Newbie to Comics

[Mosh95]

Hi People!

I really want to start getting into reading comics, problem is I have very little knowledge surrounding the subject and every time I try and break in I always end up reading into a story line that has too much background for me to understand.

I'm asking for someone with a lot more experience and knowledge of plot's and all that stuff to help me find the ideal starting point. I'm looking to focus on iron man and x-men but if you can think of something better for a beginner to sink their teeth into then let me know.

Thanks for you help!! :)

[TsaiMeLemoni]

Honestly, unless you go all the way back to the beginning, you will probably always have a problem with their being too much background. I am a casual consumer, and eventually I just started picking up trades, and if I liked it I would try and continue with it as well as picking up older trades to help fill myself in on more of the background.

A good tip, for me anyway, is to just pick up with Vol. 1 of whatever you're thinking about getting. There will still be background, but you're also starting at the beginning of something too.

[Phelpzy]

Hi People!

I really want to start getting into reading comics, problem is I have very little knowledge surrounding the subject and every time I try and break in I always end up reading into a story line that has too much background for me to understand.

I'm asking for someone with a lot more experience and knowledge of plot's and all that stuff to help me find the ideal starting point. I'm looking to focus on iron man and x-men but if you can think of something better for a beginner to sink their teeth into then let me know.

Thanks for you help!! :)

Most of the titles coming out this and the next few months are #1s and they should explain everything you needa know to hop on, of course there's gonna be some background you don't understand but theres wiki for that

[Marvel_Adam]

Marvel NOW! Just launched, which is basically new #1 issues of all the popular Marvel books. There are new artists and new writers. It's exciting.

Iron Man #1 came out on Wednesday, and All New X-Men #1 is coming out this Wednesday. :)

Also, if you have a smartphone, you can download a 'Marvel AR' app. Basically you launch the app and hold it up to the front cover of a Marvel NOW! book, and it gives you a brief 'all you need to know' presentation.

[Congo Jack]

I'm asking for someone with a lot more experience and knowledge of plot's and all that stuff to help me find the ideal starting point. I'm looking to focus on iron man and x-men but if you can think of something better for a beginner to sink their teeth into then let me know.

For TPBs, a couple of good collections:
Iron Man: Extremis by Warren Ellis/Adi Granov, which recaps Iron Man's origin and also forms some of the basis for the Iron Man 3 movie.
X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills by Chris Claremont/Brent Anderson, the X-Men 2 movie was partly based on this.

In terms of single issues: The first issue of a new Iron Man series came out recently, and should be easy enough to jump onto to and go from there. For me, the X-Men are in a bad state at the minute - though if you wanted to jump on there is the first issue of All-New X-Men released next Wednesday.

[Rosebunse]

I think the best thing for you to do is pick a character, focus on that character, and eventually, you'll be connected to the rest.

[geoff2005]

here my advice if possible

Im fairly new also and the way I am going to get into comics is use these two list and read crossovers in order

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publica...ossover_events

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publica...ossover_events


"story arcs in crossovers are also a great place to jump into a series, because if you're lucky, the story kind of piggy backs the characters onto the main event, and then eases you into the world. A lot of the other plot points are dropped or disregarded (such as the secondary cast) during the crossover, and when the crossover is done, you've added a few new characters to the roster you know about, and can kind of read before and after." from another person

I pretty much picked a bunch of crossovers that I find interesting to me to read chronologically and If I want to read a certain character series then after reading these crossovers it will be easier for me to understand what has happened and why the characters are a certain way.

the best thing you can do is just keep reading and eventually ull probably understand something and If you dont just wikipedia it. However the best thing u can do is just make sure u start at beg of a story arc for anything so that at least you dont get confused and put off from reading it.

[DebkoX]

I'm in the position where I hope you will be soon.
The first thing is budget, are you willing to spend stupid amount of money on comics or draw a line?
1: as I live in the UK I had no knowledge however, via these forums I now know the basics like what double shipping is.
I suggest;
FF Now
Young avengers NOW
Avengers arena NOW
Joirney into mystery
Captain marvel
A+X
Avengers
New avengers
Superior Spider-Man
All new x-men

There's a lot more, just go on Wikipedia and search 'marvel now' welcome to our world.

[USERNAME TAKEN]

Hi People!

I really want to start getting into reading comics, problem is I have very little knowledge surrounding the subject and every time I try and break in I always end up reading into a story line that has too much background for me to understand.

I'm asking for someone with a lot more experience and knowledge of plot's and all that stuff to help me find the ideal starting point. I'm looking to focus on iron man and x-men but if you can think of something better for a beginner to sink their teeth into then let me know.

Thanks for you help!! :)

Marvel NOW just started, it's best to start from there.

That being said, for Iron Man, try reading Extremis and take it from there.

[scotcat]

I'd start off with Marvel NOW since it's going to be the status quo for the future with Marvel and get a feel for things. You can always go back and get the backstory at a later date.

All New X-men is starting this month as is the new Iron Man title - though like many i'd say, if you're into Iron Man you should get your hands on Extremis and give it a read - there's also Wolverine & the Xmen.

[tonythelion]

Marvel NOW! is your friend.

As others have said, All New X-Men is out this Wednesday and is a new series. Again, as others have said, Iron Man Extremis is also a good place to go, and you should be able to easily find a back issue of the Marvel NOW Iron Man #1 (out last week) if you want to start reading the current series

As for older stuff, I'm a big fan of Grant Morrisons New X-Men run. It's available in a big omnibus collection, a few smaller ultimate collections, or 9 (I think) even smaller collections, which are fairly cheap on amazon (Click here for the first volume).

Wolverine and the X-Men is also brilliant.

[ShadowDemon]

Do NOT listen to these people!

Marvel NOW is so weighed down with continuity baggage (being a soft-reboot of sorts of the 616 MU, that you won't understand all the twisted character directions and plots w/o understanding the last few years.

My recommendation on X-Men is to go back to the debut of X-Men Vol 2 #1 (1991), and the issues of Uncanny and X-Factor that are from the same time period. You will probably also want to go back to the beginning of Excalibur Vol 1 (1988).

For Iron Man, the best jumping on point after the beginning would be Vol 3 #1 (1998).

There are some continuity points brought up, but back then they did a much better job of making it so that you didn't HAVE to have read everything to get what was going on.

I'd also recommend Avengers Vol 3 and Thunderbolts Vol 1 (both also from 1998).

Both for completeness' sake, and because it's a superior book in it's own right, I'd also recommend New Warriors Vol 1 (1990).

[LooneyKoala]

As others have said, Marvel NOW! has just started which means lots of #1 issues! There will still be continuity things you may need to know, but hopefully there won't be loads. Deadpool #1 felt pretty new-reader friendly to me, I've mentioned that one as most NOW! titles haven't started yet. If there's anything you don't understand, wikipedia is your friend

Iron Man #1 came out last week and I believe #2 comes out in one or two weeks. But you might want to read the Extremis storyline from a few years ago

All-New X-Men #1 (which is supposedly the new flagship title of the X-franchise) is out on Wednesday.

Uncanny X-Men is having a relaunch in February, which I really can't wait for, and it's following the first story arc of All-New X-Men I believe.

Wolverine & the X-Men started next year and joined Marvel NOW! with #19 a couple of weeks ago. I can't recommend this enough, and I believe the first issues are being collected in TPBs, some of which have been released. Although about half of the issues so far were involved in the Avengers Vs X-Men event, which kind of sucked the life out of this title for a bit and won't really make sense unless you read the event. But still, #19 is a great place to start with this series!

Then of course there are other X-books like:

-Cable & X-Force
-Uncanny X-Force (the current series that ends with #35 has been amazing, but it's changing quite a bit with Marvel NOW!)
-X-Men: Legacy
-Savage Wolverine
-Deadpool (not really sure if this is classed as an X-book, but I personally see it as one)

There's likely a few more (there's always a lot of X-books). All of those are in Marvel NOW!. Deadpool #1 came out last week and X-Men: Legacy #1 is out this Wednesday. The others start over the next few months.

[ShadowDemon]

Looney, you know full well it's not true that these MarvelNOW comics are good jumping on points. For newbies whose knowledge of Marvel (if they have any at all) is going to be the familiar Marvel set ups of the past MN! universe turns HUGE portions of it on it's head, and is going to be all manner of confusing.

[Iron Maiden]

IMO probably the X-Men is one of the worst to jump into because it has a large cast and convoluted history. When I got into comics back in the 1990's I found it the most difficult to understand. Luckily at that time, they sort of existed in their own bubble. That's changing now so you still may be able to catch on. Probably the most affordable way to research and catch up it to try out the digital formats as mentioned. I don't use apps so much as subscribe to Marvels back catalog called Marvel Digital comics. You don't own them but can at least read some back history. Just pick out a character you like.