I havent bought a Marvel Comic since 1996. Whats new with Marvel comics these days?

[paurru]

Seriously I havent bought a comic book not just Marvel but also Image and DC Comics since 1996. I still have old comic books from the 1980s and 1990s up to 1996 where I still have the Spider Man clone saga storyline, Uncanny XMen, Wolverine last issue at 140.

Recently ive bought a couple of the black and white Marvel Essentials to catch up on alot of old Classic XMen, the 1980s Uncanny X Men, and the last two Wolverine Essentials to do alot of catching up.

What's new with Marvel and Image these days besides the Civil War junk?

[resipsaloquitur]

Seriously I havent bought a comic book not just Marvel but also Image and DC Comics since 1996. I still have old comic books from the 1980s and 1990s up to 1996 where I still have the Spider Man clone saga storyline, Uncanny XMen, Wolverine last issue at 140.

Recently ive bought a couple of the black and white Marvel Essentials to catch up on alot of old Classic XMen, the 1980s Uncanny X Men, and the last two Wolverine Essentials to do alot of catching up.

What's new with Marvel and Image these days besides the Civil War junk?

Oh, wow, are you going to be in for some shock.

A lot of the existing, familiar characters you know have been sidelined and replaced with diverse counterparts who are typically a legacy character from the original's past. The Falcon is now Captain America. Jane Foster is now Thor. Wolverine is dead and was replaced with his younger female clone who you've probably never heard of. (There's an old Wolverine running around, but the Wolverine you know is still dead.) The Fantastic Four are gone.

This "diversity replacement" thing is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. (Well, it's probably a good thing.) It's just a thing.

Seriously, if you're just picking up a Marvel comic now, you must be like a guy who's coming out of a 20-year coma. The world will look very different.

[autbey]

This "diversity replacement" thing is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. (Well, it's probably a good thing.) It's just a thing.

If he read the X-Men in the 80s and 90s he shouldn't have a problem with the diversity thing, the X-Men were waaaaaaaay ahead on that front.

[Jabare]

check out the movies.


X-mens all over the place.

I hear Spider-Man's super different.

You are going to need a refresher on a lot.


Cool new characters to check out are Miles Morales and Ms. Marvel.

The former Ms. Marvel is now Captain Marvel.


And basically you are going to need to wikipedia a lot of heroes. Captain America, Falcon, Fantastic Four, Wolverine (there are two now...I think), Hulk, Thor (there are two now), Black Panther etc. etc. Have all been through a lot.


Brian Michael Bendis is kind of a big deal. He wrote Avengers and a ton of Marvel shacking events for a long time. Now I think he's on X-men.


Oh also Luke Cage and Iron Fist are back and popular again you will definitely want to catch up on Luke Cage he has been through a lot too.


And I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton. Which characters died who came back to life. Who died and came back to life etc.

[paurru]

speaking of Captain America and Incredible Hulk. You wanna know how long its been since Ive read them?

the storyline of when Captain America was in danger of being paralyzed. he had to wear that battle armor suit.

Incredible Hulk. Last time i bought an issue was when Hulk turned into Savage human bruce banner when Betsy Ross got killed.

So yeah. 1996 last time I bought comics.

These days its tough to jump back into where Im still trying to find the back issues of stuff I am still missing out on.

what was the last exact issue of Amazing Spider-Man anyway?

[Raye]

There are a lot of legacy characters, but it should be pointed out that in many (though not all) of the cases, the original is still around, sometimes even in the same role as before. So we have 2 Spider-Men, 2 Captain Americas, 2 Thors (sort of), there is even 2 Wolverines, though in that case neither is the original, the old one is the from an alternate timeline. Carol Danvers became Captain Marvel, and a new inhuman named Kamala took on the title of Ms. Marvel. There's even 2 of many of the X-Men, since a little while ago, Beast brought the younger versions of the original X-Men to the present to try and talk some sense into Cyclops, and they subsequently had problems returning them to the past. So 2 Beasts, 2 Icemen, 2 Angels, but only one Cyke and Jean (the time displaced ones) due to the originals being dead.

What happened is that there were a lot of status quo shifts that led to some of these 'replacements'. Cap had his super soldier serum drained away, so passed the mantle on to Falcon, but he was still around in a new role. Thor learned somerhing that caused him to become unworthy, but he is still around, just minus Mjolnir. But those status quos are kind of being returned to normal, (as was likely intended from the start) starting with Steve Rogers becoming Cap again, but he will have have a different shield and costume, and Sam will continue as Captain America as well, with the original shield.

There are also some other status quo shifts that did not lead to them giving up their role, but did change the characters a lot from what you likely know. Peter Parker becoming wildly successful and wealthy. Deadpool is also hugely wealthy and famous in the MU, and now funds the Avengers. Tony Stark on the other hand lost much of his wealth. Magneto is currently in anti-hero mode, though a quite dark one, leading the Uncanny X-Men. The other X-Men are in Limbo (literally) because the Inhumans (who are now much more public) released a cloud of terrigen mist that roams the planet and makes mutants sick, and also transforming random people into inhumans. Cyclops became a villain, and did something horrible (specifics not yet known, it is likely in response to the mist) that made human opinion on mutants sour even more. Loki is an anti-hero now, and is running for president. also, he and Thor discovered they have a long lost sister named Angela. Sabretooth has likewise had a face turn, and is with Magneto's X-Men. Sunspot bought AIM and is using it as as force for good.

[Lucena Soares]

Well, this is gonna be complicated. Just try to read the new #1 that came after Secret Wars. It's called the ANAD Phase and it kinda of a linewide jumping point. Just look for the newest #1s.
Oh boy, you probably never heard about the guy who become the new Hulk. He's made in the 00's. Name's Amadeus Cho and he has a incredible series going on by two of the best Hulk artists and writers, Greg Pak and Frank Cho.

[Tiamatty]

The big difference from when you dropped off is that comics decided to stop being awful. They got really into this whole "awful" phase for a while in the '90s. Luckily, they did eventually decide, "Hey, you know what? This being awful thing kinda sucks. What if we stopped being awful? What if we started being . . . good?"

More seriously, in terms of what's changed: Um, kind of a lot. Not just characters, but even the way the stories are told has changed. Comics, as medium, have grown up, and are more intelligent and mature than they've ever been.

If you're worried about figuring things out, well, that's what recap pages are for. Honestly, for as much as people make a big deal about characters being replaced, that's something that's always happened. If you could handle Jim Rhodes as Iron Man, you can handle Jane Foster as Thor, or Sam Wilson as Captain America. The '80s was a time with tons of changes always going on, and you were presumably able to cope. So just go in with the same mindset you had when all that was going on in the '80s, read the recap pages, read Wikis and the like if you have to, and you'll be fine.

As for Image, that's even easier: Forget everything Image was in 1996. All of it. Only a couple of the comics are still around. At this point, it's just a whole bunch of creator-owned comics, most of them critically acclaimed. If you want to get back into Image, just take a look at what they have and see if anything appeals to your tastes. (Actually, rhe same advice applies to Marvel. What are you looking for? They've probably got something you'll dig.)

[dragonmp93]

speaking of Captain America and Incredible Hulk. You wanna know how long its been since Ive read them?

the storyline of when Captain America was in danger of being paralyzed. he had to wear that battle armor suit.

Incredible Hulk. Last time i bought an issue was when Hulk turned into Savage human bruce banner when Betsy Ross got killed.

So yeah. 1996 last time I bought comics.

These days its tough to jump back into where Im still trying to find the back issues of stuff I am still missing out on.

what was the last exact issue of Amazing Spider-Man anyway?

Well, there two Captain America, Steve and Falcon. And Bucky also had the shield for a while too.

The current Hulk is Amadeus Cho, no idea what happened with Bruce.

Spider-man is a rich CEO because of what Doctor Octopus did with his body in Superior Spider-man; also he sold his marriage to Mephisto in One More Day to save his totally-okay-with-dying Aunt May; also that Spidey and JJ Jameson are now step-cousins.

[paurru]

Well its tough. I just dont know where to jump back in for the newer stuff for either Marvel or even Image Comics.

Im still stuck in where I last left off in 1996 for comic books. Havent bought an issue of Wolverine since issue #100. That's how long its been

[Raye]

Oh, right, I forgot about Hulk. Yeah, Cho absorbed the gamma radiation in Bruce, so Bruce is just... normal. it seems as if he is working for SHIELD in some capacity, but we don't know much about that yet.

As for jumping in, you picked picked a good time to do it, really. Yeah, a lot has changed, but Marvel just relaunched everything, and though everything is different from the 90's, all the #1's are very accessible to a new or returning reader. I know a lot of these changes probably seem pretty daunting, but they really do a god job of keeping things easy to get into.

[dragonmp93]

Well its tough. I just dont know where to jump back in for the newer stuff for either Marvel or even Image Comics.

Im still stuck in where I last left off in 1996 for comic books. Havent bought an issue of Wolverine since issue #100. That's how long its been

Well, if you wanna start to reading the current stuff, you can start reading the #1's of All New All Different Marvel.

[Tiamatty]

Well its tough. I just dont know where to jump back in for the newer stuff for either Marvel or even Image Comics.

Im still stuck in where I last left off in 1996 for comic books. Havent bought an issue of Wolverine since issue #100. That's how long its been

With Image, like I said, it is incredibly easy. Whatever looks interesting. Every Image series is entirely self-contained.

For Wolverine, All-New Wolverine is awesome and I highly recommend it. Beyond that, same thing, figure out what kind of story you want to read, and it's probably around. You want a teen hero? Ms. Marvel is the best teen hero title Marvel has ever put out. You want an X-title with a classic feel? All-New X-Men's got a great New Mutants vibe, or X-Men '92 is based on the '90s comics and cartoon. Whatever you want, people can recommend something for you.

[Slicknickshady]

The Marvel Wikia helps. But this guy sounds like a collector and want's to get all the back issues he's missed. So that will likely take a while.

[resipsaloquitur]

Well its tough. I just dont know where to jump back in for the newer stuff for either Marvel or even Image Comics.

Im still stuck in where I last left off in 1996 for comic books. Havent bought an issue of Wolverine since issue #100. That's how long its been

What exactly do you want to get back into? Marvel's gotten very new-reader friendly with its frequent renumbering. Basically, if you're starting with a #1, you shouldn't be that confused, because they're not trying to ride on all the prior continuity in every case.