MARVEL / DC; Where to start?!

siclonus · 15 June, 2009, 06:20:27 PM

As I've been buying my progs and megs from Forbidden Planet recently, I couldn't help but notice all the strange and different comics on the shelves... my newly-rekindled love of 2000AD is inspiring me to try some different comics... Picked up The Walking Dead which is very enjoyable.

I've always liked the idea of picking up some Marvel / DC stuff, I like the characters of Batman / X-men / Iron Man particularly, but where the hell do I start?! Each sharacter literally has 4 or 5 different comic books, it seems the days of simply being able to buy the 'canon' Batman comic or 'X-Men June 2009' is gone, it seems that there are loads of offshoots and mini-series but no 'definitive' book!

So where would you guys recommend I start?

Thanks!

Al_Ewing · 15 June, 2009, 06:35:20 PM

I'd go with Batman And Robin #1 to start off with - that's the jump-on point, and you really don't need to know anything at all as it's all explained in the dialogue. Basically, Bruce Wayne's believed dead, the old Robin's the new Batman and Batman's son is Robin, only he's a bit of a tearaway. Sorted!

I've found Matt Fraction's Uncanny X-Men very easy to pick up and read without any problems, so I'd recommend that too - it's got a recap page, which helps. Iron Man's a bit more of a difficult beast - I think he's only got the one title at the moment but it's in the middle of quite a complicated storyline.

Chancer · 15 June, 2009, 09:48:02 PM

I've been wondering the same thing recently. I've only been reading DC and Marvel stuff in tpb form, but am interested in picking up regular comics.

Where do things stand with these card cover, monthly DC/Marvel comics put out by UK publishers (e.g. Batman Legends)? As I understand it, these are a year or so behind the current storylines, but collect a few comics in each edition. Is it worth giving these a shot? Do they collect all the various comic book/tie-ins/spin-offs into one handy monthly comic per character?

It's all so confusing

Think I'll take up Al's suggestion and jump in with the new Batman & Robin comic.

Professor Bear · 15 June, 2009, 11:05:23 PM

All self-contained stuff that you can jump right into:
Batman and Robin
Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers
All Star Superman
All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder-Haha. I shouldn't even joke. You might believe me.
Across the Universe: the DC Universe Stories of Alan Moore
Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
Batman: Year One
Anything with the words 'JLA' and 'Grant Morrison' on the cover
Anything with the words 'New X-Men' and 'Grant Morrison' on the cover
Marvel Adventures: Avengers
Wolverine: First Class
X-Men: First Class
Morrison/Miller Flash is getting a tpb, that's also worth a look
Ultimates Vol.1 and Vol.2

zombemybabynow · 15 June, 2009, 11:21:39 PM

batman streets of gotham #1 comes out this thursday - there's a preview of it on comic book resources. in august a new ghost rider on going will start . So that's dc and marvel. Try usagi yojimbo by darkhorse and for the art, the new madman comic comes out this thursday. BUT, maybe go to a local comic shop rather than fp. fp seem to charge more and sometimes sell 50-50 variant covers at limited cover price. I could go on and on but not without tell you to get countless trades to catch up with the good stuff eg. The walking dead by image comics. enjoy

radiator · 15 June, 2009, 11:30:46 PM

Really, really not a fan of superheroes, but I'd definitely recommend Grant Morrison's New X Men series. 7 trades with a clever over-arching plot that is relatively accessible for the uninitiated (like me!) and actually has a satisfying ending, so you can stop there, or carry on through to Joss Whedon's Astonishing X Men series (which I tried, but didn't like).

Some of the artwork in New X Men is quite poor, but then some of it is by Frank Quitely, which is awesome.

The Ultimates is also quite fun for a throwaway blockbuster read. Not DC/Marvel, but The Authority is very good fun (well, the first four books are!).

For non-superhero stuff, check out Transmetropolitan, We3, Preacher, Global Frequency, 100 Bullets and The Invisibles.

siclonus · 16 June, 2009, 12:04:00 AM

Fantastic, loads to choose from! Thanks for the recommendations guys, I'll have to check some of those out.

SmallBlueThing · 16 June, 2009, 12:07:50 AM

I'd strongly reccommend Morrison's run on New X-Men too- one lovely great week of storytelling ahead of you, should you buy the trades.

You've already done the sensible, honourable thing by picking up The Walking Dead, but I'd also point you in the direction of tWD writer Robert Kirkman's The Astounding Wolf-Man, which is solid and shaping up to be just as unmissable as his take on zombies, only for different reasons. It's a superhero werewolf tale, and is at least 1000% better than that sounds.

Ultimate Spider-Man is worth a bash, if you start from volume one- as is (and I know I'm more or less alone here) Marvel's regular Amazing Spider-Man series. Post 'Brand New Day' (which you may have heard people moaning about) it's perfect for someone who doesn't know the years of backstory and is genuinely good fun.

Panini in the UK run a selection of "collectors editions", which are four-weekly 76 page reprint titles. At £2.50 a throw they are infinitely better value than buying new comics from a comic shop- Most concentrate on the new (1-3 year old) strips, but Fantastic Four Adventures has been printing the earliest Stan Lee and Jack Kirby issues, in order, and is just sublime. The Spidey title is worth watching (mostly also a mixture of old and new), as is The Mighty World of Marvel- though currently it (like all Panini's collectors editions) is hip deep in the interminable 'Civil War' crossover, and so is a chore to wade through each month. On the other hand, it's also running 'Planet Hulk', which is rather good. MWOM tends to change its line-up every few months, like 2000AD, and so is one of the few titles I wouldn't consider dumping.

Hellblazer is also a good, fall-back comic when things get bad.

Personally, I tend to try out a lot of titles via my local library, which is stocked to the gills with stuff I've not read. That, and the Panini editions have been a lifesaver since having kids- I can still read tons of stuff, without the boys going hungry!

Steev

Colin YNWA · 16 June, 2009, 08:38:08 AM

DC have a new comic coming out weekly this summer called 'Wednesday Comics' it'll be over-sized and is created by some of the best talent out there. Its is based on the format of the old colour cartoon suppliments that used to run in American weekend newspapers. As its out of continuity it looks like it'll be a fantastic introduction to the vast diversity of characters the DC Universe has to offer and from there you can choose a few favourite characters and away you go.

If you like Batman I echo the recommendations here and suggest that you pick up 'Batman and Robin' as the first issues was a excellent introduction to the new Batman.

Invinvcible Iron Man by Matt Fraction gets pretty good reviews and is a relatively new series by a good writer but I haven't read it myself. I haven't read the X-Men in years but Astonishing X-Men gets good write ups and the initial stories I believe are self contained and all in trade now?

TheEdge · 16 June, 2009, 11:00:53 AM

I just get the Collected graphic novels there are too many comics now to follow stories, and even then the crossovers of GN's is getting bad now.

Emperor · 16 June, 2009, 01:43:02 PM

If you fancy a little sci-fi then Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (DnA) are going strong on Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy (which have just tied into War of Kings). I'd recommend grabbing the trades for Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest where the groundwork was done in bringing the Marvel Cosmic characters back to prominence, you can then quickly catch up with the two series.

Deadpool is also fun and the new series has only recently got going. You can fill in some backstory with trades - I read some criticism of Marvel Deadpool Classc (what you really want is the start of his first eponymous series but the first volume collects two mini-series you could skip and the first issue of the series), however, it looks like Panini's collections are doing it right - with the mini-series in the first volume and the start of his series in the second one (out in July).

You could also pick up Marvel Zombies, Deadpool appears in MZ3 and 4 and there is (weirdly) a second Deadpool series starting soon with the adventures of Deadpool and his own zombie head which first appeared in MZ3.

If you want to get out of the main DC/Marvel Universes and also follow 2000 AD creators then over at Wildstorm DnA and Simon Coleby are working their magic on The Authority and Ian Edginton is on Stormwatch: PHD as part of the post-apocalyptic World's End event. I, and a lot of people, think the Wildstorm Universe lost a lot of momentum with Grant Morrison's stalled Authority and Wildcats series and it is only now (with the help of some droids on loan from Tharg

) that it is getting moving again. You can pretty easily get up to speed here with the Ellis/Millar Authority trade paperbacks and Stormwatch PHD and Welcome to Tranquility are recent, quality, relatively stand-alone series (when the main titles stuttered to a halt it was those two which kept things going, the problem was they weren't part of the core universe0.

Buddy · 16 June, 2009, 02:38:25 PM

Quote from: "Al_Ewing"I'd go with Batman And Robin #1 to start off with - that's the jump-on point, and you really don't need to know anything at all as it's all explained in the dialogue. Basically, Bruce Wayne's believed dead, the old Robin's the new Batman and Batman's son is Robin, only he's a bit of a tearaway. Sorted!

I've found Matt Fraction's Uncanny X-Men very easy to pick up and read without any problems, so I'd recommend that too - it's got a recap page, which helps. Iron Man's a bit more of a difficult beast - I think he's only got the one title at the moment but it's in the middle of quite a complicated storyline.

Batman has a son?

Who, what, where, when??!!

Richmond Clements · 16 June, 2009, 02:49:42 PM

I'm not sure, but I'm assuming it's the one Talia had at the end of this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Son-Demon- ... 0930289250

locustsofdeath! · 16 June, 2009, 07:02:17 PM

As someone above me wrote, I'm not a fan of superheroes at all, so I can't help you there. But DC's reboot/continuation of 'Warlord' is surprisingly good, especially being that I feel most of what those two companies put out is garbage. Dark Horse's 'Conan the Cimmerian' seems to be making up for the mess that 'Conan' was, and the new 'Aliens' miniseries started out pretty nicely.

Emperor · 16 June, 2009, 07:27:19 PM

Quote from: "His Lordship rac"I'm not sure, but I'm assuming it's the one Talia had at the end of this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Son-Demon- ... 0930289250

Indeed. Robin is currently Damian Wayne, although I'm not sure if it has been confirmed 100% (and you don't need a random plot generator to figure out there is the potential for meddling somewhere down the line). Batman's son was originally Ibn al Xu'ffasch but Infinite Crisis allowed Morrison to rework him as Damian. Luckily you probably don't have to worry too much about all this.