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Deathlok Reading Order, Marvel’s Deadly Cyborgs

Not to be confused with DC’s Deadshot or Deathstroke, Deathlok is a Marvel Comics character. In fact, it’s the codename of more than one character. The First one was created by cartoonist Rich Buckler in Astonishing Tales #25 (he plotted and pencilled it, Doug Moench wrote the script and suggested the name), in 1974, the same year as The Punisher and Wolverine. Marvel was into violent warriors at the time and The Six Million Dollar Man TV Show had popularized the concept of a cyborg just a few months earlier.

Known at first as Deathlok the Demolisher, Luther Manning was an American soldier who was killed and subsequently brought back to life by Simon Ryker who transformed him into a cyborg. This takes place in a dystopian future: 1990. He escaped Ryker’s control and fought against him, up until the end of his Astonishing Tales run when he was sent back in time to the regular Marvel timeline. This was only the beginning for him as he got to meet other Marvel heroes, and eventually went back to his timeline.

Manning was just the first. Through the years, Michael Collins, Jack Truman, Rebecca Ryker, Henry Hayes, and Jemma Simmons used the “Deathlok” identity. They mostly followed the same route, dead humans reanimated as cyborgs.

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Meet the Web-Warriors, the protectors of the Spider-Verse

Thanks to the animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel Across the Spider-Verse, it is no secret that the Marvel Universe contains an infinite number of versions of Spider-Men, Spider-Women, and Spider-villains.

Before Miles Morales and company web-slung onto the big screen, a Spider-Army was created on the pages of Marvel Comics. During the Spider-Verse event, their mission was to protect the Spiders from the Inheritors, a vampiric family who hunt Spider-Totems to access what is called the Web of Life and Destiny, which can be described as a celestial map of the multiverse – and with Spiders created to repair, maintain, and expand it.

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Plastic Man Reading Order

Launched as a minor feature in Police Comics #1 in 1941 (originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics), Plastic Man is a creation of artist and writer Jack Cole. He initially thought of a character named the Indian Rubber Man, inspired by sideshow freaks, but Everett Arnold–who was the founder of Quality Comics–suggested naming the character after that material that was all the rage at the time.

According to Art Spiegelman, who profiled Cole for The New Yorker magazine, in 1943, when Plastic Man expanded into his own book, Cole explained the morphing hero to new readers: “If you should see a man standing on the street and reaching into the top window of a sky-scraper…that’s not astigmatism—it’s Plastic Man!… If you happen upon a gent all bent up like a pretzel…don’t dunk him…it’s Plastic Man! All this and bouncing too, you’ll see when the rubber man and his pal Woozy Winks gamble their lives in—The Game of Death.”

This is the story of Patrick “Eel” O’Brian, a lowlife gangster. While committing a robbery, he was accidentally doused by some unnamed acid. Nursed back to health by a reclusive order of monks, Eel became a new man. He now had stretching abilities that defied the laws of physics and, inspired by the teaching of the monks, he was now ready to put his criminal past behind him to protect the law–he first helped the police force and later became a special agent for the F.B.I.

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Marvel’s Dracula Reading Order

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In 1972, as the Comics Code started to loosen and Stan Lee became Marvel’s Publisher, making Roy Thomas the new editor-in-chief, Marvel launched new horror titles like Ghost Rider, The Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night, and The Tomb of Dracula.

Written by Gerry Conway, plotted by Roy Thomas, and drawn by Gene Colan (who fought to get this assignment), The Tomb of Dracula #1 introduced the famous vampire created by author Bram Stoker into the Marvel Universe. The concept seduced the readers, but the writing not that much. Conway rapidly left the book, Archie Goodwin then Gardner Fox took over for only two issues each before Marv Wolfman assumed the writing duties and received critical success–he also introduced Blade and other vampire hunters.

Like most of Marvel’s horror books, The Tomb of Dracula was not part of the Marvel Universe until issue #44 which was a crossover with Doctor Stange (concluding in issue #14 of the Sorcerer Supreme’s series). The series ended with over-sized issue #70 but was quickly revived as a black & white magazine. That didn’t last.

Some of The Tomb of Dracula‘s characters came back in regular Marvel books like Doctor Strange. Dracula himself reappeared with Rachel Van Helsing in 1982 in Chris Claremont’s X-Men. Then in 1991, The Tomb of Dracula was revived for a 4-part miniseries. A few years later, Dracula came back in more Marvel series. Since then, he occasionally appeared in stand-alone stories or full storylines, finding a place in the Marvel Universe.

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DC Comics’ Prez, America’s First Teen President Is The Politician of Another Time

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The chaotic world of comic books is full of oddities. On that survived in a strange way is Prez, America’s First Teen President!

The year was 1973. DC Comics had a problem: Marvel was publishing many comics that the newsstands were full of them and DC Comics was barely visible on the racks. Publisher Carmine Infantino had to do something and he ordered more series, most of them were collections of reprints, but a few contained original characters, like Prez.

Created by writer Joe Simon (Captain America‘s co-creator) and artist Jerry Grandenetti, Prez: First Teen President of the U.S.A. introduced a teenage boy named Prez Rickard. He was named “Prez” because his mother dreamt of him becoming President one day. How prescient of her.

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Naruto Universe Manga Order (with Boruto and Light Novels)

While Eikichi Onizuka wants to become the world’s greatest teacher, Naruto Uzumaki aspires to become Hokage! Created by Masashi Kishimoto, the ninja adventures of Naruto started in 1999 in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump. Naruto is then a turbulent but ambitious 12-year-old ninja in training whose determination and enthusiasm compensate for his shortcomings.

While Naruto presents himself as a carefree and optimist person capable of befriending anyone, his life is already marked by tragedy and secret: the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox–a malevolent creature that attacked Konohagakure, Naruto’s village– was sealed away in his body when he was just a baby, with his parents sacrificing themselves in the process. Naruto grew up an orphan, ignoring who his parents were, and openly ostracised and resented by many villagers for containing the beast that took many lives.

But nothing will stop Naruto on his track. The boy is determined to obtain respect from his peers and to become the greatest ninja with the help of his teammates, Sasuke and Sakura, facing many obstacles and Big Bads along the way. Naruto became one of the most popular manga, leading to a media franchise including the very successful anime television series, films, video games, toys, and several spin-offs!

Following is a guide to navigating the manga world of Naruto, with the spin-off Boruto, a few other manga spin-offs and many light novels!

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The Inhumans: Unraveling the Origins of Marvel’s Enigmatic Royal Family

The story goes that during the 2010s, Marvel decided to push the X-Men to the side in favor of the Inhumans, as they preferred properties for which they had full screen rights at the time. Their attempt to position the Inhumans as replacements for the X-Men didn’t pay off and, worse, gave the public a misleading image of this superhuman race, which is not comprised of mutants. This effort was further hampered by the failure of the 2017 Inhumans TV series.

However, a look back at their origins in comic book titles reveals that the Inhumans are quite different from the X-Men. Originally conceived with Jack Kirby’s psychedelic aesthetic, they were weirder, their powers crazier, and their stories more otherworldly.

It all started twenty-five thousand years ago when Kree scientists, drawn to Earth beings’ incredible potential, experimented on them to create a superhuman army. These experiments ultimately resulted in the development of the Inhumans, a species with superhuman strength and long lifespans.

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Elongated Man Reading Order (Ralph Dibny)

In The Flash #112 published in 1960, writer John Broome and penciler Carmine Infantino told the story of how The Flash went after Elongated Man, suspecting him of being behind multiple crimes. It turns out that he was framed. In fact, he is the opposite of a criminal, he is a superhero detective and his secret identity is Ralph Dibny.

Well, everybody quickly learned who was Ralph Dibny as he was one of the first to publicly reveal who he really was behind the costume. He’s also one of the only superheroes to get married. But he rarely starred in his own series–however, he had a lot of backup stories in Detective Comics.

Apparently, editor Julius Schwartz didn’t know at the time that DC Comics had the rights to Plastic Man when Ralph was created (also, Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen had been Elastic Lad for a time, so no “Elastic” for Ralph). What Schwartz wanted was a new supporting hero and the one he got was not that serious about being a hero.

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Rocket Raccoon Reading Order

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During the 1970s, Marvel expanded its offer with magazines. One of them was the black and white “Marvel Preview” in which Bill Mantlo started the science-fiction serial “The Sword in the Star.” The story was about a character named Prince Wayfinder of the planet Ithacon who was searching for a mythical sword. This didn’t last long, only two chapters were published, but the second one published in Marvel Preview #7 in 1976 introduced an anthropomorphic character who’s quite popular now, the famous Rocket Raccoon.

At the time though, in this story drawn by Keith Giffen (his first professional comic book job), he was called Rocky. A fan of the Beatles, Mantlo was inspired by their 1968 song “Rocky Raccoon” from the White Album which is a cowboy story. Elements of the song were also used for Rocket’s second appearance equipped with rocket-powered skates and laser pistols, in The Incredible Hulk #271 (published in 1982). That’s when it was explained that his real name was Rocket. After his team up with the Hulk, Rocket Raccoon starred in his first miniseries and then made a few apparitions next to other heroes. Nothing of note for a long time.

It really was during the Annihilation: Conquest crossover that Rocket Raccoon found its place in the Marvel Universe, with the Guardians of the Galaxy. He went from law officer from the planet Halfworld to military tactician protecting the Universe.

Now, let’s explore the comic books featuring Rocket Raccoon with this reading order!

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Who Is Mister Terrific? A DC Comics Superhero

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There is not one, but two superheroes named Mister Terrific in the DC Comics Universe. Like many others, the original was created during the Golden Age Era and the second one took up the mantle decades later, reviving the legacy of a–probably forgotten–member of the Justice Society of America. 

Terry Sloane, Golden Age’s Mister Terrific 

Like Wildcat and the Gay Ghost, Mister Terrific first appeared in Sensation Comics #1 (1942). Created by Charles Reizenstein and Hal Sharp, this superhero was mostly thought of as just another masked mystery man, but he had a darker start than others.

You see, Terry Sloane may have had everything you’d ever want, but the thing that was missing led him to contemplate suicide. Known as “The Man of 1,000 Talents,” Terry was rich, he possessed a photographic memory and the skills of an Olympic athlete, and he was a master of the martial arts. He was a highly intelligent, natural-born leader, and an accomplished businessman. All of that in his early 20s!

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