Why read Marvel?

[cool_jeff]

Hello Spoilerites of the Marvel board!

I got into comics recently with the New 52, and am reading a number of titles regularly. I am somewhat interested in checking out Marvel, but I really do not know where/what to get into. I read the Point One comic, and to be honest I had no idea what characters I was reading about or what books I could find more of them in. I also tried a few issues of Uncanny X-men and Wolverine and the X-men, having seen a few episodes of the X-men tv show when I was younger, but didn't really get into it.

So with that in mind, any suggestions? What is a good ongoing to try get into? Or maybe you think there is a trade I should try first? What are you reading from Marvel that you absolutely love?

[Gaumer]

I really love X-Factor.

But you aren't going to easily find a Marvel book that doesn't require a bunch of back reading. This was the biggest allure of the New 52 IMO, but if you really want to get into Marvel you just have to keep looking. What I think is awesomeness another person simply isn't going to like, as is the way with most things.

My advice would be to keep reading DC, and just browse the Marvel shelves at your LCS when you go. If you see something that looks new and interesting, thumb through it and see what you think. Its always going to be a crap shoot since a lot of the books I love and buy every month sometimes have an off month. That doesn't mean the book is bad it just means that issue wasn't as good. If you judge the interest you have in a title based on thumbing through a bad issue of a good title that won't help you.

Another bit of advice I would give you is to research what is going on. Go to Wikipedia and other sites to get the backstory you don't want to invest in buying.

X-Men has always been and always will be indecipherable (just picked up that adjective for the X-Men from a Spoilerite) to most readers because it has and uses so much backstory. The Avengers and the FF and most other Marvel titles have a complicated backstory, but the X-books just use more of that backstory to tell current story.

FF is about the same way but only in the context of the writer on the book. Meaning, Jonathan Hickman is the current writer on Fantastic Four, but in order to enjoy those books you would only need to know and understand Hickman's run on the book, and not necessarily the entire 70 years of history of those characters. The Avengers are about the same in that context.

Hulk and Daredevil and even Punisher (for example) have recently seen relaunches to their titles, with new creators and such, and should be easier for new readers to jump on-board without having a bunch of background knowledge.

Lastly, thumb through a Previews, should be available at your LCS and they usually don't mind buyers looking through those because they are like Sears catalogs for comic shops, and see if something catches your eye.

[cool_jeff]

Thanks for the advice, I think I will try just randomly picking up some that catch my eye

To be honest, after the X-Men books, I was kind of turned off by Marvel, so it is good to hear that its more an X-Men problem then a company problem. I was kind of thinking Ironman or Spiderman, though I know basically nothing about Ironman, and Spiderman intimidates me because there are what seems like a hundred different Spiderman books on the shelf at any given time.

I got into comics because of the MSP, and from Rodrigo's comments about the Hulk and the crazy number of Hulk multiples, it kind of made me think Hulk wasn't a good book to try get into, but I will take a look next time I am at the store and see what I see with him.

[Xian]

I can't vouch for their quality, but I can acknowledge the effort... Marvel has a line pretty much intended to capture readership exactly in your position.  It's the "Season One" (NOT to be confused with Point One) line of graphic novels meant to update Marvel superhero origins.  I believe Spidey, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Daredevil are out right now with Hulk and Doctor Strange coming soon.

They're not strictly mainstream continuity, but they're more than close enough without having to read something that might be too dated to enjoy... and once you're familiar with the character you can dip your toe into their title proper.  That's the theory anyways, I haven't actually read any of the Season One books.

Of those four, I'd go with either Daredevil or Spidey.  Daredevil recently relaunched and while it does make references to classic villains, it's not something that requires prior knowledge (and nothing beyond what a wiki entry or Season One- wouldn't get you up to speed on).  Spider-Man is a little more tricky, but if you wanted to get into him I'd stick to the beginning of Dan Slott's Amazing Spider-Man run which is a little bit of a tonal reboot and reintroduction of old supporting characters plus a bunch of new ones (basically, Parker gets a new civilian job which sets up life change and cast change).  That should be a fairly decent recent entry point into Spider-Man.  If you don't care about continuity and just want Spidey stories, the Ultimate Spider-Man line- from the beginning- will give you years of accessible reading.

I like Ironman, but I would avoid him as a beginner for now because his increased profile has meant he's always tied to Marvel events which results is major swings in his status quo which might be hard to follow without going back literally decades.  That said, Extremis is a fairly compact self-contained story that's pretty to look at with a lot of action and sets up the powers Ironman has had for the ~7 years.  The plot and characterization is streamlined so it is an easy story to get into.

This depends on how you like to get into things.  Some people are relational- so they like to approach it from a favorite character, creator, or common interest with a friend- some are chronological and comprehensive- and HAVE to start at the beginning- and others need clarity while some like to be thrown into the deep end.  Sometimes the chaos and mystery inspires you to research and read more because the book feels like it has a lot of greater value to uncover as you learn more... so one might suggest books that span the whole Marvel Universe like Marvels or Civil War or Infinity Gauntlet... but if that just makes you feel like everythings going over your head and just noise, smaller more focused stories would be a better choice.  If you have questions, of course, people on forums are happy to help- ask a question of the podcast- or check wiki.

Finally, if you really "know basically nothing" about the characters, you might want to just watch a few of the shows / cartoons / movies, which generally distill the characters to their essential elements.

[Slappy]

which of the mainstream are the most self contained?

[greyman24]

Unfortunately, it's not still being published, but the Nova series (Vol. 4) was really good. It's available on Comixology for cheap.

I picked it up with no knowledge of the Nova Corps and only a little background from New Warriors (which barely got into his history) and read through the whole series.