A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans
Obi-Wan Kenobi, the new Disney+ series, represents the first time the character has been in the cinematic spotlight by himself. But the vast tableau of Star Wars stories across multiple modes of media contains many previous examples in which the wise and cagey Jedi operates on his own. Below is an overview of some of the more notable offerings – both canonical and non-canonical “Legends” – as well as some Obi-Wan Kenobi fun facts, to get you ready for the new live-action series!
Since his MCU origin in 2016, Dr. Stephen Strange has held one of the more consistent supporting roles in the Marvel Universe. Benedict Cumbermagic’s Strange plays key roles in Thor Ragnarok, Avengers Infinity War, and of course most recently, Spider-Man: No Way Home. Much like his cameo-laden Marvel Comics counterpart, stories related to multiverse-breaking magic have been held to the fire for *not* including the good Doctor (although certainly in the case of WandaVision, I’d argue it was for the right reasoning).
All of which is to say, Strange’s official movie sequel, Multiverse of Madness, directed by Spider-Man savant Sam Raimi, is central to the larger MCU and where Phase 4 will focus for the remainder through Fantastic Four. The events of Loki on Disney+ revealed the Multiverse is open for business, and there’s a multiverse of Kang the Conquerors going to war for control. “No Way Home’s” forgetting spell gone horribly wrong revealed to Strange this dangerous revelation, and now in Multiverse of Madness, the good Doctor gets to set out in the alternate realities and counter-earths of the MCU. [Read more…] about The Best Comics To Read With Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness!
[covers by Sara Pichelli & Justin Ponsor; Mashal Ahmed; and Cliff Chiang]
The world seems to slip by so fast these days—hence, why the past decade feels like two decades! (And yes, that’s the usual cliché inverted, because it’s truer!) Somehow, in 2022, it seems like Kamala Khan has always been with us and yet only a little more than eight years have passed since her January 2014 debut. Now obviously, it’s not like she’s there in the comics before 2014’s historic Marvel Now relaunch (not a reboot), but really, so much has been done to assure Marvel readers, especially those who came of age in the 2010s, that this Ms. Marvel, from a Jersey City Pakistani immigrant family and a diverse high school, is even more than just the Peter Parker of her time. Kamala is unique for a star Big Two superhero because whereas most superheroes are sped through what would realistically be their gradual, formative phase, to get them away from their families and their everyday, relatable lives and settings, to launch them into cosmic battles and world-ending dramas, Marvel has from the beginning to the present moment stewarded this character to guarantee that she is what has been all too rare in superhero comics: an authentic in-universe viewpoint for an entire generation of fans, a position she shares perhaps only with Spider-Man Miles Morales. [Read more…] about The Best Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) Comics!
It continues to be nearly impossible to keep up with all the good comics coming out every year, as there’s never been a wider variety of high quality publishers and access to both current and historical comic books. To help ease the search for the best of the best, I’m keeping a list of my favorite comics of 2022 here, with only my absolute favorites of the year making the cut. [Read more…] about Best Comics of 2022 (So Far)!
When Comic Book Herald EIC (Ed note: and all around genius savant bachelor) Dave Buesing asked me to look into the non-comics sci-fi connections to Jonathan Hickman’s 2019 House of X
Obviously, there are endless such questions we could formulate, especially when it comes to the early years of pulp adventure and popular sf*, of which virtually no one but a handful of scholars has ready knowledge. And anyway, what does this have to do with Hickman’s X-Men at this point? Well, if you know his work going back to the start of his comics career, you’re certainly familiar with the fact that he’s always been a nut for high-concept sf; indeed, many of his influences appear to call back quite clearly to Golden Age sf classics (the 1930s and ’40s) and sundry benchmarks in the genre—even if it’s not intentional or a direct citing of specific stories. To be clear, it’s not my intention here to ever presume that any author is plagiarizing. However, I do work off the assumption that even the most astonishing creators aren’t creating ex nihilo: Everything comes from somewhere, but ultimate origins are all but impossible to trace. We are inspired by what’s in our environment, education, and experience, and even the most radical auteurs are so limited. Simply put, what this series of articles will try to track to the best of my current ability is the evolution of those tropes central to the current X-Men narrative from its earliest discernible origins in the primal soup of pulp sf, with an undeniable dash of (warped) Nietzscheanism and necessary historical and cultural context. [Read more…] about Science Fiction & The X-Men, Part 1: The Golden Age Origins of Marvel’s Heroes & Mutants