Ooo, they do have the Marvel Masterworks for FF so I might have to check that out. They appear to have most of the Vol. 1s, so I might have to check out some of the others too. So once I've read through the early stuff, where would be a good place to jump into the modern stuff?
Mark Waid or Jonathan Hickman. Though you might have to read Mark Millar since Hickman's run uses a major plot point from Millar's run.
Mark Millar's run started out great but ended very anti-climactically. The Hickman run was solid throughout though, a classic run.
Hmm, I'm not finding any Mark Millar Fantastic Four on B&N. I did find some on Amazon though. Comixology isn't wanting to load on my laptop or NookHD, so I haven't been able to check there yet. What was Millar's run? EDIT: Comixology is back up and a little searching has answered my question. Looks like they have almost everything from JMS through to Matt Fraction. For some reason they jump from 569 to 575.
I think the last time Millar and Hitch's run was collected was in 2010. I just did a quick check on Amazon Canada and they had no copies available. It was called "The Masters of Doom" and featured Doom's old master returning to check on him I believe, been a while since I've read it, don't recall all the details.
Since I found them on Comixology I'll just go that route for any of the ones that aren't available as digital collections on the Nook. EDIT: How accessible is Batman: Hush? I've read Year One and Death in the Family.
What would be good jumping on points for the last couple decades of Spider-Man, X-Men and Marvel Cosmic? If it helps I already have House of M on my wishlist since you guys recommended it as part of my Avengers list. I've been meaning to thank you guys for all of the help, I've really appreciated it.
X-Men - AvsX then All-New X-Men #1 Spider-Man - Brand New Day Cosmic - Annihilation, Annihilation War, Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova, War of the Kings
Well, a new era of X-Men stories just began after the end of AvX and the premiere of All-New X-Men. That era that just ended began with Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men, encompassed House of M, and contained the "Messiah Complex" and "Second Coming" events, among others. My advice, however, would to be to go even further back and read what you can find of the definitive Uncanny X-Men run written by Chris Claremont.
Essential comics are black and white reprints that look like phone books because there's 25 to 40 issues bound into every volume. There are many essential volumes for all the major character/teams from Marvel comics. They are all at your public library. Try before you buy unless money is not an option. If money is not an option please revive the industry.
Actually, the mention of All New X-Men makes me wonder if it might be easier to just jump into the Marvel NOW! stuff in general. Would it be fairly easy to jump into those?
Most likely. I've been away from Marvel since like 2005 except for Fantastic Four and I have had a really easy time jumping into the Marvel Now stuff I've read (New Avengers, Uncanny Avengers, Avengers, Indestructible Hulk, All-New X-Men). Also there are some other Marvel sereis that aren't related to Marvel Now that are relatively new and of high quality. Daredevil is 21 or so issues in and has been downright amazing. Daredevil may be the most consistently well-written character in mainstream comics and this run is no exception. And Hawkeye, which is about to come out with issue 7 has been amazing.
Actually the X-Men "era" that just concluded with Avengers Vs X-Men was kicked off by Grant Morrison's New X-Men. Joss's Astonishing X-Men followed it, and then so forth. Last decade of Spider-Man: The end of JMS's Amazing Spider-Man run, One More Day/Brand New Day. Big Time (also a jumping on point) (start of Slott's current run) and now Superior Spider-Man. Although yeah I suppose the jumping on point for Spider-Man would indeed be Brand New Day. Mark Waid's Daredevil will be branded with the Marvel Now label at the start of issue 23, but that's just a branding. Nothing will change with the book. I also would highly recommend it.
Thanks, looks like I'll be jumping into the current stuff for both of the big too then. I might still go back and read some of the older Marvel stuff from time to time though.
I suppose it depends on how one defines a specific era. I sort of consider the Morrison stuff to be an era unto itself, with the Whedon stuff being the new-reader friendly "jumping on point".
I'm trying to get back into reading comics on a regular basis, and I figured instead of derailing current threads, or riving a million dead ones I'd just restart this one. Just started the digital version Wolverine and the X-Men Vol. 1 earlier today. I'm only a handful of pages into it, but it's already pretty fun. I also read Buffy Season 8 vol 2: Not Future for You, which was awesome. I'm a huge Faith fan, so I loved the NFfY arc, it was a great character piece for her, and gave us a great look at her. It also set her off into a rather intriguing new direction. The standalone that closed it out was really good too, as it seemed to build threads from the earlier issues, while at the same time giving us some possible hints of what's to come in the future.