Cartoonist Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer is one of the most frequently banned books in the US, a fact that is now fueling a fundraising campaig
My publisher, Oni Press, and I have launched a Gender Queer merch line themed around freedom to read, trans rights, and fighting censorship this summer! We are donating a portion of the proceeds to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Florida Freedom to Read Project.
Pre-orders will be open through Friday, August 20 2025 with fulfillment to begin in September. Oni will also be making select, advance editions for some items available for early sale at San Diego Comic-Con in July.
Bruh, what do you mean Read Comics Online is down??? That site has been so crucial for my Superman comic book reading experience.
I've been paying for DC Infinite so I can read Post-Crisis. The list I'm following goes from 1986 to whenever that era ends, and it leads into Post-Flashpoint. I've read 1,200+ comics, including a couple of alternate storylines like Absolute Superman. Over 200 hundred of the issues I read aren't available on the app, and so I had to turn to Read Comics Online. If I tried to buy just 100 of those comics, which are only available secondhand, it would've cost me over $500, not including shipping, just for comics I may not even like or touch again. There have been several I've pirated that I didn't like. So no, buying physical for missing issues has never a viable option for me.
I have bought physical copies for storylines I absolutely adore (Absolute Superman, for example) from comic book stores that order directly from DC.
With Read Comics Online gone, I may have to give up reading this order, which means I'd have to cancel my DC subscription, because I don't do well skipping around between storylines. This reading order has been the most accessible for my enjoyment.
I tried looking into Hoopla, and they don't have an issue that I could ONLY find on Read Comics Online.
This sucks. This genuinely fucking sucks. I could skip to Post-Flashpoint, but I really don't want to. I've been really enjoying where I'm at. I reached Superman comics published in 2004, and I was so excited to see the evolution throughout the 2000s, so skipping to 2018 or later literally is not an option for me.
I'm so sorry to everyone who also depended on Read Comics Online. This is a major blow to the comic book community.
Hi my server directed me your way because they said you were THE Bart blog and I have so many questions about him!! I've fallen in love with him through reading some Young Justice but I figured that I knew almost nothing about him next to Tim and Kon. Like I know Tim is from Gotham he went to multiple schools, his mom died and I know Kon lives in Hawaii and Superman hates him and he's a clone but like what about Bart lol?? I think he's a descendant of Barry, I heard he's from the future but what about his parents? The comic says nothing about his past that I've seen!! Anyway could you please answer this with his basic history? I know I could look it up but my server friends told me that's not reliable. I want to know where he lives, who are his friends, is his ID public, is he even human? Thanks and sorry for the rambling I just love Young Justice so much!!
Hello and welcome to the Bart Allen side of DC!
Long post below.
I am going to answer your question(s), however first I am going to nip one thing in the bud right now since we're talking about the comics.
"...I know Kon lives in Hawaii and Superman hates him..."
This is false.
This is a very popular fanon concept that was born from over-exaggerating events from the Young Justice cartoon where Clark was standoffish to Kon. Viewers then assumed because this is how Clark's first response was to Kon on the show, this is how they had to have been in the comics!
It couldn't be anywhere near the truth.
In the comics Clark was never weirded out, standoffish, hostile or felt anything negative about Kon's existence. He wasn't alienated that his DNA was stolen to make him, in fact, when Kon first showed up in the comics his origin was he wasn't even related to Clark biologically at all and was 100% human! Him being 50/50 Clark and Lex came a decade later!
Kon and Clark's relationship in the comics was one based on mutual respect and fondness, Clark checked on him frequently and had admitted to him that out of all the other people wearing the S-shield he felt closest to him. Clark hard nightmares about Kon dying and he genuinely cared for him.
There were two things about Clark's relationship with Kon that are open to critique that no one really talks about much (mostly due to not reading) and one has a 100% Doylest explanation.
1.) Clark did not intervene when Kon was blatantly being exploited and abused by adult women in Hawai'i.
This one has a Doylest explanation because it is so out of character - basically Clark never intervened because the writers at the time didn't WANT him to. They wanted Kon to FAFO all on his own with no "adult" support.
Attempts to make this make sense from a Watsonian perspective is Clark was unaware it was that bad and assumed that Dubbilex was being the support Kon needed. There is also an explanation that Kon was a Cadmus clone and Clark had experiences with Cadmus clones before - they grow up FAST and are self-sufficient basically from the moment they are born, it is not unreasonable to assume that Clark was wrong about Kon.
Either way Clark didn't intervene and it is out of character, you can make an in-world explanation make sense and have that be a compelling point of failure without resorting to "Clark hated him". He loves him very much and if writers actually wanted Clark to BE Superman for Kon in this moment he'd feel pretty lousy about not helping. Alas we don't have that so it's up to readers to sort out how they wish.
2.) Clark didn't trust Kon with his secret ID and never told him he was Clark Kent, Kon found this out on his own by talking with a teen Clark Kent from another reality.
Also contrary to a lot of fanon, Clark's secret ID is actually not well known even among other Justice Society/League members. Only a handful of people during this time in comics knew Superman was Clark Kent. Clark kept his secret ID hidden even from John Henry Irons who he embraced as his partner.
Why? Again, writer decision but also because he was terrified of putting his parents and Lois Lane in danger if they knew his identity and the less people knew, the better. It was a way to control safety and security because in a world of mind readers and the newly launched internet it was safer for him to give nothing. He also spent most of his existence as Superman and Superman, Kal El, was him.
So yes, Clark was a little jumpy when he found out that Kon spent time with his parents but it had nothing to do with him being Kon but because he was worried about Kon possibly accidentally attracting danger to his elderly parents.
This secret of Clark WAS actually something that pressed heavily on Kon in the comics and is the biggest rift he and Clark ever had. Kon felt like Clark didn't trust him but he also worried that he was wrong to have these feelings at all. Eventually, Kon reveals he knows and they both move on from it closer than ever - but it still was a compelling moment of history between them.
So no, Clark doesn't hate Kon, he never did. Period.
Now that that's out of the way - on to the real star here BART ALLEN.
1.) Time Travel Bullshit
Bart is from 1000 years in the future having been born right at the tail end of an authoritarian xenophobic regime to Don Allen and Meloni Thawne.
Don Allen is Barry Allen's son, Barry immigrated to the future with Iris at the end of his comic run in the 80s just before he died.
Meloni Thawne is a distant descendant of Eobard Thawne and is also the daughter of President Thaddeus Thawne, she's basically political royalty. Her father and her family have spent centuries hating the The Flash and the Allen name so she and Don had a sort of one-sided Romero and Juliet sort of situation.
When Bart was born, his maternal grandfather engineered a planetary crisis with alien invaders, the Dominators, specifically so he could assassinate Don Allen and his twin sister. He was successful. Then he used the same Dominator plot to kidnap Bart when he was a baby and fake his murder.
The reality was he sent him to a science facility to study and observe with eventual plans to groom him as a loyalist. It failed when Bart's grandmother Iris West found out, kidnapped him back, and fled to the past.
It is also important to note that when Bart was born his connection to the Speed Force was so strong he was aging at an accelerated rate - when he was 2 he looked 12. The scientists got around making sure he was mentally up to date with his physical age by plugging him into virtual reality because only a computer could keep up with his brain. Doing this made certain he aged mentally beyond 2 (it was actually listed he was mentally older than 12) and it also made sure that he got an education in VR.
He was however still aging too fast and the scientists weren't doing anything to stop it - you find out in the comics that it implies they had a cure all along but were waiting for him to hit an age to stop it, either way, Iris stole him and took him to the past to Wally West because she was desperate and knew he could cure him.
He did by setting him on fire. <- Bart's recollection of events.
When Bart came to the past he aged rapidly to age 14 and his aging was stable for a very long time afterwards barring a couple other events that were reversed.
2.) Family in the 20th century.
So Bart's in the 20th century, 1994 from 2994 in the arms of his grandmother and with his cousin Wally West. Surely he lives with one of them, right? Right?
Nope.
Instead he's arranged to live with another time-displaced speedster named Max Mercury who is originally from the 1800s.
Then he moves them to Manchester, Alabama.
Bart suspected it was punishment and it was. <- this is a joke.
So why is he living with a stranger?
Basically, Wally was unable to take Bart in because both of them had 0 patience for each other and it would have been a hostile household. Wally was also in his early 20s and was not mentally fit to take on a challenging teenager like Bart. It would have been a disaster and no one should be forced to take in a kid. Period.
So what about his own damn grandmother?
In the comics she was burdened with the tragic knowledge of the future, she knew everyone's history and future events and was so disturbed by it she distanced herself from the entire family. Regardless if this makes sense or not, or if you like it, that was the comic explanation. Right or wrong, that was her decision so she didn't change history by preventing some tragedies from unfolding. I find this a compelling detail about her character, others think it makes her a villain, either way she was written as genuinely loving her family but prioritized the timeline over everything else because changing one event could kill millions.
The tragedy of it all is the future had already been changed and she didn't NEED to isolate but she didn't know that.
Max Mercury is his legal guardian, and while they start out VERY rocky they eventually both find love for each other as family. Max says he loves Bart as a son, and Bart is willing to die for him (or kill) for Max.
Dr. Helen Claiborne - Max Mercury's adult biological daughter who Max and Bart move in with. She's instrumental in Bart's development and acts as a ballast between them, calling Max out for not being FAIR with him. She adores Bart. She is also a dentist.
3.) Civilian Life
Bart's solo series opens up with him in Manchester, Alabama. He does not have a public ID and keeping that secret is one of the main challenges in the first part of his series.
He's the most popular kid in his school, much to his displeasure because he is actually an introvert and would rather just be LEFT ALONE.
He has a lot of civilian friends!
Carol Bucklen - his best friend who found out he was Impulse all on her own. She also eventually turns into a love interest but it never works out (the writer also didn't want to write it but was forced to)
Preston Lindsay - his other best friend and first civilian friend, he is a regular reoccurring character just like Carol. Preston was also Bart's first major case as Impulse as he investigates child abuse...
Mike Ringer - Shows up in the middle part of Bart's solo series and is more relevant in the last quarter. He's the son of Matt Ringer who Helen dates, Mike could have possibly been someone like a step-brother to Bart but... things happened.
Wade - Another friend who also loves video games and writing.
Rolly - Another important friend who at first disliked Bart because Bart was the most popular kid in school.
Ayana - A girl who is part of their friend group but she's not around much, not much is known about her other than she has a crush on Bart.
Wilfred "Evil Eye" Daniel Parker/Eddie - A bully who is the grandson of one of Max's villains from the 40s who isn't entirely what he seems...
I'm going to stop writing now and direct you to reading Impulse (1995) for the rest.
No seriously, do you want to read comic books? Have you just gotten out of James Gunn's excellent new Superman movie and thought "man, that was good. I want more of that! I want more of superheroes doing good, helping people, punching bad guys, and being kind?"
Because as a kid once upon a time, I felt that way after I watched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight back-to-back with my parents, and soon went to my local library to begin renting every single Batman graphic novel I could find. (Please don't read The Killing Joke at roughly age 12. Really not something you should be doing. Trust me.) And then spurred on by memories of cartoons I loved as a kid, I started reading the New 52 Justice League collections I found, and then a few years later when DC announced Rebirth, I started reading individual comic issues. And now I read a lot of comic books, mostly from DC.
So I ask you again,
Do you want to read comic books?
If the answer is "yes," then I might be able to help.
Short answer: Right now, I’d recommend starting with Superman Unlimited #1-2, and The New History of the DC Universe #1, and if you're feeling up to it all of Justice League Unlimited and all the Absolute Universe series so far.
Long answer: Turn this on for atmosphere and read on.
So the first thing you need to understand about superhero comic books is that they're fundamentally bunch of grand interconnected soap operas. Characters come and characters go, characters have messy relationship drama, characters die in epic, tragic overwrought ways, and those same characters get brought back in a few years when it's clear the audience misses them.
And the thing about soap operas is that very, very few fans of those soap operas, if any, have watched every episode, and those who do prrrrrobably wouldn't recommend it. So don't worry about reading every single comic book for whatever character you want to follow. It ain't worth it.
But it might just be worth it to find a good starting point, pick a comic series and follow it monthly. To drop in on the characters you love and see what they're up to this week. To discuss what you enjoyed and didn't enjoy this week with friends online and in person. That's just fun, and it's an experience I will never truly tire of.
So, if you want to try that, where exactly should you start, especially if, as I mentioned, you just walked out of James Gunn's Superman and decided you wanted more? First, I'd recommend trying to find a local comics specialty shop with comicshoplocator.com, and plan to go there to pick up whatever comics sound good to you. Also, many TCG and board game shops sell comics, so if you frequent any of those, ask around! Keep in mind that most comics on average are $3-5 per monthly issue, so budget accordingly. Also, not all comic shops are created equal, so make sure it's a place you'll enjoy coming to often. If you don't have any good comic stores near you, read on to the end of the article where I'll mention another way to read comics digitally.
I'd first start with Superman Unlimited #1, by Dan Slott and Rafael Alberquerque.
This is a nice, simple issue set around a thrilling high-stakes action sequence involving an asteroid made of pure Kryptonite. But relevant to the topic of "what should a new comic reader pick up," it also has a nice recap of Superman's history and a "who's who" of his supporting cast. If you've never read a Superman comic before, this will tell you everything you need to know and is a fun superhero story besides. The first two issues are out already and should be easy to find in a comic shop, so you'll be able to get a quick and easy start to the series and its legendary titular character!
What if you're interested in the wider DC Universe and all the other heroes? Then I'd recommend The New History of the DC Universe and Justice League Unlimited, both by writer Mark Waid.
JLU features a new, expanded version of the League designed for quick responses to all kinds of threats to Earth and humanity, from forest fires to terrorist plots to time traveling telepathic apes. Yeah, this is a very silly, comic book-y series, which is why I love it. I also love it for this post because it features so many heroes from across the DC Universe, from obvious favorites like the Trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to obscure favorites like Doctor Occult and Red Tornado, and yet always gives readers enough information to know who's who, what they do, and what's going on.
New History, meanwhile, is essentially a history sourcebook narrated by Barry Allen, who is currently retired as the Flash. It lists a bunch of classic DC heroes, what they did, and how it all tied together to create an epic legacy for today's heroes. The rest of the series will continue this all the way up to the present day.
For New History, only the first issue is out right now, and it should be pretty easy to find!
For JLU, the first eight issues are out, some of which are part of a crossover with one of Mark Waid's other books, Superman/Batman: World's Finest. For simplicity's sake I'd recommend tracking down the first five issues, and then learning about the "We Are Yesterday" story that follows. You may also want to look for the DC All-In Special, which sets up the epic storyline that is running through various DC books of 2024-2026, particularly JLU and the Absolute books. Speaking of which…
If you really want something new, different, and a little more tied to commenting on today's world, then I'd recommend the Absolute Universe books by various writers, set in a different universe where many famous heroes lose the most essential parts of their origin stories and are thrust into a world that is far, far more resistant to being changed for good… but they still choose to be heroes anyway.
Absolute Batman (series written by Scott Snyder) is now a younger dude from the seedier part of Gotham, who works as an engineer while facing down a conspiracy by Gotham's rich elites to tighten their grip on the city's status quo. Also, he lifts. A lot.
Absolute Wonder Woman (series written by Kelly Thompson) is now the last of the Amazons and a witch raised by the sorceress Circe in the depths of Hades, now free to face down the monsters and step in to help a world the gods have abandoned.
Absolute Superman (series written by Jason Aaron) is now escaped from the destroyed Krypton… as an adult, not as a baby. Burdened ny memories of a world plagued by an oppressive caste system and a society hostile towards new ideas, Kal-El finds that things are not so different on Earth and quickly ends up becoming a Champion of the Oppressed.
There's also series for Absolute Flash (written by Jeff Lemire), Absolute Green Lantern (written by Al Ewing) and Absolute Martian Manhunter (written by Deniz Camp), but I'd recommend trying those out after the Trinity's books.
While some of these series have been running for almost a year, meaning it may be difficult for someone new to find the earlier issues, the first trade paperbacks (collected volumes of multiple monthly issues) of those comics will release in bookstores in August, and the series are also available on DC Universe Infinite, a service that basically acts as a Netflix featuring almost everything DC Comics has ever published. They also contain Webtoon-style vertical versions of the Absolute books formatted for mobile reading.
So yeah, that's a pretty quick and easy guide to getting into DC right now! I threw this together in a couple hours both to get the good word out to anyone who just saw Gunn's Superman, and also to test out the formatting of Tumblr since I'm new here. I just really like comics and I wish more people would read them and not be turned off by the dismissal they receive from culture at large.
If any more experienced Tumblr users could tell me what tags to add to attract more new aspiring comic readers, please let me know so I can add them. I don't want to just preach to the choir. And if you have any more questions about DC books, please feel free to ask and I'll be happy to infodump some more.
And if enough people like this, I might follow up with a really half-assed Marvel new reader recommendation list, IDK.
