Mr.Duck on 30/5/2010 at 22:05
I consider myself a reasonably strong fan of comics in general from all across the world, and all sorts of genres (indie, real life, superhero, etc), but due to Mexico's limited entry for foreign comics (compared to what I know we're missing it's quite a lot...) I tend to go to the few comicbook shops that actually have a decent stock, that or order via Amazon.
This has limited me much in my desire to follow a certain character or comic due to said limitations, yet I've come to the conclusion that in this time and age, there's nothing some bucks and some Internet can't do to help me, so with this in mind, I wanted to ask:
If I wanted to follow a certain comicbook, or a certain character, lets say, as an example,....Spider-Man, from what issue should I have to begin reading? (i.e. what's the last origin story, or reboot, that is canon that I can follow). I don't mind if it's 20 - 30 years old (surely a character such as Spider-Man has had several reboots over said period of time, neh?). Mind you, normal Spidey, not Ultimate Spidey.
And another Q would be: how could I get all those past issues?, I do recall there being big tomes that collected a lot of issues (yearly, if memory serves). Anyway I could get by Amazon or somesuch page said books delivered to Mexico so I could start up and reach the current state of affairs of Spidey's life?
Again, Spider-Man's an example, but a valid one. And yes, I know such a famous character as he can have 2 or 3 lines of comicbooks (explain differences and which one should I follow).
Yes, miniseries too, plz. And specials. And graphic novels.
So, may the comicbook gurus of TTLG enlighten me.
One last note: I'm not asking for an opinion of the comic's value (i.e. I don't want to know if X or Y comic is great or sucks, I just want to know where to begin, what to follow and where can I get it).
I'll mention later on which characters/comicbooks I'm interested in following.
(I just don't like to arrive at the middle of the party...).
Thanks :)
Brazilian Taffer on 31/5/2010 at 07:32
Quote Posted by MrDuck
I consider myself a reasonably strong fan of comics in general from all across the world, and all sorts of genres (indie, real life, superhero, etc), but due to Mexico's limited entry for foreign comics (compared to what I know we're missing it's quite a lot...) I tend to go to the few comicbook shops that actually have a decent stock, that or order via Amazon.
Yep. On Brazil we have the same trouble. The comic books here are a mess...
Quote Posted by MrDuck
And another Q would be: how could I get all those past issues?, I do recall there being big tomes that collected a lot of issues (yearly, if memory serves). Anyway I could get by Amazon or somesuch page said books delivered to Mexico so I could start up and reach the current state of affairs of Spidey's life?
Well, you can expect those comic books from 20-30 years ago coming from like $1000
each unless they are re-prints. It
is quite hard to start from the
beggining. And there's the 'age' stuff. For example, I dislike the Bronze and the Golden age. You should do a in-depth search before buying comics
en force. But well, old comics are generally pretty rare to come by, as a good chunk of 'em has been discontinued.
There are, reprint tomes, but they are generally way too messy, as instead of being 'Spiderman 1-10 issues' they are normally Spiderman stories with the same
theme. But yeah, I guess, that if you find some for sale, they will be probly expensive in auction sites. I don't remember anything yearly.
Quote Posted by MrDuck
Again, Spider-Man's an example, but a valid one. And yes, I know such a famous character as he can have 2 or 3 lines of comicbooks (explain differences and which one should I follow).
Well, sincerely, a comic book is separated by
periods. Taking Spiderman for example. He began in a completely pulpish way. Venom (antagonist, not clothing) would never been possible back then. But he passed throught various changes during his publishing. You just gotta find those periods and identify those you like. Normally, there are very little differences between the lines that are being published at the same time, though mini series and graphic novels tend to have a more specific public.
Amazing Fantasy #15 - He appeared here before he gained his own series. His history is later revamped, so it is only for the nostalgic/completist.
The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol 1 = 1-441) (Vol 2 = 0-58) (Vol 3? = 500+) Right. It already starts messy, eh? Because of a revamp in the history by Byrne it 'zero'ed'. The original, mainline, comic. It passed through a lot of transformations during the 'ages', so it's a bit hard to judge. As I said, try finding a 'period' you like.
Marvel Team-Up (150) Spiderman teaming up with someone else. Stories are a bit shallow.
Web of Spider-Man (129) Replaced Marvel Team-Up. It's hard to judge it, as it had no permanent creative team, varying heavily in quality.
And remember, there is normally not a clear, flowing story. You can, for instance, read the beggining, skip like 50 comics, read the next one without losing a thing.
Spider-Man: Chapter One (13) is a revamp by Byrne. It caused the messy numbering. You should start here.
Those are just examples. His bibliography is just waaaaaaay too huge. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliography_of_Spider-Man_titles) Here is a link to a somewhat incomplete bibliography.
But if I was buying it, I would buy the start, search for continuity in the mainline series and buy them, following the story but not ignoring the stories that does not contibrute to the
'storyline'.
Good Hunting!
Fafhrd on 1/6/2010 at 04:33
Those are both questions that are basically impossible to answer without knowing exactly which characters you're looking to start following.
For example: If you're looking to start reading Batman, you pretty much need to start with Grant Morrison's early work with the character (OTOH I don't know which storyline he started out with), and go from there. Spider-Man you're pretty well fucked. I'd say go with Ultimate Spider-Man, frankly. Iron Man: Start with Extremis by Warren Ellis, then skip to Matt Fraction's Invincible Iron Man. Captain America? Ed Brubaker's run. Superman? Once again you're fucked. Maybe 'Birthright,' then skip to the post-Infinite Crisis stuff. But even then it starts to get all confused because there are storylines that will go cross from Superman to Action Comics to Supergirl and back. Green Lantern you'll want to start with Geoff Johns's 'Rebirth,' but everything gets a bit 'Superman' once you get to 'Blackest Night.'
All of these can be got in trade paperback form from Amazon.
demagogue on 1/6/2010 at 19:16
I have a similar feeling just in moving from NYC to Washington DC. NYC was awesome for following comics I liked. DC ... not as much, but still not the worst. But I like pretty much just indie / alt comics and manga, not superhero stuff, which doesn't help.
My usual tactic is to always do net research and actually write down a queue of comics I want to get and stick to the schedule, but if I see something new in a shop I'll go back and look it up. And for some comics it's actually not so bad to jump around; if they're self-contained enough of course.
By the way, little plug, I've started following Queen and Country recently and it's great.
