A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans
We begin at an ominous boarding school for girls that seems to exist in its own removed plane of reality. The students are free to stay indefinitely, so long as they adhere to a series of strict, seemingly nonsensical rules and participate in bizarre extracurricular group activities. The cult vibes are strong, but that doesn’t stop our protagonist Sara from becoming entranced by the school and her fellow students alike.
Eros/Psyche
It is often said that Watchmen
Duela Dent is dead and the Multiverse… actually doesn’t care that much. In the aftermath of the fiscally successful and critically-acclaimed 52, DC launched Countdown to Final Crisis, which is, well, less fondly remembered, to put it kindly. As its title might imply, it was attempting to build hype for the then-pending Final Crisis. This weekly series followed much the same format as 52 by juggling an enormous cast of lesser-known characters, but went overboard on pointless cameos and mostly forgot to include the parts where the story would be relevant to the events it was leading into.
To say Countdown was a hugely ambitious project is no exaggeration, so where did it go wrong? Well, following up the admittedly loose but still exciting and energy of 52 with a comparatively uninspired but equally long series to keep the fiscal ball rolling set it up to fail from day one. Another one of its biggest mistakes is the act of invoking Watchmen’s plot points, imagery, and themes. Regardless of your overall feelings on Watchmen, it had a meticulously written script in which a number of story and character beats dance more or less seamlessly with the larger plot. If you’re going to call attention to the series, you’ve got to run a tight ship or you’re setting yourself up to come across as a cheap imitation. Yet even a lot of cheap imitations are more charming than Countdown turned out to be. [Read more…] about Who Watched the Watchmen? Countdown to Final Crisis
It is often said that Watchmen
The cover of Legion of Superheroes Vol 4 #1 features a bedraggled Cosmic Boy morosely strolling through jagged gray rocks, eyes cast downward at the busted remains of the Legion’s former headquarters. A banged-up Legion ring is wedged between stones, forgotten but still sparkling at the forefront of the shot. Transporting us from the end of writer Paul Levitz’s wildly influential run with Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 3 #63 into a story taking place five years later, Legion Vol. 4 serves not just as a reboot but as a tonal reset of the franchise.
For the first time, we meet a Legion who is older, traumatized by the horrors they have seen, and cast to opposite ends of the galaxy. Still, even in the first moments of the book, there are glimmers of hope. The affable Chameleon Boy muses that the growing threats around him can only mean one thing; it’s time to get the band back together. If this sounds like an awfully Watchmen-ish take on the Legion, the fact is, you’re not wrong, but as many of this era’s fans will tell you, that doesn’t keep this story from absolutely shredding.
Covering Legion of Superheroes Vol 4 #1-12 [Read more…] about Who Watched the Watchmen? How “Legion of Super-Heroes: Five Years Later” Changed the Future
Kicking off with a fill-in issue that soon blossomed into a full run spanning nearly twenty issues, writer Ram V’s Catwoman showed everyone’s favorite feline-themed larcenist settling into a new home in the charmingly named Alleytown neighborhood of Gotham with a new supporting cast. After the Bat/Cat sort-of break-up of Tom King’s run and Joëlle Jones’s road trip relaunch, this era allowed her to set up a solid home base for the first time in years, though it was not to last.
As Selina herself would be quick to remind you, standing still for too long can make you a target. Still, one thing that sets her apart from previous incarnations here is the way she accepts that danger as the price she pays for finding community. Asking Selina to settle down long enough to give herself a good long look in the mirror, this somewhat loosely constructed run remains one of her more complicated turns.
Catwoman #9, #14-15 & #25-38, Annual 2021, Catwoman: Future State #1-2 [Read more…] about Facing Down the Tiger in Ram V’s Catwoman
X-Men: The Trial of Magneto was an interesting moment for Krakoa. To begin with, it was published more or less alongside Jonathan Hickman’s departure from the X-Men franchise; however, the events in Inferno primarily occur in the aftermath of Trial. Each story is equally vital in establishing what will come next for several central characters, but tonally they couldn’t be more different. Despite creative crossover and both mini-series being game-changers for how the story of Krakoa will unfold going forward, there is a surprising lack of overlap between them. Indeed, Xavier and Magneto are often at odds here, while in Inferno they appear as a much more united front.
In this way, Trial can seem inconsistent at first glance, but to declare it so would be to neglect decades of continuity. Many characters that appear are under serious stress, and some of their more negative traits from days gone by are on display. In that way, Trial becomes a story that is not inconsistent, but about both growth and how we at times fail to grow, reverting to toxic behaviors that we thought we’d placed far behind us.
Discussing The Trial of Magneto #1-5 [Read more…] about The Trouble With Wanda Maximoff in The Trial of Magneto