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Marvel comics

Hưng July 26, 2022

https://www.reddit.com/r/Marvel/wiki/faq/

 Introduction to Comics

How to Get Into Comic Books (13:40) | Patrick Willems

Consider your intent/commitment. Think about your favorite shows, movies, books, etc. Do you seek quality storytelling or encyclopedic Marvel knowledge? Plan to collect? How deep are you willing to dive?

Don’t try to read everything at once. There’s too much. Forget about catching up, continuity, universes, and timelines. Older comics can be an acquired taste for modern audiences, so 1st appearances/early origins may not be ideal starting points. Creative teams change often, characters get re-worked, and origins are re-told. Remember, there are many other great characters, creators, publishers, and genres to explore.

Pick an interesting character/team and seek their best stories. Don’t get stuck preparing to read. Focus on acclaimed, self-contained, and complete stories. You may encounter an unexplained reference/character/event—just ride along or Wiki.

Events/crossovers can be fun and/or tedious. They are most appreciated by readers well-versed in relevant continuity. Sometimes, company-wide stories interrupt smaller stories and your favorite characters' personalities change briefly. Regardless, you may want to familiarize with major plot points.

Discover your preferences and let them guide you. Do you like: old/new comics? Specific genres? Specific writers? Cartoony/realistic art? Familiar/weird concepts? References/self-contained? All-ages/mature content? Follow these instincts.

Acquiring comics:

Recommendations
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In general, any comic can be read at any time. It's up to you to decide how much context you need for a story to feel "complete". Event comics usually have a main series (e.g. Secret Wars #1-9, Siege #1-6, Civil War #1-7, etc.) that can be read by itself, and a bunch of tie-in issues from other series that you can read if you're interested in what that particular character/team was doing at the time. If you want a more structured reading order, then you'll have to Google each event case-by-case to see what fans consider the "must read" issues vs. "optional".

I personally recommend readers get to events whenever they're interested, often after encountering a reference in a comic they're currently reading. For example, when you're reading Brubaker's Captain America, and then... someone dies... it's because of an event comic that was taking place during that time (Civil War). You have the option to (1) put down Brubaker's run and read Civil War (and maybe any Captain America -related tie-ins) or (2) just keep reading the cap run and maybe google what happened if it isn't recapped for you. Reading comics and choosing your next reads should be this organic/automatic once you're deep into them and actually reading constantly.

Many "how to read" questions could/should be self-answered by your own preferences/experiences. Should you have more understanding of relevant background/lore before reading? I don't know, should you? The comics don't really require it, but that's not some objective statement either. Usually they benefit readers more who are well-versed in the characters/events they're referencing, but that doesn't mean the uninitiated can't enjoy them. There also isn't some master list of all the references/interconnections any given comic has to others.

Prepping to read comics is, IMO, overcomplicating reading and putting the cart before the horse—just read them first, decide if you liked/disliked them, then apply that knowledge to other reading. I promise you these stories aren't high art Shakespeare that you're missing out on if you don't read them "the right way" if at all. Try to adopt a casual/flexible attitude to reading, and if you can't then find your preferred reading order website and stick to it like a checklist (that you hopefully learn how to filter further).

Try reading any event comic and see if you liked the just main series or if you wanted a "fuller" story with tie-ins/crossovers. Did you feel like you understood what happened? Was there stuff missing? Could that stuff have been researched at a ComicBookHerald -type site with a reading order suggesting prior reading? Did reading those issues solve your problems? It's all about trying/discovery/learning and pretty easy to do on your own (but always feel free to come share your thoughts/concerns with the community). I typically like to read the main series, then go back through any tie-ins for chars I care about.

Infinity Gauntlet (1990) is in the events/crossovers section (but technically could be argued that it isn't really an event). You might have glanced over it because the first two words are "Thanos Quest" (which is part of the collection in the Amazon link).

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there's a great YouTube video by Patrick Willems that talks a lot about how to get started with comics as a whole, I highly recommend giving it a watch if you're interested.

But the gist of it is to just pick a character you want to know more about, and look for what their most popular stories are- either by looking up lists, asking questions to knowledgeable people like this subreddit, or checking the subreddit's recommendations list. Do you like the MCU Marvel movies? Do you have a favourite character from them, like Iron Man or Spider-Man or anything like that? They've got tons of great stories to check into, many of them are really new-reader friendly!

The best suggestion, and how I really delved deep into Marvel comics, is to look into getting a month of their Marvel Unlimited subscription. It's like Netflix, but instead of streaming movies/TV it allows you to read a bunch of online comics.

As for general recommendations... I always love suggesting Ultimate Spider-Man. You can just pick it up from issue 1 and start reading, it gives a more "modern" take on his origin story and reinvents a lot of characters so it's easy to get into and lots of fun. Marvels is also a really fun (and short! only four or so issue) series that takes a look at Marvel's history through the lens of a photographer. You could take a look at that and if any of the characters/teams interest you, then you could go find out more about them. I'm also a big fan of Captain America: Man Out of Time as a great "origin" story retelling of how the titular superhero came to the present and joined the Avengers.

Honestly, just tell us what you're interested in and we can try to point you in the right direction! It might be easier to suggest something if we know what sort of stories you're interested in. Fantasy? Crime? Drama?

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I don't recommend the "read everything" approach, especially if you're new to comics. What you're trying to do is the semi-equivalent of trying to watch every TV show ever made "in order". That seems silly, right? There's little to no connections between shows like Breaking Bad and Happy Days; Powerpuff Girls and M.A.S.H.; etc. so why try to organize/consume them in such a way that forces you to watch stuff you don't really care about? That can make a hobby about fun/exploration more like a checklist/chore.

Yes, most mainstream comics set in Earth-616 are technically "canon" but that doesn't account for how wildy different characterization/plotting/aesthetics/editorial can be/change between arcs, runs, eras, characters, series, creators, etc. There are pockets of continuity that make sense, like DnA's Cosmic Marvel or Claremont's X-titles (notice: they're creator-centric), but that's not applicable to every comic ever published. Not to mention, I don't think putting these stories in chronological order is objectively possible without seeing how many mistakes, retcons, inconsistencies, contradictions, etc. were made over 60+ years, nor do I think that's creatively faithful to how the stories were initially conceived and naturally evolved/flowed.

IMO, pick a few characters/teams, look up their most popular stories, read in any order you like with the caveat that you'll have to piece stuff together as you go or Google unexplained references. Reading "everything in order" has lead to burn-out in like 90% of people that I've personally seen try it, and another 9% who will never finish or even try comics from other publishers. If you still think you're part of that 1% who has passion/time/money/energy for committing to tens of thousands of comics that will take decades to finish, then feel free to ignore me and visit fan-made reading order sites like CMRO, ComicBookHerald, etc.

If you haven't already, check out our Marvel Comics Reading Guide. Have fun and good luck! Come back and share your experiences!

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If you want to get into the 'world' of it, I would check out some past 'events' that will give you a sense of what's happened/happening, a feel for different characters etc. (Unless you specifically want to, I maybe wouldn't go TOO far back as I personally found some writing in the 80s etc to be overly expositional) but there are guides online with rough timelines.

Another option is think of a character that interests you and check online for some recommended runs. A new writer can dramatically impact a character. The whole thing is constantly changing between writers and individual to shared storylines. Also it's very hard to keep on top of ALL of it, so make your peace with that early on!

Whenever I jumped on a few years back, I found something might have been referenced which would have me go back and check out a whole separate story from a few years previously.

So like for an example, if you've an interest in the xmen, a recent event for them was the house of X/Powers of X story.

But really, there's no right or wrong starting point. Some will interest you more than others, and soon you'll find you like a particular writer or artist, and start following THEIR stuff too, characters you maybe never thought you'd read about. There is a vast wealth of stuff to get stuck into.

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So, I've been seeing a lot of posts lately asking how to get into comics - especially Marvel comics - across multiple comics-related subreddits (even more so after the end of Loki). I just thought I'd make a "quick" guide to help beginners find their way.

I'm not a mod on this sub nor am I an expert on comics. These are just my personal thoughts and tips for beginners as a comic book fan. Everyone else is welcome to comment, add any information or correct me.

Where should I start reading Marvel comics?

The truth is, and that can be disappointing (or a relief) to some people: you can start anywhere. No, seriously. Anywhere. In fact, I would recommend that you start from anywhere. Comics are organized and "broken down" in a way that allows that. There are different books, miniseries, events, single issues and other formats for you to choose from. Pick a random series or one that interests you and just read it!

A big shared universe like Marvel is not like a river where you follow a particular course. It's more like an ocean where you can start from any beach and follow any direction. It's similar to listening to music. People don't usually start with "Hurrian Hymn No. 6" and work their way through ancient music until they reach 2021's Pop Music. I mean, you can do that, but it's easier to start somewhere and branch off than go all the way through a chronological/release order.

Can I just start from the very first Marvel issue and go from there?

Well, like I said, you can try that. The problem is that Marvel (as well as DC) has a huge, and I mean HUGE, amount of lore that spans literally DECADES of storytelling. It's almost impossible to catch up with everything. I haven't read every Marvel comic out there and probably never will (and I've been reading them for many years now). I wouldn't say to not read things in chronological or release order (it can be fun), but don't limit yourself to it. Mix it up!

Also, there's the fact that old comics have a very different style and art. A lot of characters describing their actions and old-fashioned narration. It can turn off readers who are not used to it. Again, not saying you shouldn't read old comics (far from it!), but it's good to mix it up.

So what are my options?

There are many ways you can approach this and I'm gonna mention some of them below:

  1. Chronological/release order: So basically what I said earlier. You can read them all in order, but you should keep in mind you're most likely never gonna catch up with literally everything. Another option to make this shorter is to focus on only a specific era or age. Basically read every comic in a specific chunk of Marvel's history. For example a comic book age (Golden Age, Modern Age, Iron Age etc), a decade (60s, 2000s, 90s), a particular in-universe era (ex: Dark Reign).

  2. Choose a character/team: That one is easier. You can pick a character/team you want, pick a random book with their name on the title and read it. Most (or the "main") characters in Marvel have many series that you can choose from. However, If you want to read every single appearance a character/team has, keep in mind that we're talking about a shared universe. Spider-Man isn't going to show up only in Spider-Man comics. Between his issues he might also be in New Avengers, show up in a Daredevil arc, help during an event like Civil War and maybe co-star in a team-up miniseries. All around the same time. So, yeah, characters jump around a lot, especially bigger names. Other characters might have more appearances in team books than in solo ones, or not have solo comics at all. It's all really a case-by-case scenario. That said, you don't have to read every appearance of a character. You can choose a particular time in a character's history to read.

  3. Read events: This is a common one recommended by a lot of people. Events are when a big problem happens and a lot of characters get involved. If every Marvel movie was a comic book title of their own characters, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame would be a crossover event. Usually a lot of characters show up to help (although there are small scale events as well) and they might (and most of the times do) have tie-ins, which are concurrent issues that are affected by the main event or issues that branch off from the event. Tie-ins can often be ignored, but they can also add to the story. (I can write a separate post explaining how events and tie-ins work if you all want). Events are a good way to start, but keep in mind they're more of a big showdown kind of story as opposed to your regular comic book arc.

  4. Pick a genre: Yes, technically we're talking about superhero comics, but superhero is a sort of "grey-area genre", meaning there's a lot of overlapping. There are classic superhero stories, but there are also sci-fi/cosmic superhero stories (Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova, Adam Warlock, Captain Marvel); there are horror/supernatural superhero stories (Midnight Sons, Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider); gritty street-level stories (Daredevil, Punisher, Moon Knight); martial arts stories (Shang-Chi, Iron Fist); fantasy/adventure/different cultures (Fantastic Four; Inhumans; Black Panther, Black Knight) etc. You can pick the genre you like to read and go from there.

With all that said, I personally recommend (and that's what most comic readers probably follow), that you read a little bit of everything. Pick an event, read a modern comic title, read an old-school comic title, read a team book, read a solo book, read a villain-focused book. It really doesn't matter. The more different things you read, the easier you'll find what you want and you'll get a big picture perspective of things.

Won't I be confused if I read everything out of order?

No, not necessarily. I'm pretty sure you've started watching a cartoon in your life with a random episode on TV and eventually you caught up as you watched other previous episodes. The same applies to comic books. It's also very common in comics that when a character refers to something else from the past, they put a dialogue box mentioning the issue or title where said thing happened. If not, you can always come to this subreddit or others and ask for clarification. We're here to help too!

What about alternate universes?

Marvel has a bunch of comics that take place in alternate universes such as the Ultimate Universe comics (Earth-1610), What If comics (many different universes), the famous Marvel Zombies series (Earth-2149) and various others. If you're afraid you might end up starting with an alternative universe comic and are in doubt about it, feel free to ask! They're a minority but are definitely out there.

That said, alternative universes are technically considered canon. The reason I say this is because the concept of Multiverse exists in the Marvel cosmology (as you can see from the Loki show). In fact, literally everyting ever put out by Marvel (Marvel Studios' movies, other studios' movies, games, cartoons, etc) are part of the wider Multiverse. The main Marvel universe is called Earth-616 (or Earth Prime) and even though alternative universe stories don't take place on Earth-616, there are stories where characters travel through different universes, so crossovers are possible (take the Spider-verse event for example).

I already have a character/team/event in mind. Where do I find which comics to read?

If you want to start with a specific character, team or event, there's a great recommendation guide on this very sub. They also explain other concepts related to comics that you might find useful. The website Comic Book Herald also provides amazing reading guides. I highly recommend you check both. And again, you can start from the beginning or you can choose a specific random series to start!

I don't even know what I want to read. Do you have any recommendations?

Yes, I do. My personal recommendation for someone to start with Marvel comics (and to anyone really) is to read the second volume of History of the Marvel Universe (the 2019-2020 one). It's a six-issue miniseries that sums up the whole history of the Marvel Universe, from before creation all the way to the near present, as well as into possible futures. It's a good way to get an overall idea of events and characters and then choose where to start. The issues also come with pages giving the source of every event mentioned so you can find them.

Anything else you want to recommend or say?

Yes. I want to add that, just like movies, TV shows and books, comic books are a medium. It's just a way of telling stories. I focused on Marvel here, but there are many other genres of comic books beyond those provided by the Big Two (Marvel and DC).

I mentioned earlier that superhero comics overlap with other genres, and that's true, but there are also other comics that don't have your classic superheroes in them (or if you want different superheroes outside the Big Two). There are horror comics, thriller comics, romance comics, slice of life comics, as well as Western, action, noir, space opera, cyberpunk, steampunk, dystopia and basically every other genre. There's even autobiographical and historical comics if you want to try non-fiction!

Go look for comics by publishers such as Dark Horse, Image Comics, Valiant Comics, IDW Publishing and other smaller indie ones. Look for comics written by authors from other countries as well. There is seriously a HUGE amount of great comics out there written and drawn by very creative people.

A final invitation

Lastly, I want to invite you to visit the "This week in Comics" thread on this sub (it's updated every week) where people discuss the comics released. You can pick a comic released this week (a Marvel one for this sub), read it and head to the thread and talk about it with us! Or choose another comic and make a post about it. This sub also has other threads such as "Spotlight release of the week", "Mod's pull of the week" and "Flashback discussion".

Speaking of which, here's a great opportunity and a personal tip: this week Marvel releases a new Moon Knight book (Moon Knight vol 9 #1), who is a character that's going to be introduced in his own show on Disney+ in the future. It's a great way to start getting to know a character before his show releases. We also have the beginning of the event The Last Annihilation in the pages of Guardians of the Galaxy #16. There are other comics coming out as well. If you don't understand something, feel free to post your question here or on another comic book subreddit.

Good luck and keep on reading!

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