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X-Men Age of Apocalypse Reading Order

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The 1995 crossover storyline Age of Apocalypse was one of the most ambitious crossover events in X-Men history. Much like The Clone Saga in the Spider-Man titles, this story became an era-defining milestone within the broader Marvel Universe.

Unlike traditional crossover events, which build upon existing continuity, the Age of Apocalypse storyline temporarily replaced the main X-Men titles with entirely new series set in an alternate universe. These included X-Calibre, Gambit and the X-Ternals, Generation Next, Astonishing X-Men, Amazing X-Men, Weapon X, Factor X, X-Man and X-Universe. Each of these limited series explored different aspects of a dystopian timeline dominated by the ancient mutant Apocalypse, offering radically altered reimaginings of familiar characters and dynamics.

The story kicks off when Legion (David Haller), the mentally unstable son of Professor Charles Xavier, travels back in time intending to assassinate Magneto in the hope of preventing the ideological conflict that would later erupt between Magneto and Xavier. However, Legion’s mission ends in tragedy when he inadvertently kills Xavier instead. This assassination fractures the timeline, giving rise to an alternate reality in which Apocalypse begins his conquest of Earth a decade earlier than in the original continuity.

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Chew Comics, Your Reading Guide to the Cannibal detective Series

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Meet Tony Chu. He’s a cibopath, which means that whenever he eats food, he learns everything about that food, from how it was grown and the pesticides used, to how the animal was killed, and much more. The only food that does not give him these sensations is beets, so Tony eats a lot of them!

Tony Chu is the lead of Chew, a comic book written by John Layman and illustrated by Rob Guillory. It was published by Image Comics between 2009 and 2016. During this time, Tony Chu mostly worked as a cop for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, using his special skills to solve food-related crimes. 

Although Chew is now established as one of the most popular titles from Image Comics, it was not an easy sell to make for creator John Layman. He explained, “Nobody would give me the time of day on this Chew pitch.” Many people did not think it would sell, but Layman decided to go ahead anyway. he said he “did it as suicide.[…] It was almost my last gasp of comics.” (sktchd.com).

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Thor by Jason Aaron Reading Order

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In 2012, Jason Aaron took over writing duties on Thor. Before that, Matt Fraction was writing The Mighty Thor, while Kieron Gillen was in charge of the Loki-focused title Journey Into Mystery. This was during Marvel’s Heroic Age initiative, which gave way to Marvel NOW! later that same year.

As part of Marvel NOW!, Aaron began his run with Thor: God of Thunder, with artist Esad Ribić. While Ribić didn’t stay on the book, which was renamed multiple times throughout the run, Aaron went on for almost seven years, finally ending in 2019 with the crossover event The War of the Realms. During that period, he explored multiple eras of Thor’s life, juggling between storylines in the past with a brash Young Thor, the present Avenger Thor, and the future All-Father King Thor at the end of the universe. 

During this period, the series introduced iconic characters such as Gorr the God Butcher and Jane Foster as the Goddess of Thunder. After being deemed unworthy of wielding Mjolnir, Thor Odinson experienced a prolonged identity crisis that explores his ‘worthiness’ as a God and a leader in Asgard. 

This era is now considered one of the most influential, next to Walt Simonson’s. It put back the emphasis on the Gods and focused on epic fantasy and cosmic adventures storytelling. 

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Flashpoint Reading Order, a DC Comics event by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert

Since the conclusion of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the DC Universe has existed in an era now referred to as the Modern Age. This period began in 1986 and ended in 2011 with Flashpoint. This comic book crossover story arc, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Andy Kubert, radically altered the status quo by ending the New Earth continuity and leading to the relaunch of the New 52.

Following his recent resurrection at the end of the Final Crisis, Barry Allen is back, fighting the Rogues in the streets of Central City. The world has moved on in his absence, but one thing has not changed: Eobard Thawne’s hatred towards him. The Reverse Flash is back with a plan to get his revenge, but something even bigger is lurking on the horizon. As he was ready to take his enemy down, Barry woke up in an altered DC Universe in which he seems to be the only one aware of significant differences between the regular timeline and the altered one.

In the Flashpoint version of the universe, Cyborg occupies the place of the world’s quintessential hero, much like Superman is in the main timeline, with Superman himself being held captive as a lab rat by the United States government within an underground facility in Metropolis. In addition, Thomas Wayne is Batman, and a war between Wonder Woman and Aquaman has decimated Western Europe.

Flashpoint consists of 61 issues, with sixteen separate three-issue miniseries, and a number of one-shots.

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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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The Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer, a Fresh Start Reading Order

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After his controversial run on Captain America, which culminated in the Secret Empire crossover event, writer Nick Spencer was chosen to succeed long-time writer Dan Slott to relaunch The Amazing Spider-Man as part of Marvel’s Fresh Start Initiative.

It was a classic back-to-the-basics approach for Marvel’s favourite superhero that stripped Peter of his credentials and work at the Daily Bugle. He was, once again, broke and had to return to the University to earn his college degree while sharing an apartment with Randy Robertson and Frederick Myers, also known as the super-villain Boomerang. On the positive side, Peter had recently rekindled his relationship with Mary Jane, the first time since their relationship was retconned during the infamous One More Day storyline.

Nick Spencer’s run lasted three years, a period during which the Spider-Family was once again in peril during Spider-Geddon, the original Doctor Octopus returned, and major events such as One More Day, Sins Past and Kraven’s legacy were revisited.

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Young Avengers Reading Order

When Brian Michael Bendis took over the Avengers in 2004, the writer started by dismantling the team in the “Avengers Disassembled” crossover storyline. The Earth’s Mightiest Heroes were no more, raising the question: who would protect the Earth? From the aftermath of this story, two new Avengers teams emerged. The New Avengers took over the place of the classic Avengers, with the creative team of Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch, while another team was introduced not long after: The Young Avengers.

Created by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung, the Young Avengers focused on teenage heroes who were either inspired by the classic Avengers or related to them. These young heroes united to fill the gap left by the original Avengers, despite facing disapproval from the Avengers themselves and skepticism from Marvel Comics and its readers!

The Young Avengers quickly gained both critical and public success, securing their place in the Marvel Universe despite only having two official runs. Since then, several members have become popular characters in the Marvel Universe.

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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.

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Marvel Zombies Reading Order

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The year is 2005. At this time, The Walking Dead has not yet been adapted into a television series, but Rick Grimes and his group are in the early stages of surviving the Zombie Apocalypse in Image Comics. Undead beings were ready to infect the Marvel Universe, or at least one of its Earths. When Ultimate Reed Richards travels to another universe, he discovers a world in ruins, devastated by zombies—the Zombieverse!

Created by Mark Millar, Greg Land, and Robert Kirkman, the Zombieverse quickly expanded with a limited series, followed by a prequel and additional sequels. Since then, zombies have continued to ravage different worlds within the Marvel Universe, making regular appearances. They are set to invade Disney+ with the upcoming Marvel Zombies animated television miniseries, created by Zeb Wells and scheduled for release in October 2025.

Discover now the zombified versions of your favorite Marvel heroes and villains with our Marvel Zombie Reading Order, from the first appearance of the Zombieverse to various limited series and more recent Marvel zombie comics!

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Transformers IDW Reading Order

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Like with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Buffyverse, or the G.I. Joe comic book franchise, IDW took over the Transformers comics and launched its own continuity–and there are some discussions about the more legitimate continuity, but it’s not the subject of this article. We are here to talk about the third Transformers comics series.

The first was published by Marvel (from 1984 to 1991), and the second by Dreamwave Productions (from 2002 to 2004). After that, IDW Publishing took over with the third series (the Generation 1 continuity) written by Simon Furman starting with issue #0 in October 2005 and a regular series starting in January 2006 (and ending in November 2018). The fourth series is a relaunch at IDW that started in 2019.

And so, as the official synopsis tells it, it began on Earth, in 2006. The fate of the planet is already sealed, its destiny decided… by the marauding mechanical beings known as Decepticons. In their way stand an embattled crew of seven hardy Autobot warriors, sworn to prevent the impending Armageddon at any cost, and an unlikely trio of human misfits, pulled kicking and screaming into a hitherto hidden world of pain and hurt. The can of worms is open, the genie is out of the bottle… and nothing will ever be the same again! It begins again — here, now — the saga of the war-torn robots in disguise, the Transformers!

In 2022, IDW Publishing lost the license to publish Transformers comics. Skybound Entertainment (an imprint of Image Comics) took it over and created the Energon Universe.

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