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The Best Kitty Pryde Comics, the Essential Reading Order

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At the beginning of the eighties, a 13-year-old girl named Kitty Pryde was introduced to the X-Men Universe. Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Katherine “Kate” Pryde is a mutant with phasing abilities that allow her to move through solid matter. Following the manifestation of her powers, she was approached by Emma Frost and Charles Xavier, respectively, to invite her to join their school.

Kitty chose to go with Xavier and became the youngest to join the X-Men, at first under the codename Sprite. She would also use the alias Ariel, but would become more associated with the name Shadowcat. She was at first portrayed as the “kid sister” for the other members of the group – and developed a strong friendship with Storm while living big and dangerous adventures

And with more than 40 years of history, Kitty Pryde has seen a lot, from the young kid recruited by Xavier to a founding member of the Excalibur team, adventurer in space with the Guardians of the Galaxy, as Captain Kate Pryde of the Marauders and more. She would grow up, be de-aged, become a young adult, and finally recently abandon her nickname in favor of “Kate”.

One of the most popular characters in Marvel Comics, Kate is today in the spotlight with this essential reading order, listing the best comics to read to understand her character, motivations, and transformations. Beware! We try to deliver a mix of best and essential order to retrace the history of the character, and it means sometimes that the story can be a mediocre or okay story with great characterization or simply offers information about the character’s evolution.

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Last Updated on May 27, 2024.

Marvel Omnibus: The Release Schedule

Omnibuses are a favorite among collectors. They are large-format graphic novel editions, beautiful hardcover editions collecting reprints of complete series, runs, or events. They are heavy, but it’s often the best way to collect some hard-to-find comics. If the editing is good, it’s also the best way to read in order.

Sadly, these books are not cheap or printed in large quantities. It’s too easy to miss out on a new one. We will try to list here what’s coming, what’s already published, and if there are reprints.

You can also take a look at the release schedule for DC Comics’ Omnibuses.

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Last Updated on May 20, 2024.

Batman Comics, Classic Tales from the Golden Age through Bronze Age!

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Holy Batman! The Cape Crusader is one of the most popular comic book superheroes out there and at Comic Book Treasury, but we – until now – didn’t explore his glorious comics past! And by that, I mean the publication from the Golden Age to the Silver/Bronze Age, before the famous Crisis on Infinite Earths and the start of the modern Batman era.

As you know, Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics #37 (May 1939) and became so popular that he soon had his own ongoing series with his name on it. And only one year after his debut, he was joined by the most iconic sidekick, Robin!

From the 1940s to the mid-1980s, there have been many Batman (and Robin) adventures, and DC Comics has reprinted them in different collections. This article is here to help you navigate all those collections (some only available second-hand, very pricey or not), and explore those old colorful times for Batman!

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Last Updated on February 23, 2024.

The 10 Best Spider-Man Stories To Read

Spectacular or Amazing, Spider-Man has been slinging his web through a lot of adventures for more than 60 years. That’s a lot, but Peter Parker is more than familiar with his responsibilities and uses his powers to entertain us as much as he can. Of course, it’s not always a hit. As a matter of fact, some years have been difficult.

Nevertheless, there’s still a lot to enjoy in Spider-Man comics and there are a lot of Spider-Man comics to enjoy. Therefore, you may ask: what are the ones that are the best? What are the must-read stories any Spidey fan can enjoy?

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My Hero Academia Reading Order (with Vigilantes, Team-Up Missions, School Briefs)

Written and illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi, My Hero Academia is a Japanese manga series that has been serialized since July 2014 and spawned a media franchise with several spin-off manga, light novels, stage plays, video games, an anime television series, and several animated films. Simply put, My Hero Academia is a big success, and one of the best-selling manga series of all time, even appearing on the New York Times bestseller list.

My Hero Academia is also a manga inspired by American comics and more precisely by superhero comic books. Mangaka Kōhei Horikoshi has never hidden his love for the superhero genre, particularly influenced by Marvel Comics with Spider-Man as his favorite character.

Set in a world where 80% of the world’s population has superpowers, known as “Quirks”, My Hero Academia follows the adventures of Izuku Midoriya, one of the few humans without a quirk who still dreams of becoming a hero. After an encounter with his idol, All Might, the world’s greatest hero, Izuku is chosen by All Might to inherit his Quirk “One For All” (which gives him the ability to stockpile his raw power and pass it on to others) and to become his successor. The young man then joins U.A. High School, the top Hero Academy in Japan.

Read More »My Hero Academia Reading Order (with Vigilantes, Team-Up Missions, School Briefs)

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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Last Updated on May 20, 2024.

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?