Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

DC Comics

DC Comics Young Adult Graphic Novels List!

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Starting in 2019, DC formalized their YA comics with the DC Ink imprint dedicated to standalone graphic novels set outside DC Comics expansive continuity. The end result is a growing list of accessible, high quality graphic novels from talented YA creators, and many times writers and artists known to standard floppy comic book fans.

Unlike the “mature readers” Black Label imprint, DC Ink is less centralized around Batman stories (although you’ll find some!), and open to a more diverse array of DC heroes, anti-heroes, and villains. My personal favorite so far is Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass which does a great job of showing the potential in these graphic novels for both new readers and longtime comics fans. [Read more…] about DC Comics Young Adult Graphic Novels List!

Cyborg Reading Order

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Universes change, but some things never do. Is Victor Stone a promising young student devastated by a science experiment gone wrong or a football star saved by alien technology after a brutal accident? Though origins are mutable, Victor’s essential character is not. At once a founding member of the Justice League as well as a long-standing figure in the history of the Teen Titans, Cyborg has been a mainstay of the DC Comics Universe for 40 years, leading to appearances in cartoons (Teen Titans, Teen Titans Go!), TV series (Smallville, Doom Patrol), and movies (Justice League). [Read more…] about Cyborg Reading Order

Batman White Knight Reading Order & Comics List!

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Ever since I picked up the Black-and-White Vertigo Comics series Punk Rock Jesus on a comic shop impulse whim, I’ve been hooked on the art and storytelling of Sean Gordon Murphy. That trend continued through his incredible art on books like The Wake and Tokyo Ghost, ultimately building to his star turn with DC’s Batman: White Knight universe. [Read more…] about Batman White Knight Reading Order & Comics List!

Hill House (DC) Comics Reading List!

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Hill House debuted in 2019 as a DC Comics pop-up imprint (it technically falls under the broader DC “Black Label” book categorization) with a focus on horror comics curated by writer Joe Hill. The son of Stephen King, Joe Hill is best known in the comics world for his long-running and celebrated series with artist Gabriel Rodriguez, Locke & Key. [Read more…] about Hill House (DC) Comics Reading List!

DC Black Label Reading List

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At least once per year, my local comic shop runs a “newer comics” sale, where books that are still on their shelves that came out at least a month ago are all $1.50. It’s a great sale, and I typically use it to obsessively collect runs I wasn’t pulling in real time, or in some cases to spot up for atypically expensive oversized specials purely based on the savings.

In 2020, I was most excited for the sale as an opportunity to catch up on DC’s Black Label books. For the unfamiliar, “Black Label” is an imprint within DC Comics that launched in 2018 with Batman Hung Damned, and offers standalone, (generally) out of continuity stories from A-list creative talent. While the exact marketing can get muddled, I think of it as something like Vertigo for just DC superheroes and villains, with stories that are targeted for more mature audiences and gunning hard for “must read” long-term status. [Read more…] about DC Black Label Reading List