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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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Elektra Reading Order, Marvel’s most deadly assassin

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Created by Frank Miller, Elektra Natchios is a dangerous woman and a true antihero. The daughter of a Greek ambassador with a troubled childhood, Elektra is a highly trained assassin and martial artist who never goes out without her pair of sai. She is also known as a love interest to Matt Murdock aka Daredevil, both of them having a very complicated relationship, where love, passion, violence, and ideals merge and collide.

As a character evolving in a gray area, between a hero and a villain, Elektra has been associated with several groups, one of the most important being the Hand, an order of evil mystical ninjas who are heavily involved in organized crime and mercenary activities. Since her first appearance, she has also been part of Hydra, The Shield, The Thunderbolts, and Heroes for Hire. Whatever the team she’s part of, Elektra is a deadly character who will prefer to die than show you what she feels.

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Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four Reading Order

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Jonathan Hickman Fantastic Four Reading Order

Following “Secret Invasion,” the 2008 crossover storyline, came the “Dark Reign” era which leads to a shift of power in the Marvel Universe toward “reformed supervillain” Norman Osborn. Mark Millar who was writing the Fantastic Four series – with art by Bryan Hitch – left the title and Jonathan Hickman took over and started to revamp and redefine Marvel’s First Family.

Here is the official synopsis: it all begins when Mr. Fantastic decides to solve everything! As the team contends with Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign, an older Franklin arrives from the future with an ominous warning! And as the Fantastic Four fight the War of the Four Cities, Mr. Fantastic assembles a band of genius youngsters. But when Nathaniel Richards returns, Galactus rises and a new Annihilation Wave threatens to invade from the Negative Zone, tragedy suddenly strikes. Grieving, the surviving members of the Fantastic Four dissolve the team – but from its ashes rises the Future Foundation!
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Hunt for Wolverine (and Return of Wolverine) Reading Order, the follow-up to Death of Wolverine

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Hunt for Wolverine - Reading Order

At the end of 2014, Marvel did the unthinkable: kill Wolverine! It would take almost four years for our favorite mutant to reappear (don’t worry so, Old Man Logan was here during that period). But before Logan could really come back, he had to be found. And this is how was launched the Hunt for Wolverine!

Per Marvel official synopsis: Wolverine is back – but where is he? Just as the X-Men have finally come to terms with Logan’s death, a terrible secret means old wounds are reopened, truths are questioned, and an epic quest begins across the Marvel Universe. But who will solve the puzzle first? Will it be Daredevil and his crack squad of investigators, including Misty Knight? Or Logan’s former fellow New Avengers, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage? Or perhaps Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike and Daken will be the ones to track him down! With mystery in Madripoor and around the globe, the return of Wolverine will keep you guessing!

What to read before the Hunt for Wolverine?

Hunt for Wolverine is a follow-up to the Death of Wolverine storyline, which had happened almost four years before. To know more about it, check out our Death of Wolverine reading order.

  • Death of Wolverine: The Complete Collection
    Collects Death Of Wolverine #1-4, Death Of Wolverine: The Weapon X Program #1-5, Death Of Wolverine: The Logan Legacy #1-7, Death Of Wolverine: Deadpool & Captain America #1, Death Of Wolverine: Life After Logan #1

To discover more stories with our favorite Canadian mutant, check out the Wolverine reading order.

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X-23/Wolverine, Laura Kinney Reading Order

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Created by writer Craig Kyle, X-23 first appeared – not in a comic book! — in the television series X-Men: Evolution, in season 3 episode 10. At the time, Kyle created her in an attempt to make a Wolverine to “connect more to the younger kids”.  It was a success and, after a second episode, she became so popular, that she ended up in the comics, like Harley Quinn in her time. Her first appearance in comics was in NYX #3, published in February 2004 and written by Joe Quesada before headlining two miniseries written by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost where her origins were explained.

In the beginning, X-23 is simply a product of The Facility, an organization that attempted to recreate Weapon X and failed. The geneticist Sarah Kinney thought that cloning was the way to go, but the genome recovered from Wolverine was too damaged. Sarah decided to alter the DNA against the Facility orders and Laura was born. She was trained to kill Wolverine, but when she got the opportunity, she joined the X-Men. Since then, she has realized she was Wolvie’s biological daughter, and eventually, his successor.

Since her first appearance on television, Laura has made quite a name for herself, on the comic book pages, but also on the big screen in the movie Logan. She’s a perfect example of a legacy character done right, well worth having her own reading order.

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Spider-Man 2099 Reading Order (Miguel O’Hara)

Miguel O’Hara alias Spider-Man 2099 was created by Peter David and Rick Leonardi for the Marvel 2099 comic book line and was, without a doubt, the breakout star of this imprint. He made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #365 (as a preview) in August 1992 before headlining his own title with Spider-Man 2099, launched in November 1992.

Welcome to 2099 also known as Earth-928, where there are no active superheroes in this world. The present-day Marvel continuity is referred to as an “Age of Heroes” that abruptly ended in a catastrophe a century before that also set back society. This is a dystopia where North America is a corporate police state ruled by a few huge megacorporations, mostly Alchemax. Owned by Tyler Stone, it produces everything, from everyday products to military weaponry and private space travel.

A brilliant Irish-Mexican geneticist, Miguel O’Hara is living in Nueva York (a renamed New York City) in the year 2099 and actually working for Alchemax on genetically giving humans superpowers, but things didn’t go as planned — as always in the experimental field of science Marvel.

When one of his experiments to replicate the powers of superhero Spider-Man is used against him, his DNA is rewritten and becomes fifty percent spider. With great power comes great responsibility, and Miguel decides to use his new abilities to take down Tyler Stone and Alchemax. He becomes Spider-Man 2099.

Find out everything you need to know about Miguel O’Hara (and his complicated timeline) in the Spider-Man 2099 reading order!

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Brian Michael Bendis’ Avengers Reading Order, from Disassembled to Avengers vs. X-Men

In 2004, Brian Michael Bendis’s Avengers run began with the destruction of the existing traditional roster of the team. It was the end of an era and the start of a new one that ended up being a series of crossover events that changed the Marvel Universe in a big way.

At first, with the Avengers in ruins, a new team named The New Avengers is created: Iron Man, Captain America, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Ronin (aka Echo), Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, and Sentry. It was also the title of the main Avengers series written by Bendis—with art by David Finch, then by Steve McNiven, Leinil Francis Yu, Billy Tan, and Stuart Immonen as the years went by.

But that’s not all! After some massive events, a concurrent government-sanctioned team led by Ms. Marvel (with Ares, Black Widow, Iron Man, Sentry, Wasp, and Wonder Man) gathered in The Mighty Avengers—also originally written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Frank Cho, then Mark Bagley. But that’s not all! There also was the Dark Avengers—also originally written by Brian Michael Bendis with art Mike Deodato…

After eight years, Brian Michael Bendis ended his run on Avengers and New Avengers in 2012 with the “End Times” arc. He wrote multiple series, miniseries, and events to create one big superhero story.

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Excalibur Reading Order (Marvel)

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Excalibur Reading Order

Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer Alan Davis, the Excalibur team made its first appearance in 1987 in Excalibur Special Edition #1 (aka Excalibur: The Sword is Drawn). This British team was conceived as a way to combine elements of two Marvel properties: the X-Men and Captain Britain.

Here is the official synopsis: The United Kingdom’s champion, Captain Britain (the protector of Great Britain who got his superhuman powers with the help of the legendary wizard, Merlyn), and his paramour, the metamorphic Meggan, band together with former X-Men Nightcrawler and Kitty Pryde when Gatecrasher and her Technet are sent to capture Rachel “Phoenix” Summers! From their lighthouse base, the heroes of Excalibur will tackle the ferocious Warwolves, the unstoppable Juggernaut and Mojo mayhem! Things get wild with Arcade, the Crazy Gang and the X-Babies — and really heat up as Excalibur is drawn across the Atlantic to an Inferno raging in New York! And don’t forget Lightning Squad, the alternate Nazi versions of Excalibur!

There are multiple volumes of Excalibur, the first one with the original team lasted from 1988 until 1998! As with New Mutants, per example, the series came back later for short periods of time and is now part of the Hickman Era.

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Doctor Strange Reading Order

Created by Steve Ditko with Stan Lee in Strange Tales #110 (1963) at a time when Marvel tried new things (like mysticism!), Doctor Strange is the Sorcerer Supreme, the main protector of Earth against magical and mystical threats. 

At first, he was just in a 5-page filler story but rapidly gained in visibility and popularity. Meet Stephen Strange, also known as Doctor Strange. But he is no ordinary doctor, being the Master of the Mystic Arts, a sorcerer supreme, a white knight who wields black magic against blacker villains still. Strange is mankind’s only hope against the dark otherworldly forces that conspire to destroy the conscious world. 

Doctor Strange was born in the heart of the counterculture era, mixing mysticism and psychedelia. The art was surrealist and he was an unconventional hero, but he found enough success in his niche to become the main character of the book that ended up renamed after him. His popularity was fluctuant and he jumped from his solo series to team books or even anthologies, never getting the exposition other big superheroes got.

The Sorcerer Supreme is now a big player in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which led to new collected editions, but it may be hard to follow. So, here is the guide to the mystic adventures of Doctor Strange.

Where to start reading Doctor Strange? The Recommended Reading List

With more than 50 years of stories to discover, new readers may not be interested in reading everything from the start. Before our chronological reading order, here is a recommended reading list for Doctor Strange:

  • Doctor Strange: The Oath by Brian K. Vaughn and Marcos Martin – A story in which Doctor Strange sets out to solve an attempted murder – his own!
  • Dr. Strange Season One – A modern retelling of Doctor Strange’s origin story by Greg Pak and Emma Rios.
  • Doctor Strange by Jason Aaron (aka Volume 4) – A good and modern entry point for new readers who want an ongoing series, not just a one-shot.
  • Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment by Roger Stern, Gerry Conway, and Mike Mignola. A graphic novel that took two unlikely allies, Strange and Doom, on a journey to Mephisto’s infernal realm.
  • Strange: The Doctor is Out by Mark Waid and Emma Rios. A 4-part miniseries. No longer Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe, Stephen Strange must discover a new path to fulfillment and enlightenment. 
  • Dr. Strange: What Is It That Disturbs You, Stephen? by Marc Andreyko and P. Craig Russell. From the arcane shadows of the Sanctum Sanctorum to the dizzying spires of the mystical city of Ditkopolis! 

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