Are there any characters genuinely difficult to get into?
I was thinking about this meme (cropped cause it’s originally an east vs west meme), and how stupid it is. You don’t start at any of the issue #1s, you start at Batman Year One, and if you’re getting started you buy trades. And since there are so many various collections, and he’s been rebooted so few times, Batman is probably the easiest and most accessible comic character to get into. So this meme is stupid.
What I’m wondering, are there any comics characters who are so dense with lore, and stories spread across titles, and rife with reboots and variants, that it actually is really hard for a newcomer to get into them? I know the character Zauriel was invented solely because Hawkman continuity was so convoluted DC wouldn’t allow writers to use him for a time. Any others?
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It's difficult if you're completely unfamiliar with comics, magazines, episodic television, film series, or search engines.
Even with the Hawkman example, he's only confusing if you're reading/reading about his appearances from a specific few years.
All you need to know is
1. Got Wings
2. Got Mace
3. Hates Shirts
4. Fights Crime
3b. Chest Hair
Yeah, people like to pretend that Hawkman was always this incredibly convoluted character, but they only made him convoluted with the second Hawkworld runs--where Katar existed at the same time as Carter, and then the "Hawk God" shows up and says that they're
>ACH-shully the same person
They really should've just killed off Carter and Shiera and had them reincarnate on Thanagar as Katar and Sheyera Post-Crisis.
Legion of Super-Heroes is the biggest example I can think of. It's really fun to get into though.
>You don’t start at any of the issue #1s, you start at Batman Year One, and if you’re getting started you buy trades.
The funny thing is that you don't even realize that you're literally proving the meme right. You just can't see it because you're already obsessed with comics so you can't imagine how this looks to someone who knows next to nothing about them.
Donna Troy
Just read creator owned FFS
Ah damn, I was just about to point out the same thing.
>Don't start from Batman #1, start at Batman Year One, totally different and completely obvious.
>don't start at the first James Bond movie, start at Casino Royale 2006
Not really that different. I've also seen people complain they don't know what trades are when trade paperback is just a general book term.
>don't start at the first James Bond movie, start at Casino Royale 2006
that's just as bad, just like how some anime have the same problem, like Fate Stay Night.
James Bond doesn't show up in other movies and almost all of them outside of maybe Skyfall and No Time to Die require previous viewings to jump into with how self containted they are. There is no comparable, outside of maybe what Marvel is now doing with making TV shows play into their movies.
>should I read the story titled “year one” and advertised as Batman’s origin story, conveniently collected in a trade paperback in any place where comics are sold, that everyone tells me is the best place to start reading Batman comics?
>no, I should go track down an obscure comic from 1940, nearly impossible to find. I just gotta raise 2.2 million dollars
>this is normal people get into comics right?
Starting at chapter 1 and reading straight forward is okay, but you can't read any of the cool later stuff until after reading the earlier ones.
This is why Silver Age comics reign supreme. Where do you start? Anywhere you want! All the stories are standalone, and every issue was designed as being somebody's first.
EAST VS WEST THREAD YOU SAY? OH BOY
Venom is completely fricked comics wise.
Read #ASM 299-300 for his debut. But then you'd have to read the first Carnage story to see why he's a good guy. And then if you want to see his first run as a hero, read Lethal Protector, but not the new Lethal Protector. And don't read his updated Dark Origin story. Or the VENOM limited series. And you can't read agent venom because that's someone else, but Cates Venom is all about Lee Price for a few issues, and you can't just pick up Ewings Venom without being completely lost.
Venom, for all his mainstream popularity is hard as frick to get into when it comes to comics.
Jaime Reyes is a big one, because you already have to go into Ted Cord.
But also Ted Cord, should not be skipped over but enjoy as much as Jaime. And the rabbit goes deeper if you want it to.
Yeah, then there's Dan--who isn't required reading at all, especially since Ted's origin uses the Charlton version of Dan Garrett.
>read random issue or trade of a comic that looks cool
>if you like the character just look up what issues/series he shows up in
>if you like the writer look up what else he has done
>if you like the artist look up what else he has done
>continuity/overreaching plot is irrelevant in the grand sceheme of things and in any case the writers hold your hand and tl;dr what is going on
it's as easy as that. If you still find it hard to get into comics in this day and age, you are a brainlet. Little kids don't find it hard to read comics, so why are people older than them complaining? I didn't read capeshit as a kid, only picked it up as an adult, so I don't have that bias as well.
Maybe because unlike you, many other people don't want a short distraction, but actually want to engage in a story?
Not to mention you would spoil yourself back and forth by picking up a "random" issue. Like, let's say you pick up a Batman comic and then Batman says "Catwoman, there is a reason why I had to divorce you[see Batman Ultimate Knight issue #176]", then the actual ship and marriage progression would be spoiled to you when you finally randomly pick that up.
>Maybe because unlike you, many other people don't want a short distraction, but actually want to engage in a story?
that makes no sense. At that point, read a book. Manga is just as much a short distraction, considering it's a fricking picture book for teens you can get through in like 10 minutes.
>Not to mention you would spoil yourself back and forth by picking up a "random" issue.
so? That's only a problem if you're someone who is bothered by spoilers. Not everyone is annoyed by that. Do you freak out if you happen upon a random episode of a television series and realise they're referencing something that happened a few episodes ago?
>read a book. Manga is just as much a short distraction
please tell me you're 12, otherwise I can't take you seriously any more as a human
>so? That's only a problem if you're someone who is bothered by spoilers
Yes, like someone who wants to engage in a story instead of wanting a short distraction. Try to keep up
>Do you freak out if you happen upon a random episode of a television series and realise they're referencing something that happened a few episodes ago?
I dislike it, yes. If I happen to watch a random episode and noticed it's not a status quo episode, I hope that once I start from the beginning that I will forget about the spoiler.
The fact it is confusing and convulted is not even the main problem, it's the fact no superhero is consistent by theme or quality, original run Spider-Man is little like the decade long Slott run.
Manga is just better.
But i enjoy color with my picture books
>praising that hack Murata
>after the latest trainwreck
lol
lmao even
Eh, he remains a great artist even if he's lacking as a writer. ONE has the opposite problem, he has great comedic timing and paneling sense but his style is mostly scribbles (though he has gotten better with time and honestly I find his style endearing).
Murata reading this thread like...
Being rich in Japan sucks, though. Taxes take so much of your money(Toriyama is basically his town's biggest money bringer through his taxs alone), space is limited so even rich artists only live in what would be a lower-mid range size upperclass house at best. You can own multiple properties but most of them are just apartments. A lot of mangakas even rent out apartments just for art because there's no page resale market like there is over here.
That Miura drawing is from his manga called NOA.
He was 19.
Stop reading capeshit. Never read capeshit.
Read episodic adventure and comedy comics
just focus on your favorite characters like in dc i only read the trinity heroes and occasionaly batfamily hero meanwhile marvel its either daredevil and avengers
Marvel is a mess but it is not fair to insult it and the rest of the american industry due to DC useless half undone retcons and "everything is canon" current philosophy. DC got the most confusing canon of any big franchise right now.
Only an actual hard reboot without timeskips and merging timelines can fix DC now
It's not confusing at all, you're just obsessed with fitting everything into one neat timeline like an autist.
Every story is part of one big canon that often contradicts itself. Each writer can pick up elements from any part of the canon to base their section of it off of, and ignore what they don't like.
As long as you understand the gist of the characters, you can just read any stories, and you'll see how they fit together, sometimes even in ways that weren't intended.
>watch the justice league movie and it sucked
>try to get into comics to find alternative
>get into the new 52
>buy JL trades 1-6
>buy hardcover Apocalypse War
>now have every issue up to the end of AW
>start reading until the end of trade 3 or 4
>Justice League fricking straight up disappears to another dimension and gets replaced by evil Justice League
>the next trade the regular JL just fricking back
The whole thing is fricking resolved in some other fricking set, what the frick is the point of some of these trades?
For me, Nightwing was the hardest to get into. His mythos changes at the drop of the hat. I started with Rebirth and this is the second time Dick is re-discovering Bludhaven and battling Blockbuster in the same timeline. It feels like DC doesn't like this character since they make it very hard to get into him. Apparently, this happens alot with him.
Also his romance subplots are painfully boring. Still love him though but i stopped buying his runs until DC puts out better content.
>It feels like DC doesn't like this character since they make it very hard to get into him.
Dan Didio thought Dick was pointless so he wanted him dead or off the playing field. Dick stuck around because he's always sold decently enough, and writers like him, but since Didio ran DC from 2002-2020 writers had to jump through hoops to sell him on gimmicks to make him work to Didio's approval.
So in the 2000's, Dan wanted him gone or out of the bat wheelhouse for a while, so he ends up in NYC. Then Morrison asks to make him Batman and that goes for a while. Then new 52 happens and its back to basics for a bit..until the secret agent stuff. Then back to basics for a few months until Didio tells them he wants Dick to be cooler and edgier and not Dick.So thats when the Ric Grayson sit happens.
So as basic as the Tom taylor run has been, its something that's been a long time coming. for 10+ years you could barely have a Nightwing comic that was just a nightwing comic. Ironically the retreading of old plotlines is done for new readers so they get the gist of the status quo.
So, Dan the Didiot ruins everything again. Gotcha.
You just pick them up and start reading. Best place to start is whatever's interesting to you.
Tayne can be pretty hard to get into. I'd recommend starting with a hat wobble and working your way from there.