Hey all, I've been thinking about getting into some comic books/graphic novels lately. I'm not really into them as of now, so I was wondering what story arcs or issues I should be buying.
Things/Superheroes I like:
Spiderman
Superman (I liked that version where it takes place in Russia, I think its called Red Son)
Hulk is cool
Marvel stuff
Flash is one of my favorite super heroes
Thanks.
PS: I do not like Japanese style drawing in the slightest.
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Spider-Man
Spider-Man: Blue
Ultimate Spider-Man
Kraven's Last Hunt
Coming Home
Revelations
Superman
Birthright
Secret Identity
Superman For All Seasons
Up, Up, and Away
Hulk
Hulk: Grey
Planet Hulk
World War Hulk (not yet released as a trade paperback)
Marvel Stuff
Marvel Team Up: League of Losers
New Avengers
Captain America (by Ed Brubaker)
Punisher War Journal (by Matt Fraction)
The Immortal Iron Fist
Fantastic Four (by Mark Waid)
New X-Men (by Grant Morrison)
New X-Men: Academy X
Gravity
Flash
Born to Run
The Return of Barry Allen
Terminal Velocity
Dead Heat
Race Against Time
Wonderland
Blood Will Run
The Rogues
Crossfire
Blitz
Ignition
The Secret of Barry Allen
Rogue War
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I also recomend Kingdom Come if you haven't read it. (Note: There was a sequel, of sorts, called "The Kingdom". Don't pick it up.)
Obligatory "Watchmen" vote as well.
It is so heavily involved in DC History that they would be totally lost.
Flash: The Return of Barry Allen is arguably the best Flash story ever. It takes place after the second Flash, Barry Allen, died saving God, the Universe, and everything in the mega-event Crisis on Infinite Earths. His sidekick, Kid Flash, took up the mantle of the Flash but sturggled in the shoes of his mentor and never felt like he was doing as good a job as he needed to.
I'd also highly recommend the first 6 volumes of JLA by Grant Morrison. There's no better introduction to the wider mythos of the DC Universe than those 6 amazing collections. All the big superheroes are in the League, but there's plent of characters most people are unfamiliar with like Oracle, Huntress, and Zauriel. JLA is flat out the biggest, most epic superhero stories ever.
If you like Superman stories, pick up The DC Universe Stories of Alan Moore. Alan Moore wrote two of the absolute greatest Superman stories of all time in "For the Man who has Everything" and "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?". Since me describing how great the stories are would do no good to you, I'll post the introduction from the first page of Whatever Happened:
This is an imaginary story (which may never happen, but then again may) about a perfect man who came from the sky and did only good. It tells of his twilight, when the great battles were over and the great miracles long since performed; of how his enemies conspired against him and of that final war in the snowblind wastes beneath the Northern Lights; of the two women he loved and of the choice he made between them; and how finally all the things he had were taken from him save one. It ends with a wink. It begins in a quiet midwestern town, one summer afternoon in the quiet midwestern future. Away in the big city, people still sometimes glance up hopefully from the sidewalks, glimpsing a distant speck in the sky... but no: it's only a bird, only a plane. Superman died ten years ago. This is an imaginary story...
Aren't they all?
Hulk - Planet Hulk was my favourite Hulk related story in years. It was far from perfect, but still remained highly entertaining for me. Would lead you into World War Hulk, which is finishing up next month.
Spider-Man - Just ignore it until Brand New Day comes in December, which is when Amazing Spider-Man goes 3 times a month. Feel free to pick up Ultimate Spider-Man trades though. That is a great read and has been consistently good since it came out. It's an re-imagining of Spider-Man and features a still-teenagned Peter Parker without the years of continuity and baggage the current titles possess.
Not on your list, but Green Lantern is probably the best comic running these days with the Sinestro Corps War going on. It is easily the best story in years from either Marvel or DC and you can easily jump in with the Sinestro Corps War Special, which started this current storyline.
Also, grab Annihilation and its related titles. It was another space epic that came out of Marvel last year and reinvigorated many of the cosmic characters and set the stage for the upcoming Annihilation: Conquest sequel, which is sure to be just as entertaining.
The second or third FABLES trade (note: not superheroes)
The first TOM STRONG trade
TOP TEN
GOLDEN AGE (Robinson and Smith doing the JSA - I'm not sure if it's collected in a trade or not)
The first few HELLBOY trades
All of the ASTRO CITY trades
Planet Hulk HC is an easy pick
Kingdom Come
Watchmen
All-Star Superman
If you ignore the sure to be horrible art.
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Thor is a great comic, because Thor himself is great, and it just got a relaunch so now is a good time to start reading
New Frontier is a great graphic novel, though I guess it's pretty steeped in DC history
All-Star Superman is a great comic because it is funny as all get out
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Maybe that's not the sort of comic you're looking for, but I have yet to find anyone that doesn't like it.
It's basically (to start) a non-angsty spiderman, about what it would be like to be superman's son and come into your own powers. It does about a dozen issues of this really great light hearted, reveling in being fun, thing and then it goes of on some insane twists while getting continually better. The last few issues have been a bit weaker, but that's because we're in the set up for the big brew ha ha around issue 50.
The thing I'll say is do NOT read the wiki about the book or look at reviews of later issues, because there are some huge spoilers that it's really better to read the story and get than have be a one or two sentence background throw away.
I could not recommend this any more. Get the hardcover though since they are full size. For whatever reason Marvel is stupid and only had the trades in those small digests
Ultimate Spiderman is pretty awesome too.
Read X-Statix!
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also since I don't know your age i'm still making the suggestions barry ween boy genuis, think calvin and hoobes on PCP...Transmetropolitain, think futuristic hunter s thompson...The Sandman, great writing about the king of dreams and his adventures cover some DC history but also a lot of great fiction but with slight twists.
and ones to second or third from the above lists
Ultimate Spider-Man
Secret Identity
Superman For All Seasons
Planet Hulk
The Spirit
FABLES
The first few HELLBOY trades
All of the ASTRO CITY trades
enjoy nearly all the suggestions on here so far are great, theres even some i havent read.
Yes, because X-Statix is a cool book, but like half the shit in this thread, pretty much completely the opposite of something I'd recommend for a newbie.
Reading is hard.
Just joking, but seriously, read the OP.
My ex-girlfriend liked it, despite it being only the fifth or so comic book she'd ever read.