Comic Book Herald

A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans

Marvel Reviews

How to (Re)Read the Jonathan Hickman Era of X-Men

by Leave a Comment

You’ve arrived here if you’re ready for a re-read of the Hickman era of X-Men (which began in July 2019 and is not even close to being over) or you’re curious what all the hullabaloo is about. If the latter is true for you, you will certainly get something out of this first in a perhaps interminable series of essays. Enjoy! However, before going further, I strongly recommend that you read ahead, at least to the end of the two six-issue limited series—House of X and Powers of X —that kicked off Hickman’s X-Men coup. Read those twelve issues before returning here for the re-read.

After this opening essay, spoilers will abound, but I will keep them restrained, revealing nothing further than six issues ahead. So, the initial installments that cover both limited series, HOX and POX, will assume that you’ve read that complexly interwoven 12-issue story. [Read more…] about How to (Re)Read the Jonathan Hickman Era of X-Men

The Great Pretenders: Looking Back at the Scarlet Witch in Uncanny Avengers

by Leave a Comment

As the Disney+ series WandaVision is released, Comic Book Herald critics will explore Wanda Maximoff’s comic book history, and where the character may be going moving forward, in an ongoing weekly series we’re calling “The Great Pretenders: What To Do With Marvel’s Scarlet Witch?!”

Wanda Maximoff’s fall from grace was more gradual than is generally acknowledged, but for our purposes, it mostly took place through the stories Avengers Disassembled, House of M, and Decimation. After causing countless calamities with her infamous “no more mutants” line, an amnesiac Wanda ended up in Wundagore, then engaged to Doctor Doom in Latveria, before regaining her memories in The Children’s Crusade.                     

As such, though Wanda seemed to be on a path to healing as far back as 2010, it’s been quite an uphill battle. As recently as the Empyre crossover, her mix of good intentions with an apparent inability to take prudent advice once again combined to create catastrophe, which could leave a lot of fans wondering if she learned anything at all in the many years that took place between these arcs. The answer to that, of course, is – kind of. It’s complicated. [Read more…] about The Great Pretenders: Looking Back at the Scarlet Witch in Uncanny Avengers

Marvel Cosmic Universe by Donny Cates Omnibus | Nothing the Matter with the Stars

by Leave a Comment

Donny Cates is inarguably one of the hottest writers of this generation. His style is a sort of love letter to new and beautifully strange beginnings:

  • 60s Marvel, the company’s first rebirth full of hope and wonder
  • 90s Marvel, where Cates’ love for the medium seems to begin (or at least cement)
  • And Cates’ own, personal story, with all of its second chances

These elements return again and again in Cates’ work. They’re also why he’s such a natural fit for Marvel’s cosmic lines; his voice is so big, he really benefits from that scale. It seems only right he have a tome to match: Marvel Cosmic Universe by Donny Cates. [Read more…] about Marvel Cosmic Universe by Donny Cates Omnibus | Nothing the Matter with the Stars

Daredevil at Christmas: Good Grief & The Man Without Fear

by Leave a Comment

When I think about two characters that I relate to, whether I’m feeling my worst or my best, I think of two icons who have more in common than you may think: Daredevil and Charlie Brown.

I know what you’re thinking, how are a superpowered blind lawyer who dresses up in a devil costume to fight crime and a little boy who just can’t seem to catch a break anything alike? Well, the similarities become the most clear in their Christmas stories. [Read more…] about Daredevil at Christmas: Good Grief & The Man Without Fear