Comic Book Herald

Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

Marvel Characters

Shadow King Reading Order!

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Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Shadow King is a psychic entity that feeds on fear and rage. It needs hosts to survive outside the astral plane; the most well-known is Amahl Farouk, the first person it ever possessed, but a lot of other characters had their bodies used by it, like Psylocke, Karma, Moira, Legion, and even Black Panther.

It first met Professor X before the X-Men were even created. After that encounter, Shadow King swore revenge against him. While Professor’s dream is to live peacefully with others, the evil entity known as the Shadow King feeds on hatred and the shadows in people’s souls. Their confrontations are always interesting to see because of that. But the evil entity also has interesting face-offs with other characters, like Storm and the New Mutants.

Now, Farouk is living in Krakoa with most other mutants. Vita Ayala wrote a great arc centered around him in the current New Mutants run. His future isn’t certain yet, but I’m sure we can expect exciting things. [Read more…] about Shadow King Reading Order!

Ava Ayala (White Tiger) Reading Order!

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Ava Ayala is the third person to be the White Tiger. She has always idolized her brother Hector, the first to assume the mantle and become an active Hispanic hero. He is her role model. But, one day, Gideon Mace attacked her house, injuring Ava and killing her parents and sister Awilda. Hector was devastated and gave up on being a hero.

After Hector’s death, Angela Del Toro – Awilda’s daughter – inherited the White Tiger amulet. But when she was corrupted by Hand ninjas, she had to be imprisoned. The tiger amulet fell into Ava’s hands; as a teenager, she decided to join Avengers Academy, hoping she would learn how to be a great hero.

After that, she had many adventures with the Mighty Avengers and the New Avengers. Her past with Gideon Mace and not fully controlling the Tiger God, the spirit that gives power to the amulet, are constant problems she faces. The character is captivating and should be more talked about and explored. If you like her, try to check her appearances in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series; she is a relevant character in Spider-Man’s team. [Read more…] about Ava Ayala (White Tiger) Reading Order!

Doctor Aphra Reading Order

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Chelli Lona Aphra, best known as Doctor Aphra, is a Star Wars character created by Kieron Gillen, Salvador Larroca, and Heather Antos. She is an archeologist – with (really) questionable morals – recruited by Darth Vader to help him get an army of droids. She has a great start fixing two murderous psycho droids, Tripe-Zero and Beetee; they remain Aphra’s companions for a very long time.

After a while, Aphra starts showing more of her feelings and a wish to be a better person, she’s still pretty cold and unreliable sometimes. The quote that best expresses her feelings is this one: “I just… I get things wrong. I’m selfish. I… I use people. But…I don’t expect to sleep well. Ever.” (Doctor Aphra #19).

The current Doctor Aphra series is from writer Alyssa Wong and artist Marika Cresta. If you have read past Doctor Aphra stories and didn’t like them, I really hope you give this one a try; it feels like something completely different from what came before, and even the cast is mostly new. Give it a shot, you won’t regret it. [Read more…] about Doctor Aphra Reading Order

Abomination Reading Order!

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Picture this: it’s 1967. You are an artist named Gil Kane, and you are working at Marvel on the comic book Tales to Astonish. Stan Lee just asked you to create a new bigger, badder, meaner antagonist for the Hulk, and you’re racking your brain, trying to come up with the right design. When suddenly, genius hits: “What if the Hulk was a weird scaly fish/lizard guy?”

This is the story of the Abomination, one of the Jade Giant’s most recurring foes, always ready to cause trouble for Marvel’s Gamma heroes (as we will soon see on our screens with his return to the MCU in Disney+’s She Hulk), and whose most important characteristic is his ability to be an eternal pain in the Hulk’s green posterior. [Read more…] about Abomination Reading Order!

Gwenpool Reading Order!

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Let’s start with the basics: I know it seems like that, but she’s not a Deadpool copy (she’s way better), give her a chance.

Gwendolyn Poole – A.K.A. Gwenpool – is actually a comics fan from our world. After the “Secret Wars” event, she was transported to the Marvel 616 universe and decided to become a hero, so she wouldn’t get killed off or simply disappear. That’s her main “villain”: the fear of being canceled. You can’t say that’s not original. [Read more…] about Gwenpool Reading Order!