Best Marvel stuff to read for someone new to comics?

[Themanofbat]

Picking up singles is arguably the best way to get into comics... sometimes you might be walking in the middle of a story, but if ths tory is good, it should make you want to pick pick up nack issues...

 

[runawayboulder]

Picking up singles is arguably the best way to get into comics... sometimes you might be walking in the middle of a story, but if ths tory is good, it should make you want to pick pick up nack issues...

That's how I did it and it worked out fine. My first comic I ever bought (or my dad ever bought for me ) was Superman #380 in Feb 1983. There were 379 issues before that one but I was still hooked and had no problems finding my way around.

It's all part of the comics experience. As a reader you're a casual observer to a strange new fun world, it's like being an explorer on an adventure. It may sound silly but when I was a kid it was a freaking blast.

You newer readers are so pampered these days with the endless stream of #1's and jumping on point's. It's like having the internet to do your homework.

And back in my day I had to walk 30 miles to school barefoot in the snow.....

 

[Spider - Man]

Spider-Man sucks.

LIke I said, for the sake of completion (of my collection). Not just OMD but Sins of the Past, the Other, etc., Spider stories have sucked the last 10 years. They're slightly better now but it just feels like they're taking a 'let's just try this just to see if it works' attitude and in this case it happens not to suck. Next crap shoot might not be so good. And this seems to be the case with ALL Marvel titles. Marvel won't be happy until every character in the MU is either an Avenger or an X-man. Fail. Titles used to run for hundreds of issues. Now it seems they reboot every couple of years. That is the sign of poor creativity and the 'throw it at the wall and see what sticks' style of crafting stories I referred to earlier. And worse is when they restart at issue #1 and then later go back to the original numbering. So as I said, I'm going back to a time before Joe Q ruined Marvel for me (and I stuck around a lot longer than they deserved to get my money) and relive the glory days of the greatest era of the greatest comic book company.

 

[Spider - Man]

That's how I did it and it worked out fine. My first comic I ever bought (or my dad ever bought for me ) was Superman #380 in Feb 1983. There were 379 issues before that one but I was still hooked and had no problems finding my way around.

It's all part of the comics experience. As a reader you're a casual observer to a strange new fun world, it's like being an explorer on an adventure. It may sound silly but when I was a kid it was a freaking blast.

You newer readers are so pampered these days with the endless stream of #1's and jumping on point's. It's like having the internet to do your homework.

And back in my day I had to walk 30 miles to school barefoot in the snow.....

As if you couldn't tell from my other posts, I would hate to be a new comic book fan just discovering comics for the first time in this day. I don't think they'd be nearly as appealing to me.

I took the bus to school but DID have to walk about a mile and a half to the convenience store to by my weekly comics off the spinning rack!

 

[ShaDynasty]

I like this discussion. To be honest, ive always been mildly interested in comics. i'm 16 now but this interest has been here for years, but i was always turned off by the continuity aspect (not to mention the hundreds of dollars that go into comics); i felt like "just jumping in" would leave me wanting more or feeling that i didnt get the full effect from a story.

 

[Ipodman]

I started reading Spider-Man comics from Bendis' Ult Spider-Man back when the first Spider-Man movies was on... so yeah I got the cool Spidey

 

[jonathancrane]

My advice: pick a trade paperback. Through Amazon and Half Price Books, you can grab a used one for around $4-7. Then, start reading in the direction if you like. Do that and check in on the threads related to the comics, so you can get a feel for what to read. Plus, the price of one is equivalent to that of 2-3 comics, whereas you usually receive on the average 5-7 issues.

 

[El Bastardo]

I like this discussion. To be honest, ive always been mildly interested in comics. i'm 16 now but this interest has been here for years, but i was always turned off by the continuity aspect (not to mention the hundreds of dollars that go into comics); i felt like "just jumping in" would leave me wanting more or feeling that i didnt get the full effect from a story.

Researching is definitely a good idea. There are lots of good suggestions in this thread so far. But if you want to follow a character, then by all means, jump in.

I think the more you read, the more your eyes will open to certain creators vs. certain characters. And then you'll wind up following the writers or artists from book to book, rather than character. But for now? Jump the **** in and get your head all underwater.

 

[Themanofbat]

I didn't have to walk 30 miles uphill both ways, but it was a good 15-20 walk to the store I bought from regularly... then another 15 minutes if it didn't have the books I wanted, and so on and so forth...

 

[runawayboulder]

I first got my comics at a local newsstand/deli when my dad would take me there while getting his beer.

When I really started getting into it my parents would get me a 1 yr subscription for 4 books of my choice every year for my birthday. I would get ASM, Cap, Avengers and X-Men.

After a few years of that, an LCS opened up on my side of town so I started doing the "comic club" thing because you got the free bags and boards for reserving stuff. They also guaranteed your books which was important back during the bubble days of the 90's.

I used to love going to all the different LCS' in my area because back then they all seemed like they were different. Some had arcade games in the store or a specific comic I was looking for.

Fun story, one time I got my old man to drive to a shop over an 1hr away for a copy of ASM #300.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't get this strange terror potential new readers have at picking up an issue and not understanding things. A pretty good percentage of the people I know who read comics just jumped into single issues and figured things out as they went. That was actually half the fun for me--getting a glimpse of this or that character in their corner of the Marvel world, then seeing some other character pop in and learning a bit about them, and so on. Just don't expect to get everything within 1 or 2 issues; give it a few months, read a comic continuously, and you'll get the hang of it.

 

[runawayboulder]

It's the publishers creating this situation with all the relaunches and endless #1's.

 

[ShaDynasty]

I don't get this strange terror potential new readers have at picking up an issue and not understanding things. A pretty good percentage of the people I know who read comics just jumped into single issues and figured things out as they went. That was actually half the fun for me--getting a glimpse of this or that character in their corner of the Marvel world, then seeing some other character pop in and learning a bit about them, and so on. Just don't expect to get everything within 1 or 2 issues; give it a few months, read a comic continuously, and you'll get the hang of it.

That really settles me down. I'll be doing that for ASM then and basically anything else i might want to get into in the future. I'll start with the current Daredevil series seeing as it's only run like 17 issues. But again, thanks for that. That sounds way more appealing than worrying about continuity and crossovers and stuff. Great advice.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

No problem. You can usually enjoy stuff without getting too bogged down in continuity if you don't mind a few references that don't really go anywhere in that particular series. But those references sometimes become interesting things you want to follow up on once you've found your footing in a series or two and get a feel for the universe as a whole.

 

[ShaDynasty]

So I went and picked up ASM #688-693 and while I do have some questions about continuity and history and whatnot, I really am enjoying the No Turning Back arc. I saw the new movie over the summer and that's the depth of my knowledge of Lizard, but I'm three issues into the arc and while I can't really understand Peter's wrath and rageful emotions (I feel like his motivation is being forced at the moment...but then again, I haven't read the story where Silver Sable dies), I REALLY like the whole juxtapostion os Curt Connor's human side versus the Lizard. I'm on the last issue of the arc (I'm trying to take it a little slow) but so far I really like it. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Themanofbat]

Awesome...

A short while back, another person close to Peter Parker had died... JJJ's wife, Marla... and Peter had vowed that nobody will ever die if has anything to say about it... the previous arc to "No Turning Back" was called "Ends of the Earth" (ASM #682-687) where Sable "dies" and Peter has been really upset about it because he feels like he had abandoned her for the greater good (saving the planet).

I'm not sure, but Ends of the Earth might be available in a trade... but any decent comic shop worth it's salt may have those issues...

 

[runawayboulder]

Peter's emotions that you described really stretch back to the Spider-Slayer arc, which was the 2nd of the Big Time era. I don't want to spoil it unless you want me to.....

 

[runawayboulder]

DAMN YOU TMoB!!!!!

You got me by a minute with your post. I could edit it but instead I'll be a big boy and leave it out there as my badge of shame....

 

[OcStat]

Read the last Lizard story "Shed" to see why Peter is kind of on edge with Connors. Something about the Lizard really stood with me when I was a kid and those two stories (Shed and No Turning Back) put him back near the top of my Favorite Spidey villains list. Lately Spider-Man has had an increasingly short fuse, but the guys had a rough few months.

Don't let other peoples opinions influence your purchases to much. People compare everything to their nostalgic favorite story from X years ago. These comic books have been around nearly 50 years, some more, Spidey hit that milestone last month. There is going to be 50 years of these stories to come. Some will be better than others and others will be downright awesome. Time will tell.

 

[misjuevos]

if you wanna try some cosmic stuff, try annihilation. it is a good way to step into the marvel cosmic side. it sort of give you a clean slate continuity wise. you don't really need prior knowledge and it is separate from stuff happening on earth. so you don't need to worry about a broad range of titles to collect.

 

[ShiningLegend]

I've only been reading comics for like a month and the only stuff I've read has been Batman and The Walking Dead. I've always been interested in Spider-Man and I've heard great things about Daredevil.

So, basically, I'm asking what I should read from Marvel. I'm basically interested in it all; Iron Man, Wolverine, X-Men, Avengers, Capt. America, anything goes. Which series are the best and which should i start reading?

And i'm also asking that with any recommendations i get some advice on where to start, like if the current series is new reader friendly or will i have to do some catchup first; im fine with either.

I'm most interested in Spider-Man and Daredevil, so if i could get some extra info on those that'd be great. Thanks!

Just a word of advice; please, please, PLEASE stay away from anything by Joe Quesada. It will destroy any respect for the amazing spider-man. When I was even littler, I began with the oldies (Lee, Ditko-Romita). Grab one of the Essential Spider-man volumes and just enjoy some of the best continuity ever in a comic book series. =P

 

[Spider - Man]

DAMN YOU TMoB!!!!!

You got me by a minute with your post. I could edit it but instead I'll be a big boy and leave it out there as my badge of shame....

Now that is funny!

 

[Spider - Man]

Just a word of advice; please, please, PLEASE stay away from anything by Joe Quesada. It will destroy any respect for the amazing spider-man. When I was even littler, I began with the oldies (Lee, Ditko-Romita). Grab one of the Essential Spider-man volumes and just enjoy some of the best continuity ever in a comic book series. =P

Here's another word to go with 'continuity': cohesiveness. All the MArvel titles jibed with one another. Don't have that anynore.

 

[Twriker]

I'm working through this at the moment https://sites.google.com/site/marvelreadinglists/ just to try and get up to speed. I feel like there's a ton of stuff I'm missing though. And this list is a bit captain America heavy.

Anyone got any suggestions on what I'm missing from here? Plus what to read between Seige and Fear Itself?

 

[runawayboulder]

Looks about right.

From SIEGE to Fear Itself was the Heroic Age relaunches of Avengers, New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Avengers Academy, plus Thor and Iron Man. Take note that during this time Thor becomes Journey into Mystery and The Mighty Thor is launched. Journey into Mystery is pretty key during Fear Itself.