Best approach for reading older comics?

[TheDragonKing]

I'm looking into reading older comics but I'm not sure what the best approach is. Should I read them in a order or can I read multiple titles at the same time?

[Restingvoice]

40s old or 80s old?

[jb681131]

I'm looking into reading older comics but I'm not sure what the best approach is. Should I read them in a order or can I read multiple titles at the same time?

First of here are a few question:

- What is "old" for you ?
- Do you know how comics are published ?
- Have you heard of the following terms "Golden Age", "Silver Age", "Bronze Age", "Modern Age" ?
- If yes do you know what they correspond to ?
- Do you car only for main events or you'd like to read all the hero specific comics ?

Once I (we) know what you know, we'll be able to give you right information (it's quicker to ask if you know these stuffs, because it can get very long to explaine things in details - but if we have too, we'll do it).

[Lee Stone]

I'd recommend starting with a character (or team) or a creator and branch out from there.

[TheDragonKing]

By older comics I mean 1980s comics. Mainly post-crisis comics but I'm not bothered about reading character-specific titles, I'm open to reading titles about multiple characters.

[EmeraldGladiator]

It really depends on the person, Omnibi (?) or archives get a lot of a run together but it is best to sample the different era's to see what suits you. for me I love older characters but I came up in the bronze age so that level of sophistication of story telling is my jam, I love Golden Age characters like the JSA but I prefer reading their bronze age written adventures. There are exception in every era but there are things that make Silver age books, silver age books besides the year they were produced same for all the ages so find your favorite era and read adventures from that one. If you already have a favorite character or franchise check out list of definitive runs and compare them. Certain ones will be on all the lists.

[jb681131]

By older comics I mean 1980s comics. Mainly post-crisis comics but I'm not bothered about reading character-specific titles, I'm open to reading titles about multiple characters.

Then I will give you the mains events/JL things to read:

1. Crisis On Infinite Earths (Omnibus)
2. The New Teen Titans (Marv Wolfman)
3. DC: Legends - prequel to JLI and Suicid Squad
4. Justice League International (Omnibus)
5. Suicide Squad by John Ostender
6. The Death and Return of Superman (Omnibus)
7. JLA
8. Identity Crisis
9. Infinite Crisis (Omnibus)
10. 52
11. Checkmate
12. Secret Six
13. 7 Solders of Victory (Omnibus) + Final Crisis
14. Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus + Brightest Day
15. Flashpoint
16. Justice League New52 + Forever Evil (to read along side Justice League: Forever Heroes)
17. Titans Hunt
18. Superman: Lois & Clark + The Finals Days of Superman
19. DC Univers Rebirth
20. Superman: Reborn + Batman/Flash: The button + Titans: The Lazarus Contract
21. Justice League vs. Suicide Squad
22. Doomsday Clock
23. Dark Knights: Metal
24. Heores in Crisis + Batman/Flash: The Price + Flash Forward
25. Justice League: No Justice + Justice League by Scott Snyder + Doom War
26. The Batman Who Laughs + Batman/Superman + Years of the Vilains: The Infected
27. Years of the Vilains: Hell Arisen + Death Metal + Doom Metal (to read alongside Death Metal)
28. Endless Winter
29. Future State
30. Infinite Frontier

[Restingvoice]

By older comics I mean 1980s comics. Mainly post-crisis comics but I'm not bothered about reading character-specific titles, I'm open to reading titles about multiple characters.

Ok then my approach is simply start by the popular origins like Batman Year One, Man of Steel Byrne and Wonder Woman Perez

After that I look at what's the next event in the timeline, if it's a crossover, and then create a reading order.

if the stories within that reading order are not tied to a crossover, I can read them separately up to that point

if the stories are too annoying to read chronologically, as in, I have to go back and forth between books, then I read them separately too.

if the stories have not been collected in trades, I stop reading and wait.

[Captain Nostalgia]

By older comics I mean 1980s comics. Mainly post-crisis comics but I'm not bothered about reading character-specific titles, I'm open to reading titles about multiple characters.

Start with Crisis on Infinite Earths. (It will set you up for the post crisis, and it's a great introduction to the vast array of heroes in the DCU)

The Legends mini series with Darkseid is good as well.

From there here's a notable list:

Batman:

Frank Miller's the Dark Knight
Batman Year One (Frank Miller)
The Killing Joke (Alan Moore)
Batman: Death in the Family (The Death of Jason Todd, aka the future Red Hood)
Huntress (Helena Bertinelli takes over the reign as the new Huntess with her own title in 89)

Superman

Man of Steel (Mini Series, John Byrne)

Wonder Woman - a new series hits off sometime in 87 I believe, though it could be 88

Aquaman - Not much going on, two mini series in 86 and 89 if your a big fan of the character

The Flash - If your a Wally West fan his series starts off in 87 I believe

Green Lantern - Green Lantern Corps (Hal, John, and Guy share the spotlight with other members)


Green Arrow

-Long Bow Hunters mini series (Mike Grell)

Green Arrow's first run, gritty and dark though, more adult orientated (Mike Grell)


Teams:


Justice League - Keith Giffen's humorous run with Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Black Canary, Fire & Ice, and last but not least, Batman and Guy Gardner

Teen Titans - Marv Wolfman's famous run with Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, Raven ect

The Legion of Superheroes - Paul Levitz's classic run, considered the gold standard for the Legion, though I prefer old back issues written by Gerry Conway.
(Start with the 1984 series issues 1 and 3 (issues 326 - 327 Tales of the Legion) this leads up to a classic war with the Legion of Super Villains, you can run this to the 89 series that starts Giffen's classic run through to the 90's.

Other team titles, Batman and the Outsiders first classic run, as well as Infinity Inc, a team consisting of the sons of the JSA

Charlton:

Blue Beetle (Ted Kord) has his first and only run. The first season 8 or 9 issues are worth the read
The Question (Vic Sage) (Classic run written by Denny O Neil) Like Green Arrow it is gritty and adult orientated, thus he teams up with Green Arrow on a few occasions.
The Watchman (Alan Moore's critically acclaimed book that knocks off the Charlton heroes
Captain Atom (First series if your a fan of the character)

New Heroes:

Booster Gold - Out of all the new heroes that were introduced in the 80's post crisis, Booster Gold has remained perhaps the most popular, perhaps only rivaled by the character below.

Mystical:

John Constantine Hellblazer - is the other big hero that comes out of the 80's. His classic first run starts in 88.

Swamp Thing - Alan Moore's classic run on the character starting with issue 20

Sandman - Critically acclaimed author Neil Gaiman begins his classic Sandman run in 89


Hope that helps if you have a specific character in mind post crisis let me know, and I'll see if I can give you the rundown. PS; Stay away from anything that has to do with the Millennium mini series, horrible money grab.

[Restingvoice]

I personally skip Crisis since no one in the universe remembers that, I feel that only matters once we hit Infinite Crisis, but I haven't reached Zero Hour so I don't know if that's relevant or not

[jb681131]

...

Nice list you got there but why no include every heroes:

Aquaman by Peter David - good run
Green Lantern: Hal Jordan - collects Emerald Down I & II - then go on with the regular serie
Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison
Animal Man by Grant Morrison
Suicide Squand by John Ostender
Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals
Powers of Shazam!

The early Batman is more:
1. Batman: Year One
2. Batman: Second Chance
3. Batman: Caped crusader vol.1-3 - collects all the early modern age Batman isssue (solo years)
4. Batman: The dark detective vol.1-4 - collection all the early modern age Detective Comcis issues (solo years)
5. Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman...he_Dark_Knight

ps: Read "Swamp Thing" by Alan Moore before "Hellblazer" - John is introduced in Swamp Thing
ps2: I would suggest to read "Swamp Thing" by Len Wein before reading Alan Moore's run.

[Restingvoice]

Nice list you got there but why no include every heroes:

Aquaman by Peter David - good run
Green Lantern: Hal Jordan - collects Emerald Down I & II - then go on with the regular serie
Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison
Animal Man by Grant Morrison
Suicide Squand by John Ostender
Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals
Powers of Shazam!

The early Batman is more:
1. Batman: Year One
2. Batman: Second Chance
3. Batman: Caped crusader vol.1-3 - collects all the early modern age Batman isssue (solo years)
4. Batman: The dark detective vol.1-4 - collection all the early modern age Detective Comcis issues (solo years)
5. Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman...he_Dark_Knight

ps: Read "Swamp Thing" by Alan Moore before "Hellblazer" - John is introduced in Swamp Thing
ps2: I would suggest to read "Swamp Thing" by Len Wein before reading Alan Moore's run.

Emerald Dawn! Forgot about that.
Was Peter David the one that write Aquaman origin where he's abandoned as a baby on a reef just below the surface?
What's the Justice League origin? I know there's JL Year One but I think that came later?

[jb681131]

Emerald Dawn! Forgot about that.
Was Peter David the one that write Aquaman origin where he's abandoned as a baby on a reef just below the surface?
What's the Justice League origin? I know there's JL Year One but I think that came later?

JL's origines is in "DC: Legends". As well as the creation of the "Suicide Squad".
Event that directly continues with JLI and Suicide Squad.

And no clue for Aquaman.

[Jim Kelly]

If you want to read comics in the new continuity that followed CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, then you don't need to read CRISIS--it doesn't really set up the new universe at all and it would just confuse you. Likewise a lot of the titles in the 1980s were in transition and hadn't really sorted out their continuity yet.

I like Grant Morrison's writing a lot, but his stories are very dense and it takes me a couple of reads just to figure out what's going on. So not the writer to start with. And while the George Perez WONDER WOMAN has great artwork, I always found the writing was tedious.

I would start with the all new titles that owe nothing to past continuity.

First of these is BOOSTER GOLD, which is really the first post-Crisis comic book--it features the first appearance of the rebooted Superman (before Byrne's MAN OF STEEL). You get in on the ground floor and don't need to know anything to follow the comic.

Next, CAPTAIN ATOM. An all-new version of the Charlton hero. One of my favourite mainstream titles at the time.

Then for gritty, grounded detective stories--the new trend of the period--read THE QUESTION. Another Charlton character that you don't need to know anything about.

If you want a book that gets you up to speed on some of the characters, then maybe check out SECRET ORIGINS.

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL is also good, but it does feature some previously established characters. For instance, Guy Gardner is a funny guy, but he had already had a lot of stories in GREEN LANTERN before the Crisis.

[Captain Nostalgia]

Nice list you got there but why no include every heroes:

Aquaman by Peter David - good run
Green Lantern: Hal Jordan - collects Emerald Down I & II - then go on with the regular serie
Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison
Animal Man by Grant Morrison
Suicide Squand by John Ostender
Wonder Woman: Gods and Mortals
Powers of Shazam!

The early Batman is more:
1. Batman: Year One
2. Batman: Second Chance
3. Batman: Caped crusader vol.1-3 - collects all the early modern age Batman isssue (solo years)
4. Batman: The dark detective vol.1-4 - collection all the early modern age Detective Comcis issues (solo years)
5. Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman...he_Dark_Knight

ps: Read "Swamp Thing" by Alan Moore before "Hellblazer" - John is introduced in Swamp Thing
ps2: I would suggest to read "Swamp Thing" by Len Wein before reading Alan Moore's run.

I was largely going off memory, good call on Grant Morrison's Doom patrol run, forgot about that.

I'm aware of Constantine's Swamp Thing appearance but I was going off runs, I did mention Alan Moore's run.