Recommend Convergence Titles for New Readers

[gimpboy76]

For those of us that just started collecting with the emergence of the New 52, can you veterans help sell us on the titles you are most excited about and why? I understand Len Wein with Swamp Thing for instance since he was the creator but I'm not entirely familiar with these creative teams or even who some of these characters are. Any recommendations are helpful.

[Lexrules]

For those of us that just started collecting with the emergence of the New 52, can you veterans help sell us on the titles you are most excited about and why? I understand Len Wein with Swamp Thing for instance since he was the creator but I'm not entirely familiar with these creative teams or even who some of these characters are. Any recommendations are helpful.

Well first thing you do is find your favorite character. Then look into as much of the history of that character you can find. Read whatever books you can of that character or characters to get yourself knowledgeable to the history of where they came from and the journey they took to where you see them now.

The best way to understand is to read the history of the characters.

[GlennSimpson]

Step 1 - Forget everything that LexRules just said. You shouldn't have to have some deep understanding of the history of a character to enjoy a story.

That said, yes, these are "throwbacks" to earlier versions of the characters, but you should be able to get the idea "This is the Earth 2 heroes in a world where they started out during World War II" - "This is a world where the Justice League is all evil" pretty easily. Maybe a quick spin through Wikipedia based on the description from the solicitations.

I'd say if you like Batman, pick out the ones with versions of Batman in them. That sort of thing.

If you happen to have any writers or artists you really like, obviously get those.

[Lexrules]

Step 1 - Forget everything that LexRules just said. You shouldn't have to have some deep understanding of the history of a character to enjoy a story.

That said, yes, these are "throwbacks" to earlier versions of the characters, but you should be able to get the idea "This is the Earth 2 heroes in a world where they started out during World War II" - "This is a world where the Justice League is all evil" pretty easily. Maybe a quick spin through Wikipedia based on the description from the solicitations.

I'd say if you like Batman, pick out the ones with versions of Batman in them. That sort of thing.

If you happen to have any writers or artists you really like, obviously get those.

So it's wrong to know the history of a character, You're so misguided. Knowledge is power not lack there of. Read as much as you can not discourage them from doing so.

Just terrible. I don't know how you call yourself a comic book fan discouraging someone from reading and discovering for themselves what they like and don't like about a character.

[gimpboy76]

If you happen to have any writers or artists you really like, obviously get those.

Thanks for your comments. Can you sell me on any of the creative teams I should be taking note of, I realize Wolfman writing Teen Titans is significant, as is Wein with Swamp Thing, and Jurgens with Booster Gold. I saw somewhere someone said that the team that wrote Flash Gordon is writing the Shazam book. I guess I'm looking not just for those stories that star my favorite characters, but also those that are significant in someway because it's bringing in the original creator, or a significant artist, something to get me excited for this event.

[GlennSimpson]

Thanks for your comments. Can you sell me on any of the creative teams I should be taking note of, I realize Wolfman writing Teen Titans is significant, as is Wein with Swamp Thing, and Jurgens with Booster Gold. I saw somewhere someone said that the team that wrote Flash Gordon is writing the Shazam book. I guess I'm looking not just for those stories that star my favorite characters, but also those that are significant in someway because it's bringing in the original creator, or a significant artist, something to get me excited for this event.

I think from that point of view I would suggest (in addition to what you've mentioned):

Nightwing and Oracle by Gail Simone
Question by Greg Rucka
Superman by Dan Jurgens
Atom by Tom Peyer
Infinity Inc by Jerry Ordway
Detective Comics by Len Wein
Worlds Finest by Paul Levitz
Adventures of Superman by Marv Wolfman
Hawkman by Tim Truman
Superman: Man of Steel by Louise Simonson

We don't really have as many of the classic artists as we do writers, which is why I focused on writers mostly.

[Lee Stone]

Convergence chacklist:

SUPERMAN
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artist Lee Weeks and Dan Jurgens/Norm Rapmund

THE ATOM
Writer: Tom Peyer
Artist: Steve Yeowell / Andy Owens

BATGIRL
Writer: Alisa Kwitney
Artist: Rick Leonardi and Mark Pennington

NIGHTWING/ORACLE
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Jan Duursema and Dan Parsons

SPEED FORCE
Writer: Tony Bedard
Artist: Tom Grummett and Sean Parsons

TITANS
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Ron Wagner and Jose Marzan

JUSTICE LEAGUE
Writer: Frank Tieri
Artist: Vicente Cifuentes

QUESTION
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Cully Hamner

BATMAN & ROBIN
Writer: Ron Marz
Artist: Denys Cowan and Klaus Janson

HARLEY QUINN
Writer: Steve Pugh
Artist: Phil Winslade and John Dell

SUPERMAN: MAN OF STEEL
Writer: Louise Simonson
Artist: June Brigman and Roy Richardson, with color by John Rauch

BATMAN: SHADOW OF THE BAT
Writer: Larry Hama

Artist: Philip Tan and Jason Paz, with color by Elmer Santos


JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL
Writer: Ron Marz
Artist: Mike Manley, with color by Sotocolor

SUPERGIRL: MATRIX
Writer: Keith Giffen
Artist: Ramon Bachs, with color by Hi-Fi

GREEN LANTERN/PARALLAX
Writer: Tony Bedard
Artist: Ron Wagner and Bill Reinhold, with color by Paul Mounts

CATWOMAN
Writer: Justin Gray

Artist: Ron Randall, with color by Gabe Eltaeb


SUPERBOY
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: Karl Moline and Jose Marzan Jr, with color by Hi-Fi

GREEN ARROW
Writer: Christy Marx

Artist: Rags Morales and Claude St-Aubin, with color by Nei Ruffino


AQUAMAN
Writer: Tony Bedard
Artist: Cliff Richards, with color by John Rauch

SUICIDE SQUAD
Writer: Frank Tieri

Artist: Tom Mandrake, with color by Sian Mandrake


BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS
Writer: Marc Andreyko
Artist: Carlos D’Anda
Colorist: Gabe Eltaeb

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Artists: Roberto Viacava and Andy Owens
Colorist: Sotocolor

WONDER WOMAN
Writer: Larry Hama
Art and Color: Josh Middleton

THE FLASH
Writer: Dan Abnett
Artist: Federico Dallocchio
Colorist: Veronica Gandini

SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES
Writer: Stuart Moore
Artists: Gus Storms and Mark Farmer
Colorist: John Rauch

GREEN LANTERN CORPS
Writer: David Gallaher
Artists: Steve Ellis and Ande Parks
Colorist: Hi-Fi

SWAMP THING
Writer: Len Wein
Artist: Kelley Jones
Colorist: Michelle Madsen

JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Artist: ChrisCross
Colorist: Snakebite Cortez

HAWKMAN
Writer: Jeff Parker
Artists: Tim Truman and Enrique Alcatena
Colorist: John Kalisz

NEW TEEN TITANS
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Artists: Nicola Scott and Marc Deering
Colorist: Jeromy Cox

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
Writer: Dan Abnett
Artists: Tom Derenick and Trevor Scott
Colorist: Monica Kubina

INFINITY INC.
Writer: Jerry Ordway
Artist: Ben Caldwell
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

DETECTIVE COMICS
Writer: Len Wein
Artists: Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz
Colorist: Felix Serrano

ACTION COMICS
Writer: Justin Gray
Artists: Claude St-Aubin and Sean Parsons
Colorist: Lovern Kindzierski

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS
Writer: Paul Levitz
Artists: Jim Fern and Joe Rubinstein with cartoons by Shannon Wheeler
Colorist: Paul Mounts

CRIME SYNDICATE
Writer: Brian Buccellato
Artist: Phil Winslade
Colorist: Lovern Kindzierski

BLUE BEETLE
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Artist: Yishan Li
Colorist: Dave McCaig

PLASTIC MAN AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS
Writer: Simon Oliver
Artist: John McCrea
Colorist: John Kalisz

SHAZAM
Writer: Jeff Parker
Artist: Evan “Doc” Shaner
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

BOOSTER GOLD
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artists: Alvaro Martinez and Raul Fernandez
Colorist: Chris Sotomayor

I would say the most important ones to get will be Booster Gold (because it's the one most likely to tie it all into New52) and New Teen Titans (with Wolfman).

I was surprised that some characters didn't get their own title during the event, namely Lobo, who was a big star for DC in the '90s, and Starman.

[Dark-Flux]

So it's wrong to know the history of a character, You're so misguided. Knowledge is power not lack there of. Read as much as you can not discourage them from doing so.

Just terrible. I don't know how you call yourself a comic book fan discouraging someone from reading and discovering for themselves what they like and don't like about a character.

Glenn never said it was wrong. But its not what TC was asking for. He was asking which of the Convergence titles we would recommend since his knowledge of the DCU springs only from the New 52 and hes therefore not too familiar with some of these creative teams or characters.

I mean by all means yeah, go read a bunch of comics and enjoy 'em, there lots of good stuff. But TC wasnt asking for recommendations of past works. Just opinions on the convergence titles.

[gimpboy76]

I think from that point of view I would suggest (in addition to what you've mentioned):

Nightwing and Oracle by Gail Simone
Question by Greg Rucka
Superman by Dan Jurgens
Atom by Tom Peyer
Infinity Inc by Jerry Ordway
Detective Comics by Len Wein
Worlds Finest by Paul Levitz
Adventures of Superman by Marv Wolfman
Hawkman by Tim Truman
Superman: Man of Steel by Louise Simonson

We don't really have as many of the classic artists as we do writers, which is why I focused on writers mostly.

Thanks for this list, and thanks for the input everyone else. I am more into the writing anyway so this is a good list!

[Lexrules]

Glenn never said it was wrong. But its not what TC was asking for. He was asking which of the Convergence titles we would recommend since his knowledge of the DCU springs only from the New 52 and hes therefore not too familiar with some of these creative teams or characters.

I mean by all means yeah, go read a bunch of comics and enjoy 'em, there lots of good stuff. But TC wasnt asking for recommendations of past works. Just opinions on the convergence titles.

The writer shouldn't matter unless you just read comics for the writer instead of the actual characters. Before someone reads about these characters in Convergence you should know who and what these characters are not who is writing what. Since OP says he or she is a new reader it is best to know who these characters are you are reading about. That is where my suggestion comes in. Read about the characters not who is writing them for this.

[FlashingSabre]

I recommend Speed Force, partly because it needs to sell as many copies as possible so that classic Wally West will be brought back, but mostly because WAlly is one of the most weld developed and enjoyable superheroes around.

[Desh]

EDIT:

Nevermind. I misread something in the opening post and title.

[pynchon1]

If you were going to take a chance on a Batman-related story, I'd try Detective. I've been loosely following the solicits for Convergence, and not a whole lot has been appealing. However, I just noticed that not only is Len Wein writing the book but Bill Sienkiewicz is one of the artists. Perhaps he's only inking, but I'm definitely getting this after just enjoying his Stray Toasters. I absolutely love his art, and I'd love to see more of it in the contemporary marketplace. I'd think Jock and Sorrentino would cite him as an influence...maybe.

[Starchild]

I suggest you check out Plastic Man and the Freedom Fighters, if you want to get familiar with really cool, but obscure characters.

[upgrayedd]

I recommend Speed Force, partly because it needs to sell as many copies as possible so that classic Wally West will be brought back, but mostly because WAlly is one of the most weld developed and enjoyable superheroes around.

pretty much the reason I am buying 10 copies of this book! but yeah, read it and hopefully you will understand why there is such an uproar on this forums about Wally reverting back to a 12 year old.