The comic book market is over saturated

[lcarus]

I've been wanting to get into comics lately, and in the last several months I've purchased several of the New 52 Batman, Detective Comics, Dark Knight books. But when I go to the comic store, I'm just overwhelmed with how much shit there is there. I've been interested in some other books besides Batman, like Nightwing, Swamp Thing, and Superman. But I don't know which books I should start getting into.

I know with the Batman/Detective Comics/Dark Knight books, I'm gonna get some of the hardcover volumes that are out to get caught up. They're like 10 dollars on Amazon.

I was also curious about some X-Men comics. Did they reboot any of the X-Men comic series? Which of those should I get into? Like I said the market is over-saturated. Especially for a noob.

[salame]

velvet is AWESOME

[Rausch]

A problem I noticed with the Marvel titles is they decided to reshuffle/reboot all their main titles at one time. Every major book has a new name and team titles have new groupings.

[Swanman]

Originally Posted by beach tribe

If you are just beginning the Infinity Gauntlet Series is a mandatory classic get.

I also really enjoyed the Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest series. I have become a really big fan of the galactic characters lately. I started out with Guardians of the Galaxy to prep for the movie next year. The Annihilation books have a ton of the galactic characters (Guardians of the Galaxy, Silver Surfer, Super Skrull, Nova Corps, etc.). They also feature some of the biggest villains, like Ultron, Galactus, Thanos and Annihilus.

[ThaVirus]

I watched bits and pieces of the new Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox movie.

Holy balls! Definitely the most graphic DC animate movie I've ever seen. It was a cool take on the alternate timelines though, especially what happened with Batman and Superman.

[scorpio]

I hated the premise of All-New X-Men, but it's growing on me.

Spoiler!

I think Laura\X-23 joining the team would be pretty awesome

[lcarus]

I started reading The Dark Knight new 52 series and liked it until the Flash showed up. Ugh. I dont mind him but I like the Batman universe seperate. Theres plenty of characters already.

[Psyko Tek]

Originally Posted by DaveNull

In the past six months I went from not caring about comics to having a pull list and a huge collection of older digital stuff. Even went out to the Free State Comicon which was a nice time. Here's my perspective.

- If you're just getting in, don't mess with single issues. Go with trade paperbacks (trades) or collections of digital stuff you find on the interwebs that have fallen off the back of a truck so to speak.
- Both Marvel and DC have the same problem of keeping the story lines and characters fresh. This leads to all of the confusion of who is who, what is going on, what time frame and what alternate universe you're in when you pick up any individual issue. I don't think that the New 52 has done anything to fix this.
- Some of the best story telling and artwork can be found outside of DC/Marvel. It's been like that for a long time, I suspect.

Here are some specific recommendations. Of course you'll want to flip through these before giving kids access to them. My parents were always really liberal with what they let me read growing up, but every family is different. Your mileage may vary. Price per pound based on the current value or pork bellies. The decision to pick a lawyer shouldn't be based on advertisements. Caveat emptor and all that jazz.

Two (well I guess four) Trades You Must Buy Now

- Hawkeye
- Saga

Hawkeye is so good for so many reasons. It's approachable in that it has nothing to do with anything else that's going on in the Marvel universe. It's funny because it's written by Matt Fraction and the artists do a great job of matching the aestic to the stories. The writing and art is so on point that one issue is written from the perspective of the dog. Trust me on this one.

Saga is best described as a Space Opera. Not for kids (as is made abundantly clear by the first page of issue #1) but is a really engaging and emotional story. I suspect that this will end up there with Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Maus and Y- The Last Man in terms of comics that end up with literary acclaim.

Current series that aren't too far along and are worth keeping up on

- Sex Criminals
- Velvet

Sex Criminals was named the best comic of the year by Time Magazine even though there are only three issues that are out. This is now on my pull list for hard copies. It's super funny and the artwork is top notch. If you're put off by the title, it's not creepy. It's about two people who can stop time when they have sex. So they do what anyone else would in this situation…they rob banks. It's AWESOME.

Velvet hasn't gotten a lot of attention, but I'm really liking it. It takes place during the Cold War and is full of spies and assassins. Issue 1 was great and issue 2 held up on the momentum. The third issue comes out in a couple weeks.

Traditional Character Story Lines and Trades

- All Star Superman
- Superman - Earth One
- Superman - Red Son

All Star Superman has gotten a lot of critical attention. I thought it was okay and is worth an afternoon read. Red Son is a three part series that answers the question of what would have happened if Supes had landed in Russia instead of Kansas. I'm not all the way through Earth One yet, but it was used as source material for the Man of Steel movie and is pretty good so far.

- The Dark Knight Returns
- Batman - Year One
- The Killing Joke
- Batman - Court of Owls

Batman is, of course, a dark character. I read The Dark Knight Returns when I was about 12 and it really warped my perception of Superman and solidified my love for Batman in general. I love the dark and gritty Batman stories. Court of Owls is every bit as dark and twisted as the other stories on the list which you've probably either read or have heard about.

- The Ultimates
- Winter Soldier
- Wolverine Origins

The Ultimates is a great way to get into the Avengers and was used as source material for the current Avengers movies. You can read the series without knowing anything else about the Marvel Universe which is great. Winter Soldier (written by the same crew that's working on Velvet) is obviously going to be used as some source material for the next Captain America movie. It's pretty good so far. I'm about half way through. The Wolverine Origins story arc is great for historic context. It's lengthy and I'm not a big fan of the mundane artwork, but is entertaining and a good escape when you don't want something as thick tough to muddle through as something like Watchmen or Saga.

How do I read my comics? I'm really loving the digital format.

I use the Chunky Comic Reader on a full size iPad with a Retina Display. I would imagine that the new iPad Air is almost the perfect experience since it likely weighs less than a big trade or a hardcover and can hold TONS of comics. Chunky does a good job of organizing the comics for you (if they're named in a sane and consistent manner) and makes everything look great. The details that are drawn into Sex Criminals almost require you read in digital…and trust me the details are worth it. You can even link Chunky to different cloud based storage accounts like Dropbox or Google Drive. That way you don't have to fill your iPad up with all your comics…you can just download the ones you're currently reading from Google Drive.

Image Comics makes their stuff available in DRM-Free formats like CBR or CBZ.

Hope this helps…

Now go buy Hawkeye.

Bro.

if Saga ain't the best comic out there right now, tell me what I am missing

Hawekeye is very good

still reading walking dead
and
THE GOON
give this a shott
noir, comedy, zombie... jebus just try it it is insane
title of one comic was SATAN'S SODOMY BABY
it is hilarious

the unwritten starts great losing interest
FABLES ( and spin off fairest read fables first or fairest is spoiler ville)
must read
Invincible is good


suicide squad is my main must read DC
and superior spider-man on marvel

and the BEST
is
ATOMIC ROBO
Tesla's robotic creation having science adventures

put more up as I think of it

[lcarus]

Has anyone heard of Transmetropolitan? I heard it was pretty kick ass.

[Psyko Tek]

Spider Jerusalem FTW
The Authority

right now

Peter Panzerfaust
retelling peter pan during WW2 through the memories of the lost boys
this is a fun book

for old stuff the boys
semi-cia vs comic book heroes
not for kids

[lcarus]

I went to Barnes and Noble tonight to buy some graphic novels. They have a buy 2, get 1 free deal with all DC and Marvel graphic novels. I was interested in the New 52 Batman or Batman and Robin volumes. Was about to buy them but the ones they had were all scratched and/or bent up. **** that. That's what happens when you let 8 year olds and their snot bubbly fingers thumb through everything.

[DaveNull]

Just thought that I'd bump this to let you all know that Black Widow #1 is great. It looks like they're going with the same concept they used for Hawkeye. The writing was good and the artwork exceptional.

Added to my pull list.

[Aries Walker]

I came this close to getting that the other day. Based on your recommendation, I'll pick it up next time.

[salame]

I looked at it. Damn I'll have to see if I can get #1 now.

Anyone reading Dead Boy Detectives or The Saviors?

[Rausch]

I'm on issue #4 of Preacher and so far loving it.

The gritty art really adds to the whole feel of the book...

[DaveNull]

So what have you all been reading recently? I've been plowing through a bunch of old Marvel cross-over stuff, but have a stack of Image and Vertigo comics to start working on like 100 Bullets and Federal Physics Bureau.

On the more mainstream front I think that the Original Sin crossover has started out well and the new Silver Surfer is a real hoot.