New to Comics! help please.

[dcfreak95]

Okay so i really want to get into comics more since the new 52 relaunch and i am currently collecting Batman, Justice league, The Suicide Squad & Red hood and the Outlaws. i love them all but wanted to increase the amount that i should collect i want 3 new titles to collect and was wondering if you guys have any suggestions. Only the new 52 please as things may get complicated

I think i prefer books that focus on a groups but heard that teen titans is awful from the guy who works at my comic book store.

Do you guys have any suggestions on what are the best comics to get?, also i only collect the trade paperbacks if that makes a difference.

Also are justice league dark, Birds of Prey or JLA any good Thanks

[Dolores - The Worst Poster Ever]

I also think Teen Titans is awful, but if you're enjoying Suicide Squad, & Red hood and the Outlaws, I think you might enjoy Teen Titans, even though it's different tonally.

The three comics I'd recommended are:

Action Comics - Other than a few issues in-between Morrison's run and the Pak/Kuder run, Action Comics has been great. Go ahead and get every volume except for this one, this is the weak point of the series and is best avoided. There's also a crossover called Doomed, which has its moments and isn't all bad, and I think you might enjoy it, so instead of getting volume 6 of Action Comics, you should get the Doomed hardcover which collects the entire event.

The Omega Men - The best team book DC is putting out right now.

All Star Section 8 - the second best team book DC is putting out right now.

I'd also recommend Batgirl, starting with The Batgirl of Burnside, Gotham Academy, Grayson, Black Canary, Midnighter, Secret Six, Dial H, and Catwoman starting with Keeper of the Castle. Some of these don't have trades available yet, since they are quite new, and that includes The Omega Men & All Star Section 8.

Secret Six is obviously a team book, and Gotham Academy, and to a lesser extent, Black Canary, could be considered to be group books.

By JLA, if you mean the original New 52 series, I thought it was decent, but nothing special. The new series by Bryan Hitch has been disappointing.

I haven't read enough of Justice League Dark or Birds of Prey to be of any real help, but from what I did read, I wouldn't recommend either title.

[joybeans]

Omega Men and Secret Six are probably the best team books out right now, though they're fairly new and haven't been collected into trades yet. I do recommend checking out Justice League 3000, which is a parody that focuses on future versions of the Justice League. You should also check out Demon Knights, which follows a group of mismatched adventurers in a fantasy setting.

Otherwise, check out Grayson, the first six volumes of Wonder Woman, Vols 4-6 of Green Arrow, and Volumes 4-5 of Red Lanterns (which is kind of a team-up book).

[greenish lantern]

JLD isn't very good, it has 2 alright story arcs, but then it gets worse.
If you like horror/fantasy, Swamp Thing and Animal man are great from start to finish (about 5 volumes each),
The first 5 wonder woman titles were amazing, and Grayson is one of the best current titles (after you've read Forever Evil).
Team books... I think Justice League might be the only good one. The pre-new 52 Secret Six is great, the new one isn't.
Batman and Robin is a team book (a team of two?), vols 1, 3 and 4 are great, as is Batman INC.
If you're interested in the newest (and best Robin), you should check out Morrison's Batman run which begins pre new 52 and continues in the new 52 (you'll find a reading list somewhere). It changed a lot in the Batman mythos, and is considered as one of the best runs. If you only want to read New 52 titles you can just pick up 1 Batman InC deluxe edition and continue with the new 52 Batman inc volumes.

[Danileriver23]

I'm relatively new to DC as well, so I will definitely be keeping an eye on this.

That being said, if you're going for a team book I'd suggest omega men. It's very non-traditional but fresh, if a little strange and hard to follow at time, but overall a good read.

However, if you want a really exceptional book, I would suggest martian manhunter. That book is phenomenal and fresh and you don't need to know anything about the character to get into it (I only had peripheral knowledge from the JL cartoon and this is one of my favorite books, marvel or dc!)

[Danileriver23]

Oh, and We are robin is good too, though, I'd suggest reading batman: zero year and batman:endgame first but its not mandatory.

[dcfreak95]

Okay thanks guys so can someone explain Futures End, Convergence and Forever Evil to me, i want to collect them and an wondering if i need to have read anything else to get the full story, also whats all this stuff about earth 2 and 3. Thanks sorry if that's a stupid question. Damn comics are hard to get into but they are so good haha.

I think i am gonna get Martian Manhunter, Secret six and maybe Wonder woman. Does Wonder woman include all of the Greek gods and Olympus and all that good stuff i love the idea of Greek mythologies so if wonder woman goes into all of that i will definitely start collecting that.

[greenish lantern]

Ignore Futures end, it's really bad, Convergence was mostly for old fans, so you can ignore that one as well. Forever Evil is just a story arc in the main Justice League run, if you read JL, you'll get there (it's after Trinity war).
There is no new 52 Martian Manhunter TPBs yet, so you'll have to wait a while.
Wonder Woman has all those Greek Gods, so if you like that mythology, you'll probably love the first (pretty long) run by Azarello.

[joybeans]

The first six volumes of Wonder Woman revolve around a power struggle between Greek gods, with Wonder Woman trying to protect those caught in the crossfire.

[dcfreak95]

Ignore Futures end, it's really bad, Convergence was mostly for old fans, so you can ignore that one as well. Forever Evil is just a story arc in the main Justice League run, if you read JL, you'll get there (it's after Trinity war).
There is no new 52 Martian Manhunter TPBs yet, so you'll have to wait a while.
Wonder Woman has all those Greek Gods, so if you like that mythology, you'll probably love the first (pretty long) run by Azarello.

Okay so i am gonna get Wonder Woman & Martian Man-hunter (When they come out). So what exactly is Futures End as i have read reviews on amazon and they all seemed to love it. does anything related to futures end really impact any other books are is it in another realty or something.

I just finished trinity war and i really liked it.

Also there is a separate paperback called Forever Evil is that worth getting even if i am collecting the justice league.

[joybeans]

Forever Evil is the event that Trinity War leads to. It's a separate story that runs parallel to the Justice League: Forever Heroes trade.

Futures End was a 48-issue weekly series that takes place 5 years from now. Batman Beyond comes from a farther future, lands in the "5 years from now" future, and tries to prevent things from getting worse. It's irrelevant to the rest of the DCU.

[dcfreak95]

Forever Evil is the event that Trinity War leads to. It's a separate story that runs parallel to the Justice League: Forever Heroes trade.

Futures End was a 48-issue weekly series that takes place 5 years from now. Batman Beyond comes from a farther future, lands in the "5 years from now" future, and tries to prevent things from getting worse. It's irrelevant to the rest of the DCU.

ahh okay thanks i get it now

[CoffeeCup]

Okay thanks guys so can someone explain Futures End, Convergence and Forever Evil to me, i want to collect them and an wondering if i need to have read anything else to get the full story, also whats all this stuff about earth 2 and 3. Thanks sorry if that's a stupid question. Damn comics are hard to get into but they are so good haha.

I think i am gonna get Martian Manhunter, Secret six and maybe Wonder woman. Does Wonder woman include all of the Greek gods and Olympus and all that good stuff i love the idea of Greek mythologies so if wonder woman goes into all of that i will definitely start collecting that.

Futures End - a look 5 years into the future of the DC universe. However, since you are new, don't believe this is a 'set' future. We will never actually catch up to this timeline in monthly comics. It was ok, a lot of pointless side stories, but the main story was pretty good. Batman Beyond continues this story. Most likely this future will be changed or just disregarded eventually.

Convergence - as the guy above me said. For older fans. Basically, all the past universes / timelines 'converge" for one final fight. Not really important to anything going on these days. Just to help you understand better. The New 52 is a new timeline/universe. It was a reboot of the old universe that ran from like 1985 -2011 (dates could be wrong, but close enough). Some of the back stories are very similar to the previous timeline, but others are completely changed. Pretty much a modernization of the DC universe.

Forever Evil - is a EVENT that came out of the main justice league title you are reading. If you are reading it, you will eventually get to the Trinity War. If fits in right after that.

As for what Earth 2, 3 and so on are. There are 52 earths (universes) in DC comics. However, 99% of the New 52 comics focuses on Earth 0 (main earth), but there is an ongoing Earth 2 comic (basically just an alternative take on characters) Earth 3 (backwards world - basically good guys are bad and bad guys are good) is a huge part of forever evil. The other 49 or so are rarely touched on within the main story lines but it might pop up from time to time. Grant Morrison's Multiversity can help you with this alittle. Just understand that the other worlds typically play very little importance to the Main earth 0.

Recommendations: (I am only recommending DC - New 52 or later titles)

Justice League of America - only ran about 14 issues or so, but it was the sister title to Justice League. To understand the Trinity War, you'll need to pickup this title also, or there is one large Trinity War collection that was JL, JLA, JL Dark and the other side issues collected as well.

Detective Comics - What Batman is doing with the rest of his time.
Batman and Robin - title says it all
Grayson - Dick Grayson (former Nightwing; 1st Robin) - super secret spy
Red Hood/Arsenal - follows up Red Hood and the Outlaws
Gotham Academy - Mixes Gotham and Harry Porter
Deathstroke - the most recent version - by Tony Daniels
Aquaman by Geoff Johns
Batman Eternal - you said you liked books that focused on groups. This is a huge Batman story that pulls the whole bat family together.


The best recommendation I can give you though, comic opinions vary just as much, if not more than, opinions about movies, music, books, and art. What I like you might hate. So don't go run out and by a bunch of comics because someone told you it was great. I wasted a lot of money on comics I hated because someone recommended it.

If you have a tablet (computer will work as well) download the comixology app. Buy a few #1 issues (.99 cents - 1.99 cents) for comics you might be interested in to see how they fit, before you spend $15 - $20 bucks on the collection.

[JackDaw]

Always worth thinking about reading a reasonable amount of old stuff, rather than concentrating purely on stuff coming out now.

Like current Suicide Squad? Then we'll worth thinking about buying copies of original John Ostrander run...probably available cheaper than current comic...and much better than present Suicide Squad. (Better than 99 percent of current comics.)

Lots of good old series that can be got at darn good prices via eBay and elsewhere.

[lorddominicus85]

Swamp Thing and Animal are definitely must have if you're collecting New 52 only DC books. Swamp Thing imo was awesome from start to finish both writing and artistically and you really don't need much knowledge of the previous continuity to get into it as the first arc establishes a brand new status quo.

Animal man is a very different take on the super hero trope that I love, I haven't gotten past the first volume of it yet but it was very good.

Both of those are out in trade and waiting to be collected.

If you like team books and you want to get in on the ground level on one of the newer ones, Green Lantern Lost Army has been very good. Issue one starts the characters off in the same place as the reader, no one has any idea what's going on and their discovering things at the same time as we are reading them. Very little background is needed as the writer does a good job at filling in the need to know things through dialogue.

Martian Manhunter as others have said but I'd also highly recommend Gotham at Midnight, the first trade for that I think is out or coming out, that has been an awesome horror book that takes place in the DC universe.

And one of my personal favorite books at the moment is Sinestro. It's a very interesting change of pace as it's a book that focuses on a villain and there is no attempt to make him anything but the villain he's always been since his creation. He's not an anti hero, he isn't doing things that have a seeming justifiable reason, he's a super villain looking to impose his will on the universe and it's been an awesome ride so far. Definitely worth getting.