Comics How do i get into comics? Genuine question

[GuyZero32k4]

 

[happymasksalesman happymasksalesman]

*try to breath*
Why it so long? It take a minute to reach end.
Anyway comic books from favorite games,movie or anime is good to start. As you like them you would read them whole and then judge them( I read 100 hundred of comic book made for majora's mask in one day)
Start from small comics and then go for biggers.
I like Ultron from(*try to remember name*) that one have ant man. It's a long story with a lot of goods. But not good to start. Some comics never end and some end very fast,try balanced one(sorry I read more manga and game's side story or comics more than dc or marvel)
I hope it help.

 

[OkinawaPolice]

Okay I can work with that, without knowing what kind of stories youre into I can recommend some solid Marvel books. If you want to check out something that has a little bit of everything, maybe pick up The Ultimates which is a current run with Marvel where evil multiverse Reed Richards rewrites the events of a new world/universe and manipulates everyone/everything. Pick up some Spider-Verse event books maybe, and the ongoing Spider-Man books are always a fun ride. Also if you want to check out some solid events that have set up the current universe from years ago, Secret Wars was epic by Hickman. If you're into Marvel be careful, they make a LOT of #1 issues so they try to get people sucked into their books, but whatever you gravitate towards on the new issues rack at your local comic shop definitely check some random books out.

DC is my personal favourite, and at the moment the stories to really check out would be any of the Absolute books like Absolute Batman, Absolute Superman, Absolute Wonder Woman. If you want to follow the events that lead to the current books I recommend picking up Forever Evil, Darkseid War, The Multiversity, Three Jokers, DC's Metal, and Doomsday Clock. These events/books all lead into each other which brings you up to the current books and multiverse.

Image can also outdo most Marvel and DC books any given day. These books can WILDY range in tone and content. Some easy recommendations are Black Science, East of West, Tokyo Ghost, Saga, Seven To Eternity, I Hate Fairlyland (Fuck Fairyland), 8 Billion Genies.... etc. the range of epic books go on. More current books to check out would be Rook: Exodus, Bug Wars, and whatever may catch your eye on the new comics rack at your local comic shop.

Special Suggestions: Valiant Comics are a little underrated, check that publisher out for some wicked books. Bloodshot, Ninja-k, Rai, Harbinger, Faith, Secret Weapons, Shadowman, Punk Mambo, sooooo many great books to discover and see what might be your kind of story. The universe is super cohesive moreso than DC or Marvel in my opinion. Check these all out and let me know what you think! :)

for now i going to say Spiderman, X-men and the Fantastic Four are the ones i have memories of their videogames or their early movies, i have not seen the MCU but i will say the multiverse stuff sounds interesting to me soo i am down to check it out. And yeah event continuity is great but scares me because there is too much xD

 

[werewolfx]

Any comic fans want to recommend me good comics to start reading. I mainly interested in Marvel stuff but DC and others are good suggestions too. Is there a site or other resource you use to read comics online ??

Punisher MAX, maximum carnage, old man logan.

 

[Yousef]

Any comic fans want to recommend me good comics to start reading. I mainly interested in Marvel stuff but DC and others are good suggestions too. Is there a site or other resource you use to read comics online ??

By suffering.

 

[Cuestionador]

My first comic book was the Dark Knight Returns Volume I published by Editorial Vid, and to this day is a comic that i re-read once a year. Try standalone stories: one shots and miniseries are a very good entry-point to larger characters and concepts. I enjoying reading Condorito as a child, and i remember an horror anthology published in Chile called Doctor Mortis. Here's in Argentina, there was a boom of comics in the 40's and 50's with publications like Hora Cero (home of El Eternauta) and many humor publications like Rico Tipo (if you know artists like Shane Glines and Bruce Timm, their style is very influenced by the style of Guillermo Divito's and his way of drawing women's).

Anyway, here's some recommendations:

DC/MARVEL

Batman: Year One

The post-crisis retold of the origin of Batman, by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli, a classic who stood the test of time and a first step in a resurgence of the noir genre in the mainstream comic books of United States.

Batman: The Sword of Azrael

Batman goes beyond Gotham City to stop a new vigilante with flame swords called Azrael (there's some Da Vinci Code mumbo jumbo in this one, with templars and things like that). This comic embodies some of the excess of the nineties (Azrael is a sort of Spawn in reverse), but with a touch of sophistication. Dennis O'Neil (one of my favourite comic writers, thanks to The Question), Joe Quesada and Kevin Nowlan are a perfect match.

Superman: The Man of Steel

Classic revamp of the character for the post-crisis version done by John Byrne, one of the most prolific authors of the 80's. The modern versions of Lex Luthor and Lois Lane starts here, followed by an excellent run in the Superman and Action Comics titles, with Byrne and other authors like Marv Wolfman, Jerry Ordway, etc.

Punisher: Circle of Blood + Return to Big Nothing

The team of Steven Grant and Mike Zeck are a perfect match, and this first volume of the Punisher is a classic reccomendation if you want to begin reading the character (besides modern runs like the Ennis one). Followed by a regular series with excellent moments until the number 50. I still have the issue 75 (with a Simon Bisley back-up), one of the first comics i ever read and the first comic who i tried to read in another languaje as a teen.

Punisher: Assassin's Guild + Punisher Kingdom Gone

Two Marvel Graphic Novels, Zaffino is the artist of both. The first is written by Mary Jo Duffy (the first woman writing Frank Castle) and the second is by Chuck Dixon, both are two Punisher Comics who i re-read every year (i only have the first in physical form).

INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS

Winterworld

Published by Eclipse Comics, an history of survival in a post-apocalyptic world. One of Zaffino's best works.

Seven Block

An one-shot by Dixon and Zaffino published by Epic and Dynamite, an horror story with a sinister and macabre mood on every panel, it gives me the chills.
Mister X

Published originally by Vortex: the protagonist is Santos, an architect who can't sleep, trapped in a city full of insane people. The influence of this comic is notorius in things like Batman: The Animated Series (one of his artists -Paul Rivoche- did backgrounds for Batman Beyond, Justice League and many DC Animated Series) and the movie Dark City. Dean Motter is the writer and sometimes the artist, with collaborations by the Hernandez Bros, Bill Sienkiewicz, Seth and others. It's a great comic, full of up's and downs, but i enjoy it (especially in his most weird moments, like the Milligan Special Mister Insect). I suggest the two miniseries of Terminal City by Motter and Michael Lark as a follow-up.

 

[Cuestionador]

Read the Punisher books, those are always fun

I'm actually reading the Second Essential Punisher, it's a blast. Mike Baron and Klaus Janson are a perfect match, i'm going the receive the next Essential in this month.

 

[Jimbo_McDumbo]

Honestly, just read what you want. What movies, games, and tv shows do you like? When it comes to cape-shit, don't stick with a character longer than you have to. I love Spider-Man, but I will never spend one cent on the mainline Amazing line, now I only read creative teams I like.

Feel free to go online, to the clearance racks, or to your local library. Comics don't have to be expensive. Feel free to explore outside of the big two, try international comics too. Not just manga or manhwa, but European comics.

Don't sweat it too much and just have fun, 'Nuff Said.

 

[Devin8or]

V For Vendetta and Watchmen are both good one-shots that are accessible. Both worked on by Alan Moore.

Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run is also really good.

Beyond Moore's stuff, I really liked Neil Gaiman's standalone Sandman series, but I know he's pretty hated these days for obvious reasons.

I can't help you if you want the standard capes. I never really got into those.

Whatever you decide to do, save yourself the trouble and get trades instead of single issues, unless you're really into collecting.

 

[χKai]

I recommend Transmetropolitan because Spider Jerusalem is a really relatable main character.

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I also recommend this

Wasteland (comics) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

This one is also a favorite.

Preacher (comics) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

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I'd argue that nowadays even mangas are suffering from that like with prequels, sequels, spinoffs, interquels, story arcs because if you start from the middle of one you can easily get confused.

 

[Cuestionador]

Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run is also really good.

It was one of my first full comic-book run's i ever read, it's a classic and in some ways is a laboratory of many ideas and themes who are present in the rest of Moore career's. I hope Swampy will get a good adaptation on cinema someday.

 

[Segadude113]

Marvel Epic Collection - X-Men Volume 19-23 ect. (starting with the Jim Lee era)
#19 - Mutant Genesis
#20 - Bishop's Crossing
#21 - The X-Cutioner's Song
#22 - Legacies
#23 - Fatal Attractions

If you want a literal comic adaptation of X-Men The Animated Series, there's X-Men Adventures. There's also the Japanese take on it called X-Men The Manga. Both series are in 2 volumes each.

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The thing about classic X-Men comics is there's the first 66 issues (that was the original comic run) and then issue 67-93 were just reprinted stories from older issues to stall for time until Giant Size X-Men #1 released and gave the series a new direction by adding new characters like Storm, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler. Then it continued after that from issue 94 onward throughout the 1970s and 1980s. This series was then known as Uncanny X-Men. Meanwhile adjectiveless X-Men wouldn't start until 1990 with Jim Lee's and Chris Claremont's X-Men #1, the issue that once again rebooted interest in the series. X-Men then ran alongside Uncanny X-Men. X-Men (1990) was the inspiration for the animated series in 1992. Jim Lee left the comic early on to form Image Comics with his fellow frustrated artists like Rob Liefeld. Rob was responsible for Cable, Deadpool, X-Force, New Mutants, ect. JIm Lee created guys like Omega Red and Bishop. Shame that Marvel let them go. They redefined X-Men the same way the 1970s did.

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That was the 1990s in comics for me, it felt like they were starting to take the stories more seriously like manga arcs. Then it all fell apart in the late 90s and Marvel went bankrupt. Meanwhile Shonen Jump was pumping out hit after hit, year after year. Then the next decade they brought them over to the US.

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Thankfully Spider-Man didn't have the same problems as X-Men did. You can start with Amazing Spider-Man #1 and keep reading all the way to the 90s. Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man started after that and had a strong start but he also left Marvel and it was passed to better writers. Venom was good too. Spectacular Spider-Man was alright. There's a few good short stories here n there. But the first 20 issues of Amazing Spider-Man introduce all the best Spider-Man villains. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko were on fire back then!

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Silver Surfer was better in his second series than his first. The first one is your run of the mill early Marvel fare. Every issue had a random new villain but they were on Earth so it could have been anyone in the same role saving the day. There's still the pathos with Surfer, but it's nothing like the second series! The second series is when Surfer finally leaves Earth and runs into other cosmic entities and major Marvel characters from Guardians of The Galaxy, Thor, ect. That was the series that ran in the 80s. It's so much better. Surfer even goes back to his old homeworld and finds out Mephisto screwed it all up.

 

[Airvanz_Steam_Deck]

hmm.. Comic eh i never really care about it, i mostly i remember i read a lot of Disney Comics, Donald Duck,Mickey and other, Popeye The Sailor man and The Adventure of Tin tin then mostly local Comic and Manga.

Now a days i have unhealthy amount of Obsession with Dont Starve and Together i mostly love The art style

and Darkest Dungeon Love The Art Style too

 

[Segadude113]

Calvin and Hobbes, Peanuts, and Garfield are all pretty great up to the 1990s.

 

[Bluewyne]

I'd start with some Trade Paperbacks or Omnibuses based on characters that you like. They're usually self-contained story arcs.

If you're reading from an app, start with maybe a series that was released in 2025 or 2024. Marvel characters have decades of backstory, but not everything is worth reading, so just stick to the new stuff. DC is a little big easier, because every 5-10 years or so they reboot the universe, giving an easy jumping-on point.