DC Comics. Where to start?

[heman0420]

Hello. I never read comics as a child. My son is starting to read and I would like to read comics with him. I would love to start from the beginning. I know DC has released DC Archives that has collections of Batman, Superman, etc. I know that there different story lines and all that. Is there some sort of Comic Database? I want to read everything I can based on release dates. If I start with Batman for instance, I want to read as much of his story I can from the beginning. Any direction would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Kyer]

I'm not all that knowledgeable on comics either having mostly started reading the Flash books from 1987 on and not much else.

In order to get rec's though, people are going to need to know the age bracket of your son plus basic tastes?

For instance, if you and your son enjoy horror, there's plenty out there in the new DC52. If comedy....not so much of that. You'd have to go back a decade or so such as the old Justice League International.

So, yeah, readers here are going to need to know a bit more info.

[Kyer]

One thing you can do to research the present day comics:

Just below the big, yellow CBR symbol on the screen is a link named NEWS. Click on that to get a drop down list. Click on Previews. Covers of recently released comics will show. Click on any of them to see the preview pages (usually 3-5 pages worth) to get an idea of the kind of artwork and plot. That way you'll have a bit more to work with as far as titles that you feel might be of interest and can ask about those or ones like them.

[heman0420]

My son is 5. He likes Batman, so I was thinking of starting there. Amazon has Batman and Batman Dark Knight. I am sure there are others. I am not worried too much about the newer stuff right now. I want to start from the beginning and try to get the most complete storyline I can. My wife and I let our son watch all the movies that come out. I don't want anything crazy violent. I am sure the old stuff isn't.

[Kyer]

Whoa! :P I'm definitely not the one to recommend anything, then. (Flash is a bit more light hearted than the Batman movies.)

However, I did find this IGN site's article on the 25 best Batman trade stories : http://comics.ign.com/articles/624/624619p1.html

[Kyer]

Also found this at this very site: http://forums.comicbookresources.com...les-amp-Trades

BTW, found both links by doing a Google Advanced Search of "Batman" and "Trade Books."

Hope that helps until more experienced fans get online. I have to get ready for work now.

Have fun and good luck! :)

[The Frozen Reptile]

For Batman, anything that reprints the stories from the 1950s would be good. Also, the 60s stories were less violent, but they may be a little too cerebral for a 5 year old (but he would learn a lot of science...)

[Prisoner 6655321]

Well... DC recently rebooted its entire line so last September is really the beginning more or less. If you're interested in how that happened or you think your kid might, Flashpoint is the way to go. You may want to rethink the level of appropriateness for a five year old held by comics in general. That said, I would let most five year old read most of my DCU comics but I imagine they'd most likely not dig them quite as much as a slightly older kid. It's not quite Batman but I'd really suggest this for a five year old who might be interested in comic books... Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil http://www.amazon.com/Shazam-The-Mon...6387210&sr=8-1

[nepenthes]

"Start from the beginning"....this is NOT how you do it!

You're talking about 70 years of a myriad different titles in varying creative teams, styles, publishing contexts. It's a couple of trucks worth of hard to find comics, impossible to track down and mostly irrelevant. This isn't like a Harry Potter series with a clear start and progression. Also anything published in the 50's is a historical novelty, can barely engage the attention of many older fans let alone a new reader or a child. Do not assume that old equals kid friendly or worth reading.

From personal experience (my son is also five) try Batman: Hush. He loves the images and variety of characters, he can read the story by pictures alone and the words are simple enough for him to practice reading on. The story itself is also a great introduction to the wider Batman world and caused a bit of a stir when it was published in 2003.

There is a monthly all-ages series based on the Brave and the Bold series, issues 1-6 are collected in The All New Batman: Brave & The Bold Vol.1

There is also the Justice League featuring all the major heroes, all ages, simple scripting and nice, bright splashy art (it's actually the same artist as Hush). The first collection is out this week Justice League Vol.1: Origin

More Batman reading, though most of this will only be relevant for older kids (and some adults! )

[Chainshada]

Somebody will undoubtedly correct me if I'm wrong as I'm nowhere near as knowledgable as 99.9% of the people on these boards..but here's how I think a quick recap of Batman would go..

Batman: Year One. Batman's Origin.
Batman: The Long Halloween. Think this was Batman stepping up from mobsters/gangs.
Batman: Dark Victory. Dick Grayson's Origin.
Robin: Year One. More Robin.
Nightwing: Year One. Dick becoming Nightwing/Jason Todd becoming Robin.
Batman: A Death in the Family. Jason Todd's death.
Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying. Tim Drake becomes Robin.
Tower of Babel. Is what Justice League Doom was loosely based on.
Batman: Hush. Jason Todd's Return.


I think there's also Son of the Demon somewhere at the start, might be good to add in to explain where Damian comes from.

After those you could probably go into the Batman & Son, Batman: RIP, Battle for the Cowl, Bruce Wayne: The Road Home. Then straight into the DCnU.

EDIT: And this was all pretty much useless as the thread linked above is awesome..

[Eric Chang]

"Start from the beginning"....this is NOT how you do it!

You're talking about 70 years of a myriad different titles in varying creative teams, styles, publishing contexts. It's a couple of trucks worth of hard to find comics, impossible to track down and mostly irrelevant. This isn't like a Harry Potter series with a clear start and progression. Also anything published in the 50's is a historical novelty, can barely engage the attention of many older fans let alone a new reader or a child. Do not assume that old equals kid friendly or worth reading.

From personal experience (my son is also five) try Batman: Hush. He loves the images and variety of characters, he can read the story by pictures alone and the words are simple enough for him to practice reading on. The story itself is also a great introduction to the wider Batman world and caused a bit of a stir when it was published in 2003.

There is a monthly all-ages series based on the Brave and the Bold series, issues 1-6 are collected in The All New Batman: Brave & The Bold Vol.1

There is also the Justice League featuring all the major heroes, all ages, simple scripting and nice, bright splashy art (it's actually the same artist as Hush). The first collection is out this week Justice League Vol.1: Origin

More Batman reading, though most of this will only be relevant for older kids (and some adults! )

Very good post and agree.

[heman0420]

Thank you everyone for the helpful information. I wonder why DC doesn't have a digital comic subscription like Marvel does. Could get costly for the DC stories.

[MajorHoy]

Thank you everyone for the helpful information. I wonder why DC doesn't have a digital comic subscription like Marvel does. Could get costly for the DC stories.

They offer same-day digital on all the New 52 through comixology. Have you checked this site: https://read.dccomics.com/comixology/?

(The prices for new comics are the same as for a printed comic book, which I'm assuming is to not alienate comic book shops. But after a newer issue is released, I believe the prices on a month older stuff drops. They also sometimes have special deals. OI don't use the site, so I'm not all that familiar with th ins-and-outs.)

For the DC Kids comic books, you can also check here http://dcnationcomics.kidswb.com/ for info on the books, games and such.