How to start on Marvel/DC Comics?
June 28, 2022 6:31 PM Subscribe
This may be asking too much, but how does a neophyte dive into the world of Marvel and/or DC comics?
My 13 yo son is curious about comics but he hasn't really read any before. I'm a casual comics fan but lean much more towards graphic novels; superheroes generally aren't my bag (I do like me some Batman tho...) I guess this is as much for me as for my son!
But how do I even get the boy started with Marvel and/or DC? It's an absolute mountain of complicated, even contradictory, storylines going back, what? 60 years now? I suppose there is more than one good entry point, so I suppose if I could pointed towards a few of those I could let him know some good places to begin.
Another question, that may narrow things down: are there whole swaths of comics, years' worth even, that I can just skip over? I'm thinking of the genuinely old one from the 60s and 70s. Basically a good start point that can inform the current comics universe as reflected in the movies.
My 13 yo son is curious about comics but he hasn't really read any before. I'm a casual comics fan but lean much more towards graphic novels; superheroes generally aren't my bag (I do like me some Batman tho...) I guess this is as much for me as for my son!
But how do I even get the boy started with Marvel and/or DC? It's an absolute mountain of complicated, even contradictory, storylines going back, what? 60 years now? I suppose there is more than one good entry point, so I suppose if I could pointed towards a few of those I could let him know some good places to begin.
Another question, that may narrow things down: are there whole swaths of comics, years' worth even, that I can just skip over? I'm thinking of the genuinely old one from the 60s and 70s. Basically a good start point that can inform the current comics universe as reflected in the movies.
The current run of Nightwing has been getting some good press, in part because of Dick's relationship with the new Superman, Jon Kent. (Note: I've only read a couple of issues myself, but those were pretty solid and seemed pretty appropriate for a young teen.)
https://www.cbr.com/dc-nightwing-89-comic-review/
https://www.cbr.com/reason-clark-kent-chose-nightwing-new-superman/
https://www.cbr.com/superman-trusts-nightwing-judgement-over-batman-dc/
https://www.cbr.com/superman-nightwing-politics-police-senator/
The other reason I'd suggest this as an entry point is because these are both legacy characters Dick Grayson and Superman but with new twists, so while there is canonical baggage that comes with pretty much all of the DC or Marvel properties, the stories are forward-looking and not really focused (as much) on the past.
posted by sardonyx at 7:33 PM on June 28, 2022
https://www.cbr.com/dc-nightwing-89-comic-review/
https://www.cbr.com/reason-clark-kent-chose-nightwing-new-superman/
https://www.cbr.com/superman-trusts-nightwing-judgement-over-batman-dc/
https://www.cbr.com/superman-nightwing-politics-police-senator/
The other reason I'd suggest this as an entry point is because these are both legacy characters Dick Grayson and Superman but with new twists, so while there is canonical baggage that comes with pretty much all of the DC or Marvel properties, the stories are forward-looking and not really focused (as much) on the past.
posted by sardonyx at 7:33 PM on June 28, 2022
Best answer: Background: I'm a life-long nerd who has been reading superhero comics since the mid 1970s. (As soon as I could read, basically.) If I were in a similar situation, I'd take one of a few approaches.
My top choice would be to dive into Marvel's "Ultimate" universe. These are modern re-tellings of classic stories and, in my opinion, largely very well done. When the MCU began, I felt as if they were drawing a lot of their ideas from the Ultimates. The advantage here is that these comics are told with a more modern sensibility (published largely from 2000 to 2010) and won't seem nearly as dated as the originals from the 1960s and 1970s.
I don't particularly care for (translation: generally hate) the DC cinematic universe, and I'm not sure where to point you for the look and feel it tries to achieve. But if I were encouraging a kid to explore DC comics, I'd point them to The Greatest Stories Ever Told series of trade compilations. These cherry pick classic stories from the histories of each character.
But maybe there's a better way.
In 1994, Marvel published Marvels, a four-issue limited series (collected in various single-volume editions) that provides an overview of the entire history of its universe from inception to maybe the mid 1970s. It's beautiful and well-told (the conceit is that a reporter witness all of the major Marvel events).
In a similar vein, in 2004 DC published The New Frontier, a wonderful introduction to the DC universe and its heroes. It's a self-contained story and relatively short (six issues or a single collected edition). Great intro.
Both Marvels and The New Frontier feature beautiful art, tight storytelling, and intros to the major ideas of their respective comic-book universes. They're perfect introductions for neophytes.
Really, though, if I were in your shoes, I'd take my kid to the public library. Libraries offer tons of graphic novels, including most of what I've mentioned above. They will almost certainly have The New Frontier and Marvels, as well as some of the Marvel Ultimate books. Start there.
posted by jdroth at 8:20 PM on June 28, 2022 [9 favorites]
My top choice would be to dive into Marvel's "Ultimate" universe. These are modern re-tellings of classic stories and, in my opinion, largely very well done. When the MCU began, I felt as if they were drawing a lot of their ideas from the Ultimates. The advantage here is that these comics are told with a more modern sensibility (published largely from 2000 to 2010) and won't seem nearly as dated as the originals from the 1960s and 1970s.
I don't particularly care for (translation: generally hate) the DC cinematic universe, and I'm not sure where to point you for the look and feel it tries to achieve. But if I were encouraging a kid to explore DC comics, I'd point them to The Greatest Stories Ever Told series of trade compilations. These cherry pick classic stories from the histories of each character.
But maybe there's a better way.
In 1994, Marvel published Marvels, a four-issue limited series (collected in various single-volume editions) that provides an overview of the entire history of its universe from inception to maybe the mid 1970s. It's beautiful and well-told (the conceit is that a reporter witness all of the major Marvel events).
In a similar vein, in 2004 DC published The New Frontier, a wonderful introduction to the DC universe and its heroes. It's a self-contained story and relatively short (six issues or a single collected edition). Great intro.
Both Marvels and The New Frontier feature beautiful art, tight storytelling, and intros to the major ideas of their respective comic-book universes. They're perfect introductions for neophytes.
Really, though, if I were in your shoes, I'd take my kid to the public library. Libraries offer tons of graphic novels, including most of what I've mentioned above. They will almost certainly have The New Frontier and Marvels, as well as some of the Marvel Ultimate books. Start there.
posted by jdroth at 8:20 PM on June 28, 2022 [9 favorites]
Best answer: One of the reasons I suggested a current run is because comics of today are so different from comics of the past. The comics that I and jdroth grew up with are much denser in terms of writing. (The terms are compressed vs. decompressed writing. See here for examples.) Additionally, art styles are wildly different (sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse, depending on the aesthetic you prefer.)
So just be prepared that if you start you kid off on older runs, he won't be getting a sense of what comics are like now. If it's a current feel that he's interested in--he wants to understand what's happening in comics now and grow with them as they're released, then at least make sure he's being exposed to something that is being produced now.
Truthfully, I find there's a lot of value in being current as a comic reader, and I'd think that's especially true these days when so much of mainstream popular entertainment is based on comics. Don't get me wrong, if comics are something he finds he likes, he'll be diving into the back issues that interest him, to fill in the holes in the stories he doesn't know. Admittedly, a lot of the TV shows and movies are based on older story arc and character interpretations, so it's nice to have the backstories at your fingertips, but the feeling of reading something as it happens, when everybody is being exposed to the stories for the first time, when there is no online source to detail the full plot and when you honestly can't know what is going to happen, that's part of the comic reading experience.
Starting on a current run will also mean that he'll have the ability to meet (or follow online) writers and artists who are currently working (and currently alive), which is a part of the comic-reading experience that old timers, like myself, never really got. Comic conventions weren't really a thing, unless you lived in a few specific major cities. Actually, comic book shops were also pretty rare on the ground, depending on where you lived. The average reader had so little exposure to the creators that we never really got a sense of who they were outside of the work on the page, and maybe the letter column, if they bothered to answer there. These days, that's not the case, so he might as well enjoy the modern advantages.
That's not to say I'm disagreeing with the suggestions posted above (although, personally, I didn't really love The New Frontier, but I'm in the minority on that one), but if he's starting out, I'd say don't limit him to older works. Give him some modern options, to balance out his experience.
posted by sardonyx at 8:58 PM on June 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
So just be prepared that if you start you kid off on older runs, he won't be getting a sense of what comics are like now. If it's a current feel that he's interested in--he wants to understand what's happening in comics now and grow with them as they're released, then at least make sure he's being exposed to something that is being produced now.
Truthfully, I find there's a lot of value in being current as a comic reader, and I'd think that's especially true these days when so much of mainstream popular entertainment is based on comics. Don't get me wrong, if comics are something he finds he likes, he'll be diving into the back issues that interest him, to fill in the holes in the stories he doesn't know. Admittedly, a lot of the TV shows and movies are based on older story arc and character interpretations, so it's nice to have the backstories at your fingertips, but the feeling of reading something as it happens, when everybody is being exposed to the stories for the first time, when there is no online source to detail the full plot and when you honestly can't know what is going to happen, that's part of the comic reading experience.
Starting on a current run will also mean that he'll have the ability to meet (or follow online) writers and artists who are currently working (and currently alive), which is a part of the comic-reading experience that old timers, like myself, never really got. Comic conventions weren't really a thing, unless you lived in a few specific major cities. Actually, comic book shops were also pretty rare on the ground, depending on where you lived. The average reader had so little exposure to the creators that we never really got a sense of who they were outside of the work on the page, and maybe the letter column, if they bothered to answer there. These days, that's not the case, so he might as well enjoy the modern advantages.
That's not to say I'm disagreeing with the suggestions posted above (although, personally, I didn't really love The New Frontier, but I'm in the minority on that one), but if he's starting out, I'd say don't limit him to older works. Give him some modern options, to balance out his experience.
posted by sardonyx at 8:58 PM on June 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: jdroth, that's great, just the kind of things I've always been looking for.
posted by zardoz at 12:41 AM on June 29, 2022
posted by zardoz at 12:41 AM on June 29, 2022
Many of these are likely available on Hoopla online, through your local public library.
Marvel:
Ryan North is great fun - for Marvel, he wrote Squirrel Girl, and a Power Pack miniseries.
Ms. Marvel.
I think the Ultimate universe wrapped up in the comics?
For now, I'd avoid X-Men and Avengers; that way lies convoluted continuity, and having to look up suggested reading orders to keep everything in sprawling stories easier to follow.
DC:
Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber had fun with Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen.
The rest are out of current continuity, I think:
Keith Giffen and John Roger's had a fun take on Blue Beetle.
Grant Morrison's JLA run was a blast.
posted by Pronoiac at 1:02 AM on June 29, 2022
Marvel:
Ryan North is great fun - for Marvel, he wrote Squirrel Girl, and a Power Pack miniseries.
Ms. Marvel.
I think the Ultimate universe wrapped up in the comics?
For now, I'd avoid X-Men and Avengers; that way lies convoluted continuity, and having to look up suggested reading orders to keep everything in sprawling stories easier to follow.
DC:
Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber had fun with Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen.
The rest are out of current continuity, I think:
Keith Giffen and John Roger's had a fun take on Blue Beetle.
Grant Morrison's JLA run was a blast.
posted by Pronoiac at 1:02 AM on June 29, 2022
This is a bit sideways, but my wife bought me All the Marvels last year, and it's an excellent dive into Marvel Comics by a writer who read every Marvel comic and wrote a book about the master narrative of the whole thing, as well as diving deep into specific characters and arcs.
It really resonated with me as an old-school comics fan, and it's a bit hard to parse how a comics neophyte would gel with it, but it would definitely give you a fast overview of all Marvel comics and point you at excellent runs on specific characters that you can then pick and choose from for you and the boy. Set up a menu, so to speak, where he can pick some things that sound interesting and then dive in.
Hopefully available at your local library? It's a great read regardless, IMO.
posted by Shepherd at 2:39 AM on June 29, 2022
It really resonated with me as an old-school comics fan, and it's a bit hard to parse how a comics neophyte would gel with it, but it would definitely give you a fast overview of all Marvel comics and point you at excellent runs on specific characters that you can then pick and choose from for you and the boy. Set up a menu, so to speak, where he can pick some things that sound interesting and then dive in.
Hopefully available at your local library? It's a great read regardless, IMO.
posted by Shepherd at 2:39 AM on June 29, 2022
Some more specifically teen team-book oriented suggestions:
The Young Justice series from 1998-2003 is a lot of fun, with teenage antics as well as ruminations on independence and growing up. You can jump on without too much backstory. There's a semi-related animated series of the same name and a comic book based on this series as well.
The original New Mutants run from 1982 is amazing and can be read without any backstory and is also a great diving-in point for the larger X-universe. It has a solid 90 or so issues until Liefeld shows up to spoil everybody's fun.
In a simlar vein, the 2016 Champions run was really good, also teenage angst and feeling that everybody is against you.
Runaways is one of the best comics of the past decade or so. It has a great semi-functional found family vibe. There's a live-action tv series I haven't watched.
As for the Ultimate universe, it starts out fun, but once it reaches Ultimatum it gets kind of bleak and gross. SPOILER they kill most of the characters and there are several instances of on-panel cannibalism.
As a general note, don't stress about backstory too much, any good comic gives you enough info to enjoy it—with the exception of current X-titles, which are great but don't really make sense if you haven't read 50 years of its history.
posted by signal at 6:00 AM on June 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
The Young Justice series from 1998-2003 is a lot of fun, with teenage antics as well as ruminations on independence and growing up. You can jump on without too much backstory. There's a semi-related animated series of the same name and a comic book based on this series as well.
The original New Mutants run from 1982 is amazing and can be read without any backstory and is also a great diving-in point for the larger X-universe. It has a solid 90 or so issues until Liefeld shows up to spoil everybody's fun.
In a simlar vein, the 2016 Champions run was really good, also teenage angst and feeling that everybody is against you.
Runaways is one of the best comics of the past decade or so. It has a great semi-functional found family vibe. There's a live-action tv series I haven't watched.
As for the Ultimate universe, it starts out fun, but once it reaches Ultimatum it gets kind of bleak and gross. SPOILER they kill most of the characters and there are several instances of on-panel cannibalism.
As a general note, don't stress about backstory too much, any good comic gives you enough info to enjoy it—with the exception of current X-titles, which are great but don't really make sense if you haven't read 50 years of its history.
posted by signal at 6:00 AM on June 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Oh, and most (or all?) of the Marvel books older than a few months can be read with a subscription to the Marvel Unlimited app, which might be a good way for him to explore on his own.
posted by signal at 6:13 AM on June 29, 2022
posted by signal at 6:13 AM on June 29, 2022
And there's a similar service called DC Universe Infinite, but it's only available in the US so I haven't tried it.
posted by signal at 6:16 AM on June 29, 2022
posted by signal at 6:16 AM on June 29, 2022
Comics? Your 13-year-old is curious about comics but hasn't read any? Not even Garfield, Peanuts, or other compilations of comic strips? That's where to begin with comics, but if we must do the super-heroes, for Marvel I'd start with the Origins of Marvel Comics sampler.
are there whole swaths of comics, years' worth even, that I can just skip over? I'm thinking of the genuinely old ones from the 60s and 70s.
Yes. Even whole genres of comics, but the individual reader developes their own filterings, based on preferences. The library suggestion is a good one; browse around the 741.59 shelf in non-fiction if yours has no dedicated Graphic Novels section.
posted by Rash at 6:54 AM on June 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
are there whole swaths of comics, years' worth even, that I can just skip over? I'm thinking of the genuinely old ones from the 60s and 70s.
Yes. Even whole genres of comics, but the individual reader developes their own filterings, based on preferences. The library suggestion is a good one; browse around the 741.59 shelf in non-fiction if yours has no dedicated Graphic Novels section.
posted by Rash at 6:54 AM on June 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Does it have to be DC/Marvel capes? What about manga? That's how I got into comics a couple decades ago. Spy x Family (now on Hulu/Crunchyroll) started as a manga. Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer started as manga and might appeal to him based on his age. I mention those specifically because they also have current anime runs so he might be familiar already. Full Metal Alchemist is also a great boys' (shonen) manga, altho it's a bit old now.
Manga is a whole *thing* unto itself but I think if someone is interested in the idea of "comics" then a good manga series should be in the running.
posted by fiercekitten at 8:31 AM on June 29, 2022
Manga is a whole *thing* unto itself but I think if someone is interested in the idea of "comics" then a good manga series should be in the running.
posted by fiercekitten at 8:31 AM on June 29, 2022
My fifteen year old loves Squirrel Girl and says it stands alone really well, making it a good place to start. It's the only Marvel comic she's ever followed.
posted by blueberry monster at 4:13 PM on June 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by blueberry monster at 4:13 PM on June 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Squirrel Girl is great, and you don't need to know anything about the marvel universe because it has info cards for all the superheroes she meets and all the villains she fights.
posted by signal at 5:17 PM on June 29, 2022
posted by signal at 5:17 PM on June 29, 2022
Sounds like maybe this current issue of Robin (or maybe the following one) might be a good point to jump in. (Note: not a personal recommendation as I haven't read this run.)
posted by sardonyx at 7:23 AM on June 30, 2022
posted by sardonyx at 7:23 AM on June 30, 2022
Best answer: Comic writer Kieran Gillen asked: "Thought experiment. You have to select 5 stories as an introduction to either the DC or the Marvel universe. The aim is to both show folks what you love about it, but also give the reader the broad grounding to understand as many other stories as possible. What do you pick?"
There have been many responses, that you might enjoy going through.
posted by Pronoiac at 7:00 AM on August 16, 2022
There have been many responses, that you might enjoy going through.
posted by Pronoiac at 7:00 AM on August 16, 2022
Best answer: Over on Fanfare I instigated a discussion of All Of The Marvels, a book by Douglas Wolk that was published last year. He addresses this very question in Chapter 2, "Where Do I Start?", even using the "mountain" metaphor to illustrate the challenge of reading everything, like he did.
posted by Rash at 8:19 AM on August 16, 2022
posted by Rash at 8:19 AM on August 16, 2022
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