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So, a lot of my friends are, for a lack of a better word, huge comic book nerds. I'm not saying this as a bad thing at all, mind you. My friends will often discuss comics and make passing references, etc, and I feel sort of left out. I never really read comics or watched the cartoons as a child. I started reading novels from a pretty young age and when I was in the mood for a book, it was always a novel rather than a graphic novel. I never watched much television either, so I don't have the knowledge from the 80s/90s cartoons either (with the exception of batman, me and my brother loved batman).
So, I want to start getting into reading comics so i can share these experiences with my friends, but I don't know where to start. It seems like a pretty daunting task as a lot of these franchises go back decades and have some sort of ongoing story.
To this day I can name no more than 10 or so superheroes and know almost nothing about any of them (except batman). I have never watched any of the comic movies (except...well, you know), either. What would be a good idea for me to start off with, and how do I get caught up on the story of some of these characters when they might be 50 years old or more.
When it comes to what I might like, I can only give you a short list of other fantasy I enjoy and hopefully you could give a suggestion on comics that fit well in the genre. I really enjoy outsider horror as shown by authors like Machen, Lovecraft, Frank Balknap long, Ambrose Bierce, Stephen Crane, Robert E Howard, etc. Clark Ashton Smith and Edward Burroughs type of fantasty is really neat too. Of course Glen Cook and George Martin with the more rousing action writers are fun to read. I really like Tolkien's work; moreso for his writing style than the story or setting. I like a lot of gritty types of TV, movies as well as detective type of stuff (Flemming novels/bond fims, etc) which is probably why I like batman.
So, in summary, I'd like to know...
A) Where to Start. What franchises are probably good for me to read to start out and start learning
B) How do I get caught up (preferably without just sitting in front of a wikipedia page) with the story
C) IS there a way to read comics without breaking the bank? What is the best media, actually going to a comic shop, or maybe finding them on kindle or something?
That's all I have really. Thanks for any help
 
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Did you try asking your friends? It seems like you know them already and they already like comic books. Maybe you could try that.
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On December 28 2012 14:26 Ghin wrote:
Did you try asking your friends? It seems like you know them already and they already like comic books. Maybe you could try that.
They said they've been watching /reading for so long they just know all about it, they can't tell me where to start really.
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I'm kinda in the same boat as your friends. I've been reading comics so long I just know what I need to know lol.
If you want to read a Superhero comic, the best thing to do is start at the beginning of a saga and take it from there. characters like Spiderman have had many iterations and their back story is so complicated that you will spend a life time trying to catch up lol so just pick a saga and read it. Then pick another and read that, don't worry too much about how it all fits together, as that will come the more you read.
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I'm in your boat OP, though I've given up on that. The best thing to do is what emythrel said, but I'd like to add that the next best is to get summaries of them on wikipedia so that you get the general vibe and know what you want to read rather than just randomly go into it. Also read deadpool probably, he is a hilarious character that just really needs no intro to read, he is quite funny on his own and the following of him is large enough people will instantly know you know about deapool.
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spawn is an easy one to follow. walking dead is easy too. for graphic novels try sin city or watchmen
as for getting them you can downlod a torrent for pretty much every series there is on pirate bay and read them on comp with a free program called cdisplay.
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Watchmen, then V for Vendetta.
I'm not a comic guy either, but these are just excellent stories, and they read much more like novels than the average superhero comic.
Currently working through The Walking Dead, which I would also recommend.
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On the sidebar, I thought this was "Tips for coming out"
I started with old-school Marvel and DC, Elemento and Superman FTW!
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There are some great comics out there, like Watchmen and The Walking Dead, but for ongoing series/heroes it can be hard to catch up on the river of lore that seems to exist. My advice is just jump in, it all becomes clearer as you go. Reading big events (AvX was a recent one for example) helps introduce some heroes, or you could wikipedia or use a site like: http://cmro.travis-starnes.com/ which is pretty good to give you a grounding.
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United States15536 Posts
Read Witch Doctor. New series, can jump right in, can follow as it goes on. It's great.
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Actually, I know you mean comic books, but if you're up for the challenge, I'd recommend a web-comic called Homestuck. It's damn addicting (Ever watched Lost? Multiply that addiction by 3), but it's worth it if you have enough spare time. It gets amazing. Amazingly amazing. Amazingly amazingly amazing.
Meh. Couldn't resist mentioning it. Probably not very relevant either, considering I haven't read many comic books.
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+Spoilers include descriptions of the series as taken from comixology.com+
Superhero action of the DC/Marvel variety...
Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Cap America are good places to start.
Though I enjoy Green Arrow, though not the CW's Green Arrow.
I'd recommend the Green Arrow: Year One as an entry point to Arrow series.
+ Show Spoiler +The tale of Oliver Queen and how a terrible twist of fate set him on the path to become the Emerald Archer of the DC Universe, The Green Arrow! Written by Andy Diggle and featuring the art of Jock!
Want some superhero action that isn't part of the "big two" (DC/Marvel)?
Invincible
+ Show Spoiler +Mark Grayson is teenage superhero Invincible. He was a normal high school senior with a normal part-time job and otherwise normal life, except his father Nolan is the superhero Omni-Man, the most powerful superhero on the planet. At the age of 17, Mark begins to display superpowers, which come from his father being a member of the Viltrumite race, who, according to Nolan, pioneer the galaxy on a mission of benevolence and enlightenment. As Invincible, Mark begins working as a superhero, with his father acting as his mentor, and meeting other heroes. Mark worked occasionally with a superhero team called the Teen Team (consisting of Robot, Rex Plode, Dupli-Kate and Atom Eve), from there discovering that his Physics teacher has been turning his students into human bombs. He stops his teacher with the help of the heroine, Atom Eve. He also foils a plan to make an army of robots, created by the Mauler Twins. Meanwhile Omni-Man is kidnapped by aliens, taken to another dimension, but returns after what seems to be only a few days, but was actually eight months to him.
Want something that is dark, actiony, and dramatic?
The Sixth Gun
+ Show Spoiler +During the darkest days of the Civil War, wicked cutthroats came into possession of six pistols of otherworldly power. In time, the Sixth Gun-the most dangerous of the weapons-vanished. When the gun surfaces in the hands of an innocent girl, dark forces reawaken. Vile men thought long dead set their sights on retrieving the gun and killing the girl. Only Drake Sinclair, a gunfighter with a shadowy past, stands in their way. The Sixth Gun is a two-fisted adventure set in the mysterious and supernatural corners of the old west.
This comic blew me away. Probably because I am a sucker for westerns; but it is really well written and the art is great as well.
I recently started a dark series written by Stephen King's son, Joe Hill.
Locke and Key
+ Show Spoiler +Acclaimed suspense novelist and New York Times best-selling author Joe Hill (Heart-Shaped Box) creates an all-new 6 issue story of dark fantasy and wonder: Locke & Key. Written by Hill and featuring astounding artwork from Gabriel Rodriguez, Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them... and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all...
Something a little different.
Chew
+ Show Spoiler +Tony Chu is a cop with a secret. A weird secret. Tony Chu is Cibopathic, which means he gets psychic impressions from whatever he eats. It also means he's a hell of a detective, as long as he doesn't mind nibbling on the corpse of a murder victim to figure out whodunit, and why. It's a dirty job, and Tony has to eat terrible things in the name of justice. And if that wasn't bad enough, the government has figured out Tony Chu's secret. They have plans for him, whether he likes it or not. Presenting a twisted new series about cops, crooks, cooks, cannibals and clairvoyants, written by John Layman (Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness, House of M: Fantastic Four and Puffed) with mind-blowing art by astonishing comics newcomer Rob Guillory.
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My tip to you, pick a series you like, if it is long and has a huge history IE batman. Start at a major arch and then just wikipedia everything up to that and look up obscure references on google. Do not just go randomly buy everything it will just confuse you as you wont know if it is an alternate universe or canon ect. If you start something like walking dead they come in collections so its easy just buy 1 and keep going lol.
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thanks for the help guys. Definitely some good info to build off of here.
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EPT
