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Comic Books

headn00bheadn00b Registered User regular
edited November 2006 in Help / Advice Forum
Lurking on this place has got me interested in comic books, but I have absolutely no idea where to start with them.

Up until today I had reserved myself to reading about comic books through Wikipedia, learning the backgrounds of the superheroes that I'm interested in. Today I went into my local Forbidden Planet with the idea of buying some comics to see how much I would actually enjoy reading them.

Well, there were a lot more than I expected, and I was expecting a lot. I avoided Spiderman entirely because there seemed to be about ten different versions of his comics. I left the store with Civil War #2, Captain America #22 (the Civil War issue) and (shockingly) a Civil War supplement that has a biography of a lot of the superheroes involved.

Reading about Civil War is what made me aware of comic books hence the choices I made.

I haven't read any of them yet (bought them on my lunch break) but I have a feeling I'm not going to have a clue what's going on. Really I was just hoping for some advice on sensible places to start. I'm interested in pretty much the entire Marvel universe, and I'd also like to get back into Batman (watched the Animated Series as a kid and recently rebought it on DVD) and maybe some other DC characters like Green Lantern.

So... any advice?

Your sig was too tall.

-Thinatos
headn00b on

Posts

  • ben0207ben0207 Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Marvel's Ultimate line up would be perfect. Get on Amazon and go crazy - I personally recomend The Ultimates and Ult. X Men, but didn't find much to write home about in Ult. Fantastic Four.

    ben0207 on
  • headn00bheadn00b Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Would I be correct in saying the Ultimate stuff is set in an alternate reality from the main comics?

    On that topic, is Ultimate Alliance set in this Ultimate universe? I ordered it from Play-Asia a few days ago.

    headn00b on
    Your sig was too tall.

    -Thinatos
  • ben0207ben0207 Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Yeah, the Ultimate stuff is set in an alternate universe. It's sort of a modern retelling, if you will. For example, Peter Parker gets bitten by a GM spider, not an irradiated one. Stuff like that.

    Dunno about UA, havn't picked it up yet.

    ben0207 on
  • ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited November 2006
    I would say that if you want to know what's going on in Civil War, the Ultimate comics will not help you. They are supposed to be a re-imagining of the stories, so a lot of the Ultimate characters are different from their regular continuity selfs in ways that could be confusing. For example, the main continuity Collossus is not gay, he's boning Kitty. Which I have to say, isn't a very gay thing to do.

    And Ultimate Alliance is not set in the Ultimates continuity.

    Try to find the Civil War dossier-issue-thingy that got put out at some point. It's basically a collection of Tony Stark's files on all the major players in the registration backlash. Background histories, current standing, predicted responses, and then whether or not Tony thinks he can use them like a damned tool and if not they're a dangerous threat. It's great, I want Iron Man to melt.

    ViolentChemistry on
  • headn00bheadn00b Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    ViolentChemistry wrote:
    Try to find the Civil War dossier-issue-thingy that got put out at some point. It's basically a collection of Tony Stark's files on all the major players in the registration backlash. Background histories, current standing, predicted responses, and then whether or not Tony thinks he can use them like a damned tool and if not they're a dangerous threat. It's great, I want Iron Man to melt.

    I'm pretty sure this is what I've bought :D I figured Civil War was a good way of getting into the Marvel universe since it's a new story and involves pretty much every hero ever.

    Does anyone have some advise on DC Comics? I had a look at the Batman stuff but I was expecting there to just be a Batman comic, when in actual fact there were different ones with different art styles etc...

    headn00b on
    Your sig was too tall.

    -Thinatos
  • ALockslyALocksly Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Have you wandered in to the Gaphic Violence section yet, I seem to recall a similar question asked in there.

    edit: ah, here it is

    ALocksly on
    Yes,... yes, I agree. It's totally unfair that sober you gets into trouble for things that drunk you did.
  • ViolentChemistryViolentChemistry __BANNED USERS regular
    edited November 2006
    headn00b wrote:
    ViolentChemistry wrote:
    Try to find the Civil War dossier-issue-thingy that got put out at some point. It's basically a collection of Tony Stark's files on all the major players in the registration backlash. Background histories, current standing, predicted responses, and then whether or not Tony thinks he can use them like a damned tool and if not they're a dangerous threat. It's great, I want Iron Man to melt.

    I'm pretty sure this is what I've bought :D I figured Civil War was a good way of getting into the Marvel universe since it's a new story and involves pretty much every hero ever.

    Does anyone have some advise on DC Comics? I had a look at the Batman stuff but I was expecting there to just be a Batman comic, when in actual fact there were different ones with different art styles etc...
    As far as DC, oy, I basically just jumped around wiki links starting with the Batman entry and assuming all of them to be only 70% accurate.

    And watched all of JLU.

    ViolentChemistry on
  • Conditional_AxeConditional_Axe Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    With Civil War, I'd get issue #1 if you can, obviously. It sets up everything and is pretty self-contained.

    The best place to start with Batman is going to be just a few issues back, earlier this year. The two 'main' Batman titles are Batman and Detective Comics, and they both relaunched with new creative teams in March, and they've been a good reintroduction to the character.

    My general advice as to getting into comics would be to find a character that you like, and start at the beginning of a story (each issue will probably tell you either on the cover or in the first page or two what part of a multi-part story it is). The story should be accessible to you, and if you have any specific questions, Wiki or any kind of comic message board should be able to help you out.

    The best part of the hobby is learning the universe, and the best way to do that is to just dive in. The more questions you have, the more you'll read. It's a process, especially on the DC side.

    Conditional_Axe on
  • AibynAibyn Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    Cable and Deadpool. Doesnt matter where you start, grab some of the trades or just the single issues. You will not be disappointed.

    Aibyn on
    "Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil...prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon..."

    -- (Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett)
    11737_c4020a74dc025a53.png
  • The CowThe Cow Registered User regular
    edited November 2006
    If you want Batman, there are a lot of very good self contained stories in trade paperback that you can pick up knowing fuck all about the current state of Batman in comics. The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, Tower of Babel, Arkham Asylum, and the Killing Joke are all exceptional.

    As to current releases, pick one series you really want to follow, stick with it for a little bit. It'll be a lot easier to branch out from there. Civil War is probably as good a place as any - there's really no 'easy' time to get into comics because events and relaunches and new things are constantly popping up and overlapping.

    The Cow on
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