Why I Don't Read Comic Books

[@lukeamparo6586]

It’s best to just go through “runs” of a character. For example in Spider-Man folks like to get into either the very beginning with Stan Lee and Ditko as the OG author and artists. Or folks would like to skip to a different era if you’re already acquainted with the character like David Michilene and Todd McFarlane where Peter and MJ are married and he fights with Venom and Carnage. And even when McFarlane left the book Erik Larson and Bagley tried to emulate his art style with their own spin. So the art is somewhat coherent. It’s tough but it also helps to just read an event book and follow the author from there. American comics is tough to navigate especially with DC and Marvel being so main stream. Heck even long running yet niche comics like Lady Death, Vampirella and Red Sonja have many spin offs and runs. But I’d say they vary less than Marvel and DC. It also helps to branch off to different publishers or stories beyond DC and Marvel. Examples: -Invincible -Spawn -Witch Blade -Gen 13 -Danger Girl Comics like these usually have a primary artist or author who does most of the run so it’s more coherent, at least for the start. Links below should help you decide which run to go through. The lowest one also lists the authors and artists’ last name but sometime it’s wrong by an issue or two. Helps if you just want to see where the run starts. There’s also wiki fandoms to help search runs or characters up for appearances. comicbookreadingorders.com www.comicbookherald.com/the-complete-marvel-reading-order-guide/ www.comicsbackissues.com/comic-book-reading-order/ But hey, if this is too much that’s fine. You can also get collections if you just want to see a specific story of a character like the Symbiote storyline for Spider-Man or Civil War. Volumes and Omnibuses compile most of the relevant stories to make things more coherent. And if that’s still confusing there’s always manga. Nothin beats having a story with a definitive beginning and end that didn’t start since the 40s or 60s. Admittedly comics then were really catered to kids until around the late 60s to 70s when comics delved a little more deep into death, drugs, etc. Fun Fact: Cloak and Dagger premiered in Spectacular Spider-Man and are an allegory for drug abuse and recovery. And they kill, their first appearance has them throw drug dealers out a window to die. Spider-Man obviously disapproves but the book doesn’t preach who’s definitively right or wrong.

[@RealTrueKingsDen]

Thanks ima have to try those links. The continuity of comic books feels so non existent once an series ends. It feels so jarring so I just stuck with anime and manga for all these years. Also am I mistaken or are you saying witchblade an American comic? I thought it was a manga since I know there's an anime with that name.

[@Darkdragonhero1]

Comics = continuity issues, and retcons, reboots over time Shonen manga = side characters getting shafted and depowered so the manga can glaze the main character as he gets stronger and stronger over time

[@RealTrueKingsDen]

Exactly On The Comics Part! When It Comes To Shonen Manga A Perfect Example Is Killua And Gon In HxH. Gon Was Way Weaker Than Killua At The Beginning And They Always Trained Together So Gon Surpassing Killua By The End Of The Anime At Least Was Kinda Weird. 😂

[@dankmoon949]

​​​@@RealTrueKingsDenthis is my own opinion it could be wrong but at the end of the anime from what I recall gon unlocked his potential for a short time making him the strongest in the world at that moment but we haven't seen killuas potential yet maybe we just got a glimpse into future gon and killua we've known gon has always weaker so why would killua be stronger than gon when they're both in their prime (I never read the manga this is full head cannon)

[@RealTrueKingsDen]

Well we know gon was strong enough to defeat the king but at the time Pitou didn't know the king got stronger so gon probably would have lost to the revived king. Killua was stronger than gon overall and I'd hope to see him in his prime but killua (Spoiler warning) isn't even part of the story in the manga anymore. Kurapika is basically the new main character and gon definitely wasn't stronger than his dad once we saw his capabilities in the manga.

[@projectfear22]

The biggest problem with comics is that you can't walk inside a store and pick up a volume one, two, three, because the american scene floods issues instead of volumes. Issues are supposed to come out in magazines, not independently on thin liable for damage paper! And what happens, they overprice the issues and naturally when they collect it in an omnibus the omnibus is overpriced as well. Even if you're digital reading, you need to spend time to find the start of a storyline... To top it off they rarely reprint. That is the wrong approach towards the medium, but sadly it seems to stay. I love that manga releases stick chapters/issues inside magazines and release proper volumes, and it's not flooded with heroes. Marvel, dc, italian scene.. sure I love heroes, I'm just saying americans undervalue other stories, not price wise but attention wise. The latter is my stereotypical opinion but I don't think I'm wrong tbh.

[@RealTrueKingsDen]

Your point about finding a starting point is so real. I want to read secret war but people telling me I need to read civil war, I'm told to read civil war I need to read something else and it just keeps going. I read psylocke at random since she seems to be disconnected from everything else and I enjoyed the 1 issue I could find 😂

[@highlevelproductions9742]

​@@RealTrueKingsDenComics have too many retcons and inconsistencies That's why it's hard to start somewhere solid

[@christianhenry4173]

The same thing happens when you can't keep up with chapter books.

[@Sockycoldy]

@@RealTrueKingsDenthere’s no starting point to reading comics if you see a book you like don’t think I have to read something before it or something else to understand it just read what ever comic you like it can be any rondom character or event

[@Awestruck-San]

for me I hate it for power lelvel arguments becuase someone somewhere would have read an obscurfe issue of batman and spiderman and boom I lose. which I sut like the animated stuff. I will sayy one of the things that has been said in that community whhen it comes to power level is introduction of new character beating/killing other characters that they didn't like but then another writer writng another scenario because they didn't like that new character.

[@erichthegraham]

I usually go for graphic novels, little thicker than individual issues and usually contain at least a full chapter of an arc. Much easier to collect and read, and it's somewhat proven in the sense that the story survived long enough to be collected. Definitely prefer graphic novels to individual issues for a lot of the reasons you described. It also helps because you get to know which writers are good and start judging based on the writer more than the character. Multiverse as a literary device definitely sucks though.

[@RealTrueKingsDen]

That was my biggest issue. The length is so small and I'm so used to manga volumes. I'm not even interested in collecting at the moment but if I do I'm hoping the graphic novels are more available. Another comment told me comics Don't get reprinted often. Is that an issue for graphics novels too?

[@user-fb5ir3zz8l]

read all star superman

[@RealTrueKingsDen]

I'm not going to say it's bad or anything since I've never even heard of it but I have never really found superman interesting

[@ehimenabhulimen4409]

Comic book issue are about like 45 pages

[@RealTrueKingsDen]

Really? Is that a new thing? I could have sworn they were so thin the few times I read them as a kid.

[@ehimenabhulimen4409]

@@RealTrueKingsDen well at the recent DC comic are

[@RealTrueKingsDen]

I might need to check some out. Was not a fan of some of the random political stuff I'd see from time to time though like superman protesting climate change 🤣

[@FloofyOneTorpheus]

there,s something for everyone. to generalize just hurts you

[@RealTrueKingsDen]

I'm a bit confused? I just said it's not for me and listed the reasons why. If it's something I said in the video which part was it that I was generalizing?

[@Galvatronover]

its just the truth for a mjaority of comics not all of them like watchmen