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Masters of the Universe Comics Reading Order

Developed to support Mattel’s Masters of the Universe toy line, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is an American animated television series produced by Filmation and first broadcast in syndication from 1983 to 1985, for a total of 130 episodes.

Blending sword-and-sorcery tropes with science-fiction elements, the series is set on the planet Eternia and follows a wandering barbarian named Prince Adam, who transforms into the hero He-Man to battle his enemy Skeletor, who seeks to take over Castle Grayskull. Who controls the ancient Castle Grayskull will become the Master of the Universe.

Since its debut, Masters of the Universe has expanded into a long-running multimedia franchise. Extensions include theatrical and direct-to-video animated series, a live-action feature film (Masters of the Universe, 1987), several television reboots and reinterpretations, and multiple comic book lines. The first one was the now cult minicomics that were put in the original action figures’ packaging. There was a second wave of minicomics produced by DC Comics, and more came later. There was also a newspaper comic strip, a Marvel series, and finally, DC Comics developed a true line of comics during the 2010s, until Netflix relaunched the TV Show and Dark Horse Comics took over the books.

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Dragon Age Comics – A Guide to the Stories Beyond the Games

Alongside The Elder Scrolls and The Witcher, Dragon Age has become one of the most influential fantasy worlds in modern gaming. Created by Canadian developer BioWare, the series is set on the fictional continent Thedas, a land shaped by magic, religion, and political conflicts, where the player steps into the role of different characters at moments of crisis.

Dragon Age: Origins, the first game in the series, was released in 2009. It was the start of a multimedia franchise that now includes multiple role-playing games, novels, comics, animated films and series, short stories, and extensive in-game lore. Together, these stories explore and expand the history of Thedas, its characters, and mythologies.

Dragon Age’s first comic was also released in 2009, and it would not be the last. The franchise would really start to expand in this format in 2012, when Dark Horse Comics started publishing stories set in Thedas, beginning with the digital-only release of The Silent Grove. Since then, the publisher has released other comics that explore events between the games.

Follow this guide to discover all the Dragon Age comics available in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback formats, and see how they fit into the larger Dragon Age universe.

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Star Wars: The High Republic, The Complete Reading Order

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… “ruled the glorious Republic protected by the noble and wise Jedi Knights. As a symbol of all that is good, the Republic is about to launch Starlight Beacon into the far reaches of the Outer Rim. This new space station will serve as a ray of hope for all to see. But just as a magnificent renaissance spreads throughout the Republic, so does a frightening new adversary. Now the guardians of peace and justice must face a threat to themselves, the galaxy, and the Force itself…”

And so began Star Wars: The High Republic, the most ambitious publishing initiative in Star Wars history to date. Between 2021 and 2025, 25 novels, 139 comic book issues, 22 short stories, six original manga graphic novels, and five audio originals were published. Together, they tell one cohesive story set in the High Republic Era, two centuries before the events of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. Cavan Scott, Claudia Gray, Charles Soule, Daniel José Older and Justina Ireland were the five original architects of this ‘mega-story’, although many other writers and artists also contributed to these adventures.

Today, we set off on an epic journey to take a closer look at the High Republic era with our Massive High Republic Reading Order, which is filled with books, comics, audiobooks, short stories, and even some television series!

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Black Hammer Reading Order by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston

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Black Hammer is an American comic book series created by writer Jeff Lemire and artist Dean Ormston, published by Dark Horse Comics. It tells a different kind of superhero story, mixing mythology with elements of mystery and rural drama in a way that explores the psychological and emotional consequences of heroism. A very Twilight Zone take on the genre.

The story begins a decade after an epic battle in which the legendary hero Black Hammer and the other costumed champions of Spiral City, known as the Parazone Defenders, defeated the cosmic entity Anti-God. Despite their victory, the heroes vanished in the aftermath of the fight. To the outside world, they were presumed dead.

In reality, the group became inexplicably trapped in the small, timeless town of Rockwood, a rural community isolated from the rest of existence. Any attempt to leave is met with failure. As a matter of fact, Black Hammer himself died trying. Without a way to escape their confinement, Abraham Slam, Golden Gail, Colonel Weird, Madame Dragonfly, and Barbalien adopt new identities and attempt to lead ordinary lives, struggling with their fading memories, growing despair, and uncertainty about the nature of their imprisonment.

Launched in 2016, the original critically acclaimed Black Hammer comic book series has since expanded into a shared universe through numerous spin-offs and companion series, collectively known as The Hammerverse.

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Buffyverse Comics Reading Order, The Dark Horse and IDW Years

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Welcome to Sunnydale, a California city located on a Hellmouth, a mystical portal attracting supernatural evils, and the setting of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series. Vampires and other demons are omnipresent and they can prey easily on their victims in the many dark alleys, abandoned houses, factories, and such. Well, that is, if they don’t encounter a little blonde with a stake named Buffy! 

Buffy Summers is the Chosen One, granted powers to fight and kill vampires, demons, and other supernatural creatures. She was a cheerleader in high school when she learned about her destiny and accidentally burned down the school gym while fighting vampires before moving to Sunnydale with her mother for a new start in life. She has the surprise to discover that vampires are well established in her new little town, and she now must juggle between the challenge of her teenage life and her mission as a Slayer. She killed many vampires, saved many lives and lived many other dangerous, dark, funny adventures with her family and friends during the seven seasons comprising the series. 

However, Buffy’s story didn’t stop there! The vampire slayer also lived many adventures in the pages of several comic books! Publisher Dark Horse Comics released the first Buffy comic in 1998, as an extension to the television series, but not officially part of the canon. It will continue to do so until 2003, telling parallel adventures of Buffy and the Scooby Gang. 

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Tomb Raider Reading Order, the Dark Horse Comics

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Since the release of the original Tomb Raider in 1996, British archaeologist Lara Croft has become one of the most recognizable heroines in the video game industry. She has lived many adventures in video games, comic books, novels, theme parks, and films. 

But not all of her stories take place within the same continuity. The Tomb Raider franchise has been rebooted more than once since American developer Crystal Dynamics took over from Core Design. The most recent reboot happened in 2013, with the release of a new Tomb Raider game that serves as a start of what is known as the Survivor timeline. In this continuity, Lara Croft is a young British archaeologist graduate searching for meaning and direction in her life. She is the driven force behind an expedition to find the lost kingdom of Yamatai. Things go as planned and Lara found herself stranded on the island, forced to adapt in order to survive.

From there, she will go on to live other globetrotting adventures in video games, as well as in print! While the previous Tomb Raider comics were independent of the video games, the new stories published by Dark Horse are expanding the timeline with tie-ins set between her video game adventures. 

Follow our guide to discover the latest adventures of Lara Croft at Dark Horse Comics, and where those stories fit within this particular chronology!

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The Goon Reading Order

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Making his first official appearance in 1998 in the pages of Avatar Illustrated, The Goon has since moved to other publishers (going back and forth between Albatross Funnybooks and Dark Horse Comics), completed a full run, had a few one-shots, a graphic novel, and eventually came back for a new run. It certainly is a tumultuous adventure in comics publishing, but it’s nothing compared to the craziness of The Goon and Franky’s daily life!

We first meet The Goon when he is working as an enforcer for a gangster named Labrazio. He is a hulking, rough-edged enforcer with a tragic past who runs his operation by collecting money, killing deadbeats and generally being violent, with the help of his best friend and foul-mouthed, wisecracking (and equally violent) sidekick, Franky.

We are in Lonely Street, a crumbling American town filled with zombies, mutant creatures, ghostly priests, fishmen, mad scientists, hobos, and monstrous babies, a grotesque caricature of 1930s-50s pulp Americana, with everything from dingy alleys to dilapidated carnivals.

The Goon and Franky must deal with any sort of craziness, taking us on a journey going from absurd comedy one day to grim tragedy the other. It’s a very violent life and, even drawn in a gorgeously painted and cartoonish manner, it’s a gory one, a dark comedy with a sad heart and an affinity for anarchy, mixing noir-style crime fiction, horror, slapstick humor, and supernatural. Definitely, it’s for a mature audience. 

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Hellboy Omnibus Reading Order!

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A large, red-skinned half-demon with a tail, horns, cloven hooves, and an oversized right hand made of stone, Hellboy does not go unnoticed. Mike Mignola’s creation made his first appearance in the San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 (August 1993), more than thirty years ago. Since then, a whole Universe surrounding him has taken shape, filled with governmental agents, folkloric creatures, and Lovecraftian horror.

Hellboy has worked for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.) and lived solo adventures set in many periods, but also spawned several spin-off series featuring other characters such as Abe Sapien or Lobster Johnson. Publisher Dark Horse Comics has collected many tales, story arcs, and spin-offs in several formats, such as trade paperbacks, Library Edition, and, of course, the famous Omnibus format.

The first Hellboy Omnibus (which was a reprint of B.P.R.D. Plague of Frogs) was released in 2011. It has been followed by many others, as there are more than 30 Omnibus sets in the Hellboy Universe at the time of writing. Initially only available in hardcover, paperback versions have been released since 2014. As the world of Hellboy continues to expand, we take a closer look at the Omnibus collection, which offers a great way for both new and seasoned readers to discover Big Red’s history.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Comics – A Guide to the Stories Beyond the Game

The future in comics is not always post-apocalyptic; it can also be cyberpunk! A dystopian future is the setting of the famous Cyberpunk 2077 franchise. Based on a tabletop RPG, the Cyberpunk 2077 video game was launched in 2020. While not making a splash at the time (it was massively hyped and led to disappointment at the release), it has since become one of the best-selling games of all time.

You guessed it, the year is 2077. The action is mostly set in Night City, a place that’s known as the worst to live in America. Violence is at an all-time high and more people are living below the poverty line here than in any other location. MecaCorps control every aspect of life, while the streets are run by gangsters, tech hustlers, and illegal braindance dealers. And yet, nothing can stop humans from dreaming. Dreaming about the unattainable American Dream!

In recent years, the world of Cyberpunk 2077 has expanded in various directions, including a spin-off anime and several comic books. And today, we are taking a closer look at the Dark Horse comics set in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, telling new stories of people trying to survive and make a profit in this cutthroat world. 

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Star Wars Omnibus Reading Order!

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May the 4th Be With You! Since the movie’s release in 1977, Star Wars Comics have been produced with few interruptions. It all started at Marvel Comics with a six-issue comic book adaptation of the film. It was such a success that it helped Marvel survive the financial difficulties of the time. The series continued with original stories starting from issue #7 and became one of the top-selling titles. Marvel published the series until 1986, totaling 107 issues and three Annuals.

During this period, a newspaper strip was also distributed by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate and the Watertown Daily Times, while Pendulum Press released in 1978 a 31-page loose adaptation designed for classroom use. For several years after Marvel’s comic series ended, there was few Star Wars material. This changed in 1991 when Dark Horse acquired the license and revived the franchise with the release of the novel Heir to the Empire—the first book of a trilogy by Timothy Zahn—which was also adapted into a comic book. After that, the publisher launched dozens of series set in the Star Wars universe over the next 20 years.

A well-established fact now, Dark Horse lost the license in 2014 to Marvel Comics, which became the primary publisher of Star Wars Comics. It marked the end of the Star Wars Expanded Universe and the beginning of a new continuity known as Star Wars Canon. In 2017, IDW Publishing launched the anthology series Star Wars Adventures, and in 2022, Dark Horse started publishing new Star Wars comics and graphic novels.

For Star Wars Day, we look closer at the many Star Wars omnibus editions—from Dark Horse’s older collections to Marvel’s ongoing omnibus line to help you navigate this vast galaxy!

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