Summer 2011 Reading List

Well, it's that time of year again, summer. To me, summer is a time of vacations, BBQ's, and superhero movies. This summer comic book fans are in for a treat with a film about one of DC's big heroes, Green Lantern, and three movies from Marvel (two of which tie into the Avengers movie coming out in 2012 and a prequel to the X-Men films that focuses on Professor X and Magneto). After re-watching the available trailers online, I'm pretty excited for all four movies. While comic book readers are know some of these characters, most moviegoers are not familiar with the characters beyond their names and powers. Luckily, I've made a list of graphic novels that people can read before they see the movies if they want to know more about the characters.

Thor (May 6th):

Since it reprints Thor's first appearances in the Marvel universe during the Silver Age, Marvel Masterworks: Thor is a great companion if you're going to see the movie. This book tells the tale of how Odin sent Thor to Earth to learn humility in the guise of Dr. Donald Blake. During an alien invasion Don Blake finds the mystic hammer Mjolnir which transforms him into the thunder god Thor. This book also features the first appearances of Thor's first love interest, Jane Foster. Other than some differences in detail, this Marvel Masterwork is a perfect frame for the Thor movie coming out in May.

J. Michael Straczynski helped re-introduce Thor and the other Asgardians into the Marvel Universe. The story has Thor re-establishing Asgard in Oklahoma and dealing with Tony Stark after Tony made a clone of Thor during Civil War. Many first time Thor readers said that this was a great introduction to the character and it would help people get to know the God of Thunder before the movie comes out in May.

X-Men: First Class (June 3rd):

Another Marvel Masterwork that features the first appearances of the original team of Charles Xavier's X-Men and the first formation of Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants. Before their backgrounds were explored, it was clear that Charles was the hero and Magneto was the villain.

One of the main storylines of X-Men: First Class is how Eric Lehnsherr became Magneto. Eric's time in a concentration camp during the German invasion of Poland is one of the factors that influenced Eric's decision to take the fight to the humans before they attack mutants.

Green Lantern (June 17th):

Emerald Dawn is the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths version of Hal Jordan's origin. It provides some more detail into Hal's early days in the Green Lantern Corps and the story provides information about his father's death. The plot is how Hal Jordan changes from a depressed former air force pilot into one of earth's greatest heroes.

Secret Origin is another re-telling of Hal Jordan's early ring slinging days. Like Emerald Dawn, it does draw some focus to Hal's relationship to his father and how he becomes a pilot again. However, like most of Geoff Johns's work on GL, it does foreshadow Blackest Night with the additions of Atrocitus and William Hand (a.k.a. Black Hand). This is version of Hal's origin does explain how Hector Hammond's brain grew at least three times its normal size, so that might help people know this villain before his debut in the GL movie this summer.

Captain America: the First Avenger (July 22nd):

Why is an Avengers book featured on a list of Captain America graphic novels? Well that's because Captain America was found and revived by the Avengers in the fourth issue of the series. After his revival, the Avengers series started to show Cap's adjustment to the world after he was frozen for many years.





When Captain America regained his popularity in the Avengers series, Marvel decided to put out some solo stories for the Star Spangled Avenger which were featured in Tales of Suspense. The stories featured were flashbacks about Cap's adventures during World War II. Since the Captain America movie will primarily be set during World War II, this book is a great way to get an understanding about what Captain America was like during the war.

So those are all my graphic novel recommendations for people going to see the movies this summer. There are many other graphic novels for these characters available and if you have any recommendations please feel free to comment on this post. I hope everyone has an awesome summer and that none of these movies suck.

Summer 2010 Reading List

Here's a list of graphic novels I intend to buy over the summer. While most schools send out reading lists for the summer that include classic books, such as Tom Sawyer and Great Expectations, I make my summer reading consist of stuff I'd actually enjoy reading.

Invincible Iron Man: World's Most Wanted part 2 TPB

This volume contains the second half of Matt Fraction's World's Most Wanted arc. The story is about Tony Stark's fall from power after the Secret Invasion as he's being hunted by Norman Osborn for the most valuable thing Stark has that isn't a suit of armor, his mind. Before Tony left his office at S.H.I.E.L.D. (now called H.A.M.M.E.R.), he deleted the Superhuman Registration Database from the computer system. Now Tony's mind is the only place where the database still exists, which leads him to run around the country as a fugitive using older versions of the Iron Man armor. While he's running, Tony is slowly deleting his mind so no one can ever know the information he once knew. This story is very compelling as it tells the story of how the intelligent and powerful Tony Stark becomes a brain dead nationally-hunted fugitive. I'm definately picking up this paperback next week.

Mighty Avengers: the Unspoken TPB

Last month I bought the first volume of Dan Slott's run on Mighty Avengers and I was immediately hooked on this series. I recently read Slott's final arc on the Mighty Avengers series and was disappointed this had to end. Fortunately, the next trade paperback for Slott's Mighty Avengers is coming out next month so this is definitely going onto my list.

Superboy: the Boy of Steel

Once again, Superboy is one of my favorite characters. So having a collected edition of the story that featured Conner Kent during Geoff Johns' run on the re-launch of Adventure Comics is really exciting for me. Even though I usually wait for a paperback edition, I'm willing to pay extra for one of my favorite stories.

Invincible Volume 12: Still Standing

Originally, this was advertised on online bookstores, such as Amazon.com, Borders.com, and Barnes & Noble.com, to be released during February but recently ads for this book in the Invincible series has changed the release date to sometime in June. I hope this does come out next month because I've already collected the other volumes and I started buying the issues since December. Overall, Invincible has become one of my favorite series and I hope to expand my collection very soon.

Well that's the end of my summer reading list. Its not very long but it contains most of the books I intent to buy before school starts. If you have any suggestions about what should be added to this list, then post a comment to this post. Later!