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Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

Search Results for: wildstorm

Wildstorm Universe Reading Order!

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Wildstorm was Jim Lee’s imprint under Image Comics. It was begun as a home for his attempt at creating his unique comics universe, which had three great ideas early on:

1. Make every character origin be about technology and/or government secrets
2. Print holographic, foil, and other gimmicky covers
3. Give up control and invite the best creators in the industry

That last part lead to Wildstorm being bought out by DC in an event they cheekily called “Shattered Image.” [Read more…] about Wildstorm Universe Reading Order!

The Old 52: Superman Unchained – Lost In The Darkness

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Remember how Scott Snyder (emerging into the height of his popularity) and Jim Lee (in his final longform comics project) launched a new Superman ongoing for the character’s 75th anniversary? Remember how it was unceremoniously demoted to a nine issue miniseries (over the course of eighteen months) because by the end no one much cared, and now it’s almost entirely forgotten? Have you ever really let that set of facts sit in your head in all its plain absurdity? [Read more…] about The Old 52: Superman Unchained – Lost In The Darkness

Heroes Reborn: Avengers (1996) Retrospective!

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Avengers #1, written by Jim Valentino and Rob Liefeld, art by Rob Liefeld, Chap Yaep, Jon Sibal, Marlo Alquiza, Ashby Manson, and Extreme Color, lettering by Steve Dutro

Get on your pleather pants and floral print tops, losers, we’re going back to 1996. Mainstream comics were undergoing a strange, tumultuous time in the aftermath of the creator-owned explosion of Image Comics. Trying to stay on top of the sales charts had led to some pretty cringeworthy stunts, and frankly, what’s one more among friends? The X-Men’s long-building threat, Onslaught, had just seen most of the publisher’s non-mutant hero populace transported to a pocket dimension created by Franklin, the occasionally terrifying child of Sue and Reed Richards. In this world, many stories that had once taken years to build and deliver were smooshed into a much smaller number of issues. After a quick introduction, plots were completely derailed, and within about a year, we were back to the 616 with a general “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” attitude about the whole event.

Heroes Reborn: Avengers undergoes at least three major creative lineup changes in twelve issues, which may give you a decent idea of how disjointed and weird this series is, even when completely divorced from the greater Heroes Reborn context. It might also go without saying that this series, which barely manages to eek out a single coherent plotline over the course of a year, doesn’t age great, but it still somehow isn’t the worst thing printed in 1996 (here’s looking at you, Amalgam Universe). [Read more…] about Heroes Reborn: Avengers (1996) Retrospective!

A Retrospective on Captain America, Heroes Reborn

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The 90s were a tough decade for Marvel. They started off great – In 1990, Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man #1 sold 2.5 million copies and a year later Rob Liefeld’s X-Force #1 sold 5 million copies and Jim Lee’s X-Men #1 sold 8 million copies. Then in 1992 all three of these artists and a handful of others left Marvel to form Image. Then in 1996, Marvel was forced to file for bankruptcy. Between these two events, we got Heroes Reborn, which was oddly shaped by both of these occurrences. This series, in a strange way, shaped the course of Marvel comics post-bankruptcy. [Read more…] about A Retrospective on Captain America, Heroes Reborn

The Old 52: DC’s New 52 10 Years Later – The Launch & What Went Wrong

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In 2011, DC rebooted their universe spinning out of Flashpoint, and called the initiative the New 52. 52 as a number has had a level of significance at DC since their standout weekly series 52, which was fantastic and ran for a whole year (52 weeks). The New 52 is pretty much unrelated to this series, but since DC loves the number they made sure it had its own significance – namely, the reboot started with 52 monthly ongoing series at launch, 13 per week.

If there’s one thing that can be learned immediately from this initiative, it’s that 52 monthly series all starting in the same month is just too much. For a comparison, DC Rebirth ran with a much lower 22 launch titles, with a few of them running twice a month. The upcoming DC Infinite Frontier line is starting with 2 anthology books and 17 monthly titles in March. But if there’s one good thing about launching way more titles than anyone can reasonably read in a month, it’s that there’s an incredible variety of stories, and there’s all but guaranteed to be at least some good books in there. This assumption led me to embark on a quest that some might call foolish, as I decided to read every single New 52 launch book. And now for you, dear reader, I will be revealing the results of my research. What didn’t work here? [Read more…] about The Old 52: DC’s New 52 10 Years Later – The Launch & What Went Wrong