So You Wanna Get Into Marvel?

[daretodo]

Getting Started | Finding Comics | Continuities | Resources


Where Do I Start?

Getting into comics can be an intimidating process. While there are some titles that are more accessible to newcomers than others, the best advice is to just dive right in. Explore. Use Google to find what stories are popular or critically acclaimed. For example, I could type in 'Top Ten Spider-Man stories' and discover what runs and issues regularly crop up as required reading. Tumblr is another resource to consider; browsing through a character's tag can expose you to a number of creators and titles you might not have heard of otherwise.

Don't want to bother with any of that? No problem. As long as you start with the first part of a story arc, you shouldn't have too much trouble keeping up with what's going on, even if it's issue #578 of a title that's been running since the 1960s. Marvel's generally pretty good at providing character synopses and general backstory with every issue, meaning you'll never be entirely lost (and if you are, at least you'll have an idea about what you ought to look up).

If you want a little more guidance, many players at TR dipped their toes into the Marvel U through such titles as:

- Astonishing X-Men
- Avengers Academy
- Runaways
- X-Factor
- Young Avengers

Daredevil, particularly Mark Waid's most recent run, is also a good jumping off point, as it's a relatively self-contained series that does not rely on an extensive knowledge of the Daredevil stories that preceded it, let alone the rest of the Marvel Universe. Not only has it been getting rave reviews -- CBR listed it as the number one book of 2011 -- it's also still early days in its run, making it easy to catch up.

Where Do I Find These Things?

• Want to leave the house?

  Comic Shop Locator.com is pretty much what it says on the tin; it'll help you find the comic book store nearest to you, where hopefully you'll have a friendly staff on hand to play tour guide.



• Don't want to leave the house?

  Amazon has a large collection of trades and hardcovers available for sale. Also, you can subscribe to Marvel comics through their website to either have individual issues delivered to your house or legally download digital copies of a number of titles. ComiXology is another provider of legal, digital comics.

The Various Continuities*

Mainstream Continuity (Earth-616)

The birthplace of the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers... The Main Marvel Universe is where it all started, and it's still going strong. Comprising the bulk of Marvel's publishing effort, Mainstream Continuity includes:

- The Amazing Spider-Man
- The Avengers, The New Avengers, The Secret Avengers, Avengers Academy, Young Avengers.
- Captain America and Captain America & Bucky
- Daredevil
- Fantastic Four and F.F.
- Hawkeye
- Hulk
- The Invincible Iron Man
- The Mighty Thor and Journey Into Mystery
- Runaways
- Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine and the X-Men, Uncanny X-Force, X-Factor, Astonishing X-Men, X-23...

And about a hundred or so others.

Ultimate Marvel Continuity (Earth-1610)

The Ultimate Marvel universe (whose books are helpfully differentiated from the main Marvel line by including 'Ultimate' in the title) was launched in 2000 with the series Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men. Featuring new origins (and less backstory) for established characters from the main Marvel U, the Ultimate line was intended to attract new readers. It is known for bold and sudden changes in status quo, deaths that stick, and, thanks to Jeph Loeb, turning many beloved characters into raging @$$holes. Notable titles include:

- Ultimate Spider-Man, the most successful and critically acclaimed title of the franchise.
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, featuring Miles Morales.
- Ultimate Fantastic Four
- Ultimate X-Men
- The Ultimates

Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe features those films owned by Marvel Studios, a relatively new production company. Barring the odd exception (such as Punisher: War Zone), these films exist in a shared universe, and include the following:

- Iron Man
- Iron Man 2
- The Incredible Hulk
- Thor
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- The Avengers
- Iron Man 3
- Thor: The Dark World
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- The Avengers 2

Note: as Marvel does not currently own the film rights to the X-Men (FOX), Spider-Man (Sony), and Fantastic Four (FOX), franchises, characters and concepts existing in those films consequently do not exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Basically, this means that the X-Men aren't going to pop in The Avengers anytime soon, nor is Spider-Man. Moreover, The Daily Bugle, the iconic Marvel newspaper, doesn't exist anywhere except for the Spider-Man films, as Sony owns exclusive rights to all things Spidey. When it comes to the silver screen, those characters and concepts just don't exist in the same world, period.

* Though there exist several other Marvel continuities, these are the most relevant and prevalent.

I'm Lost. What Are Good, Informative Websites?

• Marvel.com: The Official Site: Basically what it says. The official website offers news on all of Marvel's goings on, across all mediums and platforms.


• ComicList: The New Comic Book Release List: Comic books are released every Wednesday in North America. This website lets you know what's new weekly from every publishing company.


• Marvel Comics Database: An incredible resource that provides information on pretty much everything and everyone.


• Comic Vine: A good way to find out what books a character has appeared in, though be warned that the number of appearances includes reprints and trades, and is thus inflated.


• UncannyXmen.Net - For the Fans, By the Fans: A fansite dedicated to all things X-Men. Includes character spotlights and issue summaries.


• SpiderFan.org: The Unofficial Spider-Man Home Page.


• The Other Murdock Papers: A Daredevil fansite with analysis and reviews.

Comments

[two_natures]

Comixology is also another great site for digital comics. I actually prefer their site to Marvel's when it comes to being able to download on one platform and read it wherever.