DC Relaunching Everything? - Part 2

[TheCorpulent1]

I want to get into Marvel but the continuity is killing me. Its massive and everyone has been in 10 different Avengers, F4, Secret Avengers, Dark Avengers teams, not to mention the various Astonishing, marvellous, awesome, cool, badass, impressive X-men books, and god knows what else.

Also, Marvel feels so much more grounded and every superhero has so many problems and issues and everything happens in New York...

OK enough with the rant, seriously now the continuity is killing me.

But that's silly. You don't need to know absolutely everything about every character's backstory to enjoy a comic. Just pick an issue and start reading; any questions can usually be handled by Wikipedia, internet searches, or asking about it in the questions threads here on the Hype. Hell, the first part of Grant Morrison's Bat-epic was him trying to reconcile absolutely everything about Batman's backstory, and you still didn't need to know every bit of the backstory already to enjoy it. Why would it be any different for Marvel's comics?

 

[The Morningstar]

The excuse about continuity stopping you from getting into the comics is absurd.

Why do you need to know every bit of history to get into a book? Just pick up a book, if you like it, carry on reading it.

Hickman's F4 for example. The F4 have been around for decades, but I picked up Hickman's first issue after not reading the F4 for years. It was easy to read.

The idea that continuity and history is a hinderance is ****ing ridiculous to be honest. It can be a hinderance, in the hands of a ****** writer. But it can also either be not mentioned or it can be used as a tool to craft great stories.

A recent great example of that is Rick Remender's Uncanny X-Force. It's a great standalone series. But every now and then it has a call back to some history, with The World which Grant Morrison introduced in New X-Men for example. But it doesn't require the reader to have knowledge of Morrison's comic. It just uses what came before as a tool to craft the new story. That's continuity at it's best.

 

[Mystirious]

You don't need to know absolutely everything about every character's backstory to enjoy a comic. Just pick an issue and start reading; any questions can usually be handled by Wikipedia, internet searches, or asking about it in the questions threads here on the Hype.

I agree with this

 

[roach]

The excuse about continuity stopping you from getting into the comics is absurd.

Why do you need to know every bit of history to get into a book? Just pick up a book, if you like it, carry on reading it.

Hickman's F4 for example. The F4 have been around for decades, but I picked up Hickman's first issue after not reading the F4 for years. It was easy to read.

The idea that continuity and history is a hinderance is ****ing ridiculous to be honest. It can be a hinderance, in the hands of a ****** writer. But it can also either be not mentioned or it can be used as a tool to craft great stories.

it maybe ridiculous to me or you but I honestly know people who want to get into comics but dont know where to start. We have these websites but its not common knowledge. Does the average person know there are comic related articles in Wikipedia?
I would probably agree with you guys if I didnt know people who actually came out and said they'd like to get into comics but dont know where to start.

 

[Mystirious]

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/dcnu-jt-krul-captain-atom-110616.html

JT Krul ties to plug Captain Atom over at Newsarama.

Sounds kind of interesting but I wasn't a big fan of what I read of Krul's Green Arrow or Teen Titans and this is sounding like it could just be Doctor Manhattan-lite.

As long as no one taffy's a cat in this comic book i might buy it

Wasp has been all kinds of awesome on Avengers: EMH. Let's hope she's even more awesome in season 2!

There will be more zapping in season two

 

[TheCorpulent1]

If I knew people like that personally, I'd probably either get them a trade paperback or just tell them to start reading something and let me know if they have any questions. We all know a s***load about comics, Marvel or otherwise, so I consider other comic fans to be resources as much as any website.

 

[Anubis]

My cousin was complaining about having blue poo. I Googled it, found out it was because she was drinking too much of this blue Gatorade.

If I can find out the cause of blue poop, then I can find out the history of f**king Captain America. No excuse ya lazy *****e bags.

 

[Mystirious]

t:

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Nubs puts it all in perspective in one fell poop.

 

[Kurosawa]

I want to get into Marvel but the continuity is killing me. Its massive and everyone has been in 10 different Avengers, F4, Secret Avengers, Dark Avengers teams, not to mention the various Astonishing, marvellous, awesome, cool, badass, impressive X-men books, and god knows what else.

Also, Marvel feels so much more grounded and every superhero has so many problems and issues and everything happens in New York...

OK enough with the rant, seriously now the continuity is killing me.

The continuity isn't really the problem getting into any new comic, it's more a case of how series are written nowadays. Everything is so padded for the TPB format that it's like trying to watch Lost when you've never seen it. Both companies need shorter arcs and some single issue stories. Then when there is a long, epic storyline, it will actually feel epic because every arc doesn't take 6-8 issues to complete.

Continuity doesn't keep me away from Marvel, I just don't care for their main writer (Bendis) much and my budget is limited.

I mostly got out of Marvel when they did their version of this current stunt with Heroes Reborn and I no longer felt obligations to buy titles like Avengers, FF, Thor, etc.

Another thing of note: Detective 900 would be pretty close-the last issue of the original series is slated to be 881 I believe. So they might start renumbering sooner than expected.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't care for Bendis either, but I still buy plenty of Marvel comics. More than DC, in fact.

 

[Mr. Earle]

But that's silly. You don't need to know absolutely everything about every character's backstory to enjoy a comic. Just pick an issue and start reading; any questions can usually be handled by Wikipedia, internet searches, or asking about it in the questions threads here on the Hype. Hell, the first part of Grant Morrison's Bat-epic was him trying to reconcile absolutely everything about Batman's backstory, and you still didn't need to know every bit of the backstory already to enjoy it. Why would it be any different for Marvel's comics?

I was saying the same thing about DC but now that i'm trying to get into Marvel it looks a bit daunting.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I always go through phases where I dont get any marvel at all but then jump back into getting x-men, avengers ____ and whatever else I find interesting.

 

[X Knight]

these days, I get most of my comic book knowledge from the internet.

if I want to check up on a character or story, I'll just google it and read about it in the wikis...........lol

 

[Justkidding]

I can understand continuity being a draw for some and a hinderence for others. But the real issue is the cost.

I have friends I drag to the comic shop with me during our usual adventures around town and they seem some books that interest them. I do my best to explain them and when I tell them about long running series their eyes glaze over and they get confused by events, and tie-ins, and where to start and something they might miss that they'd have to get a one-shot stroy to understand. So, then they have me tell them stories that have an ending.

So, indie books, and vertigo is where I take them. I tell them this book is only 10 vols long, or 1 vol. And they get excited especially when they see names they know like Neil Gaimen. But then they pick it up and see 2.99, or $20. And thy put it back on the shelf and turn and say, "Yeah, I'm going to go next door to the game shop. I might pick up this game I wanted used. I might download this series later or check it out at the library or reada at the book store one day."

That's what DC should be trying to do. Not toss 52 books out at random. But find a way to make people want to spend ungodly amount of money on it instead of buying something longer lasting and cheaper.

 

[Anubis]

I was saying the same thing about DC but now that i'm trying to get into Marvel it looks a bit daunting.

Tell me what it is you wanna know.

 

[Mr. Earle]

I dont know. I can google about the events and characters and find out about them. What's troubling me is all these superhero teams that exist and reform every few years and how they affect the characters, how they interact with each other, etc.

I mean i like Spiderman but he's been everywhere, hasnt he?

So its not that i'm missing details that dont allow me to read the story, its that... i dont know how the universe works, unlike DC where i feel at home. I guess its a feeling of unfamiliarity and not an actual problem at understanding the plots.

 

[Pyro Man]

Both companies need shorter arcs and some single issue stories..

This is something that's needed to happen for quite some time. I'm tired of every arc having to be six issues or more. You don't need to have a bunch of long arcs in a row to tell a big story.

I personally think most books would benefit from the structure of Morrison's run on Batman and Robin: short, fun, nonetheless well written 3 issue arcs that flow into eachother and build on eachother but (other than perhaps his last arc on B&R) can be read independent of eachother and be enjoyed thoroughly by old and new readers alike.

I think that sort of formula, with 1 issue interludes here and there, should be adopted by more books.

I was saying the same thing about DC but now that i'm trying to get into Marvel it looks a bit daunting.

I've always been able to follow most of what either company puts out but to this day I can't jump into the main X-Men titles and I've had a few false starts in that regard. There's so many teams and characters that I don't know where to start. As you mentioned there's just too many damned titles to keep straight and I see so many opinions floating around as to which are bad and which are good. It doesn't help that it feels like the X-men have enough events and continuity to have a universe all their own.

 

[Anubis]

It's no different than Batman having been on a hundred different teams, and teamed up with just about everybody.

Look, if you just don't like Marvel, then say so. Cuz the two universes work pretty much exactly the same. Retcon after retcon. Teams everywhere. People liking this guy one day, hating their guts the next. Bad guys turned good guys turned bad guys. If you can understand DC then you can understand Marvel.

 

[Targaryen]

I'm absolutely pissed thet they're seemingly canning Secret Six! It's been the most consistently great title of any publisher in the past couple years. Add into that the amount of filler that's going to get cancelled in the first 6-12 months and I'm not really sure just how many drugs the brains at DC have been smoking.

On a brighter note though, I'm looking forward to Green arrow, Savage Hawkman and a few other titles. I'll still be starting out with a pretty bad taste in my mouth though.

 

[fifthfiend]

I was saying the same thing about DC but now that i'm trying to get into Marvel it looks a bit daunting.

I dont know. I can google about the events and characters and find out about them. What's troubling me is all these superhero teams that exist and reform every few years and how they affect the characters, how they interact with each other, etc.

I mean i like Spiderman but he's been everywhere, hasnt he?

So its not that i'm missing details that dont allow me to read the story, its that... i dont know how the universe works, unlike DC where i feel at home. I guess its a feeling of unfamiliarity and not an actual problem at understanding the plots.

Buy a comic.

Read it.

Repeat.

 

[Anubis]

It's not that difficult.

 

[Mr. Earle]

It's no different than Batman having been on a hundred different teams, and teamed up with just about everybody.

Look, if you just don't like Marvel, then say so. Cuz the two universes work pretty much exactly the same. Retcon after retcon. Teams everywhere. People liking this guy one day, hating their guts the next. Bad guys turned good guys turned bad guys. If you can understand DC then you can understand Marvel.

Buy a comic.

Read it.

Repeat.

It's not that difficult.

I guess you guys are right. I just need to get over it and just get in there. Thanks a lot!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Buy a comic.

Read it.

Repeat.

I want to make posters of that and put them up at movie theaters during big comic movie openings.

 

[Motown Marvel]

It's not that difficult.

sumtimez reeding iz diffykult.