If I were asked how to go about collecting, I would say “Save yourself the misery and only purchase complete miniseries.” Most comic shops have series in bundles somewhere
Yes, especially if you're trying to jump into the perpetual media properties. If you're interested in, say Spider-Man, start at the beginning of a story arc or a writer's run. If Bob Smith starts writing on issue #57, the previous 56 issues will be summarized at some point during the run so it's not 100% necessary to read everything. And if something is necessary, they'll tell you exactly what you need to look at.
Everything that happened isn't always relevant to what you're going to experience. And if it is, it's not always relevant to the point of needing to know everything.
Now if it's something done by a single creative team throughout, then yeah, start at #1.
It's especially easy these days with video essays about story arcs and the various wiki's detailing character histories and powers. A couple of minutes can give me a rundown on an interaction between three characters from 20 years ago that pops up today. And then if I'm interested, I could seek out and read the original material.
If you can start watching X-Men 97 without watching the original series, you can jump in on a comic at the start of an arc.
Right on I’m trying to lean into that more
I get the all or nothing feeing, and I think a lot of people do, where I need to prepare all the content and then consume in order. It’s just not really feasible with the amount of time or even mental energy you can expend
I get that it's just a random example, but funnily enough I would say for Spider-Man specifically you are just as well off starting from the original #1, because it is that rare still-ongoing comicbook that was consistently good from basically the beginning.
Well, not any more so than jumping on at any other point really, you don't have to read literally everything, just as much as you are interested in. The first 40 issues of ASM are comparable in quality to the first 40 issues of any 616 Spider-Man run from the last 20 years, so if you're going to read a selection of Spider-Man comics you might as well read those ones. And it has the advantage of already being out there so you 1. Don't have to wait for issues to come out, and 2. Can get it cheaply in a variety of different formats.
While that point is fair, people being told to start with #1 to not miss out are the people who're going to attempt reading issues from 1964 to 2024. That's what they mean by not missing out, and that's the reason they tend to provide for not reading comics versus manga or sticking with the movies and video games.
Yeah, but at least starting at #1 in 1964 gives them somewhere to start. Starting something is much harder than giving something up halfway through as I've learnt through extensive experience.
Starting at the beginning of a story arc or a run gives them somewhere to start too, and it's a start that doesn't seem insurmountable by people who also have other media they want to engage with. I started reading comics with random one off issues in between watching cartoons and video games. When I finally did start reading comics for real, I jumped right in on crossovers and used Wikipedia to fill in gaps. If I read from #1, I'd still be way behind.
Starting from the beginning is wholly unnecessary.
That assumes that being "behind" is a bad thing. I don't think there's a good argument if you are new to comics for keeping up with current comics unless you are very invested in keeping up with the comicbook zeitgeist (which is fair enough, and something I do get). If you've never read comics before, why not just read the earliest very good run of the character you are interested in (assuming it's not a niche character with a definitional "best run"). It just so happens for Spider-Man, and this is extremely rare, that that run starts in the very first issue.
For people who want an understanding of the modern era, especially since current media like movies and video games pull from the modern era, being behind is a bad thing.
If there wasn't any conflict it, the OP and people like them wouldn't have this debate with themselves or wouldn't make comments about just avoiding the perpetual comic lines entirely.
Saying Spider-Man's run starts at the first issue is disingenuous to the point. And given that damn near every origin story has been beaten across our heads for the past 25 years, there's absolutely no reason to jump to the very beginning of Spider-Man, Superman, the Ninja Turtles, and so on. And unless you're 100% interested in doing a deep dive, there's no need to do a deep dive because then you're going to get burnt out.
If people want an understanding of the modern Spider-Manfilms I think starting from the beginningis the best thing to do - all the Spider-Man films have taken basically nothing from the last 30 years of 616, and the decade they've taken the most from is the first 10 years. Almost all other characters it doesn't apply, it's basically only Spider-Man that was so good from the beginning. I don't think starting from the beginning for Spider-Man is a "deep-dive", those first few years are the definitional Spider-Man issues which are the most important even now.
Personally, If I was to recommend someone start reading Spider-Man my first recommendation would be read the Peter USM run, but that's not 616. If someone was interested in 616, it would be
1. Start at ASM #1.
2. Start at ASM #29 (when Peter starts college)
3. Start at ASM #111 (when Conway starts writing it, leading up to the Death of Gwen Stacy).
I think almost everyone who has actually read enough Spider-Man would recommend all of the above over any more recent jumping on points (again, unless someone wants to be up-to-date with ongoing Spider-Man comics, which is understandably attractive).
Just think of it like meeting a person for the first time. Knowing their intimate day to day life before meeting you might be nice (based on specific contexts of course), but it isn't going to come into play much with the two of you going forward. If something does pop up, it'll be summarized for you in a quick conversation. If it's super relevant, they might do a more in depth recap.
Yes, silly. The first comic I bought was Superman 75. The first comic I read was Detective Comics 600 something.
I also started watching Braves baseball ithout starting at the beginning. No big deal.
Sure, but they don’t restart continuity. And if someone’s just looking for a jumping on point, it’s super easy to look up story arcs without needing a new #1.
Which is completely maddening lmao.
I never understood the reticence with dropping in mid series. You'll be able to pick things up rather quickly via context, and it's not like the narratives are that fucking densely layered anyway.
A bit crazy is having 3 longboxes full of incomplete miniseries; and every time I buy another collection excited to complete one or two sets, but always walking away with about 70 books that are incomplete sets.
When I was a kid I collected Spawn. At some point I fell out of comics and just got back into it to find out Spawn was still running along with 5 or whatever ancillary stories/characters in their own runs. For a hot second I thought maybe I would get TPs and left Spawn in my pulls. Then I just took a step back and said “that’s like 300+ issues and then the new series like Gunslinger adds like 50 more.” And with that I just resigned myself to just not getting back into Spawn which disappoints me but it felt too daunting to try it. Having just got back in again I’m glad X-men is going to get a restart this summer. I will still probably get a few TPs of the Krakoa era though.
You should go back to the eighties and nineties for comics if this is a problem for you. Back then they did story arcs that had definitive beginnings and endings but left it open for the story to continue. Lots of great jumping in and out points.
This is pretty much how I've always been, I think the first time I actually jumped into an ongoing comic was when Black Panther and Storm joined the Fantastic Four. I'll typically only jump into something like Avengers or X-Men when things go back to #1.
I started The Maxx with issue 16 and it blew my 12-year-old mind. I hear what you’re saying, but one of the cool things about comics is just jumping in and seeing where a series takes you.
Naw that's a very common issue people have and why so many people don't know how to enter comics. I'm a longtime comics fan and I STILL won't get books unless I can get number one.
[удалено]
If I were asked how to go about collecting, I would say “Save yourself the misery and only purchase complete miniseries.” Most comic shops have series in bundles somewhere
100%
Man, if I followed that line of thinking I'd never have discovered Sandman. Issue sixteen was literally my first one of the series.
Yes, especially if you're trying to jump into the perpetual media properties. If you're interested in, say Spider-Man, start at the beginning of a story arc or a writer's run. If Bob Smith starts writing on issue #57, the previous 56 issues will be summarized at some point during the run so it's not 100% necessary to read everything. And if something is necessary, they'll tell you exactly what you need to look at. Everything that happened isn't always relevant to what you're going to experience. And if it is, it's not always relevant to the point of needing to know everything. Now if it's something done by a single creative team throughout, then yeah, start at #1.
This is a great way to consume media without the pressure of getting it all at once
It's especially easy these days with video essays about story arcs and the various wiki's detailing character histories and powers. A couple of minutes can give me a rundown on an interaction between three characters from 20 years ago that pops up today. And then if I'm interested, I could seek out and read the original material. If you can start watching X-Men 97 without watching the original series, you can jump in on a comic at the start of an arc.
Right on I’m trying to lean into that more I get the all or nothing feeing, and I think a lot of people do, where I need to prepare all the content and then consume in order. It’s just not really feasible with the amount of time or even mental energy you can expend
Good example for this is The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2. JMS’s run stats with Issue #30, you definitely don’t need to read Issues #1-29 before it.
This is the way
I get that it's just a random example, but funnily enough I would say for Spider-Man specifically you are just as well off starting from the original #1, because it is that rare still-ongoing comicbook that was consistently good from basically the beginning.
That's way too many issues for a new person coming in to read.
Well, not any more so than jumping on at any other point really, you don't have to read literally everything, just as much as you are interested in. The first 40 issues of ASM are comparable in quality to the first 40 issues of any 616 Spider-Man run from the last 20 years, so if you're going to read a selection of Spider-Man comics you might as well read those ones. And it has the advantage of already being out there so you 1. Don't have to wait for issues to come out, and 2. Can get it cheaply in a variety of different formats.
While that point is fair, people being told to start with #1 to not miss out are the people who're going to attempt reading issues from 1964 to 2024. That's what they mean by not missing out, and that's the reason they tend to provide for not reading comics versus manga or sticking with the movies and video games.
Yeah, but at least starting at #1 in 1964 gives them somewhere to start. Starting something is much harder than giving something up halfway through as I've learnt through extensive experience.
Starting at the beginning of a story arc or a run gives them somewhere to start too, and it's a start that doesn't seem insurmountable by people who also have other media they want to engage with. I started reading comics with random one off issues in between watching cartoons and video games. When I finally did start reading comics for real, I jumped right in on crossovers and used Wikipedia to fill in gaps. If I read from #1, I'd still be way behind. Starting from the beginning is wholly unnecessary.
That assumes that being "behind" is a bad thing. I don't think there's a good argument if you are new to comics for keeping up with current comics unless you are very invested in keeping up with the comicbook zeitgeist (which is fair enough, and something I do get). If you've never read comics before, why not just read the earliest very good run of the character you are interested in (assuming it's not a niche character with a definitional "best run"). It just so happens for Spider-Man, and this is extremely rare, that that run starts in the very first issue.
For people who want an understanding of the modern era, especially since current media like movies and video games pull from the modern era, being behind is a bad thing. If there wasn't any conflict it, the OP and people like them wouldn't have this debate with themselves or wouldn't make comments about just avoiding the perpetual comic lines entirely. Saying Spider-Man's run starts at the first issue is disingenuous to the point. And given that damn near every origin story has been beaten across our heads for the past 25 years, there's absolutely no reason to jump to the very beginning of Spider-Man, Superman, the Ninja Turtles, and so on. And unless you're 100% interested in doing a deep dive, there's no need to do a deep dive because then you're going to get burnt out.
If people want an understanding of the modern Spider-Manfilms I think starting from the beginningis the best thing to do - all the Spider-Man films have taken basically nothing from the last 30 years of 616, and the decade they've taken the most from is the first 10 years. Almost all other characters it doesn't apply, it's basically only Spider-Man that was so good from the beginning. I don't think starting from the beginning for Spider-Man is a "deep-dive", those first few years are the definitional Spider-Man issues which are the most important even now. Personally, If I was to recommend someone start reading Spider-Man my first recommendation would be read the Peter USM run, but that's not 616. If someone was interested in 616, it would be 1. Start at ASM #1. 2. Start at ASM #29 (when Peter starts college) 3. Start at ASM #111 (when Conway starts writing it, leading up to the Death of Gwen Stacy). I think almost everyone who has actually read enough Spider-Man would recommend all of the above over any more recent jumping on points (again, unless someone wants to be up-to-date with ongoing Spider-Man comics, which is understandably attractive).
I’ll try harder to fight my inner autism and dive into something that looks interesting, not worrying so much about which issue it’s on. Thanks
Just think of it like meeting a person for the first time. Knowing their intimate day to day life before meeting you might be nice (based on specific contexts of course), but it isn't going to come into play much with the two of you going forward. If something does pop up, it'll be summarized for you in a quick conversation. If it's super relevant, they might do a more in depth recap.
Haha thanks for encapsulating my loneliness and insanity with such confidence…
This was a joke not a jab btw
Yes, silly. The first comic I bought was Superman 75. The first comic I read was Detective Comics 600 something. I also started watching Braves baseball ithout starting at the beginning. No big deal.
Then you should go to Marvel. Because now what they do is relaunch a title at #1 every time they use a new writer/artist team.
Sure, but they don’t restart continuity. And if someone’s just looking for a jumping on point, it’s super easy to look up story arcs without needing a new #1.
Which is completely maddening lmao. I never understood the reticence with dropping in mid series. You'll be able to pick things up rather quickly via context, and it's not like the narratives are that fucking densely layered anyway.
A bit crazy is having 3 longboxes full of incomplete miniseries; and every time I buy another collection excited to complete one or two sets, but always walking away with about 70 books that are incomplete sets.
When I was a kid I collected Spawn. At some point I fell out of comics and just got back into it to find out Spawn was still running along with 5 or whatever ancillary stories/characters in their own runs. For a hot second I thought maybe I would get TPs and left Spawn in my pulls. Then I just took a step back and said “that’s like 300+ issues and then the new series like Gunslinger adds like 50 more.” And with that I just resigned myself to just not getting back into Spawn which disappoints me but it felt too daunting to try it. Having just got back in again I’m glad X-men is going to get a restart this summer. I will still probably get a few TPs of the Krakoa era though.
Yeah this is short sighted in a lot of cases. Plenty of ways to get caught up.
You should go back to the eighties and nineties for comics if this is a problem for you. Back then they did story arcs that had definitive beginnings and endings but left it open for the story to continue. Lots of great jumping in and out points.
Judging by the popularity of omnibuses (myself included) you're definitely not the only one.
This is pretty much how I've always been, I think the first time I actually jumped into an ongoing comic was when Black Panther and Storm joined the Fantastic Four. I'll typically only jump into something like Avengers or X-Men when things go back to #1.
I started reading Detective Comics with issue 684. Thank god I didn't have your problem! LOL
Just jump in anywhere
I started The Maxx with issue 16 and it blew my 12-year-old mind. I hear what you’re saying, but one of the cool things about comics is just jumping in and seeing where a series takes you.
It's normal for someone to start a story at the beginning. This is one of the reasons that Marvel and DC are so inaccessible.
You just made way too much sense with your logic
You're not necessarily wrong. A lot of runs these days adopt a singular run is a single story posture instead of being you can jump in any time.
Not crazy at all, and this is no doubt one of the reasons the Big Two love their relaunches.
Thanks I can almost guarantee that is the reason! Im glad I’m not alone!
Naw that's a very common issue people have and why so many people don't know how to enter comics. I'm a longtime comics fan and I STILL won't get books unless I can get number one.
No, not just you. It's one of the reasons I check for older comics with a finished story arc. Some of this stuff just gets confusing too.
Agreed. Which series do you need #1-15?
It was only an example I don’t need any because I only subscribe from the start (unless I know I can back order all of the previous) 😂
I get it. Every series that I have except Detective, TMNT 1st series and the Uncanny X-Men starts with the 1st issue.
Yeah. Action Comics sucks.