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Marvel comics.... where to start!

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Evil Monkey DTT

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So I'm really into the MCU right now, and with that unlimited deal going on I feel like reading the comics. But I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, where should I start!
 
Yeah pick a hero and then go from there. Though I'd say Ultimate Spider-man is a great place to start in general, and seemingly appeals to everyone.
 
Sandfox said:
Just pick you're favorite hero and read their current book. After that branch out to other books.
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I disagree with this method. Pick writers over characters. For instance, Johnathan Hickman's run on FF specifically-not the current FF comics, then move on to Hickman's Avengers saga.

That being said, if you want to start with Darrdevil's run by Brian Michael Bendis and just wprk your way to the present-that's a pretty good long stretch of amazing stories/writers. Daredevil is consistently great.

If you want to get your feet wet on something more modern with less baggage that's easy to jump into, pick Aaron's Thor: God of Thunder story "Godbomb"

Also everyone loves Ennis's Punisher stories. You'll never forget reading those, that's a promise.
 
Start with Ms Marvel, it's a pretty brand new series and not weighted down with tons of confusing history. I'd say The New MS Marvel is Marvel's best book by a country mile.
 
i stopped reading Marvel for awhile and started reading again using this
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googleplex said:
Start with Ms Marvel, it's a pretty brand new series and not weighted down with tons of confusing history. I'd say The New MS Marvel is Marvel's best book by a country mile.
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That's an awesome opinion, bro, but I think Hawkeye is the best, bro. I know this looks bad, but Fraction and Aja has been killing it, bro.
 
entrement said:
But seriously, X-Men's Claremont run is fun.
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I second this. It's where I started back when I first got into comics, and I remember it being pretty easy to follow along. Nowadays it'll be even easier with Wikipedia.

Here's some completed runs/one-shot recommendations:
If you like Young Adult stuff, I recommend Runaways. It's got mostly consistent and great art and a great concept, plot, and characters. (It's drawn by the same artist who's doing Ms.Marvel right now so if you enjoy that art you might want to check this out too.)

If you want a quick look at Marvel's golden age and silver age, Marvels is nice.
 
Marvels is great looking and good backbone to start with. It spans 4 classic age stories that greatly impacted the early era and stuff moving forward. Some others for an MCU fan would be Ultimates 1/2 (intro to Sam Jackson Fury and a more modern take on Avengers) and Whedon's run of Xmen comics (you get why he was so good for the Avengers movie, guy knows how to write for teams). Once you get familiar with a good deal of characters Earth X is a crazy cool what-if that spans most of the major Marvel characters.
 
I just started collecting the Marvel omnibus hardcovers. I Picked up Uncanny X-men vol 1-2. Astonishing X-men and Infinity Gauntlet. They were not cheap but they are very high quality.
 
googleplex said:
Start with Ms Marvel, it's a pretty brand new series and not weighted down with tons of confusing history. I'd say The New MS Marvel is Marvel's best book by a country mile.
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This can only be true cause Ellis stopped doing Moon Knight.
 
I really really liked the last 3 runs of Guardians of the Galaxy, even if my favorite character gets done dirty.

So so dirty...
 
I just jumped into Marvel about a month ago with The Ultimates and the new Hawkeye run. Hawkeye is fantastic. Seriously, go read it.

From there I jumped into Annihilation because I see a thread about it like once a month of GAF. I'm not sure if it's recommended to jump into as someone new to the universe, but I'm finding it pretty easy to follow this far (the pre-prologue stuff is kinda awful though). I'm hoping to get a lot of good recommendations from this thread. Marvels looks really cool.
 
yo all I gotta say is what's the deal with this Punisher character, and why isnt any of the Ennis stuff available on Marvel Unlimited, save a few random issues here and there?

this is not what I spent $70 for!!

I mean, I could read the Remender and Rucka stuff,

but why would I do that??

on the bright side they have all the Christopher Priest Black Panther stuff available, save one random issue, and none of that stuff appears to be on comixology.
 
I subscribed to Marvel Unlimited a few months back and the worst part has been figuring out what order to read various series in. There are so many "annuals," crossovers, and series that continue under completely different names that it's super frustrating for someone that doesn't follow comics at all. I thoroughly enjoy it overall, but they really need to let users make custom / public "Playlists" to help discovery.

edit: as for recommendations:

Matt Fraction's Hawkeye (seriously god-tier, go read it now.)
Runaways
Ms. Marvel
 
Make sure to check your local library. If your library has a good selection, you can try things before you buy them, and read a lot more than you could probably either afford or at least be willing to spend money on sight-unseen.

Personal suggestions, quite a few of which will probably be redundant because other people mentioned them:

- Frank Miller's Daredevil (1 & 2)
- Bendis' Daredevil (1 & 2 & 3)
- Brubaker's Daredevil (1 - 2 - 3)
- Mark Waid's Daredevil (1 - 2)
- Walt Simonson's Thor (1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5)
- Jason Aaron's Thor (1)
- Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man (Omnibus)
- Bendis' Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (1 - 2)
- Lee/Ditko's Amazing Spider-Man (Omnibus)
- Kurt Busiek's Marvels
- Brian K. Vaughan's Runaways
- Matt Fraction's Hawkeye (1 / Omnibus)
- Ed Brubaker's Captain America: Winter Soldier Ultimate Collection
- Chris Claremont's X-Men (I'd suggest looking for particular story arcs like Dark Phoenix Saga or Days of Future Past)
- Mark Waid's Fantastic Four (only read this story, myself)

Don't worry about the specific edition I link to so much as the relevant issues contained within. Almost everything is available in multiple formats, or just ebook form

Those are only things I've read (well, I haven't read all of Simonson's run on Thor yet but.... I will!); this list of the 100 greatest runs is probably good for more.
 
Punisher MAX - Garth Ennis and Jason Aaron - Greatest crime comic run ever.

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction

Daredevil by Mark Waid

Deadpool by Bryan Posehn and Gerry Duggan

Punisher by Greg Rucka and Nathan Edmondson

Superior Foes of Spider-Man by Nick Spencer

Moon Knight by Warren Ellis

I haven't read it yet, but the new Miss Marvel is supposedly fantastic.

That's all the current stuff I like.
 
Those people suggesting the new Ms Marvel should be aware that only four issues of it are up on Marvel Unlimited. So, really, it is NOT one to start with, at all.
 
AMUSIX said:
Those people suggesting the new Ms Marvel should be aware that only four issues of it are up on Marvel Unlimited. So, really, it is NOT one to start with, at all.
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It also takes like 4 issues to get going anyway.

Suggestions (that haven't been mentioned yet and are complete):

Journey into Mystery starting with #622

A+X for one-off team-up continuity-light fun

Avengers Academy for teen drama

Avengers Arena (as a sequel to both Avengers Academy and Runaways)

Secret Warriors (SHIELD spies with superpowers)

Secret Wars for the 1984 cheesiness plus its an all-time classic

Immortal Iron Fist (maybe the best thing on this list)

Incredible Hercules (really entertaining utilization of a criminally underused Thor foil)

Venom (2011)

X-Force #116 - X-Statix #1-26 (stand-alone deconstruction of mutants and fame)
 
punisher max ennis
ms marvel
hawkeye
daredevil bendis (started reading this, whooo it's good)

no interest in avengers or thor tbh

i love spiderman and xmen but i don't think i can delve into that because i don't care for all these cameos and cosmic fuckery and universes and mind-swaps and shit.
 
I have this same problem whenever I feel like I want to get into comics, I feel like I have to start from the very beginning and end up reading some comic from the 70's that still makes no sense.
 
LyleLanley said:
I have this same problem whenever I feel like I want to get into comics, I feel like I have to start from the very beginning and end up reading some comic from the 70's that still makes no sense.
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the ones i listed are all good and very straightforward. no need to look into the past to wonder why spiderman's got somebody else's brain and why his aunt is actually nick fury etc.
 
LyleLanley said:
I have this same problem whenever I feel like I want to get into comics, I feel like I have to start from the very beginning and end up reading some comic from the 70's that still makes no sense.
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Following characters is generally a bad idea. Following creators you like and asking for the best runs of characters is a much better way to enjoy comics.
 
Try out Superior Foes of Spider-Man. It has nothing to do with Spidey and it's a hilarious team book about a team of loser supervillains. There's no prior reading required and the series is only 15 issues (plus two filler issues). It's the best thing Marvel has put out this year and just recently finished.

Highly recommended to anyone looking to get into Marvel or anyone who just wants something to read. It's really great.
 
I highly recommend starting with Secret Wars #1-12 first as it gives you the basic gist of a huge number of characters while still being old timey comic fun.

Other than that it is hard to give a recommendation without knowing which characters you like/are most interested in. The Dark Reign War Machine story is one of my personal favorites. The story starts with Iron Man Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #33-35 and then continues into War Machine #1-12 .

Edit: Also what the fuck is up with that War Machine #1 synopsis on the Marvel website?
"EVOLUTION,” PART 1 It’s the biggest, best and, quite possibly, last battle between Wolverine and Sabretooth! These sworn foes have been locked in an endless grudge match that goes back longer than either can remember -- or even imagine.
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That isn't what that book is about at all! :/
 
DarthOrange said:
I highly recommend starting with Secret Wars #1-12 first as it gives you the basic gist of a huge number of characters while still being old timey comic fun.

Other than that it is hard to give a recommendation without knowing which characters you like/are most interested in. The Dark Reign War Machine story is one of my personal favorites. The story starts with Iron Man Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #33-35 and then continues into War Machine #1-12 .

Edit: Also what the fuck is up with that War Machine #1 synopsis on the Marvel website?

That isn't what that book is about at all! :/
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It's a summary for an issue of Wolverine from a while back. It was part of Simone Bianchi's run, if memory serves.
 
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