@haveanicelife said:
I've seen these Movies:I haven't actually seen 'Spawn' yet. Maybe I'll get round to it soon.
- All X-Men movies besides First Class
- Batman Begins/The Dark Knight
- The Watchmen Movie
- The Spawn Movie
Anyway, here is a list of movies you should watch:
- Spiderman I and II
- The Incredible Hulk
- Iron Man I and II
- X-men First Class (duh)
- Captain America
- Superman I, II and Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Many would say that the old Superman movies aren't worth seeing. I disagree. I apologize, but my nerd rage shall now erupt:
<fanboy rant> Despite their age, Superman I, II and Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut are FANTASTIC movies!!!! Superman I and II were made together as one super epic. It is the first big-budget superhero film. Midway through production, the director was sacked and replaced. The Donner Cut of S2 is the (very different and IMO superior) version of the film that would have been released had Richard Donner been allowed to finish directing. You can watch documentaries and do reading about the fascinating history of the film, the on set drama... etc.
I'll just say this about it: The effects look dated today, but were beyond incredible for the time, the acting great, the writing is snappy and smart, it has a FUN atmosphere, and the music is awesome. Simply put Superman I is the benchmark by which all subsequent comic book movies try to meet, and it is a darn fantastic movie. WATCH IT!!
/fanboy rant
Okay, moving on.
1. These two books were done by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, the same writer and artist that did 'Long Halloween'. They are actually part of the same universe/story/continuity.I have a few questions as well:
- I'm interested in reading more Batman but don't know where to start. My favorite work out of the 4 comics is The Long Halloween; art is superb and so is the writing. I also really liked the art in A Serious House on Serious Earth, story was meh but the art was top notch. Any similar works by that artist?
- I really like Alan Moore's works and I'm thinking about getting a copy of Watchmen. Any other good Moore works?
- I'm also interested in reading Spawn but I've heard the series begins to suck as you hit the 50th comic in the series...
- I've done some reading and Vertigo seems like it has a lot of works I may like. Does Marvel have a similar label?
- Lastly, I'm interested in reading some Marvel Cosmic but I have no idea where to begin. I don't understand the significance of all the crises such as Earth Crisis, Final Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Zero Hour Crisis, or the Green Lantern Blackest Night.
- Batman: Haunted Knight (takes place before Long Halloween)
- Batman: Dark Victory (takes place after Long Halloween)
I'm reading that series in order, and I've only read Haunted Knight. Thus, I can't speak of Dark Victory in 100% certainty, but I've heard good things.
Jeph Loeb's been getting a lot of hate recently. His latest stuff has been sub-par, but he IS a good writer. More Loeb for your consideration:- Batman: Hush (Loeb writes again, but this time with superstar artist Jim Lee. This book is pure awesome, and helped me get into comics)
- Superman/Batman: Public Enemies (This was right around the time that Loeb started to slip into mediocrity. Some hate it, I like it. It's fun, and shouldn't be taken too seriously.)
- Superman: For All Seasons (Not Batman, but Loeb and Sale again. It is a darn good take on Superman, and hits all the right notes.)
With the release of Batman Begins, Batman's popularity on the big screen soared. Unfortunately, Batman in the comics wasn't doing too well. That was until Grant Morrison took over the Batman books and made it into a super-mega-ultra best selling franchise. Batman now=GOD in the DCU. Click HERE for a link to the reading order for this run. Some find this run frustrating to understand. See below for tips.
Things to know about Grant Morrison's writing style: - You can't have a Grant Morrison story without some kind of spiritual message about the nature of humanity, the universe, or the meaning of life.
- Every character in a Grant Morrison story is the biggest, baddass ever, and is also automatically the most important person in the universe. If you find yourself struggling to fathom how a character could POSSIBLY have EVER been able to DO WHAT HE JUST DID, remind yourself of this fact, and everything will be okay.
- Every time you turn the page, it will feel like two pages are missing in between the page you just read, and the page you are on now. This is normal, just keep reading.
- When you finish the book, you might be angry because nothing you just read made the slightest bit of sense. This is normal. You will find that it begins to make more sense never.
- Don't wait too long before moving to the next book in the series. Everything that ever happens ever will tie back into the first story arc. Always.
Okay, all kidding aside, his run is GREAT. It is a little hard to understand, but the more you read, the more all the previous events begin to make sense. Morrison is a special writer, because his work is often better the second time you read it. This type of complexity is rarely seen in comics.
Wow, I am really long winded today. I'll try be more concise from here on in. Moving on:
2. Buy Watchmen. It is pretty much a right of passage for any comic book fan. I haven't read much Moore outside of Watchmen and V for Vendetta.
3. I've never read Spawn.
4. I'm not into Marvel, so I wouldn't know. If you like Vertigo, READ 'THE SANDMAN' BY NEIL GAIMAN!!!!! The combined weight of every positive adjective in the dictionary would not come close to adequately describing how incredible this book is!
5. I haven't read much Marvel Cosmic because I'm not really in to Marvel. The only thing I have read is The Infinity Gauntlet, and it was pretty darn good.
HERE is a link to a thread about the Cosmic Universe on Marvel.com. You might find it useful, I can't speak for the validity of that list.
As far as I know, Marvel's Cosmic Universe is dead at the moment. By this, I mean that there are no books currently solicited. I'm not a Marvel reader, so I'll leave it to those that are better informed than I to correct me.
Finally, all those Crises are DC stories, not Marvel. Luckily, they are cosmic in nature.
Regardless, here are the Crises explained:
- Crisis on Infinite Earths: In the early 1980's, DC was in trouble. Thanks to various bad editorial decisions, their books were failing to sell. Their characters were overpowered thanks to silver age nonsense, and their continuity was a mess, and all attempts to fix any of this failed epically. In 1985, they decided to do a total reboot. Similar to what they're doing now, but more severe. Everything that happened before is tossed out the window, and they start fresh. Crisis on Infinite Earths is the story of how this happens. It's the first big crossover, and it's AWESOME. It ends with DC's multiverse being removed. So no parallel earths now :(
- Zero Hour- Crisis in Time: Fixes various continuity problems in the DCU at the time. It's a big crossover, and it's pretty good. It's the least important of the Crises, but still important if you want to get into Green Lantern, which is basically DC's Star Wars/Cosmic universe.
- Infinite Crisis: More continuity fixes. This time, HUGE EPIC crossover!!!! This is a direct and worthy sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths. The Multiverse is brought back :) Afterwards, all the DC books jumped forward one year.
- 52: A hugely epic and awesome weekly series. It was originally meant to simply fill in the missing year between the end of Infinite Crisis and the then current DCU. It quickly evolved into much more than just a fill in story, featuring a bunch of B and C list heroes and villains...... I don't want to spoil much, so I'll leave it there. It establishes the exact nature of the Multiverse. Written by Geoff Johns, Greg Ruka, Mark Waid and Grant Morrison (arguably the 4 BIGGEST names in the industry), this book doesn't disappoint.
- Final Crisis: Grant Morrison wrote this. It is an essential part of his Batman run too. I had previously overlooked this one. Coincidentally, I read it today for the first time. Basically, it say DON'T EVER F*@# WITH THE MULTIVERSE AGAIN. EVER. Infinity is good. Anything can happen in this book, and more likely than not, anything DOES happens in this book. There was just so. much. stuff. happening It was very good, but I'm going to need to give it some time to sink in before I understand it properly. I do know this: It was VERY GOOD.
- ANYTHING GREEN LANTERN RELATED: In the early 90's, Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Earth, goes crazy after his city is destroyed. He kills a bunch of Green Lanterns, and becomes the villain Parallax. This.... did not go down well with most fans. This was one of the things that Zero Hour tries to retcon. In 2005 Geoff Johns wrote a 6 issue miniseries called Green Lantern Rebirth, which promised to explain Hal's sudden change to the dark side, as well as bring him back to life, after his death in Zero Hour. Johns then took over the Green Lantern book. What follows, is one of the longest, most epic, inventive, and well done runs on any comic book ever. This eventually leads in to Blackest Night and all that. I can help you with starting points and order if you'd like, just PM me. Green Lantern ties heavily into Zero Hour, and it is very good.
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