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So I just got the Comixology app for my iPhone and I've never really read comics before but I want to get into them. Any reccomendations for what I should start with? I obviously have seen all the movies and know all the basic stories for most famous comic book characters, I've just never read the comics themselves.

 

Edit: I'm a huge fan of Batman; all the movies, shows, games and such. I just live Gotham City and the villains. So I was thinking starting with the batman comics, I just don't know where in the series to start? Do I just start at issue 1 of the whole thing from like 1940?

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So I just got the Comixology app for my iPhone and I've never really read comics before but I want to get into them. Any reccomendations for what I should start with? I obviously have seen all the movies and know all the basic stories for most famous comic book characters, I've just never read the comics themselves.

 

Edit: I'm a huge fan of Batman; all the movies, shows, games and such. I just live Gotham City and the villains. So I was thinking starting with the batman comics, I just don't know where in the series to start? Do I just start at issue 1 of the whole thing from like 1940?

Hell no. If everyone had to do that nobody would read comics anymore.

 

Plenty of characters have several different standalone stories, origin retellings, or just good jumping on points. So if you want to know specifics for people, it would be safe to just ask. For Batman, I'd recommend Year One if you want to read the origin story told at it's best, and then Hush, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth, Long Halloween, and The Dark Knight Returns are all stories that you can just pick up and read. The Killing Joke is also a classic if you want to see something about Joker.

 

If you just want to get into a current run the New 52 stuff written by Scott Snyder is getting rave reviews. I can't speak on it as I haven't read it yet though.

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It's pretty much impossible to recommend anything without knowing the advanced stories of Damian Wayne, Knightfall, Hush, Batman Inc, etc but you should just read the current series that started last summer.

 

If you want to spend over 1000$ to buy every since Batman issue; then have to start a new Batman series (*censored* you New 52!) then sure go ahead.

 

Scott Snyders Batman is recommended but may be confusing to you when you get to the full Night of The Owls crossover and you have to read the other books like Batman and Robin for example, because you won't know this Robin character.

 

As for Marvel, no character is like how they are in movies anymore. Read X-Men Messiah Complex, Phoenix Endsong and then Civil War. After that, start the current Avengers vs X-Men series.

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If you want to get into Spider-Man, starting off from Big Time or even Brand New Day (considering how a lot of shit was retconned because of it..) is decent and not too far back. You'll understand the dynamic of most of the characters quite quickly.

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A while ago they released a series of graphic novels titled Season One. Spider-Man is one of them. I don't know if it's 616 or just a one-shot, but it's basically a retold and redefined (as in art style) origin of Spider-Man. Chapter One was given away for free on FCBD and it looks pretty good actually.

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I'm interested in checking out Marvel comics. The only thing I've read from them is Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men.

 

What would be a good starting point for Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, etc.?

Captain America - Anything written by Ed Brubaker.

Iron Man - The Extremis story arc and Matt Fraction's Invincible Iron Man.

Thor - The Thor Disassembled/Ragnarok arc and J. Michael Straczynski's run.

Hulk - Anything written by Greg Pak.

 

There's definitely more that people could recommend, but those are the first things that come to mind for me.

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Speaking of Batman and the discussion that came up in the other thread. Does anyone else like to just imagine Gotham and Batman to exist independently of the rest of the bulk of the DC Universe? I know I and a few others here seem to. It may have something to do with Batman being among the few DC characters I ever got into, but beyond that, his setting is overall more believable and just doesn't mesh with much of the rest of the DC over-arching universe.

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Speaking of Batman and the discussion that came up in the other thread. Does anyone else like to just imagine Gotham and Batman to exist independently of the rest of the bulk of the DC Universe? I know I and a few others here seem to. It may have something to do with Batman being among the few DC characters I ever got into, but beyond that, his setting is overall more believable and just doesn't mesh with much of the rest of the DC over-arching universe.

 

You seem to be that type of guy who thinks everything out well with long-ass paragraphs so I would like one.

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Speaking of Batman and the discussion that came up in the other thread. Does anyone else like to just imagine Gotham and Batman to exist independently of the rest of the bulk of the DC Universe? I know I and a few others here seem to. It may have something to do with Batman being among the few DC characters I ever got into, but beyond that, his setting is overall more believable and just doesn't mesh with much of the rest of the DC over-arching universe.

 

I do that too. It's hard to believe in my mind that Metropolis is driving distance from Gotham City.

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Speaking of Batman and the discussion that came up in the other thread. Does anyone else like to just imagine Gotham and Batman to exist independently of the rest of the bulk of the DC Universe? I know I and a few others here seem to. It may have something to do with Batman being among the few DC characters I ever got into, but beyond that, his setting is overall more believable and just doesn't mesh with much of the rest of the DC over-arching universe.

 

You seem to be that type of guy who thinks everything out well with long-ass paragraphs so I would like one.

 

Thanks, and I like to think I usually am. But I'm afraid I may disappoint you here. It's really just gut feeling mixed with personal preference. I'm not going to track down issues of various comics to back up my point. Because it's not so much a point as an opinion. I like my Batman in his own little world where nobody flies around faster than a speeding bullet.

 

Part of it perhaps is I don't want Batman to require or get help from heroes with Superpowers. And Batman probably would have a hell of time against some of the other villians in the universe and vice versa it would be laughable. I think it was iSlash who mentioned this in the thread, but Superman could probably stop Batman's villians with minimal effort and other heroes would just flat out kill many of Bat's villians in seconds. But it's not just that, it's everything. Now I know there are some Batman villians like Clayface (and the others you listed in the other thread) that are more fanciful. But it's everything: the cheesy dialogue and cheesier costumes with tights and bright colors. It's not that I hate that stuff, in fact it works very well in many scenarios. Because the flying and shooting energy beams and all that stuff that is absolutely great and neccessary to many other comic characters, settings and storylines, but it just is kind of everything that Batman as a style of character is against. The epicness (or cheesiness) gets toned down and the gritty realism gets turned up, but not too much to prevent him from being a truly heroic figure. It's a formula that works, but when Gotham becomes part of the greater DC universe, it stands out like it's own little island in a wierd way IMO.

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Speaking of Batman and the discussion that came up in the other thread. Does anyone else like to just imagine Gotham and Batman to exist independently of the rest of the bulk of the DC Universe? I know I and a few others here seem to. It may have something to do with Batman being among the few DC characters I ever got into, but beyond that, his setting is overall more believable and just doesn't mesh with much of the rest of the DC over-arching universe.

 

You seem to be that type of guy who thinks everything out well with long-ass paragraphs so I would like one.

 

Thanks, and I like to think I usually am. But I'm afraid I may disappoint you here. It's really just gut feeling mixed with personal preference. I'm not going to track down issues of various comics to back up my point. Because it's not so much a point as an opinion. I like my Batman in his own little world where nobody flies around faster than a speeding bullet.

 

Part of it perhaps is I don't want Batman to require or get help from heroes with Superpowers. And Batman probably would have a hell of time against some of the other villians in the universe and vice versa it would be laughable. I think it was iSlash who mentioned this in the thread, but Superman could probably stop Batman's villians with minimal effort and other heroes would just flat out kill many of Bat's villians in seconds. But it's not just that, it's everything. Now I know there are some Batman villians like Clayface (and the others you listed in the other thread) that are more fanciful. But it's everything: the cheesy dialogue and cheesier costumes with tights and bright colors. It's not that I hate that stuff, in fact it works very well in many scenarios. Because the flying and shooting energy beams and all that stuff that is absolutely great and neccessary to many other comic characters, settings and storylines, but it just is kind of everything that Batman as a style of character is against. The epicness (or cheesiness) gets toned down and the gritty realism gets turned up, but not too much to prevent him from being a truly heroic figure. It's a formula that works, but when Gotham becomes part of the greater DC universe, it stands out like it's own little island in a wierd way IMO.

 

There are two reasons why i pretty much agree with this. Its probably because Batman when it comes down to it is just a regular dude. He doesn't have super powers which makes him relateable to any people in the world. He can't just go out there and blast the shit out of who ever his fighting. He has to take time and investigate the situation and figure out a way to approach it. The second reason is probably because there are so many other heroes based off of Batman it kind of makes him and Gotham stand out. So not only do you get Bruce Wayne's view of Gotham. You get Dick Grayson's, Damien Wayne's, Barbra Gordons...etc.

 

Im sure the movies, TV shows and games also help Gotham stand out. We have seen Gotham in on screen many times. Watch any other superhero movies and the citys just seem like any other city USA.

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I can see where you're coming from, and what is right about your theory is that Gotham is portrayed as a main stage for only Batman's stuff and rarely ever do major and catastrophic DC events or crossovers take place in Gotham. There are characters of both Marvel and DC however that this theory can be applied to.

 

Who read Batman Annual #1?

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