At one point, the best Black Adam comics were relatively unknown. The character was a second-tier (at best) DC character, and iconic names like Superman and Wonder Woman outshone him. However, he is a mighty hero, and one who finally got the spotlight thanks to the film starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. While the movie flopped, it introduced Black Adam to a new generation of comic fans.
Best Black Adam comics as of 2025
Black Adam first appeared as a villain in Shazam. He’s one of the first anti-heroes in comics and was initially the host for the wizard Shazam’s powers. However, lacking a childlike heart, he became corrupted by them. In the last few years, he’s seen a revival thanks to the Shazam and Black Adam films, and there’s plenty of new material to read.
Doomsday Clock
Published between 2017 and 2019, Doomsday Clock is a series from DC Comics, written by Geoff Johns, with pencils by Gary Frank and colors by Brad Anderson. If you’re interested in Watchmen, you’ll want to check this out as well. It’s the first crossover between Watchmen and the DC Universe, acting as a sequel to the 1986 Watchmen graphic novel by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins.
The plot is somewhat complicated to convey in a write-up here, but it centers on a theory that the U.S. created all metahumans, which sparks a kind of international arms race. It’s like a Cold War story, but with superheroes instead of nuclear weapons. Black Adam isn’t necessarily the primary focus, but he’s a key player in the story and helps escalate tensions throughout. While leading attacks, he also becomes a symbol of rebellion against authority and the global superpowers. The metahumans themselves become a symbol for marginalized groups, and Black Adam offers them shelter and sanctuary in his nation, Kahndaq. So even though the comic isn’t entirely about him, Black Adam is a pivotal figure in the story. You’ll have to trust us (and any fan forum you find online) that this is a genuinely great comic read and one that shouldn’t be missed.
Black Vengeance
A three-issue storyline in JSA (Vol. 1) comes from Geoff Johns’ acclaimed run on the Justice Society of America, spanning issues released between July and September 2005, with artwork by Don Kramer, Leonard Kirk, and Stephen Sadowski. The premise is simple yet excellent: Spectre, freed from a human host, has been corrupted by Eclipso, and he sets out to destroy anything and everything supernatural. This threat puts Black Adam and his homeland directly in the crosshairs, forcing him to act to protect Kahndaq at all costs. The Justice Society steps in, but as tensions escalate, Black Adam turns on them, too.
This story gives us a high-stakes clash where all sides are pitted against each other. Packed with action and the kind of character-driven drama that makes Black Adam shine, Black Vengeance is one of the best showcases of this hero’s complex morality and total power.
Black Adam: Rise and Fall of an Empire
It seems to take a while for the Black Adam comics to be collected into a proper volume, but we finally got a really great compilation in 2022 with Black Adam: Rise and Fall of an Empire. This collects his appearances from 52, the weekly series that ran for a whole year between 2006 and 2007, thus the name. Everything’s packaged up nicely in one volume, though the cover oddly features the face of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. It’s a clear marketing tie-in to the movie, which flopped at the box office, but at least the collection itself makes it easy for fans to focus on Black Adam without having to hunt down individual issues.
As far as this character’s journey in 52, Black Adam comes into his own as one of the DC Universe’s most compelling antiheroes. The arc picks up after Infinite Crisis, with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman all absent, leaving a massive power vacuum. Take the opportunity when you can, mate — and Adam does just that, seizing the chance to assert control over his homeland, Kahndaq. One of the things we love most about him is his moral complexity: he fights for his nation’s independence and stability, but his methods are often ruthless and authoritarian at times.
Black Adam #6
Black Adam #6 is the best issue in one of the best Black Adam runs, the 2022–2023 DC Comics limited series written by Christopher Priest with artwork by the legendary Eddy Barrows and Eber Ferreira. Released on November 15, 2022, this issue is part of a 12-issue arc that picks up after Dark Nights: Death Metal. The run begins with a plague threatening to strip Teth-Adam of his immortality and, frankly, could be called the gold standard for Teth-Adam appearances. There’s also a trip to the underworld to take on the gods, which is fantastic. But in this issue, we get to see two titans collide as Black Adam takes on The Dark Knight.
Having just joined the Justice League, Black Adam is still working out a few kinks in team dynamics. Batman, billionaire capitalist though he may be, is all for democracy, and ruling Kahndaq as a monarch isn’t exactly in his playbook. Tensions soar, sparks fly, and the resulting confrontation leads to a tussle that’s worth watching.
Black Adam: The Dark Age
This six-issue series from a legendary creative team, including Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy, Norm Rapmund, Nathan Eyring, and Nick J. Napolitano, gives us one of the best Black Adam comics in Black Adam: The Dark Age. The story picks up after DC’s World War III, with Black Adam being hunted by Earth’s heroes. While trying to evade the Justice Society, he’s trying to reclaim his lost powers and resurrect his beloved wife, Isis. In disguise, he’s able to infiltrate Kahndaq and take Isis’s remains from her tomb. But to bring her back, he must locate the missing Amulet of Isis and harness the mystical powers of the Lazarus Pit.
Along the way, he teams up with some morally questionable allies, and his efforts ultimately result in only a partial resurrection of his wife. The story here is outstanding, but the standout is Tomasi’s writing, which still has a fantastic sense of play and bits of comedic humor throughout. Even if you’re a newcomer to Black Adam comics or missed some of the series leading up to this one, you can still jump in and go along for the ride.
How we chose the best Black Adam comics
If you’re new to Black Adam as a character, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see this guy has immense strength, speed, and my personal favorite — magic. Anytime we get a superhero rooted in some form of mythology, it’s a big win. If you want more mythology-rooted, deity-inspired superheroes, of course, take a look at Thor, Wonder Woman, and Moon Knight.
