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Blade Reading Order, Marvel’s Vampire Hunter

Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Gene Colan in The Tomb of Dracula #10 (July 1973), Blade was at first a supporting character but quickly gained prominence.

Blade’s real name is Eric Cross Brooks. He is an Afro-American vampire hunter who used to sport 1970s-style Afro hair and wield teak-bladed knives. He really became a solid character during the 1990s, first in the team series Nightstalkers, then in his own ongoing series Blade the Vampire Hunter.

At first, he was presented as a human immune to vampire bites, but it was retroactively established that he was a “dhampir” (the son of a vampire and a mortal human) following his adaptation as such in Spider-Man: The Animated Series and the Blade film series. In the comics, he also became a “Daywalker” after being bitten by Morbius.

It took years to establish the definitive mythology of Blade in the comics because he never really got a long ongoing series, playing a supporting role between miniseries. That didn’t stop him from becoming a member of the Avengers.

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Spawn Reading Order (and the Spawn Universe)

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In 1992, after leaving Marvel, Todd McFarlane and other high-profile illustrators launched Image Comics – you know the story… It was a gamble, to say the least, but it paid big. This success didn’t take long to come as the first issues published were smashing hits. Spawn was no exception. In fact, it was the most consistent one because of McFarlane, and that stayed that way.

In fact, in 2020, Spawn reached issue #300, a rare feat for an independently published comic. Now, there’s even a Spawn Universe with new spin-offs to expand the world of Spawn like never before.

Here is the story: Murdered during a mission in Botswana by fellow mercenary Bruce Stinson (aka Chapel), Al Simmons was sent to Hell because of his life as an assassin. There, he made a deal with the being known as Malebolgia to become a Hellspawn in exchange for being allowed to see his wife Wanda Blake one last time. He is now back in town, but five years have passed, and, off-balance and disoriented, Simmons quickly realizes that he couldn’t pick up things where he left them. As Spawn, he becomes some kind of hero in order to find a new purpose in life.

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Suicide Squad Reading Order

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The Suicide Squad as we know it today wasn’t always like that. First created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Ross Andru in 1959 in the pages of The Brave and the Bold #25, the first incarnation of The Suicide Squad was a team of good guys with a scientific edge led by Rick Flag Jr. They faced monsters and nuclear bombs. It didn’t last long, and we will not talk about it more here.

The Suicide Squad, as we know, was introduced by writer John Ostrander (with Len Wein) and artist John Byrne in the pages of the Legends miniseries in 1986, the first major DC Universe crossover after the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths. This governmental team controlled by the morally ambiguous Amanda Waller is really called Task Force X and is composed of supervillains like Blockbuster, Bronze Tiger, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, and Enchantress. Rick Flag Jr. is still the leader. The team is sent on “suicide” missions—sometimes, everybody is not coming back.

From 1987 to 1992, John Ostrander wrote the Suicide Squad ongoing series with the help of Kim Yale, and art by Luke McDonnell and John K. Snyder III, among others. It lasted 66 issues. After that, the Squad didn’t retire but only guest-starred in other titles for a while. A new ongoing was launched in 2001, written by Keith Giffen, with art by Paco Medina. The members changed quickly and Sgt. Rock became the squad leader (the members changed regularly).

As part of DC New 52 continuity reboot in 2011, The Suicide Squad was once more relaunched—this time by Adam Glass, with art by Federico Dallocchio and Ransom Getty. Amanda Waller built a new team around Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and King Shark. This series concluded after 30 issues, but the Suicide Squad came back rapidly after that. In fact, it never really went away since.

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Avengers Reading Order (1963-2015)

DC Comics had the Justice League and, in 1963, Marvel was inspired by its success to respond with its own team of superheroes. And thus, The Avengers were created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee in the pages of The Avengers #1 (September 1963).

The story begins with Loki seeking revenge against Thor. His actions led young Rick Jones to call for help. That’s how Ant-Man (Hank Pym), the Wasp, and Iron Man joined Thor and the Hulk in their fight against Loki. The story ended well for the good guys. So well in fact that Ant-Man suggested they form a team – it was the Wasp that came up with the name Avengers.

The rest is history. A long history in fact, with multiple incarnations of the team with the Hulk rapidly leaving the team (in issue #2) and being replaced by Captain America (in issue #4). Former villains, new heroes, honorary members… the roaster changed, but the fight went on against famous foes on Earth, in Space, and everywhere else!

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The Final Night Reading Order, 1996 DC crossover event

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Published in 1996, The Final Night is a DC Comics crossover event written by Karl Kesel with art by Stuart Immonen. For a change, it was not about a Super-Villain fighting the Heroes, but about an extraterrestrial entity called the Sun-Eater that envelopes and extinguishes the Sun, causing Earth to freeze and wither into ecological collapse. It’s an End of the World scenario in which heroes, villains, and everybody else had to work together to surmount the impossible.

Here is the official synopsis: In The Final Night, the heroes and citizens of Earth face the impending end of the universe. When a cosmic force of nature known as the Sun-Eater extinguishes the Sun, Earth is thrust into its final night. Deprived of the massive star’s illumination and heat, the world experiences a catastrophe of epic proportions.

But even in a situation devoid of hope, the world’s greatest champions struggle on against the inevitable. Featuring many of the heroes of the DC Universe, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman, this book graphically illustrates the true definition of a hero, as Hal Jordan, the former Green Lantern, makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the world.

What to Read Before The Final Night?

The Final Night is a self-contained event, but you may want to be familiar with the character of Parallax to have a better understanding of his decisions in this story. First, the famous Emerald Twilight storyline (Green Lantern Vol. 3 #48–50), collected in:

Second, the event “Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!” You can find our reading order here.

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Carnage Reading Order

Created by writer David Michelinie and artist Mark Bagley in The Amazing Spider-Man #361 (published in 1992), Carnage is a supervillain, pure and simple. Being an offspring of Venom (see reading order to know more), Carnage is a Symbiote, an extraterrestrial organism who bonds with a host to which he gave superpowers.

In this case, even if it had multiple hosts through the years, Carnage is famously connected to its first, the sadistic serial killer Cletus Kasady. Everything began when, after Venom left behind him its offspring in a prison cell, the new symbiote connected with Eddie Brock’s cellmate, Kasady. Together, they left behind them chaos and deaths.

Envisioned as a darker version of Venom, Carnage is more violent, powerful, and – simply put – deadly. He became an adversary of Spider-Man of course, but also the archenemy of Venom. At times, Carnage was put at the center of multiple storylines, crossovers, and events, spreading fear throughout the Marvel Universe.

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Venom Reading Order

A few decades before becoming the star of his own movie franchise, Venom was just a new, improved, and dark costume used by Spider-Man. Introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984), the black costume really became Venom in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988) from David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane, the sentient alien symbiote with an amorphous, liquid-like form, that bonds with a host.

Venom became one of Spider-Man’s most prominent villains when he bonded with Eddie Brock, a disgraced journalist who, after having wrongly accused a man to be the serial killer known as the Sin-Eater (the truth was exposed by Spider-Man!), became suicidal. That’s when he came into contact with the symbiote. They bond together, and Venom is born.

First a villain, Venom evolved to become an antihero (before reverting to his old ways… for a time). Eddie Brock is not the only host for the symbiote. He bonded with Mac Gargan (Scorpion), Flash Thompson, and more. He spawned several “children” like Carnage, Scream, Lasher, Phage, and more. Recently, the mythology surrounding the Alien symbiotes became massive to the point of menacing the entirety of the Marvel Universe.

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Transformers IDW Reading Order

Like with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Buffyverse, or the G.I. Joe comic book franchise, IDW took over the Transformers comics and launched its own continuity–and there are some discussions about the more legitimate continuity, but it’s not the subject of this article. We are here to talk about the third Transformers comics series.

The first was published by Marvel (from 1984 to 1991), and the second by Dreamwave Productions (from 2002 to 2004). After that, IDW Publishing took over with the third series (the Generation 1 continuity) written by Simon Furman starting with issue #0 in October 2005 and a regular series starting in January 2006 (and ending in November 2018). The fourth series is a relaunch at IDW that started in 2019.

And so, as the official synopsis tells it, it began on Earth, in 2006. The fate of the planet is already sealed, its destiny decided… by the marauding mechanical beings known as Decepticons. In their way stand an embattled crew of seven hardy Autobot warriors, sworn to prevent the impending Armageddon at any cost, and an unlikely trio of human misfits, pulled kicking and screaming into a hitherto hidden world of pain and hurt. The can of worms is open, the genie is out of the bottle… and nothing will ever be the same again! It begins again — here, now — the saga of the war-torn robots in disguise, the Transformers!

In 2022, IDW Publishing lost the license to publish Transformers comics. Skybound Entertainment (an imprint of Image Comics) took it over and created the Energon Universe.

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Dark Crisis Reading Order, the Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths (DC Comics)

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Dark Crisis Reading Order

Since the launch of the Infinite Frontier era, Joshua Williamson has been building up to his first major crossover event, Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths (originally named “Dark Crisis,” the event was officially retitled “Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths” after it launched).  Williamson teamed up with artist Daniel Sampere, colorist Alejandro Sánchez, and letterer Tom Napolitano for this crisis. As the official synopsis puts it:

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the Justice League are dead. The remaining heroes are left to protect the world from an onslaught of violent attacks by DC’s greatest villains! Leading the charge is a super-powered Slade Wilson … but this time there’s something dark fueling his rage.

Can the younger heroes, led by the 21st century Superman Jonathan Kent, step out of the shadows of the classic icons to form a new Justice League? And will that be enough to stop a darkness greater than anything they’ve ever faced from destroying everything? The world burns as Pariah and the Great Darkness make their play for planet Earth!

Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths is an event built on older stories, as DC Comics explains it:

“In the original Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, the homeworld of Pariah, along with the infinite Multiverse, was obliterated. Now, this mad sole survivor has found a way to bring his homeworld and the entire infinite Multiverse back from the dead: Earth-0 must die. An ancient destructive force called the Great Darkness, first appearing in Swamp Thing by Alan Moore and Stan Woch, is the weapon Pariah will wield as he paves a path to rebirth and vengeance.”

Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths marked the end of another short era in the DC Universe, but it also introduced a new roadmap to follow for the year to come. Before diving into the event, you may want to do some reading. Here is our reading guide.

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Usagi Yojimbo Reading Order, the comics that inspired Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles

Now adapted on Netflix under the title “Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles,” Usagi Yojimbo is certainly not a new series. In fact, this creator-owned comic book series was created by Stan Sakai in 1984 – Usagi Yojimbo first appeared in Albedo Anthropomorphics #2, published by Thoughts and Images in November 1984. 

Openly inspired by Japanese cinema and real-life samurai Miyamoto Musashi, Usagi Yojimbo explores Japanese history, folklore, arts, and more. The story tells the adventures of the Miyamoto Usagi, a rōnin samurai rabbit, in Japan at the beginning of the Edo period (early 17th century) – it is an anthropomorphic comic where humans are replaced by animals – as he travels the country on shogyusha, sometimes monetizing his services as a bodyguard. 

The concept of the series, with Usagi meeting new people which each new adventure during his travels, makes reading Usagi Yojimbo easy as you don’t have to track down every book in order of publication. You can just pick a story at random. Of course, if you like what you read, you can also start from the beginning.

The publication history of Usagi Yojimbo is not clear and simple, as the series has been published by multiple publishers: Fantagraphics Books (Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 1), Mirage Studios (Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 2), Dark Horse Comics (Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 3), and lately IDW Publishing (Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 4). The samurai also appeared in occasional short stories published by other companies.

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