Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

Reviews

Collect The Complete DC Comics Reading Order Through DC Finest Collections

by 5 Comments

Take it from someone who’s tried: If you want to read the complete history of Batman in comics, and you don’t want to do it digitally, you have your work cut out for you! Take a look at Comic Book Herald’s complete Batman reading order and you’ll see an (expertly curated) list of a wide variety of collected editions, many of which have long since gone out of print and are no longer available at an affordable retail price. The journey through the history of the Bat in print collections hasn’t felt especially achievable – all that may be changing soon.

DC’s 2024 has focused on a number of tangible efforts to make their comics more available and affordable, starting with this year’s earlier Compact Classics, which took all-time great stories like Watchmen and All-Star Superman and packaged them into Manga sized digests (5.51 x 0.75 x 8.46 inches) for $9.99 a pop in the U.S. The collected efforts continue in late 2024 with DC Finest. [Read more…] about Collect The Complete DC Comics Reading Order Through DC Finest Collections

Rage and Revolution: Cyclops Was Never The Villain of Bendis Era X-Men

by 3 Comments

There is an oft-repeated belief that Cyclops was the villain of the Revolution era of X-Men comics—the period mostly written by Brian Michael Bendis that includes Uncanny X-Men volume 4, All New X-Men, and to a lesser extent, Jason Aaron’s Wolverine and the X-Men. That belief is wrong.

[Read more…] about Rage and Revolution: Cyclops Was Never The Villain of Bendis Era X-Men

A Dave in the Life: Peter or Miles? Who Wins Spider-Man 2?

by Leave a Comment

Every week in the Comic Book Herald newsletter, I write a column called “A Dave in the Life,” where I explore the issues or news in comics. Now, you can also find these columns published here on CBH. To get the full newsletter alongside reading recommendations and the My Marvelous Year reading schedule, subscribe (for free!) here.

After 2015’s Secret Wars ended Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, there were 4 characters from outside Earth-616 (aka Marvel Prime, the comics universe we’ve known since 1961) that got the call up to the big leagues: The Maker (“evil” Reed Richards), Jimmy Hudson (lol), Old Man Logan (not an Ultimate Universe creation), and Miles Morales (Spider-Man). While Miles is unquestionably the biggest of the four, he’s also the character Marvel Comics has struggled with the most. [Read more…] about A Dave in the Life: Peter or Miles? Who Wins Spider-Man 2?

Spider-Gwen & the Trans Subtext of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

by 2 Comments

There is something both incredibly heartwarming and deeply frustrating about Across the Spider-Verse‘s transness.

Let’s start with the heartwarming part: as a trans woman myself, as well as a Spider-Gwen fan who has for many years now interpreted the character as trans, there is a deep joy in seeing that the people who made this movie share the same vision, at least on some level. [Read more…] about Spider-Gwen & the Trans Subtext of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

X-Men: The Animated Series Season 3 Rewatch!

by Leave a Comment

The third season of X-Men: The Animated Series is a showcase of all the qualities that make the series memorable in their distilled, purest forms. Season-long plots? Here in spades. Multi-episode story arcs? We’ve got four of those, including adaptations of both The Phoenix Saga and The Dark Phoenix Saga told across nine episodes in total, almost half the season. Inconsistent animation that signals the budget and time constraints that plagued the series from the beginning? You better believe it. All of these emblematic highs and lows were possible thanks to the show’s season one success, which resulted, per showrunners Eric and Julia Lewald, in a massive order of 39 episodes from Fox “before [the writers had] seen a foot of animation” from season two. That kind of commitment meant room for the series to take huge swings, to tackle grander and more operatic stories from X-Men history without fear of the imminent guillotine of cancellation. And so, the scale and stakes of season three are the highest they’ve ever been. [Read more…] about X-Men: The Animated Series Season 3 Rewatch!