New and looking for advice

[Elric of Grans]

I am posting a similar thread on the Marvel forum. There does not seem to be a neutral board to discuss both on.

I have little exposure to American comics. I grew up reading Brittish comics (eg Buster, Beano, etc), then got into manga in my teens (which I continue to read in my adult life). I have just discovered Comixology and, with great prices and the convenience of digital distribution, I am looking to try out the American offerings.

The only exposure I have is from TV/Cinema. I saw Christopher Reeve as Superman (though that was a long time ago, so my memories are sketchy). I have seen all Batman movies other than the most recent, and Adam West of cause ;) I saw the X-Men cartoon and most of the movies. Also saw the first Spiderman movie, but did not like it. I have heard of the others, but never seen them. I have looked at some of the free comics on Comixology, and believe I have some faint grasp on my interests. There seemed to be two kinds of comics I came across. Some were heavy on action with great art and little text; others let art slide to more text and focused more on narrative and character exploration than action. I found the former really confusing and dull, but liked the look of the latter. Hopefully that is something useful here :)

The Batman forum here has a great thread on where to start with him, and having enjoyed the movies that seems a good starting point. I would like a little more information on other DC comics, however. My impression is that the New 52 is the `core' reading of current DC publication, and seems to be also intended as a starting point for new readers. Am I correct in this impression and that it should be where I start looking (then explore other areas once I have a better grasp of the universe)? Are the different comics here aimed at different demographics that are easily explained? If, for example, Wonder Woman were aimed at 12 year old girls (I doubt it, but for example) then I would not be interested in it. Are there any particular titles I should take particular note of, or particularly avoid?

Thanks for any advice!

[ShaggyB]

it is a pretty good jump on point, the bat books and the green lantern books are the ones that need the most back story though as they werent firmly reset.

[Fate's Faith]

The New 52 is the main DC offerings and the introduction to those character. All teen rating and above. I always recommend readers start with characters they already are interested in from exposure from other media sources (movies, television or games). But be aware, if you're enjoying something like the Arrow or Smallville television shows that you might not find that same handling of the character in comics. But if some aspect of the character appeals to you, it usually exists across all forms.

[Jabare]

we really need to sticky one of those new reader advice threads. Feel like we got a thread like this everyone one or two months

[doordoor123]

LOL Wonder Woman is actually probably one of the best books of the bunch.
I think there is this mentality with new readers that books with female leads are for girls only, but that is not the case. At least most of the time.
Some of my favorite books have female leads. Wonder Woman is great right now.

There ARE however different kinds of books that you might not see fit for you. There more episodic books, there are teen-angst books, horror books, comedic books, pure super hero books, dark books, gritty/more real super hero books, sci-fi books, etc.

Every comic has its own tone. There aren't however books that are aimed for a certain age unless you're looking outside of books in continuity. There are few of them at DC right now and most of them are spinoffs of their cartoon series. You can usually tell what books are for kids by the art. Although there are artists like Amanda Conner whose art is seemingly for kids, but is quite the opposite.

It all really depends on what you want.

[Volkditty]

You might particularly like James Robinson's comics. He's also British and focuses much more on wordy world building and character development than flashy action sequences. Currently he's writing Earth 2, which takes place on an alternate dimension in the DC Universe and requires zero prior knowledge before picking up #1.

[Elric of Grans]

Glad to hear that the New 52 is the starting point I thought it was. The Batman forum here has plenty of help on catching up on the lore, so I shall focus on that before picking up the New 52 Batman. I will likely check out some non-Batman #1s alongside, however (except maybe not Green Lantern, if it was not a reset).

LOL Wonder Woman is actually probably one of the best books of the bunch.
I think there is this mentality with new readers that books with female leads are for girls only, but that is not the case. At least most of the time.
Some of my favorite books have female leads. Wonder Woman is great right now.

I just gave it as an off-handed example from the limited number of characters I knew. I did say I doubt it :P I just checked out the Wonder Woman forum here and it seemed like the series is in serious trouble with people complaining about a terrible direction and citing poor sales. At face value, it seems one I am more than a little hesitant to start.

[Mr. Holmes]

Good God don't listen to the fans on the Wonder Woman forum, they complain about every possible direction (I know, I've been here since 2009). It's easily one of the best books of the New 52, I strongly recommend it.

There's a Superman suggestion thread too on that board, but it's not nearly as elegant as the Batman one. If you're interested in Superman, get All Star Superman. Arguably the best Superman story ever written. If you like that, get the New 52 Action Comics from the beginning.

[RandomFalls]

I just gave it as an off-handed example from the limited number of characters I knew. I did say I doubt it :P I just checked out the Wonder Woman forum here and it seemed like the series is in serious trouble with people complaining about a terrible direction and citing poor sales. At face value, it seems one I am more than a little hesitant to start.

Yeah... the Wonder Woman board is a little bit on the crazy side, as are - and I say this with all the love in the world - Wonder Woman fans. There is no run on Wonder Woman that doesn't have very vocal detractors.

I would strongly recommend Wonder Woman. Personally I think that it is easily the best book DC is putting out right now. But it really does depend on your tastes; it's certainly a darker take on her world and mythos, but not on the character despite what some are saying. If you like Greek mythology then you'll like this.

[MartinNL]

US comics can be really good, but there's a lot of the same around. It's all about cherry picking. These boards can give you a good idea of what's good and what's not. However there are a lot of people that complain here and about comics in general, so also take a look at other websites like comicvine, ifanboy etc. I started reading US comics about two years ago and love it. I started buying the monthly comics but I find it a lot more satisfying to read more complete stories in collected editions, and preferably hardcovers. There's three hardcover discussion threads that you can find here that can give you excellent suggestions:
DC http://forums.comicbookresources.com...s-Deluxes-etc)
Marvel http://forums.comicbookresources.com...cussion-Part-V
General http://forums.comicbookresources.com...ver-Discussion

All the first collections of the New 52 books have been released so you can start there for pretty much all titles. I would however start at the beginning of Geoff Johns' Green Lantern run (Rebirth, Secret Origin, Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Night) and not with the New 52 book.

Some of the best New 52 books imo would be Wonder Woman, Batman, Batman & Robin, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Action Comics and Aquaman.

Image and Dark Horse have some pretty good books too like Saga, Chew, Walking Dead, Fatale, Manhattan Projects, Morning Glories, Conan the Barbarian (by Brian Wood) and The Massive. Also Vertigo has some of the most excellent books released, so also check that forum.

Also check out the preview pages on CBR for upcoming releases to give you an indication of the story and the art.

Basically what I would suggest is discover from new stuff what you like and backtrack for superheroes or writers that you enjoyed the most.

[Aquacatlungfish]

Good God don't listen to the fans on the Wonder Woman forum, they complain about every possible direction (I know, I've been here since 2009). It's easily one of the best books of the New 52, I strongly recommend it.

There's a Superman suggestion thread too on that board, but it's not nearly as elegant as the Batman one. If you're interested in Superman, get All Star Superman. Arguably the best Superman story ever written. If you like that, get the New 52 Action Comics from the beginning.

QFT. I can't think of a single thing the WW forum has generally approved of. ASS is essential reading for any Superman fan.

[Elric of Grans]

I picked up All-Star Superman and gave it a try. Fantastic recommendation! I will definitely check out New 52 Superman now.

The Wonder Woman fans are notoriously bad? I think I can understand that situation. The Greek mythology aspect sounds interesting, so I will check it out too!