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Black Cat Reading Order, Marvel’s Lucky Cat Burglar

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Created in 1979 by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Keith Pollard in The Amazing Spider-Man #194, Black Cat is an antiheroine, sometimes girlfriend, ally or enemy of Spider-Man. She is certainly not just Marvel’s Catwoman.

Felicia Hardy is Black Cat, the daughter of Walter Hardy who was a world-renowned cat burglar. The first time we meet her, she wants to break her father out of prison, but her meeting with Spider-Man complicates everything. Past trauma encouraged her to learn to be a fighter but she needed an edge to survive and prove herself in the world of Spidey. A deal with the Kingpin led her to gain her own super-power: she has the (subconscious) ability to affect probability fields, producing “bad luck” for those who want to hurt her.

Her romantic relationship with Spider-Man was tumultuous – and she didn’t want to hear about Peter Parker. They eventually broke up, but Felicia’s life was now entangled between the heroes and criminals of New York. She had to create her own space, becoming for a time some sort of Robin Hood. She still helps Spider-Man, but occasionally double-crosses him.

As years passed, her relationship with Spider-Man eventually found stable ground… until she met the Superior Spider-Man who led her to become a master criminal. For a time, then she got back on the good side and finally got her own ongoing series! The story continues.

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Best Batman Stories For Beginners

Batman - Best Batman Stories For Beginners

We often explore the way to read Batman stories. We’ve got a Batman Post-Crisis Reading Order, a Batman New 52 Reading Order, a Batman Rebirth Reading Order, and even more specific ones following writers’ works on the famous characters or about specific crossover and bigger events. There is a lot to cover in the Batman Universe.

But all of this is not beginner-friendly. There are always too many books to track down if we just want to see if we like it or not. Everybody is not heavily invested in the Dark Knight Universe, yet. We all start somewhere and there’s nothing better than a good story to discover if we want to read more.

This article is here to provide those who are not that familiar with Batman with a list of possible entry points in his world or just some good stories to read without the pressure to complete a series or to invest too much time. The title says it all: the best stories for beginners.

But first, we assume that everybody knows who Batman is, but there are always younger people who just start to learn about those things. So, let me introduce you to Batman–quickly because we have now a complete article about his origins. Created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger in 1939, Batman is the superhero identity of Bruce Wayne, a wealthy man from Gotham City who witnessed the murder of his parents as a child. After training himself physically and intellectually, he started fighting crime, masking his true identity behind a mark, and becoming a symbol of justice in the process.

Simply put, he is a vigilante but also the greatest detective and, with his sidekick Robin, he’s now facing costume villains like the Joker, Two-Face, The Riddler, the Penguin, and more. But he also has a lot of allies in his crusade for justice like Commissioner James Gordon, his previous sidekicks, and numerous vigilantes and powerful superheroes.

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Justice League (New 52) Reading Order, the Geoff Johns’ era

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Justice League New 52 Reading Order

One of the most famous superhero teams today, The Justice League was conceived as a revival of the Justice Society of America. A team from the 1940s, the JSA title was canceled due to to a decline in sales, as superheroes were in decline after World War II.

When editor Julius Schwartz asked writer Gardner Fox to reintroduce his creation, the JSA, he decided to rename it the “Justice League of America”, a name he thought would appeal better to young readers. After having made its first appearance in The Brave and the Bold #28 in March 1960, the Justice League got quickly its own title and became one of DC’s best-selling title.

The Justice League is usually comprised of highly popular heroes (like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) who generally operate independently, but would team up to tackle more ruthless villains of world epic menace. That way, the characters gain exposure that helps sales titles and participate to build the DC shared universe by working and interacting with each other. Though, DC gas deviated from this formula at different times, most notably in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the Justice League International, which purposefully starred an ensemble of lesser-known characters. This more quirky and humourous Justice League led to the creation of several spin-offs.

DC revamped the Justice League in the second part of the nineties, first with the help of Mark Waid and Fabian Nicieza, returning to the basic, then with Grant Morrison’s run named JLA, where he made the Justice League an analogy for a pantheon of gods and wrote more epic stories. It became a staple for years to come, with the Justice League specializing in world-shattering threats with epic stakes.

Which lead us to New 52 in 2011, when DC relaunched its entire line for a partial reboot and with a new continuity. This era begins with a new origin story for the Justice League, featuring initial team members Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Those heroes must come together when loner vigilante Batman stumbled upon a dark evil that threatens to destroy the earth as we know it. To save the world, they must put aside their differences…

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Shazam Reading Order (aka DC Comics’ Captain Marvel)

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The history of Shazam, originally known as Captain Marvel, is one of the most legal-heavy in comic book history. The character was created by writer Bill Parker and artist C. C. Beck in 1939, debuting in Whiz Comics #2 (1940) under Fawcett Comics.

By the early 1940s, Captain Marvel had become the most popular superhero of the Golden Age, outselling even Superman. However, this success led to a legal battle when DC Comics sued Fawcett, alleging that Captain Marvel was an infringement on Superman’s character. After years of litigation, Fawcett ceased publishing Captain Marvel stories in 1953.

In 1972, DC Comics licensed the rights to the character, eventually purchasing them outright in 1991. However, by that time, Marvel Comics had secured the trademark for the name “Captain Marvel,” forcing DC to market the character and his associated heroes under the Shazam! banner from the 1970s onward.

Shazam’s story centers on Billy Batson, a 12-year-old orphan who is chosen by the ancient wizard Shazam to become Earth’s champion. By speaking the wizard’s name—an acronym representing the six mythological figures who empower him (Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury)—Billy is transformed into the powerful adult superhero Captain Marvel.

Over time, he shares his abilities with his sister Mary Batson, and their friend Freddy Freeman, forming the Marvel Family, later rebranded as the Shazam Family. Together, they battle villains such as Doctor Sivana, Black Adam, and the sinister Mister Mind, leader of the Monster Society of Evil.

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America Chavez Reading Order (Marvel’s Miss America)

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America Chavez, also known as Miss America, is a fairly new character in the Marvel Universe as she made her first appearance in 2011. Created by Joe Casey and Nick Dragotta, America Chavez believed for a long time that she was coming from the Utopian Parallel, an out-of-time reality where the Demiurge gave her powers. She left home, traveled across different realities, and ended up becoming a hero called Miss America on Earth-616.

Known as Marvel’s first Latin-American LGBTQ character to star in an ongoing series, America Chavez started in the 2011 limited series Vengeance (from Casey and Dragotta), but became popular as part of the Young Avengers, A-Force, the Ultimates, and West Coast Avengers.

Also, America Chavez is extremely powerful. Like a lot of superheroes, she possesses superhuman strength, speed, durability, and the power of flight, but she also has the power to kick open star-shaped holes in reality—the kind of thing that allows her and her teammates to travel through the multiverse and into other realities.

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Tim Drake Reading Order (Robin III, Red Robin, Drake)

Tim Drake (Robin) Reading-Order

After Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, Timothy Jackson Drake is our third Robin. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Pat Broderick, Tim Drake made his first appearance in Batman #436 in August 1989. He introduced himself to Dick Grayson in the storyline Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying, and is convinced that “Batman needs Robin.”

Having great detective skills and Genius-level intellect, Tim Drake had discovered the real identity of Batman and the original Robin (though, I’m not convinced you need to be Sherlock Holmes to arrive at this conclusion!). As Dick refuses to become Robin again, Tim was the perfect young boy to take the mantle and become the third Robin. Though Batman will make him go through a rigorous training program for his own safety (to avoid history repeating itself), Tim Drake will obviously rise up to the challenge.

Recognized as the most intellectually gifted of the Robins, he speaks several languages, excels in computer science, and possesses a large knowledge in other scientific fields, including biology, engineering, and genetics. He is also the most calculated of all Robins in combat, and of course a great martial artist.

What to read before?

Though Tim is not present in this storyline, we invite you to read the now classic ‘A Death in the Family’, marking the end of Jason Todd as Robin, offering a better context about where Batman stands when Tim enters the scene and explaining some of his choices.

  • Batman: A Death in the Family
    Collects the original Death in the Family tale from Batman #426-429 plus “A Lonely Place of Dying” from Batman #440-442 and The New Titans #60-61.

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Secret Wars II Reading Order, the first massive Marvel crossover event

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Following the glowing success of the first Secret Wars, Marvel’s then editor-in-chief Jim Shooter decided to repeat the experience with a bit more ambition. Published from 1985 to 1986, Secret Wars II is a nine-issue comic book limited series completed with tie-ins.

Historically, this was the first time Marvel published an event crossover following that model, asking the readers to purchase multiple titles in order to read the entire story. It certainly was not the last time.

Here is the official synopsis: Last time Earth’s heroes encountered the Beyonder, they fought for their lives. This time, they fight for all existence! A year after kidnapping the most powerful beings on Earth and pitting them against one another in a “Secret War” on a distant world, the omnipotent Beyonder comes to Earth to continue his study of humanity.

However, a being so powerful and so naïve is a dangerous combination. As the Beyonder’s understanding slowly grows, so too do his own desires – and even the lord of lies, Mephisto, fears what the Beyonder might finally decide he desires. Because if the Beyonder decides he wants to end all that is, even the combined might of the universe’s cosmic powers might not be enough to stop him! 

What to read before Secret Wars II?

The series was a sequel to the original Secret Wars miniseries, you can take a look at it:

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Madame Web Reading Order (Cassandra Webb and Julia Carpenter)

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Madame Web Reading Order (Spider-Family)

The original Madame Web made her first appearance in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #210 in 1980. Created by writer Denny O’Neil and artist John Romita Jr., Madame Web was not like other heroes, she wasn’t swinging through the streets or battling villains. Instead, Madame Web possesses psychic sensory powers, including telepathy, clairvoyance, prescience, and the ability to sense psionic powers in others. The first time Peter Parker heard about her and her clairvoyance abilities, he thought she looked like a fraud. But soon enough, Spider-Man would learn that she was anything but.

First introduced as the elderly, blind woman Cassandra Webb, she helped Spider-Man by delivering bad news or asking for his help. She also had the ability to transfer her powers to another individual. When the time came, she passed on her powers to Julia Carpenter (who had once been Spider-Woman), making her the new resident Madame Web.

Known as the ‘Creepy Clairvoyant,’ Madame Web is undeniably a mysterious character and certainly not your typical member of the Spider-Man Family. Her appearances are generally limited to just a few panels or issues within larger storylines. For a fuller understanding of her role, it’s recommended to read the complete story arcs in which she appears.

Forget everything you may have learned from watching Madame Web and explore the often cryptic role of Madame Web in the Spider-Verse with this comic book reading guide, tracing her appearances in Marvel Comics!

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Morbius Reading Order, Marvel’s Living Vampire

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Michael Morbius is a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and a living vampire in the Marvel Universe. Introduced as an enemy of Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 (October 1971), Morbius became a tragic antihero.

After years of experimentation to eliminate his rare blood disease, he thought he had found a cure, but the side effects changed him dramatically. Now, he has enhanced senses, an aversion to light, and an insatiable thirst for blood. He is not dead. He is a kind of Dhampir, not really a vampire or a mortal human.

Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, Morbius is more of a scientific creature than a supernatural one—like the lizard. After a few encounters with Spider-Man, he became the star of his own feature in Marvel’s bimonthly for a while, then he went on to make guest appearances here and there for a long time. He made a comeback during the 1990s. During the next two decades, Morbius joined teams, appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man, and sometimes in his own miniseries.

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DC Comics Bombshells Reading Guide, a reality where superheroines guard the homefront during World War II

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DC Comics Bombshells Reading Guide

First and foremost, DC Comics Bombshells is a line of variant covers and collectible statues created by Ant Lucia and featuring superheroines reimagined in a 1940s-era pinup style. The line was launched in 2013 with Wonder Woman and the brand became soon enough popular enough for DC Comics to expand the line with art prints, T-shirts, mugs but also an out-of-continuity series.

Written by Marguerite Bennett and illustrated by rotating artists, DC Comics Bombshells is a reality where female superheroes guard the homefront during World War II. When the story began, Kate Kane is the Batwoman, a player in an all-women’s baseball league where the players’ identities are kept secret to protect them from sexist backlash. Kate Kane plays baseball and fights crime in her Batwoman identity. Soon enough, she is recruited by Commander Amanda Waller who offers her to join her Bombshell, her team working to end the war.

Bombshells is an ensemble comic book series, in which you can also find alternate versions of Queen Mera Curry (Aquawoman), The Question (Renee Montoya)Stargirl (Kortni Duginovna), Supergirl (Kara Starikov), Diana Prince (Wonder Woman), Zatanna “Zee” Zatara, and more.

As a digital-first ongoing series, Bombshells ran for 100 digital issues (the equivalent of 33 print issues), with the final issue released in August 2017. That same month, the second digital-first series named Bombshells United was launched, picking up from the end of the previous Bombshells series. The first arc introduced Bombshells versions of Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark. This second series was less successful as the title was canceled after 38 digital issues and 19 print issues.

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