New to DC. Where to start?

[webhead921]

Hello!

I mostly read marvel and have read very little DC. I've read Batman Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Long Halloween, Dark Victory, and DC Universe Stories of Alan Moore. I was wondering if there were any trade paperbacks you guys would recommend, or series to start on. I kind of want to get into Green Lantern, just because a lot of people I know like it and I want to see what it's all about. I know basically nothing about him, and I've been told it's not a good series to just jump right into. I'm also interested in Superman, but I've only read the stuff in the Alan Moore book, and seen Superman, S2 (theatrical), and Superman returns.

Thanks!

 

[Mee]

Hmm...

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
Superman: For Tomorrow
Justice
Batman: Hush
Kingdom Come

 

[Colossal Spoons]

GL and GL:Corps

 

[/Co/mrade]

All Star Batman

 

[WompuM]

If you want a crash course of GL, here's what you're going to need.

Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn (Hal Jordan's origin)
GL: Emerald Dawn II (Sinestro's Origin)
The Death of Superman
The Return of Superman
GL: Emeral Twilight (Origin of Kyle Rayner)
The Final Night (optional but fantastic, read this rather than Zero Hour)
Green Arrow: Quiver (return of Oliver Queen)
Identity Crisis (a great DCU-wide story)
Green Lantern: Rebirth
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War

This should cover just about everything you would need to catch up for GL and most of the DCU as a whole.

 

[Andy C.]

Getting a good Superman origin story is gonna be a bit tricky, since DC has retconned it over and over, and everyone has their own picks for which one they like best, but the best two for my money are Birthright by Mark Waid and Superman for All Seasons by Jeph Loeb.

A few other good \S/ books:

Superman: Man of Steel (not my cup of tea, but it's the first post-Crisis origin they did)
For Tomorrow (a really dark turn for a Superman story, and features a classic villain)
Emperor Joker (ever want to see what would happen if the Joker had god-powers?)
Sacrifice (a tie-in to Infinite Crisis, features a great throwdown between Supes and Wonder Woman)
Up, up, and Away! (the follow-up to IC, features a ton of lesser villains and has Luthor return to the old-school mad scientist Lex. A lot of folks hate this one, but I like it)

And the next couple aren't in the DC continuity

All-Star Superman (a lot of pure, unbridled Silver Age insanity. Tons of fun)
Red Son (Kal-El's spaceship doesn't land in Smallville, but in the Soviet Union)
Kingdom Come (hands down, my favorite comic of all time)

 

[hemeanswell]

It depends really. If you want to get caught up on the DCU as a whole I would read the following considering Final Crisis is coming up...

Crisis on Infinite Earths (this was the first thing I read after breaking myself of being a Marvel elite)
Identity Crisis (one of the best trade's I've ever read)
Infinite Crisis
the 52 trades (not nessecarily essential but I liked it a lot)

Final Crisis is coming up and it's the "Final" Crisis that will be related to Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis.

If you're looking for good stories I would read most of what was previously posted but I love the following:

Animal Man (Grant Morrison's run from the 80's)
Sinestro Corp Wars (I'm not sure if it's out yet but it's good and will make more sense after Infinite Crisis and Crisis on Infinite Earths)
Any Green Lantern/GLCorps trade. There usually worth reading.

Hope this helps!!

 

[Sakuraba]

It depends really. If you want to get caught up on the DCU as a whole I would read the following considering Final Crisis is coming up...

Crisis on Infinite Earths

I don't think this guy is ready for COIE. He would be completely lost. Also, I believe Final Crisis will stand on its own.

 

[Cosmic]

Jump on to Action Comics with the next issue, #864. If you like Superman, you're probably going to love what they're doing with him. It's very high quality work. The art is exquisite, the writing is top-notch, and the characterization is as good as I've seen in any comic. Also, I strongly recommend going back at least 6 issues and reading the arc involving the Legion.

 

[hemeanswell]

I don't think this guy is ready for COIE. He would be completely lost. Also, I believe Final Crisis will stand on its own.

Point taken...I just meant if he wanted to get where he understood "most" of what's going on in DCU that would be a good place to start but I agree that starting with something like Identity Crisis or Kingdome Come would get you into the characters as a team more than anything.

 

[webhead921]

So I should start with Identity Crisis, Justice, or Kingdom Come before getting into Crisis of Infinite Earths? I really want to read crisis. I read about it on wikipedia and was asking my comic shop about it, and it sounds really interesting.

 

[DoomJester]

Don't worry about Crisis on Infinite Earths. It is old and reads that way. It isn't bad though. Infinite Crisis is a good book though. Justice and Kingdom Come are not in continuity. Justice is a lot of fun, Kingdom Come is an amazing book. I read a lot of Batman, but don't think that you will find the book that will give you "the pulse" of the universe. There is no backbone book. If you want to get into GL, well then, I'm sure other people on the board can help you more than I can. I enjoy Batman so I kinda just stick to him. Though I am picking up the Johns/Frank run of Action Comics. But I buy DC on a very temporary basis...

 

[hemeanswell]

So I should start with Identity Crisis, Justice, or Kingdom Come before getting into Crisis of Infinite Earths? I really want to read crisis. I read about it on wikipedia and was asking my comic shop about it, and it sounds really interesting.

Read Identity Crisis first then Kingdom Come. Those helped me really start identifying with the characters.

Next I would go to Infinite Crisis.

Batman: Hush is really good too.

 

[gildea]

I tend to find the DC stories I enjoy most are the out of continuity ones:
For superman I recommend
Superman : Secret Identity (can't recommend enough)
Superman : Red Son
All Star Superman (pick up the trade that will be released no doubt sometime next year)

For DC in general:
DC: The new Frontier (again can't recomment enough)
Justice


If you're happy to move away from superhero stuff I'd check out the vertigo imprint for:
Preacher
100 Bullets
Transmetropolitan

Unless you want to get into heavy continuity i'd avoid anything marked "crisis" (unless it has "identity" in the title)

 

[Sakuraba]

Don't worry about Crisis on Infinite Earths. It is old and reads that way. It isn't bad though. Infinite Crisis is a good book though. Justice and Kingdom Come are not in continuity. Justice is a lot of fun, Kingdom Come is an amazing book. I read a lot of Batman, but don't think that you will find the book that will give you "the pulse" of the universe. There is no backbone book. If you want to get into GL, well then, I'm sure other people on the board can help you more than I can. I enjoy Batman so I kinda just stick to him. Though I am picking up the Johns/Frank run of Action Comics. But I buy DC on a very temporary basis...

KC is in continuity. See Earth-22.

 

[Sakuraba]

So I should start with Identity Crisis, Justice, or Kingdom Come before getting into Crisis of Infinite Earths? I really want to read crisis. I read about it on wikipedia and was asking my comic shop about it, and it sounds really interesting.

If you can, get some of the Crisis on Multiple Earths tpbs, be sure to read up on wikipedia about the original multiverse, then read COIE. COIE has to be read before Infinite Crisis. Otherwise, you're not going to understand the most important characters in IC.

Remember:
1. Crisis on Multiple Earths (or just read thoroughly about the original multiverse on wikipedia.)
2. COIE
3. The build up to Infinite Crisis. This includes a ton of stuff but it's worth it. I'll see if I can find a resource for you.
4. Infinite Crisis.

EDIT. Okay, this is a great resource that will cover the gist of what you need.

http://www.crisis2crisis.com/

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Didn't Crisis on Multiple Earths come after CoIE?

 

[yenaled]

Crisis on Multiple Earths are TPB collections of the team-ups before COIE.

Personally, I think Identity Crisis is a great starting place.

I'd say read some Morrison JLA, 52, Waid and John's Flash, some Marz Green Lantern, Robinson's Starman, Johns JSA, Morissons Seven Soldiers of Victory (which apparently will play more into Final Crisis than Countdown does), Gotham Central, Blue Beetle, Checkmate, JLA Year One.

Get to know your characters in the DCU before jumping into Multiple world events.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Bah.

 

[yenaled]

BTW, you should read Starman also.

The HC's are being released get on that.

 

[Go God Go!]

Get whatever strikes your interest.

Sure, you'll have no idea whats going on at first, but that's part of the fun.

 

[Anubis]

BTW, you should read Starman also.

The HC's are being released get on that.

All of you should, especially you Corp.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Get off my back already, Shore!

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Starman FTW

 

[webhead921]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Just read Green Arrow: Quiver. I enjoyed it very much, but I don't think I'm going to be that big of a fan of Green Arrow. I want to read some Crisis on Multiple Earths next. Thanks for all the suggestions!