Where/How Exactly Should I Start Learning About The Marvel Universe?

[JKtheMac]

Rather than spend money on encyclopaedias maybe listen to a few of the excellent Comic Geek Speak podcast spotlights where they go into great detail about the development of key characters run by run.

Give their great Fantastic Four spotlight series a listen and see what you think. Here are the Silver Age links:

Spotlight on the Fantastic Four in the Silver Age Part One

Spotlight on the Fantastic Four in the Silver Age Part Two

That is over four hours of chat and information to guide you through an unparalleled era of MU world building.

[Alan2099]

Read the original 1980s Secret Wars series. While it's a bit dates, it'll expose you to many of marvels primary characters and how they relate to each other.

[Vanch]

Rather than spend money on encyclopaedias maybe listen to a few of the excellent Comic Geek Speak podcast spotlights where they go into great detail about the development of key characters run by run.

Give their great Fantastic Four spotlight series a listen and see what you think. Here are the Silver Age links:

Spotlight on the Fantastic Four in the Silver Age Part One

Spotlight on the Fantastic Four in the Silver Age Part Two

That is over four hours of chat and information to guide you through an unparalleled era of MU world building.

I've bookmarked those links and will get around to them eventually, thank you. I should've mentioned, I'm primarily looking for some 'toilet reading' material at the moment, haha.

[Arsenal]

I'm 30 years old and have been a Marvel fan since I was a child. I've always been extremely interested in all of the different aspects of the Marvel Universe, whether it be the inhabitants, the areas, the powers & abilities etc. I've watched every single Marvel movie that has been released in the past 20 years, and would really love to further my knowledge on the Marvel Universe. I'm always reading the Marvel wiki as well.

Unfortunately, even though I say I am a 'fan', I have not read a single Marvel comic book. I would love to get into reading the comics, and to learn as much as I can about the Marvel Universe & its inhabitants, although I have absolutely no idea where to start. I guess the best thing would be to go back to the VERY FIRST Marvel comic book and work my way from there, although I can't see this as being a viable option considering how much all of the comics cost, especially the older ones.

I did find this book on Amazon, and wondered if you guys would suggest getting this in order to start me off? - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Marvel-Abso.../dp/1465452621

Other than this, is there any other starting point you could recommend so that I can learn as much as possible about the Marvel Universe? Considering the vast amount of information out there, I'm not quite sure what my best option would be, so I would really appreciate some advice from you guys.

Thank you very much.

A subscription to Marvel Unlimited (if you have a smart phone or tablet) is probably your best bet (especially if you wanna read some of the older stuff which can be pretty hit or miss imho).

It doesn't have everything (yet), but there's still plenty of material to read from.

[Gaastra]

Marvel firsts 1960s vol 1--nice book with tons of first stories. Great start out book

https://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Firsts...=marvel+firsts

Marvels-history of marvel in four issues from the eyes of a average guy who lives in it!

https://www.amazon.com/Marvels-Kurt-...ywords=marvels

Daredevil man without fear--nice start for daredevil.

https://www.amazon.com/Daredevil-Wit...il+man+without

avengers earths mightiest heroes marvel epic collection-Early avengers. I recommend all the epic collections. Cheap way to buy classic marvel stories and looks great on your shelf. 14 to 20 issues a book!

https://www.amazon.com/Avengers-Epic...ction+avengers

avengers under siege--no other reason then it's a great avengers story.

https://www.amazon.com/Avengers-Epic...avengers+under

If you want something newer try runaways. Great book.

https://www.amazon.com/Runaways-Comp...arvel+runaways

[Ascended]

These suggestions are all pretty good.

For myself, I have only three bits of advice; find a character you think looks interesting and just jump in. Don't worry about the wider MU, that'll come in time. You might not understand who everyone in a book is, but that's how we used to do it before the Web and half the fun was finding out who these people were and expanding our reading base from that initial title/character.

Secondly, wikipedia is your friend. Many of the more popular characters, and even many of the lesser known ones, have extensive, highly detailed wikis that will not only give you a summary of the character's publication history, but also lists of where to find their best stories. Plus, it's free.

Thirdly, when you do settle on a character you want to pursue, find their most current title and start there. There will be fewer back issues to hunt down and each re-launch is meant to be a jumping on point for new readers. It's honestly the cleanest way to get into the hobby. So if you're into Iron Man (just an example), start with the newest Iron Man title. It might not be the best title Tony Stark has ever had, but it'll be easier for you to get into the groove and you can backtrack your way into his previous titles from there.