’s guilt mounts, and even his closest allies begin to question their mentor’s innocence. Tired of portraying himself as someone he is not and further embracing the freedom of his masked identity, Bruce decides to lay his millionaire playboy alter ego to rest and live life only as the Batman.

What to read before Bruce Wayne: Murderer?

After the No Man’s Land story-arc, Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker started to write Detective Comics/Batman stories, leading to this two-part crossover event. It was the New Gotham era. You don’t need to read them to understand the Murderer/Fugitive story, of course, but it’s still

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Extreme Carnage Reading Order: the follow-up to the King in Black event

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Extreme Carnage Reading Order

Introduced as a summer event in July 2021, Extreme Carnage is coming from Phillip Kennedy Johnson and other writers, telling us about the other symbiotes after what recently happened to the Marvel Universe.

As the dust continues to settle after the symbiote-redefining King in Black saga (full reading order here), Eddie and Dylan Brock aren’t the only ones adjusting to a new normal (see Venom Reading Order). The Life Foundation symbiotes — Scream, Phage, Riot, Lasher and Agony — are trying to reconcile the sometimes noble intentions of their hosts with the all-too-often bloodthirsty impulses of their others! But another symbiote is facing a stunning reinvention as well…and that means Carnage! What will happen when the refreshed Carnage symbiote targets the rest one by one? Be here for an event that truly lives up to its name!

What to read before Extreme Carnage?

There are probably too many comics to list here if we want to cover every character present in this Extreme Carnage event, but there’s a simple and logical road to follow, the event that preceded it:

  • Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Maximum Carnage (if you want to really go back)
    Collects Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #378-380, Web of Spider-Man (1985) #101-103, Spider-Man (1990) #35-37, Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #201-203, Spider-Man/Punisher/Sabretooth: Designer Genes (1993) one-shot, material from Spider-Man Unlimited (1993) #1-2.
  • Absolute Carnage Omnibus (see also full reading order)
    Collects Absolute Carnage (2019) 1-5, Absolute Carnage Vs. Deadpool (2019) 1-3, Absolute Carnage: Captain Marvel (2019) 1, Absolute Carnage: Immortal Hulk (2019) 1, Absolute Carnage: Symbiote Spider-Man (2019) 1, Absolute Carnage: Symbiote Of Vengeance (2019) 1, Absolute Carnage: Lethal Protectors (2019) 1-3, Absolute Carnage: Avengers (2019) 1, Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales (2019) 1-3, Absolute Carnage: Weapon Plus (2019) 1, Absolute Carnage: Scream (2019) 1-3, Absolute Carnage: Separation Anxiety (2019) 1, Amazing Spider-Man (2018) 29-31, Venom (2018) 16-20, And Absolute Carnage Stinger Pages
  • King In Black
    Collects King In Black (2020) #1-5. For more, see the full reading order here.

Also, you can find more about Carnage with its reading order.

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The Sandman’s Death Reading Order: What to read with Death of the Endless?

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The world of Vertigo’s The Sandman has inspired numerous spin-offs, a whole comic book expanded universe with anthologies, one-shots, miniseries, and other specials.

The character of Death is not one of those who were lucky enough to get a comic book ongoing series, unlike Lucifer Morningstar and Dead Boy Detectives, even if she is extremely popular. Despite that, we can still find Death in a few publications outside the main Sandman comics.

If you are not too familiar with the world of Sandman, in it, we met the Endless, the personification of concepts, who all play a specific part in the human world. Dream (or Morpheus) is the king of the Dreaming World, where you go when you sleep. His older sister is Death and she mostly meets with the recently deceased and guides them into their next existence.

Death is the second eldest of Endless and possibly the most powerful being in the Universe. In The Sandman, Death takes the appearance of a young goth woman. She is omnipotence and omnipresence, being with all those who die when they die.

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Spider-Man Sinister War Reading Order

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Before leaving Marvel and The Amazing Spider-Man behind him, Nick Spencer teamed up with Mark Bagley for a new epic Spider-Man event storyline that bring back a lot of Spidey’s enemies.

In fact, as the official synopsis tells it, Doctor Octopus is Back! Ock’s got a new Sinister Six and if you think he’s thought big in the past, think again. What Ock DOESN’T know is that the VULTURE has a sextet of his own: THE SAVAGE SIX! It’s an all-out WAR between two of the greatest villains in the Marvel Universe, and the only person they hate more than each other is SPIDER-MAN!

What to read before Spider-Man Sinister War?

It’s the tradition to start teasing a new event in advance and, in the case of Sinister War, it started with Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #64. Of course, being the last event of the Nick Spencer era, you could go back earlier and read everything, why not? Go to our Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer reading order for more information.

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House of M Reading Order, a Marvel event full of X-Men and Avengers

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After Brian Michael Bendis took over the Avengers (see reading order), the Marvel Universe became a series of events, starting with “Avengers Disassembled.” The second one was “House of M”, a bigger event that changed the X-Men a lot—also, take a look at our X-Men Reading Order for more.

So, The Avengers and the X-Men are faced with a common foe that becomes their greatest threat: Wanda Maximoff!

The unstable Scarlet Witch has rewritten reality—into a world where Magneto is king! In this “House of M,” mutants are Earth’s dominant species, living glamorous lives and reigning over the oppressed Sapien class. But Wolverine, now a member of Magnus’ peacekeeping force S.H.I.E.L.D., remembers how the world used to be. And his quest to find and awaken his former allies in the Avengers and X-Men sparks a revolution that aims to tear down Wanda’s strange new world!

What to read before House of M?

Being a direct follow-up to “Avengers Disassembled,” I recommend the full reading order of this event. In any case, you could read Brian Michael Bendis’s New Avengers, but also Excalibur for a prelude to the event and (more optional) Astonishing X-Men for some background on the X-Men team of the moment.

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Army of Darkness/Evil Dead Comics Reading Order

Hail to the King! Not content with being built around a series of cult classic films, The Evil Dead franchise grew over the years and now consists of movies, comics, games, and a TV Series.

It all began in 1982 when Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell)’s life changed forever after he discovered the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis and accidentally unleashed a Kandarian Demon. Ash’s friends are transformed into zombie-like creatures called Deadites, and he will after that never be the same.

As the king of alternate timelines, our unique hero lived multiple adventures, and we are today in his comic book ones. We have stories in different continuities, published by Dark Horse, Dynamite, and Scape Goat.

What to read/watch before the Army of Darkness Comics?

Let’s state the obvious by pointing out that the movies are must-sees. The movies and the TV series take place in what is considered the prime Evil Dead continuity, even though there are some elements in the films that have been removed from canon with the TV shows.

You can also read The Army of Darkness adaptation in comic, published the first time by Dark Horse in 1992 (and released by Dynamite in paperback in 2006).

What follows are stories that expand the universe in one direction or another, with different continuities.

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