Skip to content

Reading Order

Secret Six Reading Order

DC Comics is full of teams and organizations, some more famous than others. Everybody knows the Justice League and Suicide Squad, but you can’t say the same about the underused Secret Six.

Created at the end of the 1960s by E. Nelson Bridwell and Frank Springer, The Secret Six is the name given to a succession of clandestine, non-governmental special ops teams. The team, to put it simply, was at the time of its creation, DC’s version of Mission: Impossible (which was launched on television in 1966!).

The team features generally six members who all possess special skill sets but also some dark secrets that, if revealed or exploited, would result in imprisonment, disgrace, or death. They are led by the faceless Mockingbird, often with each character assuming that the leader must be one of the other five members. 

Each team can be read independently from the other, so let’s explore the several versions of Secret Six that exist in the main continuity with this Secret Six reading order!

Read More »Secret Six Reading Order

Darkseid Reading Order

If Marvel’s Thanos is nowadays vastly known, he is not the only tyrannical ruler with a deadly agenda for the rest of the Universe. Before him, there was another one introduced in the DC Universe by none other than Jack Kirby. We are obviously talking about Darkseid, a New God and the tyrannical ruler of the planet Apokolips. 

Darkseid first appeared in a cameo Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 (1970) in what is known as the beginning of the Fourth World Saga–he made his first full appearance in Forever People #1.

Born Prince Uxas, Darkseid took control of the planet Apokolip, a nightmarish dystopia that is the complete opposite of its sister planet, New Genesis, a utopian world ruled by the wise and benevolent Highfather. The inhabitants of these planets possess incredible powers and abilities far beyond those of ordinary mortals. Eventually, the two went to war against each other. But a peace was ultimately signed and required an exchange of “hostages” as Highfather’s son, Scott Free (Miracle Man), was traded for Darkseid’s son, Orion.

What Darkseid really wants is to eliminate all free will from the universe. To achieve that, he searched the Anti-Life Equation and that’s why he took an interest in Earth as he thought he could piece together the Equation by probing the minds of every human. But he also had to fight the heroes of Earth. He tried other approaches over the years to accomplish his desired goal. From antagonist in Jack Kirby’s saga, he became the greatest adversary of the Justice League.

Read More »Darkseid Reading Order

Kyle Rayner Reading Order (Green Lantern)

Following the 1993’s Reign of Supermen saga, Hal Jordan–the main Green Lantern of that era–is pushed on a downward spiral during the famous Emerald Twilight storyline that will have grave consequences for everybody. Hal lost his mind and destroyed what was the heart of the Green Lantern, killing most of the Guardians of the Galaxy in the process, before going away for a time. During his absence, one surviving Guardian, Ganthet, visited Earth to find a replacement Lantern. He found Kyle Rayner.

Editor Kevin Dooley was faced with dropping sales and decided to let go of Hal Jordan, now considered a hero from a bygone era but a lot of readers, and introduced a new Green Lantern for the 1990s. As it was the era of the Death of Superman and backbreaking Batman, the trend was destruction and Hal (and Coast City) had to be destroyed to let an All-New Green Lantern take his place.

In Green Lantern (vol. 3) #48, writer Ron Marz and artist Darryl Banks introduced Kyle Rayner, a freelance comic book artist working in Los Angeles. Unlike Hal Jordan, Kyle was not a fearless and somewhat perfect hero. In fact, he had his problems and knew fear, but it was his capacity to overcome it that led Ganthet to give him what was at the time the last working Green Lantern power ring.

Without the Green Lantern Corps to help him, Kyle had to learn the hard way how his ring works. When his girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, was murdered by the supervillain Major Force (who infamously stuffed her body in a refrigerator), Kyle was forced to confront the seriousness of his new job as a Lantern. He moved to New York and decided to become the best Lantern he could be–this storyline was the origin of controversy, but the Green Lantern series survived and thrived with his new hero.

Since then, Kyle Rayner joined the Justice League, achieved godhood, helped create a new group of Guardians of the Galaxy, helped carry on the legacy of the Corps, and fought Parallax and a lot of powerful enemies.

Read More »Kyle Rayner Reading Order (Green Lantern)

Batman Dawn of DC Reading Order

Following the 2022 crossover events Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths and Lazarus Planet, DC Comics ended its publishing initiative known as the Infinite Frontier to launch the Dawn of DC line. Introduced as a yearlong storytelling initiative, it became another era of the DC Universe with its relaunches and crossover events.

As with Infinite Frontier, new creative teams had already taken over the main Batman series before the new ‘era’ began, and they continued to tell their story without much interruption. The Dark Knight continues his adventures in the main Batman comics by Chip Zdarsky and Jorge Jimenez, Detective Comics by Ram V and Rafael Albuquerque (and others), Batman/Superman: World’s Finest by Mark Waid and Dan Mora, but also in new volumes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold by Tom King, and Batman and Robin by Joshua Williamson and Simone di Meo.

The Dawn of DC era developed an overarching narrative that focused on Amanda Waller’s last nefarious plan. Also, the Justice League didn’t reform following the events of the Dark Crisis. Overall, Batman is not at the center of the big story but still has plenty to do.

Of course, as is always the case, the following guide is mostly about Batman, but the Bat-Family is also featured. Nevertheless, their books are not necessarily included. Though, you can find them on their dedicated pages: Nightwing, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Barbara Gordon, Batwoman, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Terry McGinnis (The Batman Beyond).

Read More »Batman Dawn of DC Reading Order

Marvel’s Blood Hunt Reading Order, Vampires Takes Over The World

  • by

The Gang War concluded only a few weeks ago, but a new bloody menace is emerging and, this time, it’s not confined to New York, it’s all over the world. The big summer event of Marvel Comics is here.

Coming from writer Jed MacKay and artist Pepe Larraz, as the official synopsis tells it, Marvel’s Blood Hunt starts as “the skies have gone dark, the sun hiding its face from the carnage to come. The children of the night, the vampires, have risen from the dark and hidden places of the world as one to drown the Marvel Universe in blood. Earth’s final night has fallen—can even the heroes of this doomed world stem the tide of blood that is to come? A dawn might assuredly come, but not before the universe is drenched in crimson!”

Avengers, Blade, Bloodline, Spider-Man, Hunter’s Moon, Tigra, Doctor Strange and Clea, The X-Men, and more are fighting in a war of a new kind against the creatures of the night.

Read More »Marvel’s Blood Hunt Reading Order, Vampires Takes Over The World

Gambit Comics Reading Order, Your Favourite Cajun (X-Men)

  • by

He’s a cajun, a professional thief, and one of the X-Men’s most charming members. A master of kinetic energy from New Orleans, he has been called Le Diable Blanc but he is known as Gambit alias Remy LeBeau!

Gambit was created in 1990 by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee. Initially, the writer had planned for him to be, at first, an adversary or traitor to the X-Men. Following Claremont’s departure from the X-Men, the writers altered the original plan to better fit the readers’ expectations of the character. Our charming thief had indeed quickly conquered the hearts of the readers and became one of the most popular X-Men characters of the 90s.

Gambit made his first appearance in Uncanny X-Men #266. In the story, he helped a de-aged Storm with amnesia and they formed a partnership as thieves. When Storm returned to her true self, she invited Remy to join the X-Men. The secretive Gambit accepted the proposition to redeem himself of past actions. While Gambit’s past will eventually catch up with him, he quickly integrated into the team and formed close relationships with several members, including Rogue – with the two starting a turbulent romance and becoming one of the most iconic X-Men relationships.

Read More »Gambit Comics Reading Order, Your Favourite Cajun (X-Men)

Mister Mxyzptlk, Recommended Reading for The Annoying Imp From The 5th Dimension (DC Comics)

  • by

Some characters from the DC Comics universe are old. In the case of the infamous Mister Mxyzptlk, we are talking 80 years old. It was in the Superman daily comic strip by writer Whitney Ellsworth and artist Wayne Boring that the mischievous imp made his first official apparition.

However, like with Bizarro, the planning of publication pushed the real first issue a bit later as Mister Mxyzptlk was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Ira Yarborough in a story published in Superman #30 (fall 1944).

Mister Mxyzptlk is a magical being from the fifth dimension (like Bat-Mite) who enjoys causing mischief and playing pranks on Superman and other characters within the DC universe. In fact, where he comes from, he works as a jester, a powerful magical one. He possesses the ability to warp reality and manipulate the laws of physics, often leading to bizarre and surreal situations.

He loves challenging Superman to some sort of game or contest, and Superman can only defeat him by tricking him into saying or spelling his own name backward (“Kltpzyxm”)–a fine trick that was modified in the 1986 Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot. After that point in time, Mr. Mxyzptlk changes his condition to leave with each new apparition (even if saying his name backward eventually came back).

Read More »Mister Mxyzptlk, Recommended Reading for The Annoying Imp From The 5th Dimension (DC Comics)

Jeff The Land Shark, Marvel’s cult-favorite landshark (with a reading order!)

It’s been only five years since Jeff the Land Shark first showed up in the Marvel Universe, stealing the hearts of West Coast Avengers readers. Created by Kelly Thompson and Daniele di Nicuolo, Jeff the Land Shark, also called Jeffrey, became the adorable pet sidekick of superheroine Gwenpool, named after Gwen’s own kitten.

Jeff quickly became a hit online and won over Marvel fans with his undeniable cuteness, landing him numerous cameo appearances and variant covers (this would make a great ‘Where’s Jeff?’ book!). All of this will naturally lead to our boy Jeff headlining his own series, and prompting Comic Book Treasury to make a dedicated Jeff The Landshark Reading Order, further solidifying his place as a cherished icon in the Marvel universe.

But first…

Read More »Jeff The Land Shark, Marvel’s cult-favorite landshark (with a reading order!)

Ka-Zar Reading Order, Adventures in Marvel’s Savage Land

Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby in The X-Men #10 (1965), Kevin Plunder is Ka-Zar. The New Ka-Zar to be precise as he used the same hero name as David Rand, a character from a pulp magazine created by Bob Byrd in 1936–published by one of the many companies owned by Martin Goodman. When Goodman began publishing comics with Marvel Comics #1 in 1939, writer-artist Ben Thompson adapted one of Byrd’s stories.

Since then, this Ka-Zar appeared in multiple Marvel comics like Marvel Mystery Comics or Human Torch. Then, during the Silver Age, Marvel reintroduced some of his Golden Age characters. Most of them have updated origins. However, Ka-Zar became a new character. He is now clearly a Tarzan-like hero but he is stuck in a Jules Verne setting–David Rand was lost in the jungles of the Congo, not in the dinosaur-populated Savage Land. But he quickly found his place in the Marvel continuity.

Read More »Ka-Zar Reading Order, Adventures in Marvel’s Savage Land

Crossed Reading Order, Garth Ennis’ Post Apocalyptic Universe

Writer Garth Ennis is known for creating stories depicting hyper-violence, and Crossed is no exception to the rules. A Post-Apocalyptic Comic book published by Avatar Press, Crossed follows survivors dealing with a pandemic that causes its victims to carry out their most evil thoughts, spreading evil and hunting down the last dying members of our species. Carriers of the virus are generally known as the “Crossed” due to a large, cross-like rash that appears on their faces.

While Garth Ennis and artist Jacen Burrows created the fictional world of Crossed, other writers penned stories set in this universe, from David Lapham (Stray Bullets) to Alan Moore. What it means for the readers is mostly many story arcs that can be read as self-contained and can be read in any order. With that said, there are a few crossovers, where characters introduced in a story appeared on another arc later that would justify following a certain order. So today, we are exploring the dangerous post-apocalyptic world of Crossed!

Read More »Crossed Reading Order, Garth Ennis’ Post Apocalyptic Universe