Best place to start for 1980s comics?

[TheDragonKing]

Which DC comics are best for reading for the 1980s era?

[maxax]

Justice League International probably, it's still involved in all the events but I noticed it less than I did for series like Infinity Inc.

[DrNewGod]

Wolfman and Perez' The New Teen Titans and Giffen/Levitz Legion of Superheroes were the ones that really set the tone for the rest of DC at the time. NTT is particular, because 1980 was its date of debut. The Batman titles were also still in a vigorous ascension all through the 1980s. The Shadow War of Hawkman was one of the character's best runs. All-Star Squadron may feel dated, but it's a fantastic love letter to the Golden Age. Most of the post-Crisis titles were really good at the time, even if some of them did fade pretty swiftly. The mini-series Legends is a particularly good read; it has chapters running through several other titles, but you need not hunt down all of them to keep up.

[Tzigone]

Which DC comics are best for reading for the 1980s era?

Well, in the early 1980s, New Teen Titans was the king of DC, and I think it's very good until Perez leaves. Post-COIE, Batman was quite popular (it switches over a little later than COIE, kinda, with issue 401 generally used as the first of the new, I think). Not my thing, but Justice League International was something different. For a darker feel (again not my vibe), the later 1980s Green Arrow was well-received.

What are you looking for/interested in? If you're trying to get a feel for continuity of the era, post and pre-COIE stories are different ones, of course. Do you want last of one world or the early days of the other?

I enjoyed the 1980s Blue Devil, but it's not all that connected to the wider universe. Lighter in tone. I like the early post-COIE Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, but if you are fond of the JLI version of those characters (especially Ted), it may not be your thing. And none of them really had an impact or informed the future much, IMO.

[Lee Stone]

New Teen Titans (1980) #1
JLA #183
Legion of Super-Heroes #283
Batman and the Outsiders #1
Infinity, Inc. #1
Wonder Woman #269
All-Star Squadron #1
Fury of Firestorm #1
Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters #1
The Question #1
Batman #401
Blue Devil #1
Blue Beetle #1
Booster Gold #1
Amethyst #1
Arak #1
Arion #1
Warlord #48
Omega Men #1
Atari Force #1
Secret Origins #1
Who’s Who in the DC Universe #1

[LifeIsILL]

Wolfman's Titans
Cary Bate's Flash
Levtiz's Legion of Superheroes
Michael Fleisher's Jonah Hex
Alan Moore's Swamp Thing

Lots to choose from, you can't go wrong.

[The no face guy]

It depends on what your looking for. The 80's is split in half.

1980 to the Spring of 1984 - is generally the classic Bronze age heroes in the JLA, Hal and Barry in their own titles, with the classic six predominant.

1985 -1989 - is generally a break from the traditional heroes, the JLA had a new cast, Wally took over the Flash, Charlton heroes & others were introduced.

(This is a result of Crisis on Infinite Earths that starts in the Spring of 85)

Crisis of Infinite Earths is an excellent introduction to the DC universe for the amount of heroes involved.

[Lee Stone]

Crisis of Infinite Earths is an excellent introduction to the DC universe for the amount of heroes involved.

I would also suggest checking out the Who's Who series that supported Crisis.
It really helped to have that back then.

[Jim Kelly]

For the first part of the 1980s, the one title I'd suggest would be DC COMICS PRESENTS which had its run from 1978 thru 1986. In that comic you have Superman teaming up with every kind of character that was around at the time (and even some that had been forgotten). You have every writer and every artist that was working at the publisher. It's a great survey course on the pre-Crisis Multiverse. The New Teen Titans even made their debut in that comic. And for awhile there was the great back-up series, "Whatever Happened To . . . ?" for forgotten characters. So the title is a buffet where you can try everything out and the creative teams take you by the hand and introduce you to the characters and the concepts as this might be your first time reading about them.

For the last part of the 1980s, the one I'd suggest would be SECRET ORIGINS which had its run from 1986 thru 1990. In that comic you get origins for very old characters and very new characters. There's a lot of different artists--and some artists that you wouldn't usually see working at that time. There's a lot by Roy Thomas, but also by every other writer that was around. There's a wide selection of material and you can sample what's on offer. And if you like the origins, then you can go on to read more about them in other comics.

[Icefan]

I would also suggest checking out the Who's Who series that supported Crisis.
It really helped to have that back then.

For the last part of the 1980s, the one I'd suggest would be SECRET ORIGINS which had its run from 1986 thru 1990. In that comic you get origins for very old characters and very new characters. There's a lot of different artists--and some artists that you wouldn't usually see working at that time. There's a lot by Roy Thomas, but also by every other writer that was around. There's a wide selection of material and you can sample what's on offer. And if you like the origins, then you can go on to read more about them in other comics.

*sigh* Loved both of these. Really helped me get immersed into the DCU.

[Zero Hunter]

Post Crisis saw much of the DCU start fresh after 1985. Superman and Wonder Woman rebooted completely while other books like Justice League, Hawk & Dove, and Flash were brand new directions. They also had new books like Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. Books like Teen Titans and the Legion of Super-Heroes were very strong for most of the 80's both before and after Crisis.

[The no face guy]

I would also suggest checking out the Who's Who series that supported Crisis.
It really helped to have that back then.

Yes! the Who's Who series was an invaluable resource for getting to know the obscure heroes and villains of the DC universe.

They really should revamp that series.

[Jim Kelly]

WHO'S WHO: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE OF THE DC UNIVERSE was great. But it always felt incomplete. And the publisher must have thought that, too, as there were different updates that one felt compelled to buy. But what broke me of this habit was when they did this binder where you had to buy packets of pages to fit in the binder. I bought a couple of packets but I never got the binder. It seemed like one of those schemes where once they get you, you have to keep buying more stuff to be up to date. I have a vague feeling there was eventually also a set of trading cards--is that right?

[Restingvoice]

Which DC comics are best for reading for the 1980s era?

This and the title are two different questions but luckily these beginnings are all pretty good

Batman Year One
Man of Steel by Byrne
Wonder Woman by George Perez

[Icefan]

WHO'S WHO: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE OF THE DC UNIVERSE was great. But it always felt incomplete. And the publisher must have thought that, too, as there were different updates that one felt compelled to buy. But what broke me of this habit was when they did this binder where you had to buy packets of pages to fit in the binder. I bought a couple of packets but I never got the binder. It seemed like one of those schemes where once they get you, you have to keep buying more stuff to be up to date. I have a vague feeling there was eventually also a set of trading cards--is that right?

Yeah, the loose-leaf binder thing seemed to be all the rage at the time. D&D was doing it with their monster compendiums as well, but they eventually went back to proper hardback books.