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Bat Family Comics, A Beginner’s Reading Order Guide to the crimefighters of Gotham City

So, you want to read about the Bat Family? Maybe you are a new reader and want to know more about Batman and his many allies. Or you have seen an animated movie and would like to explore further the unique dynamics of the Batman Family. Or, yet, you already know quite a bit but would like to revisit the history of the Batfamily. Whatever your position, there are several ways to approach the Bat Family:

  1. Focusing your reading on one member of the Batfamily! This is maybe the best and simplest approach. You like a character and go on reading many adventures featuring him/her. Along the way, you discover you have quite an interest in another member and do the same. All the main characters from the Batfamily (except Alfred, sorry Alfred!) have their own reading order on the website. Go check out our Batfamily Introduction Guide for this part.
  2. Reading some Comic Books with the Whole Family! Thanks to many Batfamily events and many catastrophes affecting Gotham, the members of the Batfamily have to work together regularly, and you will find in those stories some great interactions between the characters, helping you have a better understanding of the family dynamics. For this part, we made a selection of comics to read.
  3. A Batfamily Reading Order! For the most ambitious reader out there, Comic Book Treasury has just compiled a reading list of many comic books featuring the members of the Batfamily, from the beginning of Batman to the actual era. This is not a complete reading order, but a sort of essential/very long starter pack to know the most important facts there is to know and live some fun adventures with your favorite characters.

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Asterix Reading Order, by Toutatis!

The most famous French comic book series in the world, Asterix is still going strong more than 60 years after his debut with a new album released recently. Each new album is selling like hotcakes in France, assuring the Romans will never succeed in conquering this one small village of Gauls!

The adventures of Asterix and Obelix started as a comic strip in the comics anthology Pilote in 1959. Written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo, it tells the story of a village of Gauls as they resist Roman Occupation with the aid of a magic potion during the era of Julius Caesar. Each volume starts with a now quite famous introduction (at least in France):

The year is 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely… One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders. And life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium…

Asterix is an intelligent Gaul and the best warrior in his small village, making him one of the most valuable advisers of chief Vitalstatistix (aka Abraracourcix in France!), and a good confidant of Getafix (aka Panoramix), the village druid. He is a close friend of Obélix, a menhir sculptor and delivery man who fell into Getafix’s magic potion cauldron as a baby. Together, with Obelix’s tiny dog Dogmatix (aka Idéfix, introduced in the 6th volume), they go into many adventures foiling the schemes of the Romans, in Gaul and beyond!

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Massive-Verse Reading Order (Image Comics)

It all started with Radiant Black. Written by Kyle Higgins and drawn by Marcelo Costa, Radiant Black is a comic book series published by Image Comics since 2021. Its success would launch a whole universe, known as the Massive-Verse! Today, we are here to write about this Superhero universe inspired by the Power Rangers!

What is the Massive-Verse?

The Massive-Verse is a shared universe of superhero stories that started with Radiant Black. The story introduced us to Nathan Burnett, a struggling writer who, after drinking with a friend, discovers a miniature black hole that gives him powers and a black-and-white costume! Now, Nathan must learn to use his new powers as the superhero Radiant Black while also learning about the mysteries surrounding the object that gave him his powers.

Black Radiant is the main series of the Massive-Verse that has expanded with several spin-off titles: Rogue Sun by Ryan Parrott, The Dead Lucky by Melissa Flores, Inferno Girl Red by Matt Groom, NO/ONE by Kyle Higgins and Brian Buccellato, Radiant Red by Cherish Chen, Radiant Pink by Meghan Camarena and Melissa Flores.

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Batman Family: An Introduction to the Members of the Gotham Knights

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As one of the most iconic DC superheroes, Batman has the reputation of being a loner. The Cape Crusader has unraveled many mysteries, solved many crimes, and confronted Gotham’s villains by himself on countless occasions. But he also did the same many times over with fellow superheroes such as Superman and Wonder Woman and many more with his found family that readers affectionately called The Bat Family.

What is the Bat Family, you ask? You may have noticed that there are a whole lot of crimefighters in Gotham City to resolve cases and stop criminals. Those vigilantes, whether trained by The Dark Knight himself or operating in Gotham with his implicit approval, are generally Batman’s closest allies, constituting The Bat Family.

Referred to at times as the Gotham Knights, the Bat Family is an informal name, and there is no official first appearance although we could argue that the earliest appearance would be with the introduction of Robin in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940).

Follow the guide as we introduce you to the members of one of the most important families of the DC Universe!

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

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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.

Ten years after its launch, My Hero Academia concluded with the release of its 431st Chapter. The main manga series was collected in 42 tankōbon volumes with the final volume set to be released in 2025 by Viz Media.

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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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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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Cloak and Dagger Reading Order (Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen)

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Created by Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan, Cloak and Dagger made their debut over 40 years ago in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #64 (March 1982). These Marvel Comics superheroes are two runaway teenagers who, after being injected with a synthetic heroin, developed the ability to manipulate light and darkness.

Their powers and backgrounds represent two opposites. Tyrone “Ty” Johnson, a young man from Boston, struggled with a chronic stutter and carried the guilt of his best friend’s death—a tragedy that occurred when he was unable to speak up during a police encounter. Overcome with grief, he fled to New York, where he met Tandy Bowen.

Tandy came from a vastly different world. Raised in privilege, she ran away after feeling neglected by her wealthy mother, who prioritized her social life over her daughter. Naïve about the dangers of the streets, she accepted an offer of shelter, with Ty by her side for protection. However, they were instead delivered into the hands of Simon Marshall, a criminal chemist experimenting with a deadly synthetic drug.

Unlike previous victims, Tyrone and Tandy survived the injection—but they emerged transformed. Tyrone became a living conduit of darkness, able to teleport and turn intangible. Tandy gained the ability to generate daggers of light and heal others. Taking the names Cloak and Dagger, they dedicated themselves to protecting the vulnerable and fighting against injustice.

Since then, the duo has starred in their own comic book series, appeared as guest characters across the Marvel Universe, and joined various superhero teams. They also made the leap to live-action television, headlining a two-season show with Aubrey Joseph as Ty and Olivia Holt as Tandy.

Now, let’s explore their comic book history with this Cloak and Dagger reading order!

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