Start with Arcane, the Netflix series that premiered in November 2021 and won the Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program in 2022 — per Netflix's own announcement, it was the first streaming series to take that award. If you read comics and haven't watched it yet, that's your next weekend gone. The four shows after it fill out a viewing slate built for arc-minded viewers, not casual channel-surfing.
SSS Comics publishes viewing guides based on documented release information — check each platform's current catalog before you plan a binge.
Why these five and not the usual suspects?
Because you already think in trade paperbacks. Every show here is structured the way a comics run is: a contained arc, a clear creative vision, and a payoff that actually lands. Several are direct adaptations of comics or built by comics-adjacent creators, so the storytelling grammar will feel native to you. None of them requires homework across a decade of continuity to enjoy.
The list, as of early 2026:
- Arcane (Netflix, 2021–2024)
- The Legend of Vox Machina (Amazon Prime Video, 2022–)
- Castlevania (Netflix, 2017–2021)
- X-Men '97 (Disney+, 2024–)
- Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (Netflix, 2023)
Where do I start with Arcane?
Season one, episode one, no preparation. The show is based on the League of Legends game universe, but per Netflix's series materials no game knowledge is needed — it was written to stand alone. Its painterly animation, produced by Fortiche, drew wide critical attention and that 2022 Emmy win made it the first streaming show to earn the Outstanding Animated Program award. Season two arrived in November 2024 and closed the story, so you get a complete two-season arc.
Read it like a prestige miniseries, because structurally that's what it is: two sisters, one city split in two, and consequences that compound across nine episodes per season.
What makes The Legend of Vox Machina a comics-reader show?
It's an adaptation of an actual played campaign — the Critical Role tabletop group's first campaign — crowd-funded through one of Kickstarter's most-backed campaigns before Amazon picked it up for a 2022 premiere. That origin shows: the party dynamics feel like a long-running team book, with banter, rotating spotlight episodes, and character arcs that pay off across seasons. Per Amazon's episode credits, the cast includes the original players reprising their characters in voice.
Start with season one's opening two-parter, which was the original Kickstarter pitch, then let the Briarwood arc carry you the rest of the way. New seasons have continued into 2025, so the run is still growing — check the current count before you start.
Is Castlevania still worth it in 2026?
Yes, and it's finished — four seasons, 2017 to 2021, with a clean ending. Based on Konami's game franchise rather than a comic, it nonetheless earned its reputation as the show that proved adult Western action animation could carry a serious serialized drama. The pilot's screenwriter, Warren Ellis, departed after the main series ended; subsequent spin-off Castlevania: Nocturne (2023–) continued the universe with a new cast under a new showrunner, per Netflix's credits.
Watch the original four seasons first. The middle stretch — seasons two and three — is where the show's political plotting is at its densest, exactly the texture a comics reader wants from a villain arc.
What about X-Men '97 — do I need the old show first?
Not as much as you'd fear. X-Men '97 premiered on Disney+ in March 2024 as a direct continuation of the 1992–1997 animated series, but its first episodes re-establish the cast fast enough that new viewers follow without the homework — and the show became one of the year's most-discussed series, per AP's entertainment coverage. For comics readers it's a gift: the season adapts and remixes famous runs from the X-Men comics catalog, so you'll recognize story beats the way you recognize a cover homage.
Read the 1992 show's greatest hits if you want the full effect — the Dark Phoenix and Phoenix Saga episodes especially — but treat that as optional enrichment, not a requirement.
Why does Scott Pilgrim Takes Off make the list?
Because it's the rare adaptation that plays with its own source. Based on Bryan Lee O'Malley's graphic novel series, the 2023 Netflix season brings back the cast of the 2010 live-action film to voice their characters, per Netflix's announcement — and then takes the story somewhere the book never went. Saying more spoils the premise; go in knowing only that it is not a straight adaptation, and that's its whole point.
It's also the shortest commitment on this list: eight episodes, one season, done.
What order should I actually watch these in?
There's no wrong order, but here's the arc-friendly path. Start with Arcane for the complete two-season masterpiece run. Follow with Castlevania for finished adult action. Then X-Men '97 for the comics-DNA pick, Vox Machina for the ongoing party book, and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off as the light, clever palate cleanser at the end.
Five shows, three of them complete stories as of 2026, all built for people who already know how to read a long arc. Your queue is set.
How much time does the full list take?
Plan the calendar honestly. Arcane is 18 episodes across two seasons. Castlevania is 32 episodes over four seasons. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is a single eight-episode season — the shortest commitment here. X-Men '97 opened with a ten-episode first season in 2024, and Vox Machina has run three seasons with more announced. Total for everything released through early 2026: comfortably over 100 episodes, so treat the list as a quarter-year queue rather than a single month.
The good news is the shape of the list: three complete stories you can finish cleanly, and two ongoing ones you can catch up on and then follow weekly — which is, for a comics reader, the best of both formats.
What should I watch after these five?
Branch by what hooked you. If Arcane's craft was the draw, chase adult animation with distinctive visual identities. If Vox Machina's party dynamics worked, the tabletop-actual-show ecosystem beyond it is deep and welcoming. If X-Men '97 scratched the superhero-continuity itch, the 1992 series it continues is 76 episodes of direct backstory. And if Scott Pilgrim Takes Off charmed you, Bryan Lee O'Malley's original graphic novels are the obvious and excellent next stop — six volumes, one weekend.
For more context, read Where to Start With Invincible: The Animation Viewing Order.
For more context, read comics to animation adaptations.
For more context, read Why Adult Animation Boomed: A Sourced Explainer.