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Robin War Reading Order

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Robin War Reading Order

Published by DC Comics between December 2015 to January 2016, Robin War is a crossover event featuring most of the incarnations of Batman’s crime-fighting partner, Robin, including Damian Wayne, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, and the original, Dick Grayson. It was set during that time when Commissioner Gordon replaced Batman by using a robotic Bat-suit (see Batman New 52 or Batman by Snyder & Capullo) and the We Are Robin movement put the spotlight on the young crimefighters.

Here is the official synopsis: In a Gotham City turned upside down, Robin has become more than a single hero—Robin is a movement. With Bruce Wayne sidelined and the Batman co-opted by the police, a legion of teens are putting on the yellow “R” and following in the footsteps of their crime-fighting icons. But all it takes is one tragic accident for everything to go wrong. And when it does, the crackdown on the Robins is swift and merciless. Now, all of the original Boy Wonders—Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake and Damian Wayne—are back in Gotham, determined to save the kids who have taken up their legacy.

This Robin War is not as spontaneous as it seems. From their shadowy lair, Gotham’s oldest and most powerful secret society is manipulating all sides of the conflict—and not even those who trained for years with the World’s Greatest Detective can guess the true purpose behind the Court of Owls’ intricate plan—for more information about the Court here.

What to read before Robin War?

As the Robin War event is connected to the Court of Owls, I invite you to take a look at our reading guide dedicated to this secret society. But the essential is:

Before reading Robin War, you may want to be up-to-date with the new “Robins” group. It’s in the pages of the We are Robin series.

Optional, but if you want to know more about Gordon as Batman, take a look at Batman, Vol. 8: Superheavy, Pt. 1.

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Love and Rockets Reading Order, by the Hernandez brothers

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Love and Rockets is a long-running comic book series by brothers Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, launched in 1981 with a self-published issue co-edited by their brother Mario. After the first issue gained attention, it was picked up by Fantagraphics Books in 1982, which has published the series in various formats ever since. The series blends science fiction, magical realism, and slice-of-life storytelling in an anthology format. Each brother works independently, developing separate but occasionally intersecting narratives that follow a large cast of characters across decades.

Jaime’s stories are grouped under the title Locas, an ongoing story centered on Margarita “Maggie” Chascarrillo and Esperanza “Hopey” Glass, two queer women navigating friendship, love, and adulthood in the fictional Southern California town of Hoppers (also known as Huerta). His characters age in real time, and the series traces their evolving relationships and personal growth over the years.

Gilbert’s contributions are more varied in structure, combining serialized stories and stand-alone shorts, often with elements of magical realism. His central narrative, Palomar, is set in a fictional Central American village and focuses on characters such as Luba, a strong-willed bathhouse owner; Chelo, a midwife who becomes the town’s sheriff; and Fritz, a voluptuous actress known for appearing in sexploitation films. These stories branch out into later volumes centered on Luba and her extended family.

Gilbert and Jaime’s stories are self-contained and can be read independently of one another. Together, they helped define the alternative comics movement of the 1980s, pushing beyond the superhero genre with grounded, character-driven stories. Love and Rockets has been praised for its nuanced depictions of Latinx, queer, and working-class lives, as well as its complex female characters. The series has influenced generations of cartoonists and remains one of the most critically acclaimed independent comics of all time.

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X-Force Reading Order (including Uncanny X-Force & X-Statix)

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X-Force Reading Order

In 1991, the first volume of New Mutants (see the reading order) just ended, but Rob Liefield jumped to a new series called X-Force (introduced in New Mutants #100) with the help of writer Fabian Nicieza. In the beginning, this new (and more military) team included Boom-Boom, Cable, Cannonball, Domino, Feral, Shatterstar, Warpath, and Siryn.

But what is X-Force about? Here is the official synopsis of the beginning of the series. Beset from all sides by a growing roster of vicious foes, the New Mutants and their mysterious mentor Cable have no choice but to transform into a proactive, butt-kicking, take-no-prisoners mutant strike team! But can the new X-Force survive head-on clashes with Deadpool, the Morlocks, Proteus, Stryfe and his Mutant Liberation Front, the Juggernaut, the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and…S.H.I.E.L.D.? 

Being part of the X-Men Universe, you can find how to read X-Force with the other X-series in our complete X-Men Reading Order.

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DC One Million Reading Order

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Dc One Million Reading Order

Get ready to go to the 853rd Century! DC One Million was a 1998 event written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Val Semeiks set a million issues in the future – meaning, in the 853rd Century 

In this possible future, Earth remains safe, thanks to the heroics of the JLA of the future. The descendants of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and others remain united in combating forces of evil but perhaps have never met anything as deadly as the sentient super-computer Solaris, the Tyrant Sun. As this villainous threat becomes too much to handle, these heroes of the future turn to the only group they know can help: the original JLA.

The core of the event was a four-issue mini-series, and the thirty-four other series then being published by DC also put out a single issue numbered #1,000,000, which either showed its characters’ involvement in the central plot or gave a glimpse of what its characters’ descendants/successors would be doing in the 853rd century.

What to read before DC One Million?

DC One Million is a stand-alone event, meaning that you don’t need any pre-plot knowledge before diving into it.

It takes place during Grant Morrison’s run (see reading order) and more precisely, after JLA #23, as the final two pages of this issue lead into the story. But, those famous two pages have almost never been included in the several reprints (from JLA: Strength in Numbers trade paperback to the digital version available on ComiXology to even the DC One Million Omnibus hardcover or trade paperback collections). 

If you want to read those two pages (which includes the return of Diana as the team’s Wonder Woman), you will have to get hold of JLA Deluxe Edition Vol. 3 hardcover. 

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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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Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers Reading Order

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After his run on the Fantastic Four and a few years before taking over The X-Men, Jonathan Hickman became the main writer on The Avengers titles of the Marvel Now era after Brian Michael Bendis left in 2012.

With the Avengers (Volume 5), Hickman introduced new threats, but also expand the roster and sphere of influence of the team to a global and even interplanetary level. This will lead to a cosmos-threatening event. In New Avengers (Volume 3), he focused more on the members of The Illuminati (Black Panther, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Black Bolt, Mr. Fantastic, Sub-Mariner, and the Beast) who are armed with the six Infinity Gems against an infinite legion of parallel realities. 

Here is the official synopsis: As threats to Earth mount, the Avengers expand! And while Iron Man and Captain America assemble their Avengers World and strive to decipher the meaning of the White Event, Tony Stark secretly tries to solve the biggest crisis of all, along with his influential allies, the Illuminati! While they seek to prevent the collapse of reality itself, the Avengers face a war on two fronts! Protecting Earth from the Builders may only hand it to…Thanos! 

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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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