NEW TO COMICS!!!! Having a little trouble getting started

[Ascended]

Ok here's what you do. I started with the New 52 after having gone over 15 years without reading DC at all. It was an awesome place to start and you didn't have to know tons of backstory to enjoy it.

THEN, once you start really liking a title or character in the New 52, you'll start to get naturally curious about other pre-New 52 stories that took place. Then you can pick and choose old issues and stories to check out at your leisure.

This. Best thing to do is jump in head first, and if you need some background info, just check wikipedia. I find that they often have surprisingly good articles on comics.

So, first thing you should know is that DC continuity is an ever-shifting landscape and not something to worry too much about. Read what you enjoy and don't put too much thought into getting stuff that "matters" or "connects" with other stuff. As you go along and learn more, things will put themselves together.

And, in some cases, a new creative team will come on a book that keeps its continuity, but they'll take it in a completely different direction to the point it might as well be a brand new version of the character, despite the fact that the previous stuff "still happened".

I'd suggest picking a few characters you're interested in, and then starting with the New52's first issues. As you go along and figure out what you like, you can then work backwards and find the "greatest hits" to broaden your horizons. If you're interested in Batman, try Scott Snyder's Batman #1 from the New52 (Batman has several books going at a time, but that's the main one). Likewise, if you're curious about Superman, try Grant Morrison's Action Comics #1 from the New52. Most everyone else only has one book a piece, so figuring out where to start wont be hard.

As for Infinite Crisis....that's a story from the previous continuity and has no bearing on what's happening now. It was a big, line-wide Event that brought in tons of characters and built off tons of stuff that had been going on for ages (in some cases as much as 25 years or so). I dont think I'd recommend it for a beginner. However, if you're curious about that, you should start with a miniseries called "Identity Crisis" by Meltzer. It uses a lot of characters from across the DCU, most of whom you won't recognize. But it's a character focused story and might be a good way to get your feet wet with these big Events, and what happens in that story leads to Infinite Crisis so if you do end up checking it out you'll have a little more understanding of where things are at. A word of warning however; that story (Identity Crisis) is fairly polarizing. Some love it, some hate it, and it does delve into some pretty grotesque, adult material. If you're on the younger side you might want to skip it.

[Nero286]

Thank You all for helping me out and after some research by myself and using the advice given here, I have decided to start with a few characters from the new 52, namely - Aquaman, Deathstroke, Batman(The Scott Snyder one) and will move onto other characters as I progress.

While I was researching, I came across a few as being listed under the BEST DC comics, like Identity Crisis (which has already been mentioned here by Ascended), Flashpoint, Injustice:Gods Among Us.
So I was wondering if these are stand-alone comics or whether I should read something before staring them and when I say "them", I mean -
Flashpoint
Injustice:Gods Among Us
Knightfall and its series
Could someone suggest a few good story arcs aside from these??

How good it the first volume of batman consisting of around 700 chapters and the Hellblazer series, in terms of art style and story as compared to its new 52 reboot versions??

And I also came across Vertigo.
Could someone suggest a couple of its good story/interesting/mystery oriented publications??

[ShrimpNipples]

The real question is after REBIRTH, which origin story will be canon?

Well, technically, everything is canon unless its an Elseworld story. Elseworld stories are the stories that were published but an alternate universe that really has no point of continuity in any of the stories (like there's one where Bruce Wayne's parents become Batman and The Joker...) and those are marked "Elseworld" so you'll know and you can look into those online if you wanna read them. (They're really not all that great but there're some that're pretty good, from what I've heard)

But the reason why I say everything is canon is because of the multiverse and different Earths.... but I'm pretty sure the New52 (this is all info I've picked up online, I'm not 100% sure about all this but I'm about 80% sure) has it's own different Earths and different stuff.

[ShrimpNipples]

Thank You all for helping me out and after some research by myself and using the advice given here, I have decided to start with a few characters from the new 52, namely - Aquaman, Deathstroke, Batman(The Scott Snyder one) and will move onto other characters as I progress.

While I was researching, I came across a few as being listed under the BEST DC comics, like Identity Crisis (which has already been mentioned here by Ascended), Flashpoint, Injustice:Gods Among Us.
So I was wondering if these are stand-alone comics or whether I should read something before staring them and when I say "them", I mean -
Flashpoint
Injustice:Gods Among Us
Knightfall and its series
Could someone suggest a few good story arcs aside from these??

How good it the first volume of batman consisting of around 700 chapters and the Hellblazer series, in terms of art style and story as compared to its new 52 reboot versions??

And I also came across Vertigo.
Could someone suggest a couple of its good story/interesting/mystery oriented publications??

Honestly, if it were me, and I'm planning on doing this before as well, but I'm reading through a lot of the older stuff and pre-New52 stuff, and I'd read some stuff leading up to Flashpoint. I wouldn't just jump right into Flashpoint, it's basically the crossover event that "ended" the pre-New52 universe. So reading that, you'll basically be reading the ending of all the previous stuff. Batman: Knightfall is supposed to be good but I personally am going through other Batman stuff so I'm familiar with the villains and other Bat-family. Also, I'm reading through other superheroes so I can read all of their events and stories that interest me personally so that way I'm introduced to the characters first. But that's just me and what I'd do.

It's all up to you, really. If you wanna read from Flashpoint without any previous information, be my guest, but you will probably end up confused or missing some key things (like which Robin is current, which Flash is current, etc...)

But the most important thing about DC comics is you can jump into most graphic novels/stories and start reading them to get it. You have to find something you like and have fun with it, honestly.

[Ascended]

Thank You all for helping me out and after some research by myself and using the advice given here, I have decided to start with a few characters from the new 52, namely - Aquaman, Deathstroke, Batman(The Scott Snyder one) and will move onto other characters as I progress.

While I was researching, I came across a few as being listed under the BEST DC comics, like Identity Crisis (which has already been mentioned here by Ascended), Flashpoint, Injustice:Gods Among Us.
So I was wondering if these are stand-alone comics or whether I should read something before staring them and when I say "them", I mean -
Flashpoint
Injustice:Gods Among Us
Knightfall and its series
Could someone suggest a few good story arcs aside from these??

How good it the first volume of batman consisting of around 700 chapters and the Hellblazer series, in terms of art style and story as compared to its new 52 reboot versions??

And I also came across Vertigo.
Could someone suggest a couple of its good story/interesting/mystery oriented publications??

Hard to go wrong with just about anything Vertigo. But Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, and a more recent miniseries from a couple years back called The Royals are among my favorites. But really, nearly anything Vertigo is going to be at least decent to downright amazing.

Aquaman's best showings in the modern era are, to my mind, the current series. But I was also a big fan of Peter David's Aquaman run from the early 90's. That introduced a version of the character with a sharper edge, a beard, and long hair. If you think Jason Mamoa looks awesome as Aquaman (just Google "Aquaman Unite The Seven/Batman v Superman" if you havent seen the images from the movie yet) then David's run is really worth checking out.

Batman has a list of great stories longer than my arm. I'd check out Long Halloween, Year One, and Dark Knight Returns.

Deathstroke....most of his best showings have been in the pages of Teen Titans, so I dunno if that's what you want or not.

As for big Events, if you want to jump into the deep end, might as well go all out with the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, from 1985. Final Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Identity Crisis, Blackest Night....they're all huge stories with huge casts and you're gonna be confused as hell but have fun at the same time.

[ed2962]

And I also came across Vertigo.
Could someone suggest a couple of its good story/interesting/mystery oriented publications??

I'm not sure if you mean mystery as in horror/fantasy or mystery as in crime? But Sandman has a big fan base. On more the crime side there's 100 Bullets. I can think of more titles in general but I'm trying to keep it to DC stuff and no go to far off into indie titles. Plus there's many Vertigo comics that blend genres...

[Jim Kelly]

Why do people getting into comics only ask what titles they should read or for background on the characters and the continuity? Why don't they ask more fundamental questions about comics. Like what do you look at first the art or the text? And do you read the captions before the dialogue or after? For that matter, should one read strictly left to right and down or exactly which way should you look at the panels on the page?

I was a little kid when I started readling comics, but these were the kinds of questions I had and nobody could answer them for me. I wish there had been a resource like this that I could have consulted back in those prehistoric times. Sometimes the layouts for comics still throw me off. And I wonder to myself, am I reading these comics the right way or have I been doing it wrong all these years?

I think the more fundamental questions about how to read comics are much more interesting and more worthwhile in answering. At least I'd like to see people take a stab at answering those basic questions about comics.

[Lee Stone]

My recommendations:

Swamp Thing by Alan Moore
Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman
Shade the Changing Man by Peter Milligan
Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison
Death: The High Cost of Living by Neil Gaiman
Seven Soldiers of Victory by Grant Morrison
Watchmen by Alan Moore

And I also came across Vertigo.
Could someone suggest a couple of its good story/interesting/mystery oriented publications??

Most of the ones I listed above are from Vertigo.
Another title you may be interested in is Sandman Mystery Theatre by Matt Wagner. It's a mystery series featuring a pulp hero (dressed in a trenchcoat and gasmask) in the 1930s. The art, mostly by Guy Davis, was also very fitting for the series. To me it was reminiscent of the period piece mysteries from the PBS Mystery! series.

(A side note: if you do check out Sandman Mystery Theatre and like it, I would also recommend any of the "Year One" series that Wagner has done for the pulp heroes over at Dynamite. Very similar in feel.)

[DrewHLMW]

DC will be doing a Rebirth event which starts on 25th May with DC Rebirth #1, so that is probably your very best starting point if you want to go in fresh.

so if you have any favourite characters, writers or artists just jump into anything they have done because the old stories wether they are still in continuity or not are still good and worth reading. you can worry about continuity later after Rebirth.

[Ascended]

My recommendations:

Swamp Thing by Alan Moore
Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman
Shade the Changing Man by Peter Milligan
Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison
Death: The High Cost of Living by Neil Gaiman
Seven Soldiers of Victory by Grant Morrison
Watchmen by Alan Moore



Most of the ones I listed above are from Vertigo.
Another title you may be interested in is Sandman Mystery Theatre by Matt Wagner. It's a mystery series featuring a pulp hero (dressed in a trenchcoat and gasmask) in the 1930s. The art, mostly by Guy Davis, was also very fitting for the series. To me it was reminiscent of the period piece mysteries from the PBS Mystery! series.

(A side note: if you do check out Sandman Mystery Theatre and like it, I would also recommend any of the "Year One" series that Wagner has done for the pulp heroes over at Dynamite. Very similar in feel.)

Jeez man, you have him reading all this and nothing else is ever going to impress him!

I thought we brought the new kids in easy, a classic at a time, so all the rest of it doesnt look as bad by comparison.

[Lee Stone]

Jeez man, you have him reading all this and nothing else is ever going to impress him!

I thought we brought the new kids in easy, a classic at a time, so all the rest of it doesnt look as bad by comparison.

Lol!
Y'know... I actually thought that same thing after I posted my list.

[Ascended]

Lol!
Y'know... I actually thought that same thing after I posted my list.

You're the reason we can't have new fans, ya bastich!

[Batmaniac]

1. For the most part, The New 52 was a clean slate, so all you'd be missing out on is the non-canon stories of old. But since The New 52 was a reboot, it's an ideal jumping on point for new readers. Later on, if you have a deeper investment in the characters and the DC Universe, check out the older stuff.

2. A couple of titles I'd recommend would be Batman, Wonder Woman and Justice League. You can start at #1 by buying the trade paperback collections from Vol 1 all the way up to your hearts content.

3. I wouldn't worry about any of that right now. Start with the basics.

Hope that helps.

[Darrin Kelley]

What I'm going to say is controversial. But it is also well thought out.

Seeing as you are a beginner to comics. I would suggest you start with comics from smaller companies.

Marvel and DC both have a huge buy-in investment to even get started. To even get a basic familiarity with the characters and their histories.

Smaller companies don't put out anywhere near the same amount of books as the big guys. And those indie books tend to be much more self-contained and easy to jump on board with.

[Carabas]

What I'm going to say is controversial. But it is also well thought out.

Seeing as you are a beginner to comics. I would suggest you start with comics from smaller companies.

Marvel and DC both have a huge buy-in investment to even get started. To even get a basic familiarity with the characters and their histories.

Smaller companies don't put out anywhere near the same amount of books as the big guys. And those indie books tend to be much more self-contained and easy to jump on board with.

This is excellent advice...

You get a lot more genre variety outside of DC/Marvel too.