Fabien

Co-founder of Comic Book Treasury, your Hellboy Specialist and the man behind the Batman Modern Age and the Amazing Spider-Man Guides.

U.S. Agent (John Walker) Reading Order

by Fabien
April 30, 2026

Thanks to the MCU, U.S. Agent a.k.a. John Walker seems to be more relevant in 2026 than he may have ever been in the comics since his first appearance as the (second) supervillain Super-Patriot in Captain America #323 in 1986, a comic book by Mark Gruenwald and Paul Neary. Still, he had a notable role when Steve Rogers stepped down as Captain America; he took over the role and gradually transitioned into the brutal, shield-wielding anti-hero known as U.S.Agent.

John Walker is far more than just a “Dark Captain America.” Since his debut in 1986, he has served as a complex mirror to American idealism, a soldier who follows orders when Steve Rogers follows his conscience. Whether you discovered him through Wyatt Russell’s performance in the MCU or his long history as a mainstay of the West Coast Avengers, navigating his four-decade history can be as volatile as the character himself.

This guide breaks down every era of Walker’s career, from his corporate-sponsored beginnings and his polarizing stint as the Sentinel of Liberty to his modern redemption arcs.

Critical Role Comics Reading Order (Vox Machina, Mighty Nein, Whitestone Chronicles)

by Fabien
April 27, 2026

Whether you’re a veteran ‘Critter’ or a newcomer who has just finished watching The Legend of Vox Machina on Amazon Prime, the world of Exandria is massive and complex. What began in 2015 as a group of voice actors playing Dungeons & Dragons in a living room has evolved into a multimedia empire, and this growth is most evident in their comic books.

At its heart, Critical Role is an “actual play” web series where Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer leads a cast of voice actors (including Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, Liam O’Brien, Taliesin Jaffe, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham, and more) through epic, improvised stories. The show is divided into massive “Campaigns,” each following a different adventuring party across the world of Exandria.

Published by Dark Horse Comics, the Critical Role graphic novels aren’t adaptations, but canon stories, mainly prequel tales. They fill in the “missing” years of the campaigns, providing backstories that happened before the cameras ever rolled.

Planet of the Apes Comics Reading Order

by Fabien
April 20, 2026

The Planet of the Apes franchise began in 1968 with the landmark film adaptation of Pierre Boulle’s novel “La Planète des singes.” It introduced us to a future in which intelligent apes dominate Earth and humanity has fallen into subjugation. Blending dystopian speculation, political allegory, and social satire, the film series and its associated live-action and animated TV shows, books, and comics have explored endless storytelling possibilities.

Because the franchise spans several distinct timelines and publishing eras, it may be difficult to follow everything. We are going to take a look at the Planet of the Apes comics by continuity and era.

From the early adaptations and original stories published by Marvel Comics in the 1970s to the modern, continuity-driven expansions by BOOM! Studios, the franchise has been reinterpreted across multiple eras. Some series adapt the original Planet of the Apes film cycle, others expand the reboot timeline launched by Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and several create standalone alternate continuities, including crossovers with properties like Green Lantern.

38 Cyberpunk Comics & Manga to read in 2026

by Fabien
April 8, 2026

What are the cyberpunk comics and manga to read in 2026? This curated list explores the essential graphic novels and seinen manga that define the “high-tech, low-life” aesthetic.

At its core, cyberpunk is a speculative subgenre of science fiction examining the collision between advanced technology and societal decay. Coined in the early 1980s, the term describes a world where rapid advances in AI, cybernetics, and global data networks have failed to produce a utopia. Instead, these developments intensify economic inequality, consolidate corporate power, and erode individual autonomy.

Cyberpunk is structured around several recurring themes: post-humanism, expressed through the integration of the digital and the biological; corporate hegemony, marked by the displacement or erosion of nation-states by powerful transnational corporations; surveillance culture, in which pervasive digital monitoring saturates everyday life; and urban decay, reflected in the transformation of social space into dense, vertically stratified megacities defined by inequality and infrastructural excess.

While the genre is closely associated with literature, its most iconic visuals are found in comics and manga. Western comic books frequently draw on film noir to emphasize corporate corruption and morally compromised antiheroes. In parallel, Japanese manga expands its scope by focusing on body modification, technological transcendence, and monumental “megastructures.”

Plug in, settle your neural link, and prepare to immerse yourself in the best cyberpunk literature available today.

Ed Brubaker at Marvel Comics: A Reading Guide

by Fabien
April 1, 2026

Ed Brubaker Captain America Winter Soldier comic cover

One of the most celebrated writers of crime comics, best known for his creator-owned hits Criminal and Reckless, Ed Brubaker gained mainstream prominence during a legendary decade at the “Big Two.” While he left a permanent mark on DC with titles like Gotham Central and Catwoman, it was his 2004 move to Marvel that changed the industry.

Brubaker began as a cartoonist, writing and drawing the hard-to-find Pajama Chronicles and Purgatory USA, and the semi-autobiographical Lowlife. His first crime comic was for Dark Horse Comics, the Eisner Award-nominated three-part serial “An Accidental Death,” with artist Eric Shanower. Two years later, in 1995, he made his debut at DC Comics with Shanower by working on a Prez story (Vertigo). He eventually signed an exclusive deal with DC in 2000 and went on working on Batman, writing his famous run on Catwoman, some Wildstorm comics, and his influential collaboration with Greg Rucka and Michael Lark, Gotham Central. In 2004, Brubaker (with Lark) made the jump to Marvel.

In this Ed Brubaker Marvel reading guide, we will revisit his influential eight-year run, from the resurrection of the Winter Soldier to his gritty takes on Daredevil and Iron Fist.

Batman: Dark Patterns (Review): A Carefully Crafted Dark Knight Tale

by Fabien
Updated: March 27, 2026

When it comes to superhero movies, people are no longer interested in origin stories, but comic book readers and writers are still passionate about what made a character become the crime fighter they are known to be. During the post-Crisis era, Batman’s early years as the Caped Crusader were explored in depth. Perhaps to the degree that DC Comics lost interest. A few decades later, the past feels more present than ever, with writers regularly revisiting the lore they discovered as readers and modernizing dated elements. But it goes even further. It’s not just about comic books from the past, it’s about giving characters a place in their own history. That said, this book is perfect for any new reader looking to enjoy a complete Batman tale.

Written by Dan Watters with art by Hayden Sherman, Batman: Dark Patterns is a 12-issue miniseries that explores Gotham City’s past and carves out a place for its greatest detective within it. Set around Batman’s third year, the story is divided into four thematically linked investigations that slowly build upon each other to form a larger tale.

Each case starts as an apparently self-contained crime. Batman follows leads, questions suspects, and moves methodically through the city. He collaborates with Jim Gordon, who introduced him to Dr. Sereika, a forensic pathologist at Gotham University. Sereika is an odd man, but a competent one. His insights are valuable, but his attitude is suspect. Like everybody else, he has secrets. Dark Patterns is about uncovering those secrets, and everyone else’s, especially those rooted in Gotham’s past.

The Hulk Family Tree: Every Banner and Walters Relative Explained

by Fabien
Updated: March 25, 2026
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"The Savage She-Hulks" art by J. Scott Campbell

Since his debut in Incredible Hulk #1 (1962), Dr. Robert Bruce Banner hasn’t just been battling the military, he’s been navigating one of the most complex and dysfunctional family trees in the Marvel Universe. While most fans know She-Hulk as his cousin, the Banner bloodline and the “Gamma Family” extend much further, spanning across dimensions, secret resurrections, and even cosmic lineages.

From the trauma inflicted by his father, Brian Banner, to the arrival of his Sakaarian sons, Skaar and Hiro-Kala, the Hulk’s relatives are rarely “normal.” In fact, thanks to modern revelations in the Immortal Hulk era, we now know that even his greatest enemies might share more than just a grudge (they might share his DNA).

Whether you are looking for a breakdown of the Walters family, the truth about the Red Hulks, or how many children Bruce Banner actually has, this 2026 guide explores every branch of the Hulk family tree. Let’s dive into the history of the Banners, the Walters, and the monsters that connect them.

Zatanna Reading Order, the magician of the DC Universe

by Fabien
Updated: March 20, 2026

Navigating the DC Universe can be a challenge, especially for fan-favorite characters who often shine in team books rather than solo titles. Zatanna Zatara is the perfect example. Since her debut in Hawkman #4 (1964), created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, the Mistress of Magic has evolved from a stage illusionist searching for her father into one of the most powerful sorcerers in DC Comics.

Whether you are looking for her early “backward-magic” adventures or her modern leadership in Justice League Dark, tracking her history requires a clear roadmap. This Zatanna reading guide breaks down her essential appearances, solo miniseries, and her complicated history with characters like John Constantine and Batman.

Batman Absolute Edition: A Full List

by Fabien
March 11, 2026

Years before DC Comics launched Batman into the Absolute Universe, it had already found a use for the word “Absolute.” As a matter of fact, it was first used a quarter of a century earlier on a reprint of the first twelve issues of The Authority by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch.

Before that, DC had already tested the oversized deluxe format with The Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection (which eventually joined the Absolute collection in 2015), but it’s The Authority book that came to define the expectation readers have with the Absolute format: oversized 8 by 12 inches (200 mm × 300 mm) books presented in a slipcased edition with cloth bookmark, high-quality hardcover collections of previously published comics, typically restored, corrected and recolored with additional material such as sketches, scripts, annotations, commentary, or extras that are not in the standard trade paperback.

Without surprise, Batman’s stories found their way to the Absolute collection as the Dark Knight’s long history is filled with now-classic tales created by master cartoonists. Batman has already conquered other formats, and you can read his stories thanks to the omnibus collection.

Cells at Work! Manga Order

by Fabien
Updated: March 4, 2026

There is a manga for everyone, even those who want to learn how the human body works and have a lot of fun doing so! If you are one of those, just read Cells at Work!, the series written and illustrated by Akane Shimizu. His idea was to anthropomorphize the cells of the human body, depicting them as workers assigned specific roles within a vast, bustling metropolis that represents a healthy adult human.

The concept originated as a short story titled The Story of Cells. Shimizu later developed the idea into a manga series, which began serialization in Kodansha’s Monthly Shōnen Sirius with the March 2015 issue. The original series follows Red Blood Cell AE3803, an inexperienced courier responsible for oxygen delivery, and White Blood Cell U-1146, a stoic neutrophil tasked with eliminating pathogens. Through their encounters with bacteria, viruses, allergens, and physical trauma, the series dramatizes fundamental concepts of human biology while maintaining scientific accuracy overseen by medical supervision.

The original Cells at Work!’s popularity led to the creation of numerous spin-off manga series, each focusing on different cell types, bodily systems, or physiological conditions, and published across various Kodansha magazines between 2017 and the mid-2020s. The main series and the spin-offs were licensed for English-language publication by Kodansha USA Publishing.

In parallel with the manga expansions, the franchise was adapted into anime, beginning in 2018, with later seasons and adaptations drawing from both the original manga and selected spin-offs. A live-action adaptation was also produced in 2024.