I apologize if this is in the wrong forum. I did not see a place for new readers to ask questions. If this is in the incorrect place then hopefully a moderator will move it.
So I've developed a new spark of interest in comic books lately and would appreciate some comments/critiques on my planned purchases and suggestions on what else to consider. My only exposure to comics before now was my Spawn collection in the 90's (which I have continued to collect to completion out of OCD despite having not read an issue since #100 or so) and a brief exposure to the first few issues of Spider-Man Ultimate when it first came out.
While my interest is pretty broad at the moment, I decided to narrow what I was looking for so that I'd have a manageable set of series to start with. Currently and in order of relative interest my top five are: Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman, Spider-Man, X-men, and Iron Man. I have been trying to do my own research on where to start collecting and I've already made my move with the first two on my list, but I've found that it's difficult to find pre-written suggestions online of what I'm personally looking for from comics because more often than not its a collection of "Best Of" one time adventure romps rather than what appears to me to be good jumping on points with origin story and the like.
With that said I turn to this forum for a more personal touch and would like to present what I have currently come up with for my initial purchase plans, get some thoughts from those with more experience. I will categorize below by title, so if anyone has insight they want to share into just one series in particular this will make things simpler. I'll also leave a summary section at the bottom of each series as a sort of 'tldr' option.
I appreciate any thoughts people might have after their years of reading.
_
Series that I've purchased
_
Guardians of the Galaxy:
This seemed pretty straight-forward, everyone recommended the 2008 run and so I bought Vol 1+2 of the complete collection. I'm not sure if the more modern NOW version with Iron Man is part of the same continuity or a reboot, but people seemed to rate it lower than the one I picked up. It seems like the next step is the Thanos Imperative so I think I've got where to go next covered, but I'm more concerned about what to read before/in between.
I've been liking the series a lot so far, but I have to say I am irked a little whenever Annihilation this and Phalanx Invasion that comes up every other page, clearly interesting stories that these characters have been through which I haven't touched yet. I found this link (http://i.imgur.com/FUM3v.jpg) that seems to sum up a lot of the stories that are immediately surrounding what I picked up. Do I want to pick up Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest to fill in some of the gaps? They sound like big crossover events, how many more holes is picking these up going to create for me?
Also, it's kind of annoying to have so many characters whose stories you're expected to know. I kind of expected this, which is why Avengers is not on my initial interest list (X-men I don't think count since their story mostly started as a team so its not a crossover), but with Groot already a twig and Drax having already killed Thanos (With a comic called the Thanos Imperative I'm sure he's coming back fortunately, still, annoying that I missed this), I feel there's a lot of stuff that I'm not privy to. Not to mention I barely know anything about Nova except for what I've read online. I've been considering ways I can fix these glaring holes in my knowledge, I'd appreciate opinions on the following along with suggestions for other characters:
Nova seems to have a collection that's part of the Annihilation storyline and from what I gather he hasn't had much showing for a while prior to these. Would those six issues listed in the link be a good start to his character? Also there's this Essential Nova book I found online, though it sounds like all the Essentials are black and white, kind of a turn off, but I imagine its where I go to if I want to read the origins. Thoughts on that one?
Star-lord, Rocket and Groot are characters I'd also like to learn more about. There's "Star-lord Guardian of the Galaxy" and "Rocket Raccoon and Groot" I found listed in my GotG 2008 volume which look promising, do these have the origin stories? The one with Rocket and Groot actually sound like sequel material. There's also the Legendary Star-lord 2014 and Rocket Raccoon 2014 from the NOW stuff I think. Not sure if they're reboots or more additions to the same timeline.
Summary: What series should I consider picking up as prequels/midquels to the 2008 run? (Annihilation, Annihilation: Conquest, Nova, Essential Nova, Star-lord Guardian of the Galaxy, Rocket Raccoon and Groot, Legendary Star-lord 2014, Rocket Raccoon 2014)
_
Batman
_
This one was probably among the easiest to research, with what appears to be a reboot as of the 1987 Year One. I haven't started reading these yet, but they're on the way. I think I got a good start going with "Year One", "The Man Who Laughs", "The Long Halloween" and "Dark Victory" ordered. Immediate plans from there are currently "The Gauntlet" and "Robin/Batgirl Year One", with "Nightwing Year One", "Death in the Family", "The Killing Joke", and "Knightfall" scheduled down the road. I've been able to find some pretty good lists for this particular series, but any thoughts on good stories in between what I've ordered and plan on ordering in the future. Anything that might leave me confused down the road if I leave it out now?
Summary: Are there any book in between what I have planned to read that I'm missing out on and would leave me confused later if I passed them by?
_
Series that I have not purchased
_
Spider-Man
Narrowly beat out by Batman because of the ease of access to the Dark Knight's series, this is probably the first comic I thought of getting with my sudden renewed interest before my fancy exploded with all the other options and bumped Spider-Man down to third. Right now I think the only way I'm getting Spider-Man's origin story in print is with the Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus, though I wouldn't know where to go from there. There's also the Ultimate universe that I could start back on, but then I'd miss out on all the famous 616 storylines, right? There's also the Amazing Spider-Man #1 as part of NOW, but I don't think this is a reboot, it seems to be a continuation off of something that happened previously in the Amazing Spider-Man continuity and thus seems like a poor jumping on point. What are peoples' thoughts?
Tangentially, I've found myself interested in the Spider-Gwen alternate universe series, might be the first actual series of comic books that I start to collect now that I'm back into this rather than TPB since it appears to be ongoing at the moment. I found myself liking Gwen as a heroine in the movies a little more than Mary Jane and I think the idea of her also having the powers would be a really interesting read. So this is connected to Spider-Verse which is an arc in the Amazing Spider-Man series from what I gather. Should that arc be read first or are Gwen's spidey origins and everything else needed covered in issue #1?
Summary: Where to start with Spider-Man and where to continue from there? Is getting into the Spider-Gwen series its own stand alone thing or is reading Spider-Verse going to make things a lot clearer?
_
X-men
Probably the best place to get the greatest quantity exposure to Marvel heroes from what I gather. While the series started in the 60's, I hear it didn't really thrive until the 70's. Does that mean I’d be better off starting with the Uncanny X-men Omnibus rather than the X-men Omnibus or is there anything major that I would be missing by making such a skip? With the whole team aspect it feels like the origin stories are going to be in back story and things like “X-men First Class” rather than in the first few issues of the original run anyways, but I could be wrong about that. Or is there a better jumping on point than either of those? Is “New X-men” a good choice? Is it in the same continuity? Other thoughts?
Summary: Thoughts on X-men Omnibus, Uncanny X-men Omnibus, New X-men, other choices for jumping on points.
_
Iron Man
Honestly this is the one I’ve done the least research on. Makes sense, really. There’s a lot of other purchases I’ll be making before I work my way down to the bottom with this guy, even if he did make it into my top five interests. All I’ve found is people suggesting “Extremis” and “Invincible Iron Man”. I could just go with the Iron Man Omnibus I saw on Amazon, kind of expensive but an option. I’m just not sure if those stories have aged well. Since I’m interested in Iron Man for the tech, it might be less impressive to see what they thought was advanced back in the Silver Age. Anyone up for giving it a recommendation or have any alternative ideas for how to approach this series?
Summary: Is the Omnibus the best choice or are there alternatives that you would recommend?
Log in to comment