Under the cut you’ll find a five-steps guide to comics which includes:
1) why would you even
2) how to buy and/or pirate
3) how to read
4) actual recs
5) blog recs
[this is a repost of a post I accidentally deleted, lmao]
1st step, knowing if you really do want to get into comics:
reading comics isn’t like reading that popular seven-books-long series or marathoning a ten-seasons-long show. reading superhero comics isn’t even like reading a very long graphic novel. getting into Marvel or DC is getting into an universe. a multiverse, actually, a complex network of multiple universes with hundreds and maybethousands of characters and storylines and events each.
you won’t be able to read everything. you won’t be able to know everything, not even if you read the complete wikia for every character and storyline. you have to go in knowing it, alright? you won’t know everything, and you won’t need to.
you can’t start reading Lee&Kirby’s comics from the fifties and work your way to the present. you can’t, because there are a million issues, and because golden age comics are awful and boring as hell. because even if you do, then you have to suffer all the way through that same process with every other universe in the company.
there is a full multiverse reboot coming up in Marvel and one has already happened in DC, nobody fucking cares about continuity. you just read what you want, and what you don’t know, you either a) ignore it and hope you’ll understand in context or b) read the wikipedia and fuck anyone who says you have to read a hundred issues written by Rick Remender and illustrated by Milo Manara to trulyunderstand comics and be a true fan. there are no true fans. comics aren’t real, man.
you have to know, coming in, that you can’t trust anything or anyone. your fave character might (and will) end up in the hands of the writer you hate the most and they might be completely massacred by his characterization. that one character you’d die for might (and will) end up being illustrated by a porn artist and you’ll have to deal with two hundred issues of absolute trash because you love the character too much to quit. your favorite might die (and come back, a couple years later, probably) or be vanished out of existence, or, I don’t even know, be fused with a machine and become a dual conscience in a shared mechanical body. who the hell knows.
if you really do feel like you’re ready to become a part of this madness… I’m so sorry for you, buddy.
2nd step, finding the comics:
do you have the money to buy comics? no, I don’t mean one comic. I mean, to buy the amount of comics necessary to truly “get” into comics? I thought not. no one freaking does. that’s why there are alternative resources!
important! buy current runs, buy independent comics, buy female-led and lgbtq-led and poc-led titles. don’t waste your money on golden age comics if you can’t spare it, use it to support the artist, writers and titles that are struggling right now.
if you do have some money:
Scribd Comics Unlimited is a cheap (nine bucks!) monthly subscription that allows you to access over ten thousands digital books, including Marvel, Valiant, Top Shelf and others.
Marvel Unlimited is the same service, but Marvel-exclusive. it has its pros over Scribd (like the option to filter by hero, universe, etc.) and some more issues and storylines, though critics say that the reading app isn’t as comfortable as Scribd’s.
ComicsFix is the same service, but for indie comics. I haven’t seen many commentaries on it, because it’s very new, but I saw famous titles like Red Sonja, Deathless and Battlestar Galactica, latinx titles like La Cruz de Los Muertos, an entire manga section, etc. it seems pretty varied though I didn’t find any of the comics I read.
there doesn’t seem to be a similar service for DC comics.
Comixology is the easiest and cheapest source for digital comic books. it has discounts and huge sales almost every week, there are some free comics for you to check out, it has a great subscription function and works with DC, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse and many other publishers.
also, the official publishers’ pages:
Read DC Entertainment
Marvel dot com
Image Comics
Dark Horse Publishing
there are, of course, many other publishers (and not all of them are USAmerican, though the superhero multiverse phenomenon is absolutely a yanki thing), but you’ll have to go down that path for yourself.
if you don’t have any money:
pirate the hell out of those comic books, my friend! we’re mostly talking about multi-million companies, don’t feel too guilty about it. (remember what I said before about trying to support current titles, though!)
but, wait, there are steps for this too. if you are new to pirating, lemme guide you:
a) you need a torrent client. the most popular is UTorrent, though I strongly recommend QBitTorrent too (and it works great on Linux!)
b) are there strict laws against piracy in your country? in that case, you’re going to need an alternative way to get into torrent pages and a way to hide your IP address.
c) now! torrent pages. the most popular and accessible ones are:
Kickass Torrents
Proxy Bay (a list of Pirate Bay working proxys)
Isohunt
you can also use torrent search engines, like:
Torrentz
Torrents
Torrent-Finder
d) last but not least, how do you find comics?
if you’re aiming for big downloads, you should search for something like
[comic book name] “complete” or [comic book name] “full”
for example, “ultimate spider man complete” or “hawkeye full”
if you are looking for specific issues, the best formula is
[name of comic] [year of comic] [number of issue]
for example, “all new avengers 2014 04” or “spider girl 2001 12”
most pages allow you to filter so they’ll only show books (instead of cartoon adaptations, movies, videogames or porn parodies), but you always know if you’re seeing books or not because comic books are in .cbr format. try not to download .rar or .zip, because they’re usually locked or fake.
always check the comments, because people who have downloaded it previously will already have commented with important details, like “issue #45 is missing” or “page 12 is corrupt” or even “entire torrent is actually naruto fanart”
for lack of comments, check if they have more thumbs up than thumbs down. there are also a couple comics uploaders that always put up quality content, and you’ll soon learn to identify them. also, try to avoid downloads with under 10 seeders, because they’ll take forever and you’ll probably die.
3rd step, opening the comics:
though the official, paid comics services offer you reading apps, downloading comics illegally requires you to have a comic reader with you. for Windows, Mac and Linux, you can one of these two free reading apps:
CBRreader
CDisplay
or you can try one of these.
there are .cbr readers for Android too, but I haven’t yet tried any.
4th step, and the most important and stressful… what do you read?
option a) try a reading guide!
the Internet is a wonderful place, full of good-willed people who want to make your reading adventure as smooth as possible. it is also full of people who think that, if you are not a cis white dude over 15, you don’t deserve to get into comics, but whatever. we’ll focus on the good.
How to get into Marvel and DC superhero comics
The Complete Marvel Reading Guide
DC Recommended Reading
I tried one of those “read Marvel in chronological order” guides when I started myself, but I lasted about two months (and like five hundred golden age issues) before throwing everything away and just reading whatever the hell I wanted. that’s why we have…
option b) read whatever! chronology doesn’t matter! quality is subjective!
this is where the actual recs start. of course, I can only rec Marvel and some indie comics, so, first: Kiran americachavez has some excellentcomic books recs, for Marvel, DC and other publishers. this one in particular is all DC and I think a good place to start.now, let’s talk Marvel:
the method, always, is to pick a character you love and then wing it. obsession and fangirling will do the rest of the work for you! of course, when you’re following a character or team, you have to remember: every book and maybe even every arc will be written and illustrated by different people, so the quality of the art, the story and the characterizations changes over time. you hold on to your love for the character and wish for the best. or drop the series, skip to the next decent point and read the wikia instead.
the place where I started: Young Avengers
The Avengers have disbanded, there is a big bad approaching and someone has to save the world. A group of teenagers jump to the rescue.
This team includes, more or less regularly: a gay Jewish-Romani wizard and his (very cute) boyfriend, the Black Captain America’s grandson, a super smart black guy who’s probably the first character ever to say “I’m bisexual” in canon, Ant-Man’s daughter, an artificial intelligence, a girl with no superpowers whatsoever, another Jewish-Romani kid (who’s the first’s twin and also my son), a lesbian Latina runaway princess from another universe, Loki, an alien prince and Nate (nobody cares about Nate).
fuckyeahyoungavengers has a pretty cohesive reading order, that includes the team’s cameos in other series, and the individual’s characters appearances on other comics, teams or solo runs.
I made a list with the main runs a while ago, though it’s way less complete, but I included some torrents already, so you might find it useful.
once you’ve read Young Avengers, you’ll probably feel curious about The Runaways. I have read very little about them myself, but they’re a great team (and very diverse, too!) and many of my friends love them. they’re kids whose parents were supervillains who decided to get away and fight crime instead; and there is a new series coming up later this year! (download / buy)
and, I know you’re in love with Kate Bishop already after meeting her, so you’ll probably want to read about her and her archer buddy, Clint Barton. they both share
Hawkeye Volume 4 (great art, Kate’s arc is amazing, it brought back Clint’s hearing impairment, it has some issues but overall a beautiful read, there is a dog),
All-New Hawkeye (still figuring out how I feel about it but overall it seems good) and
Hawkeye vs. Deadpool (perfect! lovely! hilarious!).
Clint has had a couple great solo runs before (Blind Spot has particularly good reputation), but the characterization has changed a lot with Fraction’s run.
also, after reading YA, you probably want to know what is up with this “black Captain America” deal. fear not! you can read Truth: Red White and Black.
and, since we’re talking about Cap, you can read about Steve Rogers in Captain America: Man Out of Time, or in Brubaker’s emblematic Cap run or read about the new black Cap (Sam Wilson) in All-New Captain America.
Ghost Rider (more specifically, the two that matter)
gotta admit, I didn’t care much for Ghost Rider until I heard the new heir to the title would not only be Latino, but written but a Latino too! felipesmithart’s run of All-New Ghost Rider has been great, deals amazingly with a lot of issues (though not so much with female characters) and the art (by Tradd Moore) is astonishing. I think it’s ending now, but Robbie Reyes will appear again soon. and he’ll appear withAlejandra Blaze, the badass from 2011’s run, in the coming Ghost Racers.
Black Widow
Natalia Alianovna Romanova, one of 27 ballerinas with the Bolshoi, one of 27 spies in the Red Room. you can find the most important comics here, or FYBW’s recommended readings here, and the current run (which is beautifully illustrated by the amazing philnoto) is available at Comixology or you can download it here. I personally loved Name of the Rose.
Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel
Carol Danvers and his number one fan, Kamala Khan, are probably two of the most important characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading about. Kamala, the first Pakistani Muslim superheroine to get a solo run, is a wonderful tiny angel, and Carol is my buff girlfriend. There is also Monica Rambeau, who’s held the Captain Marvel title too and is badass as hell.
here is a list of Carol’s comic appareances
here is Kamala’s solo run
After reading Carol’s comics, you’ll probably also want to know about Carol’s latest romantic interest, Rhodey (Iron Patriot) and about her best friend and also probably romantic interest (jk), Jess Drew (Spider-Woman).
She-Hulk
do you like Legally Blonde? do you like big muscled girls beating up bad guys? then you’ll love Jennifer Walters! there are a lot of comics about her, plus the amazing 2014 run!
Daredevil & Elektra
my favorite babies! Matt isn’t blond and I’m gonna save myself a tasteless joke, so let’s skip to the important. I own some issues of Daredevil: the Man Without Fearand, though the art is… really 90’s, I liked the run. the two latest runs (2011-2014 and2014-2015) have received great critiques and I’ve loved the art I’ve seen, but I haven’t read them. the current Elektra run seems to be great too.
Your favorite spiders!
I mentioned Jess up there, but you can’t forget about the most important of all the female spiders: Araña, a.k.a. Spider-Girl. Anya Corazón is a total babe, and you can buy her comics (Heart of the Spider, Spider-Girl) or download all of them here.
The new Silk is about Cindy, Peter Parker’s Korean-American classmate who got bit too, and Spider-Gwen happens in an alternative universe where Gwen was the one bitten.
As for my favorite team runs, I haven’t read many team comics but Avengers Assemble is great and hilarious; and the All-New X-Men was all female-led and also amazing.
Other great female-led solo titles coming out now are Storm (actually written by a writer of color! great art!), Thor (amazing art! haven’t read but but I’ve heard the story is great!) and Squirrel-Girl (no idea what it is about but it looks hilarious).
my own personal hell: The Ultimate Universe
one of the main issues with getting into comics is that, after reading your first isolated run, you start feeling curious about all the other characters and events mentioned in that comic but you have no idea of where to start reading to understand them all. there are over fifty years of comics published, which translates into thousands of issues with hundreds of storylines and characterizations that don’t always make sense and have absolutely no cohesive line.
sometime in the late 90’s, a couple writers and editors sat down and decided to “fix” the continuity errors and editorial disagreements that made Earth-616 (that’s Marvel’s main continuity, by the way) absolutely impossible to read; to update the character’s origin stories so they’d make sense in the 21st century, to make superheroes more human. so they created the Ultimate universe, or Earth-1610. it was… it was a valiant effort.
I made a Download Guide for Ults a while ago.
Kiran has another great rec-list for this universe, too.
Ultimate has some of the best and the worst things that Marvel’s ever done. let me start with the good:
Ultimate Spider-Man and Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man
though I’m always the first in line to say that Bendis needs to quit writing comic books, Peter and Miles’ arcs have both been great.
the art during, like, ninety percent of Ult-Spidey was terrible, but Peter’s story did exactly what the universe was meant to do: it made Peter’s story real, touching, up-to-date, and built a continuity where you could truly, really follow him through all of his journey without wanting to rip your own hair out.
Miles’ arc, on the other hand, was always accompanied by Sara Piccelli’s gorgeous artwork. the story has been great so far, Miles is an amazing character and now he’s part of the All-New Ultimates (the Ultimates are the 1610-version of the Avengers, that have now disbanded and been replaced by a younger, cooler and more diverse group of teenage superheroes).
Spider-Man alone is enough to make the Ults-verse worth it, but there are other things.
I really enjoyed the first half of Ultimate Fantastic Four, until the plot pretty much went to shit and then they hired the worst illustrator in the universe. Ultimate Elektra and Daredevil is good, though not long enough. Ultimate X-Men has some amazing moments and some… not so much.
there are many things to say about this universe. like, the fact that Bendis’ idea of “realism” is “everyone is a douchebag” but the Ultimate universe is to thank for black Nick Fury (his story in this universe is!!! so!!! good!!!) so Imma embrace it.
also! here is a rec-list of indie comics (it’s in photoset format, hit me up if you are visually impaired or have any other difficulty reading it and would like me to caption it!) and I’d strongly suggest you read
Sex Criminals
SAGA
Watson & Holmes
The Lumberjanes
Rat Queens
and I’m going to read The Wicked and The Divine so I’ll let y'all know what I think. oh! and I’ve heard some great things about the new Fresh Romance.
5st step, embrace the fandom (or don’t, and spare yourself the suffering):
here is a list of cool comics blogs I follow, so you don’t spend your reading experience suffering in silence and unable to yell at anyone about it:
comic book blogs:
wearewakanda
comicbookartwork
marvelmeta
fuckyeahblackwidow
women-of-marvel
themarysue
coolpages
infinity-comics
comicblah
fuckyeahyoungavengers
fuckyeahmissamerica
mediavengers
fuckyeahavengingarcher
fuckyesdeadpool
people in the industry:
gingerhaze
kevinwada
felipesmithart
kellysue
philnoto
mattfractionblog
joequinones
kristaferanka
or, for the critical side of fandom:
eschergirls
fandomshatewomen
fandomshatepeopleofcolor
comicbookmisogyny
I also co-run (though I haven’t had the time to update lately!)
officialhawkeyes
marvelpolyamory
6th step, spiral into despair:
basically, as Kiran said here, find out what you love and let it ruin you. or something like that, probably.