Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

Comics Guides

The Marvel 52: One Graphic Novel Per Week To Understand Marvel Comics

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Given the nature of Comic Book Herald, I’m regularly thinking about “on ramps” for new comics readers. This is the premise for My Marvelous Year, the reading club and podcast where we go through the most essential storylines in Marvel history, year by year.

For a significantly more streamlined approach, though, I thought it would be fun to craft a “one book per week” read through Marvel’s now 80 year timeline. To be fair, I also think it’s fun to pick my favorite single years in Marvel publishing history by decade and to organize the entire convoluted history of Hawkman, so clearly I can’t be trusted. [Read more…] about The Marvel 52: One Graphic Novel Per Week To Understand Marvel Comics

The Best Solo Marvel Villain Stories!

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Evil-doing adversaries are an integral part to superhero storytelling, but it’s actually kind of a rarity that they ever get to helm their own series. Sure, you have fence-straddling “anti-heroes” such as Venom or Deadpool and even grey-area vigilantes like the Punisher, but the straight-up baddies? Maybe it’s this lack of respect that keeps them on the wrong side of the tracks. Who knows?

However, there are occasions when Marvel’s antagonists get to not only “break bad” but also get their get their due and break out in popular acclaim. Let’s take a look at some of those examples now, or, as Stan Lee would say… “Bring On The Bad Guys!” [Read more…] about The Best Solo Marvel Villain Stories!

Best 100+ Issue Runs in Comics

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It’s rare that comic creators get to go even a few years on a comic book. Five years is something of an accomplishment. But when creators get to stay for a decade or more, something magic comes out. Something more than just long tales, something more than the sum of its parts. The book gets a kind of consistency that builds up to make bigger ideas possible. Collected here are some of the best examples of what can happen when you break 100 issues! [Read more…] about Best 100+ Issue Runs in Comics

Marvel’s Best Phoenix Comics!

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The Phoenix is one of the coolest cosmic entities in Marvel Comics, with inextricable codename ties to the X-Men’s original Marvel Girl, aka Jean Grey.

Despite Jean’s associations as Phoenix, the fiery bird of retribution has played a role across the Marvel Cosmos, and has a history dating all the way back to the era of Avengers B.C.! [Read more…] about Marvel’s Best Phoenix Comics!

How The MCU Has Influenced Marvel Comics

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Marvel’s characters have always been larger than life and, in that, no one art form has ever been able to singularly contain them. It’s something the late Stan Lee’s been hawking as a life’s mission from easily as far back as the 1960s. And in that spirit, certainly the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an achievement beyond anyone’s wildest imaginings.

That said, the publication wing would be utterly remiss if it didn’t periodically take into account what the crazy successful younger sibling is up to and maybe try to cop some of its style. Call it synergy. Call it the tail wagging the dog. Call it a neverending feedback loop. Call it art imitating another art eating its own tail. More eyeballs on these creations is more eyeballs on these creations and that can’t be bad.

Let’s take a look back over the last decade and see exactly how the MCU has come to influence Marvel Comics! [Read more…] about How The MCU Has Influenced Marvel Comics