I'd like to get into your comics. They look and sound amazing. But, is there a reading order? Where do I start?
Hello there! And Thank you so much!!!
I had posted this SOMEWHERE sometimes before but that was way back when Return to Darkness was just getting posted. There has been a lot added to this so let’s update this! x)
Here is my recommendation as to the Order in which to read Universe - Law of Fire:
IF you want to only read the comics (and you can, i do try to keep them as standalone as possible, buzt of course, they are not seperat of the stories) they are to be read in the order they have been posted! They are ordered as such on the ULF Website Overview
That is Tale of Moons -> Starheart -> Kings and Legends -> Remnants of Gods
With Mondfeuer being a standalone spinoff based directly on some of the stories.
Speaking of, that’s the point where the whole context and backstory stuff comes in. So if one is at all interested in that, here is the full ULF experience reading list:
Heart of Fire, The Warrior and Comic one, Tale of Moons, are year one content. I'd suggest reading HoF as soon as possible, because it answered the question about why and how the comics are even happening. (fun fact but no reading recommendation: all of Comic 1 to 3 happen during the initial Chapters of HoF, and Comic 4 is set exactly between on transition in Chapter 10 of Hof.)
Wizard of Cowdenbeath, Kilchoan and Comic Two (Starheart) was year two. WoC and Kilchoan do belong firmly together, intended to be read in that order but I think one could switch them around if one would want. (Kilchoan is probably my favourite story I’ve ever written, and timeline wise it is way before any of the other stuff (besides Little Wizard)) WoC is the make it or break it story of them all. If you enjoy WoC, you will probably like the rest as well.)
Leitnacht is a more light hearted bonus story referencing back to the first Comic, building on what happened in Tale of Moons featuring Powerwolf again.
Next is Parts and Fragments and Return to Darkness. These two, Parts and Fragments and Return to Darkness, belong firmly together. PaF also ties back all the previous stories and really shouldn't be read before the rest - there would be a lot of context missing! The whole question of “What are wizards and how do wizards” is explains slowly in the stories leading up to Parts and Fragments, with this one being the first we see a complete wizard (namely Ralathor in this case) in action. (Absolutely normal sentence that makes sense in this context I swear. It’s all about the Parts!)
With our newfound understanding of Wizards: The Mezchinhar Collection is next, a collection of short one shots following a couple Wizards around - and with already a bit of a feel for the home of the wizards, reading “Little Wizards” will fit very well. This is a very, very young Zargothrax slice of life.
Then Triton is the first story that picks up with Zargothrax since the last time we’ve seen him in WoC and - as the name implies - covers the whole escape from Triton. Thematically Hootsarival fits very well right after Triton, because it picks up with the Hootsman after he blew himself up.
By this point I would suggest having read and finished the third comic, “Kings and Legends” because the Hootsforce Collection has two chapters in the end that reference that comic. Again, it’s a collection, so it’s mostly stand-alone one shots from different points in time, looking at what’s going on on the Hootsforce.
Somewhen here I did a little spin off Comic focusing on the Powerwolf guys and Ralathor, namely: Mondfeuer. So that one makes sense to read around this point, because the version/Part of Ralathor we follow here is the Kingmaker, which is mentioned in Leitnacht, and he shows up in Kings and Legends too.
Then The Court Wizard. Picking up basically after Triton and Hootsarival - it’s Zargothrax’ arrival on the Terrorvortex earth - and what he does till he inevitably get’s bonked by a hammer. (I say it like that, but that ending is one of my favourites. It hurts a lot, but i like it a lot)
After that, we swing a little wider with a little interlude and a bit more wizard world building with “Heshiva’s Journals”
Then, finally picking up after Return to Darkness, we’re back with Ralathor in “Stargazer Part 1” This story runs at times parallel to Comic No. 4 “Remnants of Gods” (the current one), mainly the point where Ralathor is taken over by that Remnant is felt in this story too!
The story is cut in half because it’s not only very long and i haven’t written part 2 yet, but also, between Part 1 and 2 there are things happening, mainly, we finally, after all this, pick up where we started, we have arrived at the present day and following the events AFTER HoF in “To Save a Prince” which will lead into some events that will happen in Part 2 of Stargazer.
Very relevant to that too, there will be the Tempest Atum Collection, which also is relevant. But that is future talk. There is only the prologue posted yet. x)
So my go through recommendation would be:
1. Heart of Fire (Comic)
2. The Warrior (Story)
3. Tale of Moons (Comic)
4. Wizard of Cowdenbeath (Story)
5. Kilchoan (Story)
6. Starheart (Story)
7. Leitnacht (Story)
8. Parts and Fragments (Story)
9. Return to Darkness (Story)
10. Collection: Mezchinhar (Story Collection)
11. Little Wizard (Story)
12. Triton (Story)
13. Hootsarival (Story)
14. Kings and Legends (Comic)
15. Collection: Hootsforce (Story Collection)
16. Mondfeuer (Comic)
17. The Court Wizard (Story)
18. Heshiva’s Journals (Story)
19. Stargazer Part 1 (Story)
20. Remnants of Gods (Comic)
21. To Save a Prince (Story)
22. Collection: Tempest Atum (Story Collection)
Eveything Posted to AO3 together sits currently at roughly 430.000 words so… bring some time x) It’s a handful by now!
