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Super Sons Reading Order, Damian Wayne and Jon Kent team-up

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Super Sons Reading Order, Damian Wayne and Jon Kent team-up

In appearance, Jonathan Kent, the son of Superman, and Damian Wayne, the son of Batman don’t have much in common. One grew up on a small town farm, ignoring his father was a superhero, while the other was trained from birth to be an assassin and take over the world as an Al Ghul.

When Robin (Damian Wayne) discovers a connection between a series of mysterious crimes and the aftermath of the bizarre and deadly Amazo Virus, he needs Superboy (Jonathan Kent) to aid in the investigation. This is the start of the Super Sons, the odd couple of young heroes and one of the best friendships in the DC Universe! Facing dangers and many adventures, they will learn to work together and save the world like their fathers in some already classic DC stories.

This specific duo was created during the Rebirth era and has no connection to the imaginary or alternate-dimension versions existing of the team-up before the Rebirth Era.

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The War of the Realms Reading Order, the Marvel Event from Jason Aaron

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The main event of 2019 in the Marvel Universe, The War of the Realms was written by Jason Aaron (with art by Russell Dauterman) who was, at that time, also the writer of the main Thor series. It was the culmination of his run, the conclusion of a story arc he started a long time ago.

For some time now, the Dark Elf known as Malekith the Accursed has been conquering the Ten Realms one by one until there is only one left: Midgard (Earth!). Thor lost his precious Mjolnir, but he’s still fighting to prevent the war. With a lot of Asgardian warriors and Earth’s heroes, they must now fight against a full-on invasion and defeat Malekith.

What to read before The War of the Realms?

Being a Thor Event, The War of the Realms story began in the Thor series. Jason Aaron wrote organically the progression of Malekith the Accursed’s plan into his series from The Goddess of Thunder storyline to the crossover – see the full reading order of his run. That said, you’ll only need to read the last relaunch of the series, Thor #1–11.

It’s optional, but Avengers by Jason Aaron Vol. 2: World Tour is a good introduction to the last iteration of the Avengers team (and the Agents of Wakanda) at the center of The War of the Realms event.

Also, the easiest way to read the essential issues before immersing yourself in The War of the Realms event is a book Marvel published called War of the Realms Prelude.

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Donny Cates’ Venom Reading Order

Introduced during the first Secret Wars comic book event in the ‘1980s, this alien symbiote was Spider-man’s black costume for a short period. When Reed Richards realized it was more than a piece of intelligent fabric, he helped Spidey to get rid of it. Following its rejection, the alien symbiote tried to get back to Peter Parker but ended up bounding with Eddie Brock. This reporter for the Daily Globe wrote a story exposing the identity of the Sin-Eater but Spider-Man revealed it was not the truth and Eddie lost his job. At the end of his rope, Eddie met the symbiote. Together, they became Venom.

Friend or foe, Venom changed over the years and became a major Marvel player. He went from Eddie Brock to other hosts but came back to Eddie. When Donny Cates took over the writing duties on his title with artist Ryan Stegman, Venom got back to Eddie who was searching for redemption. To do that, he aligned himself with heroes. During his fight with a cosmic monster, he discovered the real origin of the symbiote, opening a new way in the mythology of this iconic character.

What to read before Venom by Donny Cates & Ryan Stegman?

There are a lot of Venom stories (we have a big article about that) and some are referenced in Donny Cates’s comic book run on Venom. That said, it’s a new start, a new mythology, and a friendly entry point for new readers.

However, you may not be familiar with a character named The Maker who plays a part in this story, so check out our article about this Ultimate Reed Richards.

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Buffyverse Comic Book Reboot Reading Order by Boom Studios (2019-)

Dark Horse Comics’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer license expired at the end of 2018, and the license is now in the hands of BOOM! Studios who relaunched the series in 2019 and followed 3 months later with an Angel title.

This is a new beginning, a new Buffy Summers (who still looks like Sarah Michelle Gellar). Go back to high school with this reimagined Buffy the Vampire Slayer under the guidance of series creator Joss Whedon.

Buffy Summers wants what every average teenager wants: friends at her new school, decent grades, and to escape her imposed destiny as the next in a long line of vampire slayers tasked with defeating the forces of evil.

What to read before the Buffy Reboot?

Nothing! If you never read the Dark Horse Comic book series, this is not a problem, as the comics under Boom Studios are part of a rebooted timeline.

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Batman: Death of the Family Reading Order: How to read the Batman’s event by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo ?

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Batman: Death of the Family is a cross-over event in the Batman universe, a 23-issue story arc published in 2012-2013 including the titles Batman, Batgirl, Batman and Robin, Catwoman, Detective Comics, Nightwing, Red Hood, and the Outlaws, Suicide Squad, and Teen Titans. The event takes place during the Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo run.

The story deals with the Joker’s return to Gotham with a plan to get revenge on all the people Batman has come to rely on over the years, and then destroy the family. The title is, obviously, a reference to the classic story arc A Death in the Family, published in 1988.

What to read before Batman: Death of the Family?

There is no reading requirement before going into the Batman: Death of the Family event. At best, Detective Comics #1, collected in Detective Comics: Faces of Death can serve as a prelude, but completely unnecessary to understand the story as everything you need to know will be mentioned in the main storyline.

All there is to know is that the Joker cut his face off then vanished for a long time – a piece of information mentioned in the story. The main story takes place in Batman.

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Absolute Carnage Reading Order

Absolute Carnage Reading Order

Written by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, Absolute Carnage is an event taking place in the Marvel Universe, and more precisely in the Venom continuity (go to Donny Cates’s Venom Reading Order).

The story is set around Cletus Kasady’s return as Carnage. After being resurrected by a cult dedicated to the worship of the god Knull and being bonded to the deific primordial Grendel symbiote, he makes his come back to New York in order to collect codices, traces left inside those who wore a symbiote, even once – and that’s a lot of potential victims, even for him!

Naturally, Kasady’s new reign of terror spells misery for Spider-Man and Venom – but the devastation is felt by Miles Morales, the Avengers, Deadpool, Ghost Rider, the Immortal Hulk, and more! But what is Kasady’s horrific endgame? Experience a new level of crazy as Carnage runs wild!

Venom and Spider-Man (Spidey’s Reading Order) must team up to stop him, but they will need even more firepower to achieve that. The heroes of New York City have to join the fight.

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DCeased Reading Order: A DC zombie apocalypse by Tom Taylor

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The DC universe meets the Zombie Apocalypse in DCeased, created by writer Tom Taylor, penciler Trevor Hairsine and inker Stefano Guadiano.

The story takes place in an alternate Earth, where a mysterious techno-virus has been released, infecting 600 million people and turning them instantly into violent, monstrous engines of destruction aka zombies.

And, like DC tell us: that’s just the beginning. Cities. Nations. Undersea kingdoms and paradise islands. One by one, they fall to the monstrous hordes. Now only Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the Justice League stand between Earth and utter annihilation… But for how long?

Nothing they’re ever faced has prepared them for an onslaught of this magnitude. Nothing they’ve ever seen can match the scale of the tragedy and terror that have been unleased. As heroes and villains, gods and monsters are wiped out, only one question remains: What happens to the World’s Greatest Heroes if the world ends?

What to read before DCeased?

Nothing. As said, DCeased happens on another Earth, outside the main continuity. So there is no background necessary as this is a stand-alone series.

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Nick Spencer’s Spider-Man Reading Order, A Fresh Start

Probably the most popular character in the Marvel Comics Universe, Spider-Man needs no introduction. But if you need one, here is the story: bitten by a radioactive spider, teenager Peter Parker, an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City after his parents Richard and Mary Parker died in a plane crash, woke up with spider-related powers.

He can cling to surfaces, has superhuman strength and agility, and can detect danger with the help of his “spider-sense.” He couldn’t shoot a spider-web, but he corrected that by building wrist-mounted “web-shooter” devices that shoot artificial spider-webbing of his own design. When his Uncle Ben died after he let his killer go free, he learned that with great powers comes great responsibilities. Since then, he has fought crime, even if the Daily Bugle is telling everybody that he is a criminal.

What to read before Spider-Man by Nick Spencer?

Technically, nothing. It’s a new author on the title and a new beginning. Before Nick Spencer, Dan Slott wrote the main Spider-Man series for almost a decade. The time had come for a change.

That said, it would be a good idea to read Superior Foes of Spider-Man, also written by Nick Spencer. That series is about a team of bad guys, not really high caliber: Boomerang, Shocker, Speed Demon, Overdrive, and The new Beetle. They are Spidey’s enemies and they want to become real big criminals. They’re trying to do exactly that together, even if they can’t stand each other’s company long enough to get their hands on the legendary item that will put them in charge of the New York mob. In a way, Spencer is writing more of a follow-up to Superior Foes of Spider-Man than to Dan Slott’s run.

Also, you can check out our Spider-Man Reading Order that covers the adventures of Spidey from the start to today.

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Stray Bullets Comics: Looking Back At David Lapham’s 30-year-old Crime Classic

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After starting his career as a penciller at Valiant Comics, David Lapham followed Jim Shooter when he left to launch Defiant Comics, but thirty years ago, in 1995, it was his turn to open his own indie publishing house: El Capitan Books. His flagship self-published title was something quite different from what he was known to draw. No superheroes, but black & white crime fiction with the award-winning Stray Bullets series.

Entirely written, illustrated, and lettered by Lapham himself (who won the Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist in 1996), the long-running series targets a mature audience with bleak stories of violence dipped in drama, romance, desperation, and disillusionment. It’s about regular people and criminals, children and adults, growing up and dying, at the periphery or in the heart of the crime world.

David Lapham’s Stray Bullets is not about one character going forward, as it follows a panel of different characters in stories told in a non-chronological fashion. It builds a large narrative, piece by piece, focusing on human experiences, developing thematically complex, rich tales defying clichés and tropes, notably about the consequences of violence and the cyclical nature of trauma. They are tragic vignettes revolving around people pushed to their limits. Every bullet makes an impact.

“Stray Bullets is a series of interconnected short stories dealing with…mostly innocent people…whose lives are affected by violent events. Many times emotional, psychological but also physical. And how that sort of warps them. And how they lead, basically dysfunctional lives. It’s a crime drama series heavy on the drama.”

-David Lapham Anti-gravity Room Interview, 1997 (source)

Highly influential in the crime noir comics genre, most notably on Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips‘ collaborative work, Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso’s 100 Bullets, and others, Stray Bullets is one of the successes of the world of indie comics that emerged through the 1990s. The initial run spanned 40 issues over ten years, from 1995 to 2005, before entering an extended hiatus. It came back in 2014, relaunched under the Image Comics banner, and continued for years. The series may be on hiatus for now, but it could return soon.

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X of Swords Reading Order: Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men 2020 crossover

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marvel x-men X of swords Reading Order crossover

Coming from writers Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard and artist Pepe Laraz, X of Swords is the X-Men crossover event of 2020 that marked the end of the Dawn of X era.

The story of X of Swords is about the X-Men as they must go to battle against the ancient, long-lost mutant champions of Arakko (the sister island of Krakoa). In order to save their home and country, the mutant nation must send ten of the X-Men’s best fighters to confront their enemy with ten special blades, each with their own unique properties. A war began.

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