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The Boys Reading Order, A Guide to Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s Satirical comic book series

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The Boys Reading Order

The Boys is a hit TV series on Amazon Prime Video since 2019. Before the TV show, there was the comic book by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson.

The comic book takes place in a world where superpowered individuals are recognized as heroes by the general public and work for the powerful corporation Vought International. In public, those superheroes are exemplary, but away from the camera, they are, most of them, arrogant, corrupt, depraved, and more.

The Boys are a team of vigilantes led by Billy Butcher, working for the CIA in order to keep an eye on the superhero community. And like the superheroes they worked so hard to stop, they are also fuck up people. Everything starts when Wee Hughie – based on Simon Pegg – watched his girlfriend being killed in front of him by a superhero who didn’t care about the collateral damages. Butcher invites him to join his team in the US and teaches him all he needs to know about the birth of superheroes and how they are just propaganda material for a failed military consortium.

The Boys is full of Marvel and DC references, there’s also an Animal House storyline and a lot of really dark and disturbing things, you know, like in a Garth Ennis comics. It’s a satirical comic, with The evolution of Hughie and Butcher at the heart of the story. And like a classic Ennis comic, it’s full of rage, violence, and dark and twisted humor, with interesting characters and some pure emotions.

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Death of Doctor Strange Reading Order

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Death of Doctor Strange Reading Order

Like numerous Marvel characters, Doctor Strange had died several times already. But until now, he didn’t have his classic “Death Of…” storyline, like Wolverine, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Daredevil, Ultimate Spider-Man, or The Mighty Thor. It’s all changed now, with the event Death of Doctor Strange, written by Jed MacKay and penciled by Lee Garbett.

Doctor Stephen Strange is known as the world’s greatest neurosurgeon and Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme (except for that time when, you know, Loki took that title). He defends our planet from the supernatural and interdimensional threats no other hero is equipped to handle. But what would happen if he unexpectedly died? Who would protect Earth and keep the mystical evils at bay? And most importantly…who killed Stephen Strange?!

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Grimm Fairy Tales Presents: Oz, a Comic Reading Order from the Zenescope Universe

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We’re not in Kansas anymore! We’re in the Grimm Fairy Tales universe from Zenescope, where authors and artists explore classic fairy tales with modern twists, sexy covers, and some gore inside.

Taking inspiration from L. Frank Baum’s children’s book, Oz is one of the realms of the Grimm Fairy Tales universe, alongside Myst, Neverland, Wonderland, and Earth. But this is not the Land of Oz from the books and the movie, as Dorothy is not some ordinary farm girl from Kansas.

If the following books take place in the Zenescope universe where you can also meet Robyn Hood and Van Helsing, they do not really connect to the others.

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Spider-Man Noir Reading Order (member of the Spider-Verse)

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In December 2006, Fabrice Sapolsky, the French writer and creator of Comix Box Magazine, pitched the idea of a 1930s pulp version of Spider-Man to David Hine. This resulted in Marvel Noir, an alternative Marvel Comics continuity that combines elements of film noir and pulp fiction with the Marvel Universe. The Marvel Noir line was launched in February 2009 with Spider-Man: Noir #1 and X-Men: Noir #1. Carmine Di Giandomenico drew the first Spidey stories, and Marko Djurdjevic designed his cool costume.

Earth-90214, also known as Earth-Noir, is a hard-boiled world. Spider-Man’s story begins in the 1930s during the Great Depression, when New York is dealing with economic issues and unemployment is rife. Norman Osborn rules the city with an iron fist, aided by Vulture, Kraven and the Enforcers. Peter Parker was raised by his aunt and uncle, the activists May and Ben Parker, and gained arachnid powers after being bitten by a supernatural spider. If you’re a fan of Batman, this Spider-Man is the closest version of the character in the Spider-Verse. His alias is The Spider-Man for good reason.

Spider-Man Noir quickly became a popular character, earning a sequel and appearing as a playable character in the 2010 video game Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions — just one year after his first comic appearance.  After around 20 years of existence, Spider-Man has already featured in several crossover stories, as well as video games, TV programmes and films, such as Sony’s animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, voiced by Nicolas Cage. Cage will also portray the character in the upcoming Spider-Man Noir television series (this version being Ben Reilly).

But let’s not just stop at the adaptation of the character! Let’s check out all his adventures in the Spider-Verse with our full guide to the Spider-Man Noir comics from Marvel!

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Snowpiercer, le Transperceneige: A Reading Order Guide

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Created by Jacques Lob and Jean-Marc Rochette, Le Transperceneige, or Snowpiercer, is a french post-apocalyptic graphic novel where the last survivors of humanity are locked in a gigantic train that never stops.

Because even when humanity is on its last leg, we can’t get rid of social hierarchy, the train is organized with the rich at the head, in golden wagons going back to the poor at the end of the convoy. Coming from the tail wagons, Proloff is determined to go back up the train in order to understand the situation following some horrible events. 

Le Transperceneige has been adapted as a movie in 2013 by Bong Joon-ho and has also inspired a television series (on cable channel TNT). Following the movie’s success, several new albums have been published.

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Anya Corazon Reading Order (Araña, Spider-Girl)

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Created by writer Fiona Avery and artist Mark Brooks, Anya Sofia Corazon is a member of the Spider-Verse since 2004 and is more known right now as being Spider-Girl. But she was Araña when she made her first appearance in Amazing Fantasy vol.2 #1.

She didn’t acquire her abilities following a bite by a spider, but after having her life saved by the mage Miguel Legar from the Spider Society. He performed a ritual on her by giving her a spider-shaped tattoo that endows her with spider-like powers and recruits her to be a Hunter for the Spider Society (a secret society worshipping Spider-Totems, created by J. Michael Straczynski during his run on Spider-Man).

The Latina daughter of a Puerto Rican father and a Mexican mother, she had been the star of her own (short) series and been affiliated with the Spider Society, the Young Allies (during the Heroic Age), the Avengers Academy, and the Web Warriors. Simply put, like all respected members of the Spider-Verse, Anya Corazon has her fair share of adventures, and to discover them, we made this reading order

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Doctor Who Comic Reading Order (by Titan Comics)

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Doctor Who Comic Reading Order

Launched in 1963, the iconic sci-fi television series Doctor Who evolved to become a multi-media franchise controlled by the BBC. The program depicts the adventures of the Doctor, a Time Lord — meaning an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor traveled through time and space in his spaceship, the Tardis, a blue British police box, which is much bigger on the inside. Those adventures are shared with a companion, often a human character, which acts as a friend or an assistant, as someone who reminds the doctor of his moral duty and helps the Doctor to combat foes and help people in need.

Today, we are going to explore the Doctor Who comic published by Titan Comics, who obtained the license in 2014 and released plenty of stories since then, mostly about modern incarnations of the Doctor, but also with some classic Doctors and a few crossovers!

Whereas you are new to the Whovian universe, a regular viewer, or an expert, Titans Comics has worked to make it accessible for everyone.

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Devil’s Reign Reading Order, a Daredevil Event by Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto

 

Daredevil fans rejoice! The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen hasn’t had an event around him since 2010, with Shadowland. The actual Daredevil team, Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto rectify that with Devil’s Reign, a Marvel event confronting our superheroes to the mayor of the biggest city in America, Wilson Fisk!

Per Marvel’s official Synopsis, Wilson Fisk has risen from Kingpin of Crime to mayor of the biggest city in America. Now he’s going to bring his full criminal and political power to bear on the superheroes who call NYC home!

The man who once destroyed Daredevil has targeted the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and more. Fisk has an army of supervillains at his command — including Crossbones, Taskmaster, Typhoid Mary, Shocker, Whiplash, Rhino, and Kraven — and that’s just his opening salvo. Wait until you meet his Thunderbolts!

But Mayor Fisk isn’t the only one with ambitions…and you know what they say about honor among thieves. From the blockbuster creative team of DAREDEVIL comes the final act in Wilson Fisk’s master plan!

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May “Mayday” Parker Reading Order (Spider-Girl/Spider-Woman from Earth-982)

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May Mayday Parker, alias Spider-Girl / Spider-Woman

Across the multiverse, several characters call themselves or have called themselves ‘Spider-Girl’. For example, Anya Corazon has used the codename since 2010. But one of the most famous ‘Spider-Girl’ is May “Mayday” Parker, from the MC2 (Marvel Comics 2) continuity — or Earth-982.

Created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, May Parker is the teenage daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. She has made her first appearance in a What if? #105 story published in February 1998 before becoming the star of her own ongoing title. 

Marvel Comics 2 was then an imprint depicting the events taking place in the alternative timeline presented in the What If? issue. The events are the same as the main 616 continuity until the end of Clone Saga with the issue Spider-Man #75, in which Peter and Mary Jane’s baby daughter dies.

In the MC2 universe, Peter and Mary Jane were reunited with their baby daughter thanks to Kaine, who discovered the child living with Alison Mongraine—a con artist who had kidnapped the baby under the Green Goblin’s orders.

The Spider-Girl comic series takes place in the future, following Mayday Parker as a teenager. At age 15, she begins developing versions of her father’s spider powers and decides to become the new “new web-slinging wonder!”

To discover more about Spidey’s daughter from Earth-982, here is the May “Mayday” Parker Comics Reading Order!

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Daredevil: Shadowland Reading Order

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Daredevil Shadowland Reading Order

One of Daredevil’s greatest qualities, in my opinion, is the fact that you can read his stories without having to deal with too many Marvel events. Yes, he’s often present but most of the time, it doesn’t affect his story.

Once in a while, though, an event will have an impact on his life, or more rarely, it will be a Daredevil event! It was the case in 2010 with Shadowland, written by Andy Diggle and penciled by Billy Tan. It gives us one controversial event, maybe not as bad as some said, but not good either, if we have to be honest. Still, it is now part of Daredevil history.

But what is Shadowland about? Per Marvel: Matt Murdock dared evil … and lost! The battle for the soul of a hero begins! Pushed beyond his limits, Daredevil faces off for a final time against his deadliest foe–Bullseye–in their most brutal battle ever with more than just Hell’s Kitchen is at stake. Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Punisher, and more join forces to stop a war that is breaking out throughout New York, with Daredevil at the center. This event will change the streets of New York City–and the heroes that protect it–forever.

What to read before Daredevil: Shadowland?

The first Daredevil issues written by Andy Diggle serve as a preamble for the event. Nothing important happens but, like it’s often the case, helps to put things in perspective and have a better understanding of the character’s situation. (It’s also collected in the Shadowland omnibus).

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