Comic Books Need Help

[clint g]

Okay, so after a few years (actually, closer to a decade) of being out of the comic book scene, I feel like its time for me to jump right back in. the problem is that with so much stuff out there it is hard as hell. I have a couple of questions about all this new fangled comic book stuff.

Recently my girlfriend got my Ultimate Origins. it was pretty good and I enjoyed it but it is clearly part of an ongoing story. Can you guys tell me about what stuff I need to read that leads up to this? Im also interested int he Marvel civil war. Has a collected edition come out that has all oft he civil war comics included?

 

[miraclefan]

Okay, so after a few years (actually, closer to a decade) of being out of the comic book scene, I feel like its time for me to jump right back in. the problem is that with so much stuff out there it is hard as hell. I have a couple of questions about all this new fangled comic book stuff.

Recently my girlfriend got my Ultimate Origins. it was pretty good and I enjoyed it but it is clearly part of an ongoing story. Can you guys tell me about what stuff I need to read that leads up to this? Im also interested int he Marvel civil war. Has a collected edition come out that has all oft he civil war comics included?

Wish I could help you there, but I just got so fed up with the BIG two that I only pick up ''Indy'' titles. Wait a minute, if you want to get started reading the Ultimate Universe I recomend picking up trade paper backs of The Ultimates, and the first two volumes of Ultimate Spider-man & Ultimate X-MEN to help you get started. Oh and I cant help you on the Civil War stuff, I didn't read it.

 

[firehawk12]

All the Civil War trades have a "Civil War" banner on them. In comic book stores here, they are usually put together because they did the thing where if you put all the books in order, the spines spell out Civil War or something similar. It's pricey if you want the whole thing though... there's like 10 trades that make up the event.

The other dudes here can help you with Ultimate Origins, I think.

 

[TheBrew]

I recommend getting some of the latest Spider-man trades. If you can swallow the pill that was One More Day, you'll have a lot of fun.

 

[theenglish]

It seems like you are specifically interested in Marvel comics. Even if you are not, my advice is to set aside a weekly purchasing budget (10 to 12 dollars probably) and start picking up titles each week that interest you. If you like a title, or an ongoing title spanning storyline then pick up other issues that relate to it or wait for the trade paperback.

This day and age you can find out about the related plotlines as other titles present them just by going online and reading up, and you dont have to worry about collecting all the comics related to one event (like the civil war for example).

 

[firehawk12]

On the other hand, I'd recommend waiting for the trades, especially if you are just working up and don't need to keep up. They store easier and it's generally cheaper.

 

[Icemizer]

Let me help you out. Stay away from the big crossovers from both companies in the last few years. Civil War, Secrect Invasion, Final Crisis are all just horrible. Now go run out and pick up all the trades of Brubakers Captain America, the first two trades of Iron Fist(after that forget it), The last 3 or 4 trades of daredevil. Exiles was a solid book for most of its run. The Planet Hulk trades would also be good to get, but stop reading when he gets back to Earth.

 

[Hermiod]

^Secret Invasion was in no way "horrible". Infinite Crisis, on the other hand, was garbage.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

On the other hand, I'd recommend waiting for the trades, especially if you are just working up and don't need to keep up. They store easier and it's generally cheaper.

Not everything gets "traded" though.

My personal advice would be to forget just about anything published AFTER ~Thunderbolts 73-75 (the start of the "Fight Club" run. That SHOULD be in like 04-05 I think. Definitely avoid anything that comes after "Avengers Disassembled".

The only exception to that would be Spider-Girl. Other than that, modern Marvel is trash.

 

[Hermiod]

The only exception to that would be Spider-Girl. Other than that, modern Marvel is trash.

You clearly haven't read any of it.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

The only exception to that would be Spider-Girl. Other than that, modern Marvel is trash.

You clearly haven't read any of it.

Oh yes I have. The entire idea of Civil War was to "Ultimatize" the 616 universe (cause Joey Q thinks it's "kEwl").

The ONLY bright spot (other than S-G) was when Claremount got back on a core X-book and started his run with the traditional "X-Men softball game" story.

But Joey Q didn't like it, cause it wasn't "dArk, EDgy, and KweL" enough, and quickly ended it and shoved it aside.

 

[Tomato]

OP, were you looking for more superheroy titles?

B/c there is some great stuff out there. Ex Machina, Fables, Y the Last Man. Which isn't your traditional superhero stuff but amazing reads.

 

[clint g]

Im gladly willing to check anything out

The main reason why I'm looking at more recent marvel comics is because they are easy to come by and I figure since there are easily obtained collections out there, it would serve as a decent jumping in point. Any and all suggestions are welcome though

 

[Mr Light]

My first advice would be don't bother buying single issues as they're so ridiculously expensive, just get the trades. Civil War was a major Marvel crossover with probably about 20 tie-ins in the regular shows. There is the primary mini series in one trade that carries the main story, though. Personally I loved Civil War and Infinite Crisis and Secret Invasion, but didn't care for Final Crisis.

 

[Mistral]

House of M and the aftermath trade were interesting if you are into the mutants. They recently put the Cable run together in a trade-I have it in hardbound and it's not bad. Best of all-you don't need to read Civil War, as Cable is traveling through time during the storyline. It features Cable and a small child on the cover....

 

[Leroy]

Get the Sinestro War tpbs from DC probably the only big event that didn't either suck or assassinate everyone's character.

 

[Captain Craig]

@ the OP
If you want to get back into comics I highly, highly recommend waiting on trades. The comic industry now collects most books story arcs into TPB's in a 6mo span after the arc's conclusion. You can then find them cheaper than the marked retail price at places like Amazon.com or other places about the net, thus making the TPB cheaper than had you bought each individual issue. Speaking of that, each issue now is $4 almost across the board at DC & Marvel.

If you like superheroes then Captain America is worth looking into.
I like Moon Knight and Ghost Rider, the later has been really great but I also like how both aren't involved in every Marvel event crossover. They can be read solo without worrying(as yet) that you missed a tie in issue.

I'd stay away, very far away from Spiderman unless you just enjoy mediocrity. There are several good reasons why the book has lost half its readers since the Brand New Day direction was undertaken 15 months ago. ITS CRAP. It started this bold new direction(ha) with issue #546(Jan08) and selling 128K. As of March'09 with issue #589 its sold 58K copies. SPIDERMAN is a crummy book right now. Its lost readers at a higher than rate of normal decline among peer books. Some peer books have even seen small increases in readership.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Not everything gets "traded" though.

No, pretty much everything does these days.

Marvel's best stuff at the moment I would say are Captain America and Incredible Hercules.

 

[Mr Light]

For DC I absolutely recommend Sinestro Corps War (and Green Lantern Rebirth and Green Lantern Corps Recharge, the introductory trades that set up that story). SCW is actually what got me back into comics after an eight year absence. I kept reading about what was going on in wikipedia and finally I had to break down and go buy the issues because it was so amazing! For Marvel, the New and Mighty Avengers are good action stories with tons of heroes and a huge scale. And those lead into the Secret Invasion crossover, but you could just get the main trade and be fine. The interesting thing about the recent Marvel years is everything is one huge running story with each crossover leading into the next one. It started with Avengers Dissembled which lead to House of M which created New Avengers. Then you had the Civil War, which created the Mighty Avengers. World War Hulk was kind of its own thing. But all those events lead into Secret Invasion, which is now in turn leading into Dark Reign. Of those I would skip House of M which is mainly an alternate reality story though the ending has DRASTIC consequences for the Marvel Universe. World War Hulk is enjoyable mindless action but not really necessary to understand the larger picture (unless you get Planet Hulk, the trade that leads into it, which I understand is cool). In the non-Marvel/DC realm, I'm really enjoying INVINCIBLE, which is a pastiche of Marvel/DC comics with tons of spandexed heroes and villains.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

You should buy Scott Pilgrim instead of those super-heroes comics, in my opinion.