Daredevil Returns to Netflix

Hey heroes!

Check out this link: Daredevil has returned to Netflix! This season promises a lot of action with the first appearance of some long-time Daredevil-related characters, so buckle up and binge the series. There are tons of great stories about Daredevil and these other characters, The Punisher and Elektra.

Look forward to lists of arcs for these characters, detailed with reading order lists, in the coming year, along with the other Marvel Cinematic Universe on Netflix characters’ best arcs.

For now, here are some great Marvel Unlimited starting points:

• Amazing Spider-Man #129 - First appearance of The Punisher, continues on into the next issue.
• Daredevil: End of Days (Mini-Series) - This story by Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack, Klaus Janson, and Bill Sienkiewicz picks up in the near future of Hell’s Kitchen after Daredevil has been murdered. After a lengthy fight, Bullseye kills the Man Without Fear; Ben Urich takes the challenge of writing Matt Murdock’s story but gets side tracked when he stumbles onto the mystery of DD’s last word: “Mapone.”
• Typhoid Mary - Beginning in Daredevil #255, Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr. introduce one of Daredevil’s most lethal foes. A femme fatale suffering from dissociative personality disorder, sweet and innocent “Mary “ captures Matt Murdock’s heart while “Typhoid,” a psychopath who possesses psychokinetic powers, works to break DD as a perfect weapon for the Kingpin.
• Purple Children - From the new Daredevil (2014) series, issue #8, Zebediah Killgrave has returned—and he’s not alone. The assembled children of the Purple Man use their father’s own advice and turn against him. The kids then decide to see the city and start running amok all over San Francisco. The Man Without Fear gets wind of this and has no choice but to take them down.
• Death of Elektra - Daredevil #181 follows Bullseye as he escapes from prison only to plot his revenge against Daredevil. The villain figures out DD’s secret identity and goes after what he cares about most: Elektra. The tragic ending sees Bullseye killing Elektra with her own weapon and would shake the Marvel Universe for years to come.
• Decalogue - In Daredevil volume 2 #71, Bendis and Alex Maleev focus on a support group that meets in the basement of a local Hell’s Kitchen church, all who have been affected by Daredevil in some shape or form. The story takes place after Wilson Fisk’s fall and DD’s evolution into the new Kingpin. As each individual’s story gets shared, they soon realize they might be more connected than they all knew.
• Shadowland - Set after the events of Dark Reign, Daredevil returns to Hell’s Kitchen a changed man and looking to utilize the Hand as a force of justice. His first order of business: kill Bullseye. Many heroes join his quest but soon begin to question his new methods. Could something be not quite right with ol’ Horn Head?

Enjoy the reads. These are amazing arcs, and certainly will keep you entertained.

Check back again soon for more Daredevil stories!

Check out the links below if you’d like to buy collected editions at discounted prices.

Until next time,

Excelsior!!!

Secret Wars - 1984 - The Original Reading List on Marvel Unlimited!

Greetings Superfriends!

Thanks for making this blog another stop on your regular web circuit! I will continue to add new reading arcs for you frequently as 2016 proceeds, so check back often for new reading arcs, links to cool products and even expansion to DC and indy publishers.

This post is about the original Secret Wars miniseries, still a classic story that impacts the entire Marvel Universe. Working with Mattel, Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter developed a series that would have a tie-in with action figures, and the writing ended up being significant for a handful of great additions to the Marvel Universe history, like the black suit of Spider-Man’s that later become… Okay, I know it is too late for spoilers, but we’ll pretend to avoid spoilers anyway!

You can see all of the Secret Wars Miniseries at a glance on Marvel Unlimited here.

1. Secret Wars (1984) #1 - Heroes and villains alike are transported across the universe by a mysterious being known as the Beyonder.
2. Secret Wars (1984) #2 - The first battle between heroes and villains begins as Galactus watches.
3. Secret Wars (1984) #3 - Doom creates new villains!!
4. Secret Wars (1984) #4 - Molecule Man drops a mountain on the heroes??
5. Secret Wars (1984) #5 - X-Men strike back!
6. Secret Wars (1984) #6 - Spider-Woman?
7. Secret Wars (1984) #7 - First full appearance new Spider-Woman
8. Secret Wars (1984) #8 - Spider-Man uses the wrong machine to rebuild his costume and ends up with the black costume!
9. Secret Wars (1984) #9 - The fight against Galactus to prevent world devouring is on!
10. Secret Wars (1984) #10 - Death to the Beyonder!
11. Secret Wars (1984) #11 - Doom kills the heroes (but they are resurrected next issue!)
12. Secret Wars (1984) #12 - The end of the miniseries, Thing stays behind because he can change into human form.

Some of the covers have been used in homages over the years since, and the black suit continues to impact Marvel stories on a monthly basis. This year-long event ran from May 1984 to April 1985 back at a time when there were not many long events, crossovers or anything like that.

As this was before decompression, the content in one regular book might exceed the story in two or three books today. Overall, a worthwhile series to check out on MU!

Check out the links below if you’d like to buy collected editions at discounted prices.

Until next time,

Excelsior!!!

Amazon has the trade paperback editions for low prices as shown below.

 

Back to the Reading Lists, Spider-Man: Blue

Greetings Heroes,

Welcome back to the Marvel Unlimited blog, where story arcs available on Marvel.com are covered in detail with direct links to books for viewing in your browser, along with plot information and links to buying collected copies of the stories where possible. This blog post is about the Spider-Man: Blue series, one of the amazing stories by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale in the Marvel color series that also includes Daredevil: Yellow, Hulk: Gray and Captain America: White (Captain America available after 3/8/2016).

Crafted almost as an alternative perspective to stories from The Amazing Spider-Man #40-48 and #63, this mini-series tells the story of our hero’s love triangle with Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson, after the fact. While Gwen is gone by the time of the book’s story, Peter Parker (Spider-Man) recounts the development of his relationship with Gwen and the burden of that loss. Read more about the Spider-Man: Blue mini-series over at Wikipedia, but SPOILER WARNING, Wikipedia does often reveal major plot points. This is a fun series to read straight through.

Note: You can also buy this series in comic book format for $22.99 delivered from my store (20Zen). Contact me using the contact form to order!

Links to the individual issues on Marvel Unlimited:

Spider-Man: Blue #1

Spider-Man: Blue #2

Spider-Man: Blue #3

Spider-Man: Blue #4

Spider-Man: Blue #5

Spider-Man: Blue #6

Again, this is a great story for Spidey fans and worth the read. You can’t go wrong buying the book from Amazon as a trade paperback, but for you digital copy fans, it is available on Kindle to own or Marvel Unlimited to read. If you aren’t already a member of Marvel Unlimited, there are now more than 15,000 books available and you can even download issues for offline reading on your tablet or phone.

Are you on Facebook? Check out the COMIC BOOK COLLECTING group - it's in the side bar at right!

Until next time,

Excelsior!!!

 

---

To buy any of the mentioned titles on Amazon, please click through the links below!

Messiah War - MU Reading Order List

Greetings heroes!

This entry details a tiny but significant crossover arc called “Messiah War” starring X-Force with Hope Summers and a great villain in Apocalypse.
After Cyclops sends X-Force into the time stream in pursuit of Cable and Hope, with characters ending up in different times and tons of interesting side adventures along the way. Rather than ruin the fun for you, here are the issues involved. If you have Marvel Unlimited, click the hyperlinks to go straight to the issues and READ!

Prologue: The Times and Life of Lucas Bishop #1 #2 #3
Chapter 1: X-Force/Cable: Messiah War One-Shot
Chapter 2: Cable #13
Chapter 3: X-Force #14
Chapter 4: Cable #14
Chapter 5: X-Force #15
Chapter 6: Cable #15
Chapter 7: X-Force #16

Hopefully you dig this reading order list — I’ll continue posting them and now you can search for them using the hashtag #LarkLists


Are you on Facebook? Check out the COMIC BOOK COLLECTING group - this entry is also published on that group here.

Until next time,
Excelsior!!!

A vs X Marvel Unlimited Reading Order

Dearest readers,

One of the all-time crossover arcs in the Marvel Universe was Avengers vs X-Men, a massive event that has had lasting effects on the characters, teams and story arcs ever since. A great summary (with many spoilers) is available at Wikipedia.

Much of the story is available in trades Avengers vs X-Men on Amazon

…but I prefer reading on Marvel Unlimited. Here is a clickable list of links to the books that make up the story in order.

Avengers Arena - MU Reading Order List

Greetings crime fighters -

Avengers Arena (Wikipedia) is an amazing series that is the comic book equivalent of a Netflix Original! In a reality-tv-style on Murderworld run by the villain Arcade, 16 young heroes fight in a kill-or-be-killed scenario. The full 18 issue run is now available on Marvel Unlimited.

Thor - Early Bests on Marvel Unlimited

Hello super fans,

Thor proved to be a powerhouse at the box office, and with Marvel’s announcement that Thor is losing his hammer, it seems like a great time to cover some important appearances of the character on Marvel Unlimited.

From his first appearance in Journey Into Mystery #83 on into his own modern volumes and membership in the Avengers, Thor’s played a pivotal role as a powerful “God” in the Marvel universe. A number of mini-series and crossover arcs concentrated on Thor and characters from Asgard. The Marvel Wikia has a great article on his alter ego, Donald Blake, with a nice explanation of how Thor became Donald Blake (and not the other way around as first shown). This is an early silver age story that was retconned in 1983 (Thor #337).

From the Description of JIM #83

Introducing...the Mighty Thor! The most exciting super hero of all time! When the Stone-Men from Saturn invade Earth, only the lame Dr. Donald Blake can stop them -- but he stands no chance, not until he strikes a wooden stick on the ground and finds himself transformed into Thor, God of Thunder! Watch as Thor learns how to wield his hammer in battle! Only this new hero can save the Earth from being conquered!

Thor has such a wealth of appearances and incredible stories, it would be hard to pick the best among them to do story arc link lists, so suggest your favorites in the comments and the top picks will be done in an upcoming post! Here are a few popular early issues: Avengers #1, Thor #126 (continued numbering from Journey Into Mystery #125), and Thor #165 (Galactus).

Do you have favorite silver age Thor stories? Please share them in the comments below! Amazon has great trade paperbacks for Thor, including the Essential Thor Volume 1 for less than $10. Check out their full offerings today!

Until next time,

Excelsior!!!

Article resources included: Stack Exchange on Thor, Marvel Wikia on Donald Blake (Earth-616), Bleeding Cool Best Thor Issues and Comic Vine (many pages).

The Marvel and Netflix Marriage

Dearest Heroes (and Villains!) —

By now you’ve probably read all about the Marvel and Netflix marriage, or so you thought; however, there are some really cool things that many people have missed out on:

1. Agent Coulson may be a part of the Marvel/Netflix universe
2. Marvel on Netflix will be a part of the MCU (Earth-199999)
3. Some comic book series related to these new series are already jumping greatly in value
4. Rosario Dawson has joined the cast of Daredevil, rounding out a superb group including Charlie Cox as Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio as Kingpin.

GPAnalysis data on a 9.2 Hero for Hire #1:

 

Per Latintimes.com:

"Daredevil" will run for 13 episodes and is slated to premiere in 2015 on Netflix. This new show will be followed by four additional Marvel series about the characters Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. These will lead into a unified series called "The Defenders."

Now is a great time to read up on these characters with Marvel Unlimited, but the most classic stories of Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones are not on Marvel Unlimited, so I’d recommend getting into any of the wonderful trade paperbacks on Amazon using the links below.

Daredevil on Amazon
Iron Fist on Amazon
Jessica Jones on Amazon
Luke Cage on Amazon
Defenders on Amazon

The Defenders is available on Marvel Unlimited. Click the image below to go to issue #1 for free reading with a subscription.

Are you looking forward to these Netflix series? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

 

Until next time,

Excelsior!!!

X-23 in NYX - Marvel Unlimited Links

Welcome,

If you’re a fan of X-23, you aren’t alone. For a character used in a cartoon, she’s grown into a beloved part of Marvel’s continuity. The story in Nyx is interesting, and well worth checking out. NYX stands for District X, New York City, also known as “Mutant Town.”

X-23 was created for the X-Men: Evolution animated television series before being brought into comics. X-23 first appears in episode #41 (season 3, episode 11) of the program titled "X-23."

X-23 Wikipedia Dump

A top-secret program is tasked to replicate the original Weapon X experiment that bonded adamantium to the skeleton of Wolverine. The project is taken in a new direction: Doctor Martin Sutter recruits renowned mutant geneticist Doctor Sarah Kinney to develop a clone of Wolverine.

Since the only genetic sample from Weapon X is damaged, Kinney is unable to salvage the Y chromosome. Kinney proposes the creation of a female genetic twin; her request is denied. Sutter's protege Doctor Zander Rice, whom he has raised after Rice's father was killed by the original Weapon X, is opposed to the idea. After 22 failed attempts at reconstituting the DNA using a duplicate X chromosome, the 23rd sample yields a viable sample to combine with an embryo. Although Kinney is allowed to proceed, Rice exacts revenge for her insubordination by forcing her to act as the surrogate mother of the specimen. For nine months, Kinney's every move is monitored; finally, she gives birth to "X-23".

Read more at Wikipedia's X-23 article.

Her first appearance is in issue #3 below, you can click the hyperlink text or the issue cover. Below you’ll find links to the collected editions on Amazon.

Nyx #1

Nyx #2

Nyx #3

Nyx #4

Nyx #5

Nyx #6

Nyx #7

 

Until next time,

Excelsior!!!

 

Nyx - Original Series Collected on Amazon

Death of Captain America - Marvel Unlimited

Dig it. Captain America, one of the all-time great comic book heroes and an iconic symbol for the United States, Marvel Comics and fandom is back to all-time levels of popularity thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. With Marvel Unlimited, you can read many of the greatest stories about Cap, including the Winter Soldier arcs. Check out my friend Dave’s page at Comic Book Herald featuring a large reading order list of Captain America-related titles.

This story has it all: the end of a hero, the Red Skull, Winter Soldier, the Falcon, Black Widow, Sharon Carter and chaos gripping the American people! Mass insanity and even the “new” Captain America struggling to live up to the legacy of our fallen hero. Indeed, true believers, this set of issues will lead you through the excitement of this gripping story that will have you binge reading!

Captain America (2004) #25
Captain America (2004) #26
Captain America (2004) #27
Captain America (2004) #28
Captain America (2004) #29
Captain America (2004) #30
Captain America (2004) #31
Captain America (2004) #32
Captain America (2004) #33
Captain America (2004) #34
Captain America (2004) #35
Captain America (2004) #36
Captain America (2004) #37
Captain America (2004) #38
Captain America (2004) #39
Captain America (2004) #40
Captain America (2004) #41
Captain America (2004) #42

It was a classic within a couple of years of publishing, and only gets better with age. Enjoy!

Until next time,

Excelsior!!!

 

 

Weekend Reading -> Age of Apocalypse <- More Images Part 1

Comic book fans,

I’m on a strictly AoA diet this morning, so I’ll be posting some cool covers and panels as I get through some issues. If you haven’t read the Age of Apocalypse, you’re missing one of the classic Marvel stories of the modern age!

As mentioned before, there are many trade paperbacks in the AoA series, available at Amazon here.

A much more complete way to read the story is the hardback X-Men: Age of Apocalypse, but it retails for $125 (or $86.31 on Amazon), or you can enjoy the reading order in the link here, assembled using resources from Amazon, Comic Book Herald and UncannyXMen.net.

Reminder: another great place to buy back issues at fair prices online is My Comic Shop. Be sure you check your local comic shop first, because every town lucky enough to have one should support them! Use the locator here to find one if you don’t know of your closest location. Thanks to Comic Shop Locator for that link!

 

More to come!

Until next time,

Excelsior!!!

Weekend Reading -> Age of Apocalypse

Dear readers,

Weekends are a great time to make use of your Marvel Unlimited subscription! Check out these two pages from the first issue in the Age of Apocalypse crossover arc and get to reading!

 

Until next time,

Excelsior!!!

Marvel Unlimited - New Readers

I just found this page on the Marvel website tonight. It’s the perfect selection of comics for new readers, and you MUST check out the Whedon run on Astonishing X-Men that I’ve blogged about before.

The Marvel link is here, but I’ve copied the issues over from their site so you can dive right in from here. Enjoy - and please comment with your favorites or series Marvel should’ve included for noobs! ;-)

Until next time,

Excelsior!!!

READ NOW

Astonishing X-Men #1

Whedon, Cassaday, Cassaday

READ NOW

Astonishing X-Men #2

Whedon, Cassaday, Cassaday

READ NOW

Astonishing X-Men #3

Whedon, Cassaday, Cassaday

READ NOW

Astonishing X-Men #4

Whedon, Cassaday, Cassaday

READ NOW

Astonishing X-Men #5

Whedon, Cassaday, Cassaday

READ NOW

Astonishing X-Men #6

Whedon, Cassaday, Cassaday

READ NOW

Captain America #1

Brubaker, Epting, Epting

READ NOW

Captain America #2

Brubaker, Epting, Epting

READ NOW

Captain America #3

Brubaker, Epting, Epting

READ NOW

Captain America #4

Brubaker, Epting, Epting

READ NOW

Captain America #5

Brubaker, Epting, Epting

READ NOW

Captain America #6

Brubaker, Epting, Epting

READ NOW

Thor #1

Coipel, Coipel

READ NOW

Thor #2

Coipel, Coipel

READ NOW

Thor #3

Coipel, Coipel

READ NOW

Thor #4

Coipel, Coipel

Thor #5

Coipel, Coipel

READ NOW

Thor #6

Coipel, Coipel

READ NOW

Hulk #1

READ NOW

Hulk #2

Loeb, Mcguinness

READ NOW

Hulk #3

Loeb, Mcguinness

Hulk #4

Loeb, Mcguinness

READ NOW

Hulk #5

Loeb, Giarrusso

READ NOW

Hulk #6

Loeb, Mcguinness

READ NOW

Invincible Iron Man #1

Fraction, Larroca

READ NOW

Invincible Iron Man #2

Fraction, Larroca, Larroca

READ NOW

Invincible Iron Man #3

Fraction, Larroca, Larroca

READ NOW

Invincible Iron Man #4

Fraction, Larroca

READ NOW

Invincible Iron Man #5

Fraction, Larroca

READ NOW

Invincible Iron Man #6

Fraction, Larroca

READ NOW

New Avengers #1

Bendis, Finch, Finch

READ NOW

New Avengers #2

Bendis, Finch, Finch

READ NOW

New Avengers #3

Bendis, Finch, Finch

READ NOW

New Avengers #4

Bendis, Finch, Finch

READ NOW

New Avengers #5

Bendis, Finch, Finch

READ NOW

New Avengers #6

Bendis, Finch, Finch

READ NOW

Civil War #1

Millar, Mcniven, Mcniven

READ NOW

Civil War #2

Millar, Mcniven, Mcniven

READ NOW

Civil War #3

Millar, Mcniven, Mcniven

READ NOW

Civil War #4

Millar, Mcniven, Mcniven

READ NOW

Civil War #5

Millar, Mcniven, Mcniven

READ NOW

Civil War #6

Millar, Mcniven, Mcniven

READ NOW

Civil War #7

Millar, Mcniven, Mcniven

READ NOW

World War Hulk #1

Pak, Romita, Finch

READ NOW

World War Hulk #2

Pak, Romita, Finch

READ NOW

World War Hulk #3

Pak, Romita, Finch

READ NOW

World War Hulk #4

Pak, Romita, Finch

READ NOW

World War Hulk #5

Pak, Romita, Finch

READ NOW

Runaways #1

Vaughan, Chen

READ NOW

Runaways #2

Vaughan, Chen

READ NOW

Runaways #3

Vaughan, Chen

READ NOW

Runaways #4

Vaughan, Chen

READ NOW

Runaways #5

Vaughan, Chen

READ NOW

Runaways #6

Vaughan, Chen