A Comic Book Reading Order Guide For Beginners & Fans
What’s a great run on Spider-Man without adversity, for both its hero and its creator?
Under the pen of Roger Stern from 1980 through 1984, Spider-Man met some of his greatest physical and emotional challenges while his author left behind a legacy of unfinished business. [Read more…] about Spider-Man by Roger Stern: Unstoppable Highs & Unfinished Business
Fandom is an interesting beast. Especially Big 2 fandom. Because of the nature of these characters as superHEROES, there’s often more emphasis on the idea that these characters have to be heroic, as near-flawless as one can make them. There’s a defensiveness that comes out when someone who doesn’t regularly read comics tweets “Batman would do more good if he spent his money on social welfare.” When someone implies that by not actively fighting any and all injustice in the world, Superman is not really a hero. There’s a refusal to allow these characters to have flaws baked into their concept, because, for some people, this ruins the idea of a superhero.
I reject this idea. I believe that any and all superheroes, just by nature of the choices they’re making, are flawed individuals at best and should be allowed to be (for lack of a better term) messy. I don’t want mistakes or moral ambiguities in characters retconned away, I want them to be explored and confronted to deepen the story’s complexity. I’m not interested in characters being pure or perfect.
Tom Taylor does not write for me. [Read more…] about Nightwing Vol 1: Stepping Into The Light Review
The Other History of the DC Universe
Peter David’s work on X-Force is one of those rare books where it’s easier to explain the plot than it is why the book exists in the first place. Where Claremont and Davis’ Excalibur is something of a superhero and fantasy farce, David’s X-Force is a satire of the X-Books themselves. This omnibus is focused right at the 90s era mutant craze while being published right alongside the books it was subtly commenting on.
It debuted the same year as Deadpool and Weapon-X and within months of Lobo, Deathstroke the Terminator, and Shade the Changing Man getting solo titles. Yet X-Factor adds nothing to the Dark Era or its complexities.
These collected issues also existed near the very height of the speculator boom, and yet it doesn’t fall in line much with the Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza, and Ann Nocenti money train. In fact, David would quit the series two times in three decades with one of them being over event books.
By rights, this should be the least impactful X-Book since The X-Terminators (no one remembers that book. And if you do, for god’s sake stop.) And yet, David’s work paved the way for everything from Peter Milligan and Mike Allred’s fantastically subversive X-Force/X-Statix series to Jonathan Hickman’s HoX/PoX. And furthermore, I’d say that the future of the X-Men will learn more from this series than Fatal Attractions.
Let’s dig through X-Factor by Peter David Omnibus vol. 1 to find out more. [Read more…] about Room for Outsiders | X-Factor by Peter David Omnibus Vol. 1
Somewhat like Marauders, Tini Howard and Marcus To’s Excalibur reinvents a familiar X-franchise name, though in this case the new Excalibur retains strong ties to the beloved classic team of the 1980s. Their base will still be the Lighthouse, and their leader remains Captain Britain—and a Braddock—but their roster is otherwise entirely different. Missing, too, is Claremont and Alan Davis’ signature gonzo satire on the title, but Omniversal Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne will see her grandest showing yet, while the Braddocks, Pete Wisdom, and Merlyn and Roma play increasingly prominent supporting roles as the series continues. In fact, as a hub or nexus of the multiverse, Otherworld will be far more prominent in the new series—and so will its province of Avalon.
[Read more…] about (Re)Read Hickman’s X-Men: The Sword Is Drawn – 2019’s Excalibur #1