New to comics

For a few years now, I've been wanting to read comics. But its always felt like a daunting task. There is so much to read, I never knew where to start. I've always figured start from the beginning, but that seems like a dumb idea. So then I thought about starting in Chronological order for characters like Batman, Superman, Spider-man, etc. I know things were rebooted tons and tons of times, so that confused me as well. So then I gave up and just continued reading manga, which is much easier to follow because its one straight path from beginning to end.

Lately, people have been telling me don't worry about following characters in chronological order but instead follow the creators I like. But I'm still confused as to where to start, believe it or not, haha. I know its way easier than I'm making it seem - but jumping in the middle of things has always bothered me, no matter what it is. I can't standing watching a sequel before the original.

So pretty much, I'm posting this to ask there I should start for the characters I like - or just what I should do to get into comics.

I'm sure this has been asked many times, so I understand if this thread is closed or deleted. But could you point me in the right direction before you do so? That is, if anybody reads this. Heh.

Anyway, thanks and good bye, for now.

@SSJLuffy: DCNU

read Aquaman

I know what you mean about jumping on halfway through bothering you, I'm the same and when it comes to comics it can be an issue but with the new 52 and Marvel Now you have probably picked the best time to jump on.

With Batman, Superman and any other DC character I would say just start at the new 52. Most of the first trades paperbacks are out so you can just pick up volume one and get in on the ground floor. Both Batman and Superman's first volumes specifically are quite good starting places as they both introduce most of the main characters in the first couple of pages and focus on brand new enemies so you definitely won't need to have read anything before. The only problem you may face is that they both have multiple titles like action and detective comics but I would say just start with the main Batman and Superman series and is you want more of a character pick up another one of their titles, they don't interact much so they are not essential (I don't read any other than the main title personally).

I would recommend you do the same with Marvel now and wait for either the first issue on a new series or for the first trade paperbacks to come out, Marvel's pretty quick with trades so you shouldn't have to wait that long.

Since you mention it Spider-man is a bit more complicated and as far as I know will not be affected by Marvel now and I think you have two options for starting points. Again focusing on the trades Brand new day would be the best starting point as it was the first of Spider-mans most recent series but it would take a long time to get bought up following the trades. The trade paperback Big Time is also a good starting point and is far more recent so I would recommend that if you don't want to be so far behind.

Hope this helps. I have focused on the trades mostly since you say you are a manga reader so the format is more like your used to and personally its what I keep up with, I'm not much of a one for the single issues. A quick search of wikipedia always gives a pretty comprehensive reading list for trades so its pretty easy to keep track for example a list of spider-man trades http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Spider-Man_titles#Trade_paperbacks.

If you have any questions ask away and I would just say jump on board. I know a lot of people say to get into comics you should start with reading the classics but with marvel now and the new 52 about I would say just go to your local store and pick up volume 1 of any character that interests you out of these events and there you are up to date from the beginning.

@OhCrumbsComics: Thank you for all the advice! Its going to be extremely helpful for whenever I decide to check out comics, which will probably be soon.

The New 52 does seem like a good place to jump on, since it seems like it re-started the entire DC Universe. When I know the characters, I'm sure I can always go back and read the classics, like Batman: Year One, etc.

Marvel has always seemed more confusing to me. I frequent Marvel wikia, mostly because of Marvel's recent films, and there are so many different volumes for each series. Its always confused me as where I should start.... But I guess I really shouldn't worry about it. Is Marvel Now a complete reboot?

Well hopefully soon, I can actually add to the site and have fun discussing comics.

Also, I have one more thing to ask. Will 0 issues and Annuals ever be put into TPBs? If not, are they worth seeking out and reading?

See ya for now, and thanks for the advice!

@SSJLuffy said:

Marvel has always seemed more confusing to me. I frequent Marvel wikia, mostly because of Marvel's recent films, and there are so many different volumes for each series. Its always confused me as where I should start.... But I guess I really shouldn't worry about it. Is Marvel Now a complete reboot?

I don't think that it's a complete reboot like New 52, but is intended to be a jumping on point for new readers like yourself. It might be a good start for the Marvel characters that you like. And welcome to the wonderful, maddening world of comics! :-)

You should read Flash, Earth 2, Green Arrow, and Savage Hawkman.

@SSJLuffy said:

@OhCrumbsComics: Thank you for all the advice! Its going to be extremely helpful for whenever I decide to check out comics, which will probably be soon.

The New 52 does seem like a good place to jump on, since it seems like it re-started the entire DC Universe. When I know the characters, I'm sure I can always go back and read the classics, like Batman: Year One, etc.

Marvel has always seemed more confusing to me. I frequent Marvel wikia, mostly because of Marvel's recent films, and there are so many different volumes for each series. Its always confused me as where I should start.... But I guess I really shouldn't worry about it. Is Marvel Now a complete reboot?

Well hopefully soon, I can actually add to the site and have fun discussing comics.

Also, I have one more thing to ask. Will 0 issues and Annuals ever be put into TPBs? If not, are they worth seeking out and reading?

See ya for now, and thanks for the advice!

Marvel is a bit harder to follow because of their constant renumbering and retitling of series. Marvel now is not a complete reboot but it is affecting the vast majority of their main series so I would expect it to still be a great jumping on point as each new creative team is starting fresh on each book. Marvel has made quite a bit of effort to make jumping on easy for new readers in the past with recap pages and point 1 issues so with a relaunch this big I'm sure it will be very accessible even if you pick up a comic about a character you haven't read about before.

Regarding the annuals and 0 issues it's really hard to say because as far as I know DC haven't said anything about them being collected so far. Based on experience I guess that they will be collected however as near all of the annuals that I have read tie into the comics main story with the annual to the Flash actually acting as the conclusion. Also many of the 0 issues seem to be the first parts of stories coming soon. While I am more of a Marvel reader and based on experience annuals are commonly collected as part of the trade so I think it would be stupid for DC not to collect them later on as it would rip key parts from ongoing stories so the outlook looks good.

Glad to have helped, hope you jump on soon.

Just wanted to say, thanks for the recommendations, tips and clearing some things up. And that I also decided on the first comic I'm gonna read, Wanted by Mark Millar. Any opinions on it? I think for a little while I'm gonna check out smaller series, before I decide if I want to jump into either DC or Marvel. I'll probably pick up some New 52 DC stuff, while I do some extra research on Marvel.

Anyway, like I said. Thanks for the help guys!

Some independant companies like Image and Dark Horse have much more succinct titles without the huge historys you find in Marvel and DC. Hellboy for instance can be easily caught up with as it is collected in trades fairly regularly and it has some really good spin offs like BPRD which are also collected regularly. So I guess I am saying don't forget about the independants.

Hey guys, been a super long time since I started up this topic and since anybody posted on it, so I'm sorry to revive it (no idea if thats against the rules or not). Just wanted to say I've made absolutely no progress! Haha... the only series I started to read was The Walking Dead because I like the TV show and heard the comics are a lot better and I gotta say I am hooked. Only reason why its taking me forever to read it is because each issue feels packed with content.

Anyway, last time I asked for recommendations on where to start with DC and Marvel, The New 52 is probably my best bet with DC but as for Marvel I still have no idea. Are there any continuity-lite stories for Iron Man or any of the other characters in the MCU that you guys would recommend? I don't necessarily have to start from the beginning, it's just the continuity is CRAZZZY for Marvel. Oops... sorry for getting side-tracked there, but the reason I revived my thread is because I'm asking for more recommendations similar to The Walking Dead. It doesn't have to be exactly the same though, I'm just asking for something easy to pick up, with great art, writing and a cool cast of characters. Also I'd love it to have a flowing story and not be a slice-of-life, monster of the week type of deal. Something like in manga where each arc has its own separate story that builds into a bigger overacting plot.

Thanks in advance!

@ssjluffy: Thor: God of Thunder and Hawkeye are both excellent. Start at issue 1 for both (Thor has like 16 atm and Hawkeye has 14 I think) Black Widow just started too and was awesome.

For DC you can start at issue 1 of any New 52 title you're interested in. Aquaman, Flash and WW are all great.

Green Arrow starting at issue 17 is amazing too (the early stuff is garbage, don't waste your time)

As for anything else...

Invincible is also written by Kirkman and is leagues superior than TWD imo.

Also read Saga from Image too. Best comic ongoing right now.

TMNT from IDW is also great.

And anything from Valiant right now. They don't know how to put out a bad comic

@fallschirmjager: Thanks man! I appreciate the quick response!

I'll probably jump right into Invincible and Saga after I'm all caught up in The Walking Dead. Figure might as well stick with Kirkman and Image for the time being.

Should I jump right into the new TMNT comic or check out the older one first? I have seen the 80s flicks, I enjoyed them (besides 3), they were good cheesy fun.

Valiant's stuff does sound interesting, maybe I'll give em go sometime.

@ssjluffy: Image is really fantastic.

I'd also recommend Sex Criminals (hilarious comedy book), Lazarus (post-apocalyptic) and Velvet (spy thriller) all from Image. Each book is 4 issues, 7 and 2 respectively so its easy to catch up.

Naw. You can start with the IDW series. They reintroduce everything. I'd recommend it all, if you can afford it really. The micro-series are really good too.

Valiant is really underrated after their reboot. They're only putting out like 8 titles right now but they're sooooo good. Harbinger, X-O Manowar and Bloodshot are their 3 core titles (imo). They had an event earlier last year called Harbinger Wars and started a new event a couple months ago called Unity. Both are unbelievable.

So yeah...that should give you a good start :)

any other questions feel free to ask...I'm reading like 40 books atm lol

@fallschirmjager: I'm writing this stuff down! Thanks again!

After I get my feet wet with all this stuff from Image I'll probably jump into either The New 52 or IDW's TMNT. While doing so I'll be reading a bunch of manga also, gonna be super busy this year!

EDIT: Damn 40 books! How do you keep track of it all??

@ssjluffy: Yeah. New 52 is quite easy to get into. Same with TMNT.

Its not that hard :p.

@fallschirmjager: Are those Thor and Hawkeye books easy to jump into for somebody that is a noob? Comics are so daunting... haha I gotta just take it a step at a time and not over think what I wanna read! Haha :D

Look into Marvel Now! and see what interests you. I'd recommend Daredevil,Hawkeye, Thor:God of Thunder, and Superior Spider-Man. You might also like the current Secret Avengers book. It kinda combines the marvel cinematic universe with the comics.

Well, they're not going to tell you 50 years of character history, (but you can find that out by reading a wiki) but each book will basically tell you all you need to know about the current story being told.

And honestly comics don't really reference things from 10+ years ago on a regular basis. And if they do, they usually leave you a note to what they're reference so you can look it up on a wiki and find out about it.

I never read a Thor or Hawkeye comic before the current series I don't feel lost. I spent maybe 5 minutes on a wiki grazing over things I needed to know, but its really not that bad.

Does it help if you've read it all? Maybe. You might appreciate it more, but you certainly do not need to read every past issues of a character.

@peppeyhare: Thanks man! I'll do some research about those series you recommended! Two Marvel comic characters stuff I really wanna read are Spider-man and Iron Man!

I think for now, I'm gonna try and find a handful of writers/artists that I really like, follow there stuff and go on from there. That's what I remember one of my buddies telling me to do. That's why I may stick with Image for quite some time so thanks for those recommendations!

@ssjluffy: The current Spider-Man book (Superior) is very good in my opinion, but Peter isn't Spidey in it. It's Doc Ock in Peter's body, so if you aren't totally against that idea I'd totally recommend it. I don't know much about the current iron man series, but i imagine it's fairly new reader friendly like most of the Marvel Now! books

@ssjluffy: For Marvel, read Thor: God of Thunder, Hawkeye, Daredevil and, I would recommend doing some research on it first but, Superior Spider-Man is awesome. Or, Amazing Spider-Man is relaunching in March, it would be pretty easy to jump on there if you're interested. Oh, and Superior Foes of Spiderman, that's another great one.

For DC, read Green Arrow from issue 17 onwards, Superman Unchained (only 5 issues in!), Superman/Batman, The Flash, Wonder Woman, Action Comics, Animal Man, Aquaman.

Also, I recommend pretty much ANY comic from Image. Image is freaking awesome. If you like The Walking Dead, I especially recommend Invincible as its by the same creator... completely different tone, but a great book nonetheless. And also, Saga, because it's literally the best comic on the shelves IMO.

From what I hear, Valiant is putting out a lot of great books as well that you might be interested in.

@peppeyhare@imagine_man15@fallschirmjager:

I am seriously thankful for all recommendations you guys are giving me, this is gonna be one hell of a year for me. I've been sitting on checking out so many awesome comics for too long (hell I've been a member on this site for over a year and I just started reading The Walking Dead) and I better get into them before its too late! I'm sure it really doesn't matter where I start with Spider-Man, Iron Man, or whoever but it just bothers me so much that I can't start from the beginning without it being so damn daunting and intimidating to get into. My best bet is to probably just start and get into a character and I'm sure once I do I won't be able to put comics down because it seems like the hardest part about reading comics is actually starting!

My current plan is to catch up with The Walking Dead and then from there either start with DC's The New 52 or read some more Image stuff, depending on my mood.

Thanks and I'll keep you guys posted if you even care, haha.

@ssjluffy: For Spider-Man specifically read the 160 issues of Spider-Man written by Bendis. Its not only (imo) one of the best runs on the character ever, but since its an alternate universe you won't need to know anything that happens in the past.

Otherwise no problem...don't hesitate to ask more question. Someone on the vine will have an answer.

@fallschirmjager: Maybe you are right about that, maybe the Ultimate universe would be the best way for me to get into Marvel.

I dunno about the ultimate universe as a whole (I don't really care for alternate universes myself) - I've never read anything from it except Spider-Man.

But those 160 issues are unbelievable. Start there and then jump into 616 for Spider-Man. He's coming back this spring so you could jump in there.

To jump into comics, you literally just have to jump in and figure it out as you go along. Do not start in an order. Just pick up the current issue of any series you like and begin reading from there on a regular monthly basis. As you go a long, you will learn a lot and then you can easily come back and read older works of creators, characters, and series that you like.

I HIGHLY recommend any book from a publisher called Valiant. As mentioned, they are consistently amazing and have never put anything bad on the shelves. To be more specific I would recommend:

• X-O Manowar
• Quantum & Woody
• Harbinger

@fallschirmjager: Spider-man, Iron Man and Hawkeye are the Marvel characters I'm going to start with. I hear people saying the Ultimate universe is really good stuff. I wonder how the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon is?

@sagejonathan: Everybody praises Valiant, literally... I haven't read a bad thing about them. Which means I definitely gotta check out their stuff. I know they recently rebooted all their comics (I've done some research, haha), so it'll be easy to jump into. How's their older stuff?

Also, what about Judge Dredd and 2000 AD? I really liked the newer Dredd film.

@ssjluffy: Sorry, don't watch cartoons.

Current Hawkeye book is great. Don't read Iron Man.

2000 ad is a magazine where Judge Dredds appear in from time to time. It should be notice it is British not an American magazine.

For Iron Man there is several books you could start with Extremis is a fresh "new" (it is almost ten years old now) on Iron Man you don't need to know that much about Iron to understands the plot. You could pick up Iron Man by Joe Quesada it maybe has a few persons you don't know who are but overall the story is simple to follow. Enter the Mandarin is a retelling of the first meeting between Iron Man and the Mandarin. Matt Fraction's Iron has been praised I have yet to read it though. All of the stories has been collected in trades and are therefore easy to get.

@ssjluffy: I haven't read their older stuff actually, but I heard it was fantastic. Definitely read their stuff though.