Skip to content

DC Comics

Maxwell Lord: The Comic Book History of a Master Manipulator

« Lord was always sort of a nebulous, self-serving hard ass » said Keith Giffen (RIP) in a CBR interview twenty years ago. He’s talking about Maxwell Lord, power broker, master manipulator, cyborg for a time, spy and full-blown villain.

The Maxwell Lord appearing in the pages of DC Comics today is not the same man readers encountered when he made his first appearance almost 40 years ago in Justice League #1 (May 1987). His origins were rewritten post-Flashpoint to better align with his modern characterization. Once an amoral power broker, Lord has since become a more straightforward villain.

With a new version of Maxwell Lord set to appear in the upcoming Superman movie this summer, we take a look back at Maxwell Lord’s history, and how the character has changed over time.

Read More »Maxwell Lord: The Comic Book History of a Master Manipulator

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark Comic Book’s History, From DC to Dynamite

Amateurs of horror are certainly familiar with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Played by Cassandra Peterson, Elvira is a campy horror-themed TV hostess with a razor-sharp wit and an iconic gothic sense of style–her plunging black dress and beehive hairdo are immediately identifiable. She rose to fame in the early 1980s as the Movie Macabre star, a show featuring her clever, satirical, and innuendo-filled commentary on low-budget horror films. 

Her popularity led her to host another type of horror show, as she became one of the caretakers of DC’s House of Mystery, the horror anthology comic book. Since then, her adventures in comics have taken a different path, as she became the protagonist of a long-running series—not just the hostess—before coming back in a pop-culture-heavy series that Dynamite regularly publishes. So today, we are taking a look at Elvira’s comics history.

Read More »Elvira, Mistress of the Dark Comic Book’s History, From DC to Dynamite

John Stewart’s Evolution: From Green Lantern Backup to Corps Leader

Among the Green Lanterns from Earth, John Stewart is one of the most popular and he may be gaining more fans soon as he is one of the main characters in the Green Lantern TV Show coming on HBO–played by actor Aaron Pierre.

Created by Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams in Green Lantern vol. 2 #87 (1971), John Stewart was one of the first African-American superheroes to appear in DC Comics. Still, he didn’t immediately become one of the most prominent ones.

In fact, after this first appearance, he only came back four years later for a team-up with the Justice League of America (in Justice League of America #110, in 1974). He then continued to pop up only sporadically in Green Lantern comics until the mid-1980s with Crisis on Infinite Earths and his time as the main protector of sector 2814 in Green Lantern (from #182 to #200).

It was a slow start but John Stewart’s cosmic adventures are still going strong today.

Read More »John Stewart’s Evolution: From Green Lantern Backup to Corps Leader

What to Read This Month: The Best Comics of April 2025

Last month, we launched our new column, helping you navigate the overwhelming number of collected editions released each month. Between Marvel or DC Omnibus, the Epic Collection, DC Finest, Compact editions, and everything else publishers put out, there’s always way there’s always more to discover!

That’s why we’re back with a selection of notable releases for April, highlighting some great stories from members of the Batfamily, sci-fi stories, and an ecological tale. 

Without further ado, here are our picks for April!

Read More »What to Read This Month: The Best Comics of April 2025

Comic Book News of The Week #3: A New History of the DC Universe and More!

What’s going on in the Comic Book World? Life can be pretty busy, so we highlight recent news and articles that may catch your interest!

Lost in the DC Universe Continuity? Mark Waid and a team of artists will make it easier to understand soon with New History of the DC Universe, a four-issue series that will align all of DC’s continuity over the past 90 years through the eyes of Barry “The Flash” Allen. 

“This is my dream project,” said series writer Waid. “It’s a chance to realign all of DC’s sprawling continuity into one master timeline, and to be joined by some of comics’ greatest artists to make it shine. With new information for even longtime fans, plus Easter eggs galore, this series will be an essential read for DC fans.”

The debut issue features art by Jerry Ordway and Todd Nauck, who join Waid in chronicling Barry Allen’s journey from the birth of the DC Universe to the rise of the Justice Society and the Golden Age of Heroes.

“I’m having an absolute blast with this project,” said co-artist Nauck. “Mark has come up with something cool for me to draw on every page, and it’s been an honor to share art chores with a comics legend like Jerry Ordway. The DC editorial team has coordinated a wealth of deep-dive references for me to draw from, and I’m learning new aspects of DC history I hadn’t known before—and I’ve been reading DC comics for decades!”

“As one of the artists who was part of Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 1980’s, added co-artist Jerry Ordway, I am thrilled to be involved in telling the story of this newest DC Universe with Mark and Todd.”

Read More »Comic Book News of The Week #3: A New History of the DC Universe and More!

Metamorpho: DC Comics’s Element Man, Rex Mason

  • by

Metamorpho DC Comics Elemental Man

During the mid-1960s, unconventional comic book heroes like the Doom Patrol or the Metal Men found a bit of success at DC Comics. To build some more on what seems to be a trend, writer Bob Haney and artist Ramona Fradon were asked to create a new character in the same vein. The result was Metamorpho, who debuted in The Brave and the Bold #57 (January 1965).

Also known as the Element Man, Metamorpho found immediate success and started appearing in other popular comics like Justice League of America (even if he refused to become a full-time member). He also got his own ongoing comic book series, but it lasted only 17 issues. However, this was by far the end of the character.

Read More »Metamorpho: DC Comics’s Element Man, Rex Mason

Hawkgirl Kendra Saunders Reading Order

There were other Hawkgirls before Kendra Saunders made her first appearance in 1999 in JSA: Secret Files #1 (by James Robinson, David Goyer, and Scott Benefiel). It’s part of being Hawkgirl, an immortal warrior following a reincarnation cycle that reunites her with her lover Hawkman (Carter Hall).

But unlike past Hawkgirls who fully embrace their process, she actively resists it, trying to forge her own path rather than be bound by fate. A troubled young woman, Kendra Saunders died by suicide. When she was found by her grandfather, Speed Saunders, her body was miraculously revived—but her soul had been replaced by that of her ancestor, Shiera Hall, the original Hawkgirl.

While she doesn’t initially remember her past lives, she struggles with the memories of them and is pushed by unforeseen events to reunite with Carter and fight alongside the Justice Society of America to survive. Kendra retains her own personality and memories, and refuses to be defined by a past she doesn’t remember living.

However, she unconsciously acquires Shiera’s fighting skills and instincts. Like other Hawk avatars, she wields weaponry made from the mystical Nth Metal, which grants her flight, enhanced strength, and durability.

Read More »Hawkgirl Kendra Saunders Reading Order

Comic Book News of The Week: Batman Initiative and More

What’s going on in the Comic Book World? Life can be pretty busy, so we highlight recent news and articles that may catch your interest!

Batman #1 by new Ongoing Creative Team Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez will be published in September. DC Comics has decided to create an initiative around that book to offer jumping on point in the Batman line for new readers, as Scott Snyder explains in his newsletter:

We launch Matt Fraction’s Batman with Jorge. Amazing, right?

But are you going to go in and try more Bat books? I don’t know if you will. That’s why we created an initiative around that book. We’re doing almost a mini moment of jumping on points for all those books where everybody has the new costume. Everyone is sort of beginning stories. There’s some cool new books coming out. So that group of books as a moment where you can explore all of them at once, the way you can explore the Energon Universe. So to my mind, what this is saying structurally, the success of the Absolute and Ultimate Universes and the Energon Universe and Ghost Machine and a lot of these things happening right now, the Massive-Verse that

and his co-creators are doing so well, is that people want to feel like they’re getting in on something that is kind of a moment. It feels tectonic. It feels seismic. It feels inviting. It feels like you can lose yourself in it. And it’s a bunch of books that are all speaking the same language. And you have all of a sudden this whole thing to explore, this whole landscape to explore.

Read More »Comic Book News of The Week: Batman Initiative and More

DC Absolute Universe Reading Order

A new alternate reality has recently emerged in the DC Universe. As part of the DC All In Initiative, DC Comics has launched The Absolute Universe (AU), an imprint overseen by Scott Snyder that tells stories set on Earth-Alpha and features new versions of of DC’s iconic superheroes.

Similar to Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, this Universe is friendly to new readers. You don’t need to have a PhD in DC’s complex history or its many crisis to enjoy these new comic series.

Ready to explore DC’s newest reality? Here’s a quick guide to the Absolute Universe and how to start reading.

Read More »DC Absolute Universe Reading Order

What to Read This Month: The Best Comics of March 2025

  • by

While you can check out all the Marvel or DC Comics Omnibus announcements for 2025 or see the upcoming releases in the Epic Collection, DC Finest and DC Compact on the website, there’s still a lot more collected editions put out there every month by comic book publishers! So much in fact that sometimes, you’ll wish you could buy more than what’s reasonable. That cost adds up and the time is missing to read everything we want!

That’s why we are launching a new column, starting in March, to spotlight a selection of collected editions released each month we think would be great to have in our library (and yours by extension!). 

Without further ado, here is our selection of comic books for March!

Read More »What to Read This Month: The Best Comics of March 2025