Recommendations based on "Supergirl Vol. 1: The Girl of Steel"

With superstrength and invulnerability, Alison Green used to be one of the most powerful superheroes around. Fighting crime with other teenagers under the alter ego Mega Girl was fun — until an encounter with Menace, her mind-reading arch enemy, showed her evidence of a sinister conspiracy, and suddenly battling giant robots didn't seem so important. Now Alison is going to college and trying to find ways to help the world while still getting to class on time. It's impossible to escape the past, however, and everyone has their own idea of what it means to be a hero.... After a phenomenal success on Kickstarter, Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Ostertag bring their popular webcomic into print, collecting the first four issues, as well as some all-new, full-color pages!

Winner of the 2022 Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Book The first-ever full reckoning with Marvel Comics’ interconnected, half-million-page story, a revelatory guide to the “epic of epics”—and to the past sixty years of American culture—from a beloved authority on the subject who read all 27,000+ Marvel superhero comics and lived to tell the tale “Brilliant, eccentric, moving and wholly wonderful. . . . Wolk proves to be the perfect guide for this type of adventure: nimble, learned, funny and sincere. . . . All of the Marvels is magnificently marvelous. Wolk’s work will invite many more alliterative superlatives. It deserves them all.” —Junot Díaz, New York Times Book Review The superhero comic books that Marvel Comics has published since 1961 are, as Douglas Wolk notes, the longest continuous, self-contained work of fiction ever created: over half a million pages to date, and still growing. The Marvel story is a gigantic mountain smack in the middle of contemporary culture. Thousands of writers and artists have contributed to it. Everyone recognizes its protagonists: Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men. Eighteen of the hundred highest-grossing movies of all time are based on parts of it. Yet not even the people telling the story have read the whole thing—nobody’s supposed to. So, of course, that’s what Wolk did: he read all 27,000+ comics that make up the Marvel Universe thus far, from Alpha Flight to Omega the Unknown.   And then he made sense of it—seeing into the ever-expanding story, in its parts and as a whole, and seeing through it, as a prism through which to view the landscape of American culture. In Wolk’s hands, the mammoth Marvel narrative becomes a fun-house-mirror history of the past sixty years, from the atomic night terrors of the Cold War to the technocracy and political division of the present day—a boisterous, tragicomic, magnificently filigreed epic about power and ethics, set in a world transformed by wonders.   As a work of cultural exegesis, this is sneakily significant, even a landmark; it’s also ludicrously fun. Wolk sees fascinating patterns—the rise and fall of particular cultural aspirations, and of the storytelling modes that conveyed them. He observes the Marvel story’s progressive visions and its painful stereotypes, its patches of woeful hackwork and stretches of luminous creativity, and the way it all feeds into a potent cosmology that echoes our deepest hopes and fears. This is a huge treat for Marvel fans, but it’s also a revelation for readers who don’t know Doctor Strange from Doctor Doom. Here, truly, are all of the marvels.

Loki and Valkyrie seek redemption in the first adventure of an epic new multiversal series that reimagines the origins of iconic Marvel heroes. So many worlds, so little time. Infinite possibilities, creating infinite realities. Long have I watched the trickster god sow chaos. But . . . what if Loki saved Asgard from Tony Stark’s revenge? Thor—Son of Odin, God of Thunder, Wielder of Mjolnir—is dead. And Loki is responsible. It was meant to be only a joke—tampering with the Destroyer, changing Thor’s course to Midgard—a bit of mischief with a chance of maiming. But Loki’s harmless prank spiraled out of control, unleashing death and destruction on New York City and the heroes sworn to protect it. The city was saved, at the cost of Thor’s life. Furious and heartbroken, the All-Father banishes Loki to Earth for his crime. Loki finds himself in a realm of boxed wine, instant noodles, and some sort of regional performance troupe known as the “Buffalo Bills.” It’s a meager existence, far from Asgard’s grand courts, but he finds his new friend, Brian the Gecko, a much more engaging companion than the sycophants back home. It’s a true meeting of the minds. Loki is the God of Mischief—but he knows, deep down, that he never truly deserved to stand next to their father’s golden child, Thor, as two true sons of Odin. Yet he cannot endure his exile in peaceful isolation. A Valkyrie—Hel-bent on carrying out her oath to Thor—barges into Loki’s trailer home with his brother’s final words from the beyond: a plea to find a certain Dr. Jane Foster and pass the hammer Mjolnir on to its rightful heir. While Loki struggles to fulfil his brother’s last request, the far-reaching consequences of his fatal prank return to haunt him. Blinded by grief over those he lost in the chaos wrought by Asgard, Iron Man vows revenge on those who consider themselves gods. Determined to protect Earth from the might of this unpredictable alien power, Stark forges Asgard’s own weaponry into a lethal suit of armor, set on eradicating any tether between their worlds—consequences be damned. When Asgard looks to Loki for salvation, he must answer the question: Am I truly worthy?

A superpowered sequel to Matthew Cody's popular debut novel, Powerless! Daniel Corrigan is as regular as can be, especially when compared to the Supers: kids in his new hometown with actual powers like flight and super-strength. But Daniel's not powerless. Only he was able to stop the Shroud, a supervillain bent on stealing his newfound friends' powers. And thanks to him, his friends got to keep those powers. Now Daniel himself is starting to display powers, while at the same time his friends are losing theirs. His friend Eric thinks Daniel is just becoming a Super himself, a late-blooming one. But Daniel worries there may be something more sinister at work, since his power-stealing ability is uncomfortably like the Shroud's. Of course, the Shroud is gone now . . . isn't he? Or could Daniel himself be his new vessel? From the Hardcover edition.

A fantastic story, thrillingly told. This book has a superpower you can t put it down. Jonathan Stroud, author of the bestselling Bartimaeus Trilogy The truth about the Super children who have real powers like flight and super strength is finally exposed, and the town of Noble s Green has created a special boarding school for its superpowered children. That s where all Daniel s friends are headed, while he regular kid that he is is headed to summer school. But all is not well at the Academy for the Extraordinarily Gifted. A clique of popular kids (led by a pair of sinister twins) has taken over the school, and once again, it s powerless Daniel who may be able to stop them. To do so, he will have to turn to his sworn enemy, the Shroud, for help."

With Sensei Wu's help, Cole, Jay, Kai, and Zane must find the hidden Golden Weapons and defeat Lord Garmadon.

Jamie Madrox comes face-to-face with the thing that terrifies him the most - having to make a decision. The divisiveness of Civil War has spread to his own team. Half of them want to co-operate with the government, the other half wants to take a stand against it. It's Jamie's choice that may decide whether X-Factor stays together.

The third installment of the critically acclaimed Super Human series All Gethin Rao wants is to be like every other boy his age. But normal twelve-year-olds aren't blue. And they certainly aren't thirteen feet tall. That's what happens when his superpowers kick in. And from that moment on, his life is never the same. Treated as a villain--a monster--Gethin spends the rest of his life on the run or as a prisoner in a secret military facility. When he finally escapes, he falls in with a group of superpowered teens and becomes the one thing he never thought he'd be: a hero. But as the years pass by and he takes the name Brawn, Gethin learns that being a good guy is a lot more difficult than he thought. Michael Carroll delves deeper into the life of one of his favorite characters and in the process gives readers his most satisfying, exciting adventure yet, which leads directly into his Quantum Prophecy trilogy.

The bite of an irradiated spider granted high-school student Peter Parker incredible, arachnid-like powers. When a burglar killed his beloved Uncle Ben, a grief-stricken Peter vowed to use his amazing abilities to protect his fellow man. He had learned an invaluable lesson: With great power, there must also come great responsibility! Through all his trials, Spider-Man remains steadfast in his determination to use his gifts for the benefit of all!

When X-Men #1 first appeared in the fall of 1991 it shook comicdom to its core. This is a classic collection of the earliest issues of X-Men, introducing many of the characters and themes that continue today. Color illustrations throughout.