Teth-Adam is one of DC Comics‘ most famous and popular supervillains. The archenemy of the superhero Shazam (Billy Batson), Teth-Adam, better known as Black Adam, is quite popular among the fans and readers generally love all of the stories of this powerful supervillain.
It’s not just him and his powers, but the rich mythology and lore of Black Adam that attract the fans to one of the villains with the most depth in the DC Universe. With the upcoming movie already being a silent hit among the fans, we have decided to give our contribution to the whole lore by giving you a list of the eight best comics featuring Black Adam.
List of Best Black Adam Comics
Here is our list of the eight best comic books and graphic novels featuring the character of Black Adam. He was the main character in some of them, while in the others, he had a less important role, but the stories are important for his fictional biography.
1. The Power of Shazam!
Publication Date(s): 1994
Writer(s): Jerry Ordway
Artist(s): Jerry Ordway, John Constanza, Mike Carlin
Significance: Although this graphic novel focuses more on the superhero Shazam (Captain Marvel), it is the seminal modern Black Adam story. This is the best story to start with when modern (DC Comics) Black Adam stories are concerned. Namely, this graphic novel introduced Black Adam to the DC Comics continuity in a proper way and it serves as a reimagined origin story for the character, which is somewhat different than the original one from 1945. This story also established him as Shazam’s primary antagonist, along with Dr. Sivana, which he remains even today, despite his somewhat changed role. This is story is of the utmost importance and is a must-read for Black Adam fans.
2. JSA: Savage Times
Publication Date(s): 2002 — 2003
Writer(s): Geoff Johns, David S. Goyer
Artist(s): Leonard Kirk, Patrick Gleason, Keith Champagne
Significance: “Savage Times”, which is a story taken from the pages of the Justice Society of America series, presents a very special and important story that deals with Black Adam. When the JSA has to fight Vandal Savage in ancient Egypt, they also meet a historical incarnation of the future villain, Black Adam. Although this story doesn’t really examine his origins, it is a great historical perspective that gives us a brilliant insight into the character’s biography, development and evolution. We manage to get a glimpse of what the historical version of DC’s Black Adam looked like and that showed us just how interesting this character is.
3. JSA: Black Reign
Publication Date(s): 2005
Writer(s): Geoff Johns
Artist(s): Don Kramer, Keith Champagne, Rags Morales
Significance: Black Adam’s redemption was short-lived, as he – disillusioned with the JSA – left the group and quickly became an antagonist once more. This story is chronicled in Geoff Johns’ “Black Reign”, which is one of the seminal stories from the Justice Society of America series. Johns redefined Adam’s personality and background, focusing on the character’s old-fashioned and militant ideals of justice, and his officious and strongly opinionated attitude. In that aspect, this is yet another in-depth exploration of his personality and most fans actually love Black Adam because most of his stories have such high-quality character development that makes him so unique and beloved, despite the fact that he is a villain.
4. JSA: Black Vengeance
Publication Date(s): 2006
Writer(s): Geoff Johns
Artist(s): Don Kramer, Keith Champagne
Significance: “Black Vengeance” is not one of the more prominent Black Adam stories from the Justice Society of America series, but it is a decent continuation of the Black Adam stories written by Geoff Johns. “Black Vengeance” follows the villainous endeavor of Black Adam and doesn’t really do much for the character except add another story to the list. Still, it’s good enough that it doesn’t do anything wrong either and it’s a fairly decent read that we definitely do recommend and that fittingly continues the story of Black Adam during his “rebirth” in the DC Comics mainstream continuity.
5. World War III
Publication Date(s): 2007
Writer(s): Keith Champagne, John Ostrander
Artist(s): Norm Rapmund, Pat Oliffe, Drew Geraci, Andy Smith, Ray Snyder, Tom Derenick, Jack Jadson, Rodney Ramos
Significance: If you want a truly good Black Adam story, World War III is one of the best picks you can find. Namely, this story does concern itself with what a full-on rage attack by Black Adam would look like, but it’s much more than just a thrilling, action-packed story for the fans. World War III is a story that shows us what Black Adam is capable of, throwing at us the full extent of the supervillain’s powers, but also examining his character and his personality far deeper than a lot of other stories featuring the ancient Egyptian supervillain. This is why World War III is so good and why we recommend it to all, since it’s definitely one of the best Black Adam comics out there.
6. Black Adam: The Dark Age
Publication Date(s): 2007 — 2008
Writer(s): Peter J. Tomasi
Artist(s): Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy, Norm Rapmund,
Significance: The Dark Age is actually a follow-up from World War III, as it chronicles Black Adam’s endeavors after the events of World War III. The Dark Age might not be as exciting as its predecessor, but it is one of the most important stories in Black Adam’s history. This story brings us another entertaining in-depth approach to Black Adam’s character and is yet another piece of evidence why the complexity of this supervillain is something that the fans absolutely love. This story is likewise significant because it ties into the Countdown storyline, where Black Adam also played a very prominent role.
7. JSA: Black Adam and Isis
Publication Date(s): 2009
Writer(s): Jerry Ordway, Geoff Johns, Matthew Sturges
Artist(s): Jerry Ordway, Nathan Massengill, Bob Wiacek, Fernando Pasarin
Significance: This graphic novel is actually a collection of stories from a recent Justice Society of America series that features the Black Marvel family, led by Black Adam. This story continues Johns’ stories about Black Adam, but just like “Black Vengeance”, this collection remains a decent storyline from the Black Adam lore that doesn’t actually do much good or bad. This story expands the lore and is a great addition in that aspect, but as far as depth and character development are concerned, it’s just an installment that doesn’t do much for either. But, we do recommend it nevertheless.
8. Infinite Crisis (Villains United)
Publication Date(s): 2005 — 2006
Writer(s): Gail Simone
Artist(s): Dale Eaglesham, Val Semeiks, Wade Von Grawbadger, Prentis Rollins
Significance: This is a collective story written by Gail Simone, that was part of the larger Infinite Crisis event, which was one of DC’s major narrative crossovers. Black Adam is not the main character in this story, but he does play a prominent role in it. We highly recommend this not just because it is an essential part of completely understanding Infinite Crisis, but because it also shows Black Adam’s character development in future stories and because it shows him in a contemporary setting, where he interacts with other villains from DC’s lore.
