In the world of comic books, death and resurrection have become commonplace. For a long time, there was a common saying amongst readers that was “everyone comes back except for Bucky Barnes, Jason Todd, and Uncle Ben.” Or a variation of it. However, this saying had to change after 2005, when both Jason Todd and Bucky Barnes came back.
Although the deaths of some superheroes have had a significant impact on the industry, few had the emotional impact of The Death of Captain Marvel, which was written and drawn by Jim Starlin.
The Gang War concluded only a few weeks ago, but a new bloody menace is emerging and, this time, it’s not confined to New York, it’s all over the world. The big summer event of Marvel Comics is here.
Coming from writer Jed MacKay and artist Pepe Larraz, as the official synopsis tells it, Marvel’s Blood Hunt starts as “the skies have gone dark, the sun hiding its face from the carnage to come. The children of the night, the vampires, have risen from the dark and hidden places of the world as one to drown the Marvel Universe in blood. Earth’s final night has fallen—can even the heroes of this doomed world stem the tide of blood that is to come? A dawn might assuredly come, but not before the universe is drenched in crimson!”
Avengers, Blade, Bloodline, Spider-Man, Hunter’s Moon, Tigra, Doctor Strange and Clea, The X-Men, and more are fighting in a war of a new kind against the creatures of the night.
Last summer, horror was invading the DC Universe in the Knight Terrors crossover event. This year, the world of DC Comics will once again be shaken by another summer blockbuster event: Absolute Power! From the creative team of Mark Waid and Dan More (Batman Superman World’s Finest), DC Comics Absolute Power pits the greatest DC Super Heroes against the “Trinity of Evil” in a major conflict that will determine the fate of all metahumans in the DC universe.
Set in the aftermath of Titans: Beast World and House of Brainiac, DC’s Trinity of Evil—the Brainiac Queen, Failsafe, and Amanda Waller—has won. As DC explained, they “hold all the cards in their final gambit to eliminate all metahumans in the DC Universe! Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, and the rest of the World’s Greatest DC Super Heroes make their last stand in Absolute Power.”
When it comes to manga, Dragon Ball is a classic. Written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama (1955-2024), Dragon Ball was first serialized in Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995. A long run due to the fact that it quickly became one of the most successful manga series of all time. A status cemented by the multiple adaptations into various anime series, movies, video games, and other media.
At first, the story of Dragon Ball tells the adventures of Goku, a pure-hearted, naive, and incredibly strong monkey-tailed boy martial artist, as he embarks on a quest for the mystical seven Dragon Balls, powerful artifacts that can summon Shenlong, a wish-granting dragon, when gathered together. Everything begins with Goku’s encounter with Bulma, a brilliant inventor who is searching for the Dragon Balls to fulfill her wish of obtaining a boyfriend. Together, they embark on a journey filled with battles against powerful foes, including the likes of Emperor Pilaf, the Red Ribbon Army, and the evil King Piccolo. Along the way, Goku trains under various martial arts masters, forms lifelong friendships, and faces increasingly formidable adversaries.
As the series progresses, Goku’s quest expands to include participation in various martial arts tournaments where he faces off against other skilled fighters from around the world. He also learns about his Saiyan heritage, a warrior race to which he belongs, and confronts powerful enemies like Vegeta, Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu, who threaten not only Earth but the entire universe.
Beyond the first long-running series, Dragon Ball continued with other series like Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball SD, Dragon Ball Super, and more! Hundreds and hundreds of chapters of the manga were collected in a fairly notable amount of volumes published in America by Viz Media.
He’s a cajun, a professional thief, and one of the X-Men’s most charming members. A master of kinetic energy from New Orleans, he has been called Le Diable Blanc but he is known as Gambit alias Remy LeBeau!
Gambit was created in 1990 by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee. Initially, the writer had planned for him to be, at first, an adversary or traitor to the X-Men. Following Claremont’s departure from the X-Men, the writers altered the original plan to better fit the readers’ expectations of the character. Our charming thief had indeed quickly conquered the hearts of the readers and became one of the most popular X-Men characters of the 90s.
Gambit made his first appearance in Uncanny X-Men #266. In the story, he helped a de-aged Storm with amnesia and they formed a partnership as thieves. When Storm returned to her true self, she invited Remy to join the X-Men. The secretive Gambit accepted the proposition to redeem himself of past actions. While Gambit’s past will eventually catch up with him, he quickly integrated into the team and formed close relationships with several members, including Rogue – with the two starting a turbulent romance and becoming one of the most iconic X-Men relationships.
It takes a special man to stand next to Batman and be able to snark at him or tell him, in a very British way, that he is wrong. That man is Alfred Pennyworth, the Ultimate Supporting Character.
Introduced in Batman #16 in 1943, under the name Alfred Beagle, Pennyworth is known as Bruce Wayne’s faithful butler and trusted confidant. The world of Bruce Wayne/Batman feels a little bit incomplete when Alfred’s not here to help, guide, and reason with Bruce.
Because Alfred is more than a butler. This former British agent is the surrogate father of Bruce Wayne and other members of the Bat Family. The man doesn’t just look after the Manor and the Batcave, he also takes care of everyone, showing them love, cooking for them, making snarky remarks, and using his military medical skills when needed.
While Alfred generally stands in the shadow of Batman, we choose today to put him in the spotlight with a selection of comic book stories highlighting the greatness of the character.
Some characters from the DC Comics universe are old. In the case of the infamous Mister Mxyzptlk, we are talking 80 years old. It was in the Superman daily comic strip by writer Whitney Ellsworth and artist Wayne Boring that the mischievous imp made his first official apparition.
However, like with Bizarro, the planning of publication pushed the real first issue a bit later as Mister Mxyzptlk was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Ira Yarborough in a story published in Superman #30 (fall 1944).
Mister Mxyzptlk is a magical being from the fifth dimension (like Bat-Mite) who enjoys causing mischief and playing pranks on Superman and other characters within the DC universe. In fact, where he comes from, he works as a jester, a powerful magical one. He possesses the ability to warp reality and manipulate the laws of physics, often leading to bizarre and surreal situations.
He loves challenging Superman to some sort of game or contest, and Superman can only defeat him by tricking him into saying or spelling his own name backward (“Kltpzyxm”)–a fine trick that was modified in the 1986 Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot. After that point in time, Mr. Mxyzptlk changes his condition to leave with each new apparition (even if saying his name backward eventually came back).
It’s been only five years since Jeff the Land Shark first showed up in the Marvel Universe, stealing the hearts of West Coast Avengers readers. Created by Kelly Thompson and Daniele di Nicuolo, Jeff the Land Shark, also called Jeffrey, became the adorable pet sidekick of superheroine Gwenpool, named after Gwen’s own kitten.
Jeff quickly became a hit online and won over Marvel fans with his undeniable cuteness, landing him numerous cameo appearances and variant covers (this would make a great ‘Where’s Jeff?’ book!). All of this will naturally lead to our boy Jeff headlining his own series, and prompting Comic Book Treasury to make a dedicated Jeff The Landshark Reading Order, further solidifying his place as a cherished icon in the Marvel universe.
As the Space Race was just starting to become a reality, National Comics (aka DC Comics) went back to produce a bit more science-fiction stories. It was 1958 and Space Ranger was created, and rapidly forgotten. That was not the case of another space hero created almost at the same time, Adam Strange.
The idea for the character came from editor Julius Schwartz and the costume design was by Murphy Anderson. Strange first apparition was on the cover of Showcase #17 drawn by Gil Kane, but it was Mike Sekowsky who penciled the story written by Gardner Fox following Schwartz’s direction.
Adam Strange’s origin story is highly inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs’s John Carter of Mars. The character was an archaeologist working in South America who was suddenly transported to the distant planet of Rann by a beam of energy from the Zeta Beam, a device created by a scientist named Sardath. On Rann, Strange discovered that he had gained superhuman abilities due to the different gravitational pull and the planet’s radiation. He also learned that the Zeta Beam technology only allowed him to stay on Rann for a limited amount of time before transporting him back to Earth.
Adam Strange became a hero on Rann, saving the world from tyrants, monsters, and extraterrestrial invaders among other threats. In addition, he developed feelings for Alanna, a Rannian woman, with whom he finally got married.
Created by writer/artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, Colonel Nicholas Joseph “Nick” Fury Sr. has a long career in the Marvel Universe! Born around 1920, he enrolled in the American Army at the age of 20 and became leader of an elite U.S. Army Ranger unit during WWII in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 (1963).
After the war, he trained and became a Colonel in the Central Intelligence Agency O.S.S., the predecessor of the CIA. He worked for them until Tony Stark recruited him to lead the counterespionage agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury has never been the type of man sitting behind a desk and he transformed himself into a sort of James Bond-like spy, going on the field for important missions. The agency grew under his command and built important alliances with the Avengers and other teams of superheroes.
But all is not what it seems in the spy world, and soon, Nick Fury finds himself in some complex spying game, leading him to disband and rebuild the S.H.I.E.L.D. Like many Marvel Characters, be assured that Nick died at some point and came back, quit, or retired from his position. And more improbable things completely change his place in the Comic book world.
So today, we dive into the long history of Nick Fury (and his many SHIELD missions!) with this Nick Fury Reading Order!
This reading order was suggested by Jal Hicham, one of our readers! Don’t hesitate to leave a comment or write to us with some other suggestions!
