Should I be Ashamed

[jasonb]

During this weeks comics section I felt like such a loser because to be honest when it comes to my comics Im stuck on the spandex wearing superheroes and all the goes with them....and even then I'm partial to the house of ideas.

And honestly I only really read a few select titles and the occasional one that catches my eyes. Right now all i read are the trade versions of New Avengers & Mighty Avengers. Its a great couple of reads and they are written by Mr Ultimate Universe himself Brian Michael Bendis. Before starting up these books though you could tell Bendis was grooming himself to write one of the major titles for Marvel. If you check back all the way to Secret War, which btw is a GREAT read and explains why Nick Fury suddenly stopped showing up in Marvel.

He is just a great mind to have and even this summers "Secret Invasion" spectacular has been hinted at last year in The New Avengers Illumanti issue 1.

But it brings me to the point, i feel ashamed of myself for not venturing out of the norm. Sure i've read Frank Millers' Dark Knight Returns and DK2. Hell i've even read the first few trades of the Walking Dead. But i feel so Ashamed that I haven't ventured out of Marvel's grasp so im asking the TRS crew here on the forums what series do you think i should venture out and get my grubby mitts on. And Jeff......no Sandman, Preacher, or The Boys, or Hellboy......I'm heading for those this weekend.

[ashgotti]

The only superhero stuff I've read is Batman stuff and the Watchmen. I guess I'm in the opposite boat as you. I've read Hellboy, and I'm reading the Walking Dead, Preacher, Ex Machina, Y the Last Man.

I think it's an issue of escape. I like to read comics I can imagine myself in (not as a character but the same environment). I can't imagine myself in the superhero worlds. That's why books, like Blankets, gives me butterflies.

[jasonb]

Blankets???

[ashgotti]

One of Dan's recommendations, coming of age story:
http://www.popmatters.com/comics/blankets.shtml

[jasonb]

I guess i should go back and read their suggestions.....though i did read alot of the Batman stuff that Frank Miller wrote as well as Family Values and am trying to get my hands on a copy of "the long Halloween"

[blacksymbiote]

Don't be ashamed. There's nothing wrong with capes and cowls. I was in the same boat as you for a long time. I just read Marvel titles until a new comic shop opened up by my house and the owner wasn't all full of himself and I could actually talk with him like a normal person. Since I had only really read Marvel, I had no idea who most of the DC characters were besides the standard Justice League guys (Supes, Bats, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lanturn, WW etc). Also I had always seen these big events DC was having called Crisis. So I asked him about it and where could I possibly start with DC... and why did it seem so much more popular than Marvel (at least in his store).

Here's what I learned from him, and from reading the books he suggested. DC is WAY more focused on continuity than I've ever seen in Marvel. So much so that going back to Marvel was almost disappointing. And that's so hard to say because at the end of the day I'm still more of a Marvel fan than anything else. I just wish they did some of the stuff that DC does. But it seems that Marvel is trying to deal with that with what they've done with the Spider-Man titles. Only one title, and if you can't deal with continuity of the past, then delete the past... maybe it'll get better.

As for books to read, I can only really suggest those few DC titles I've picked up, but they're still in the capes area. That's really what I'm interested in, and I don't have the cash to go out and buy every little thing that's mentioned on the show here. Red Son is a cool alternate reality of the Superman story. And if you want to get into the whole Infinite Crisis and Countdown to Final Crisis stuff that's going on now in DC, I would suggest starting with Kingdom Come. It was a one shot book made to show what the future could look like in the DC universe. And it seems like ever since then all this Crisis stuff is slowly leading up to that. Keep in mind this is like one continuous story that has been building up and having the ground work laid for it for years and years. Really good stuff.

[brettville]

God bless normal comic shop people.

[ryan79]

Definately don't be ashamed. Sometimes all a person wants is to see the costumed good guy beat up the costumed bad guy. It's comfort food.

My recommendation is to go to your local comic shop and randomly buy what looks interesting to you.

Also, why not head over to iFanboy and listen to some of their shows. They cover a wide range of stuff and you're sure to hear about something that would pique your curiosity. In particular, watch their video podcasts about their top five and next five desert island books.

If I had to give you a recommendation, try Marvels, the book that Jeff mentioned in the movie section of the latest podcast.

[darthender]

I read pretty much everything with Deadpool, Spiderman and Wolverine in it. So I read New Avengers by association but was never really an Avengers guy before that.

That said, Spiderman done pissed me off HARDCORE this month.

Seriously. Brand New Day can go fuck itself.

[jasonb]

Symboite i completely understand what you mean with continuity which is why stick to Bendis and what he writes. If you read what he has written there is a great storyline that just builds upon itself issue after issue. If you havent read any of his stuff and like a good building storyline start with his first series in the normal Marvel U "Secret War" then head toward the New Avengers....and everything will slowly build upon itself.

As for DC itself the only title i really liked was Teen Titans. I think sometimes the storylines get a bit to conveluded in the DC continum for me to keep track of. And dont they really use this Infinte Crisis as a sort of universal reset button. Well thats what i heard I dont know enough of the story line to really understand it.

Now since I only read Bendis stuff I didnt read One More day or Brand New Day. Granted I did keep up with The Amazing and Spectacular Spiderman during Civil War because of the Back in Black story line.

[blacksymbiote]

As for DC itself the only title i really liked was Teen Titans. I think sometimes the storylines get a bit to conveluded in the DC continum for me to keep track of. And dont they really use this Infinte Crisis as a sort of universal reset button. Well thats what i heard I dont know enough of the story line to really understand it.


Yeah, it was a huge reset button for the writers to fix their universe. Way back in the day DC had the same problems Marvel had now. Tons of characters all doing different stuff, and it never matched up even though it should. For instance in one Superman title maybe the Daily Planet was wrecked in a battle. But in the other Superman title it would be fine and he'd be at work with Lois. Didn't make sense if it was supposed to be the same guy. So they hired a man (who's name escapes me at the moment) to set things right. He told them he could fix their universe, but they had to let him do whatever he wanted to do to it. They handed over the reigns and worried. Would he just start killing off Batman and all the heroes and just screw it all up? Well he did a whole lot of stuff, he did kill off some characters in the process but in the end the table was set to start fresh.

Since then DC now has a huge Continuity Board (not a board like a board of wood, but a board of people) which everything has to go through and they keep everything in sync. But not only do they match up the stories in multiple books for the same character (i.e. keep the two Superman titles from contradicting eachother) but they keep the continuity between ALL books, titles and characters. So if something happens in Flash which could effect even a small scene in Superman, it has to be right. So if there is a big battle which damages the harbor in Metropolis, then maybe in the Superman book they'll show it under construction in the background and being repaired. But it's also because of this that they can have these huge crossover story lines and not screw up the other titles because its kept track of so well.

Meanwhile in the Back in Black arc you mentioned, Spider-Man is out of his mind trying to find Aunt May's shooter, but in the other titles (even though its supposed to be the same guy and they all have the black suit), he's having lunch with Mr. Fantastic, and in the other book he was fighting the Lizard. But of course in Amazing none of that is mentioned and they talk like the only thing going on is his search and confrontation of the Kingpin (which btw was AMAZING!!!! :D)

So now Marvel has retcon'd the whole Spider-Man universe and if you haven't read One More Day and Brand New Day, they changed history...

*SPOILERS* ...and now Peter and MJ were never married, Harry Osborn is alive again, and Peter doesn't have any of his organic powers anymore i.e. organic webbing is gone, wrist spikes are gone etc etc *END SPOILERS*

[fulltangninja]

It's definitely cool that your just into the superhero books. That's kind of what I'm doing right now, with an occasional offshoot into something that doesn't contain a super powered hero. The majority of the comics I pick up are Marvel or DC heroes. Most people won't go all "elitist" on you and make you feel ashamed for it, and the people that would aren't worth your time anyway.

If you really want to get in non-superhero books, just take some of the suggestions from TRS or iFanboy and run with it. Most of them are really good and every now and then it's good to discover that comics can tell stories beyond good guy/bad guy battles :)

and yes, The Long Halloween was an incredible book! Read that ;)