I think that for a lot of people, they watch something like Iron Man or The Dark Knight, and they get curious about comics. However, even now with superheroes being part of the zeitgeist of our times, comics for a lot of people are a daunting step further into the superhero genre that people are less willing to take. Some of that is because the amount of content for comics is daunting. That’s what I’m hear for, to give you a jumping off point into comics, not just superheroes but any type.

I would say that there are two types of comics. The first being the shared universe comics, by that, I’m talking about your Marvel, DC, or Valiant Comics to name a few. The shared universe is going to have characters crossing over from one book to another and shared world events at times. Think about how there’s an Iron Man comic, and he’s part of the Avengers, plus, he might show up in another characters book as well. Or there will be events like Age of Ultron in Marvel or Flashpoint for DC to name a couple.

The other type is going to be your comics that are stand alone. Something like Saga, Umbrella Academy, Powers, or Locke & Key. They aren’t part of something larger and while their publisher might do a crossover event at some point in time, they are really meant for stand alone stories. Because of that, you don’t end up with sometimes as generic stories because they don’t have to play nice with what’s going on in the other comics. Or, I should say, it allows them to be more consistent, because you can have a mapped out story from the start and not need to worry about how you might affect another story if you have a world altering event or even world destroying event.

So that’s a little bit about how comic book companies work, but when getting into comics, that’s generally not the issue. And even stand alone style comics can be hard to get into if they’ve been going for a long time, like The Walking Dead. There’s just so many issues or trade paperbacks (TPB) or compendiums to pick up and for those you need to pick them all up, so how do you decide where to start?

For the stand alone, you almost need to start at the beginning, some of them, American Vampire, for example, do have arcs so you’re able to jump into them in the middle because the cast of characters will primarily be different and they’ll explain what you need to know for that arc of the story. But for some of them, Saga being a prime example of this, you need to start at the beginning because otherwise you won’t understand what is going on as issues and TPB’s build upon each other.

For the shared universe, you generally have more jumping off points. Firstly because they do resets on the universes every 5-10 years. Because you’re in a single massive universe, things grow and get crazier and crazier and eventually you’re dealing with Dark Phoenix almost destroying the universe, of Flash running through time. These massive events allow the comic book companies to create a launching off point for new characters getting comics, and now stories in the universe and undoing some of the old stories in the universe. The reason that they do this because both Marvel and DC have been doing this for over 80 years. That’s way to long to sustain characters having a single story arc throughout the whole thing. So instead, they restart with Peter Parker being a highschooler again, and while Uncle Ben won’t die yet again to do an origin story, they’ll tell stories in the comics that make more sense for a younger Peter Parker. And finding those things, the New 52 or Rebirth for DC as two examples, it gives you a spot to start from the stories in a fresh easy to jump in place.

Now, with some idea of where you want to start, you can head into a comic book store and pick up the stories that you’re interested in. However, right now, that’s not a possibility in a lot of places, or maybe you don’t have one around. There are some options for you still.

Firstly, if there is one around that you can get to, I recommend using a comic book store. It’s a small local operation, and supporting them is great, plus you get face to face interaction and they can set-up what’s known as a pull list for you. That’s going to be books that when they order, they get extras and set them aside for you so that you know you’ll get a copy of the stories that you’ve been following. Plus, they are also able to give you recommendations for other series that you won’t as easily be able to get form other sources.

You can also subscribe to services or sites that will pull and send comics directly to your place. Places like Things From Another World (TFAW) will allow you to pre-order comics that are coming out in the upcoming weeks. I’m not sure that they do the pull list, didn’t spot it easily on their site, but there are places out there that will allow you to set-up what comics you need. This is great if you want the physical copies, don’t mind getting them a couple of days later than their release, and don’t live near a comic book store.

The final option I want to talk about is digital comics. Again, you can set-up a pull list and get what you want or order a-la-carte from somewhere like Comixology. That’s going to allow you to get digital versions of new comics as they come out. Or, if you don’t mind not having the newest comic in your hand right away from Marvel, you can get them on Marvel Unlimited. That’s what I’m using now, mainly because I’m fine reading through older stories, like Age of Apocalypse from the 90’s and because it gives you all the books at a flat fee versus having to purchase each issue individually.

There’s a lot to digest in here, as I go from the different comic book story types down to where you can pick them up and where you might want to jump in. I wish that I’d had some of this information when I started as I accidentally doubled up on things between TPB and comic book issues themselves.

What was your introduction to comic books? Are you more of a superhero fan or more interested in some of the stand alone stories?

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Robin: Yes, this is Batman’s Robin, Dick Grayson. He is the leader of the team, and generally quite serious about that what they do as a team. He is probably better known as Batman’s sidekick, but through Teen Titans and other iterations, he has started to make a name of himself.

Cyborg: Cyborg is a genius, being made that way by his parents. However, when things break down in a laboratory experiment that his parents are doing, and his mother dies and he is injured, he becomes the man/teen that is part human and part machine. He joined up with the Teen Titans because like him, they weren’t normal, and they didn’t have a normal existence.

Starfire: An alien that has come to earth, Starfire, was a princess on her home planet and set to take over as a ruler, passing up her older sister. Her powers are based around the fact that she can absorb energy and then use that to fly. She is extremely friendly, too a fault, which makes for interesting situations for the Teen Titans since she does not fully understand human interactions.

Raven: Raven is the daughter of the demon Trigon, her mother was not a demon, however. This gives Raven an unique set of abilities.  Her father wanted to convince her to join him, and as she understood that was happening, she fled to Earth and joined the Teen Titans. Her abilities are magical in nature, and she can open doors between dimensions, realities, and perform many other forms of magic.

Beast Boy: Beast Boy can turn into many different creatures. He is, I would say, similar to Spiderman, in that he falls into the category of characters who are often relied upon for comic relief. Like Cyborg his parents kind of screwed him over, he was traveling with his parents while they were studying a type of green monkey, he was bitten, and gained the ability to transform.

This seems very short to touch on each of the characters, and while they do have arcs and stories of their own that you can check out, I wanted to focus on the aspect of the Teen Titans and the different iterations that come. Currently the television version of the show is very chibi and cute, that teaches you lessons that you should never learn. However, they had an animated series earlier in the 2000’s that was quite serious.

Also, there is a difference in the comics now and what I listed above for members of the Teen Titans. The ones that I have listed are the classic members of the Titans, but now Nightwing, Donna Troy, Flash, Tempest, and Omen are members of the Titans. Like any super hero group, they change who is in them fairly often, however, there are always some who are considered to be the classic members. They have a number of different bad guys whom the fight out of their tower in Jump City.

PS. Here’s us as Beast Boy and Raven.
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Flash/Barry Allen: The fastest man alive, The Flash — not to be mistaken with Flash Gordon — can run faster than the human eye can see. Barry Allen started out as a police scientist until one day he was given super speed thanks to some lightning and chemicals that spilled on him. It’s kind of the normal superhero beginning, someone who sees what is wrong with the world is given powers in a freak accident. The Flash is in many ways comic relief in the comics. He is often given the one-liners, and in the Justice League with Superman and Batman being two very serious characters, he brings in some levity.

Green Arrow/Oliver Queen: Son of a rich mogul, he was very much the drunken playboy. Fancying himself a Robin Hood-type figure, he went after the corruption in Star City and those who would seek to bring the city down, after his parents were killed when he wasn’t brave enough to kill the lions mauling them (we’ll give him a pass since he was a kid with a bow and arrow and they were lions). He, in many ways, follows the Batman trope. His parents were killed in front of him, and he has taken on a city as his own, to fight for it and to kick the bad guys out of it. However, Queen’s playboy past is something that can still show up in his comics, and he is a much lighter character than Batman.

Firestorm: Another laboratory accident (it is a serious issue of safety in both Marvel and DC), Firestorm is not one person, but two people whose powers work together. One part is the physical person, who controls the powers, and the other, often smarter person acts as a voice in the physical person’s head, and gives advice as to what they could do and how they could win the situation. The voice in the head doesn’t have power. Firestorm is very much a side character who shows up in different versions of the Justice League.

Martian Manhunter/J’onn J’onzz: J’onn J’onzz is a Martian from Mars. However, he came around to the good side. Now as a shape shifting alien with telepathic abilities and a few other things that he can do, he works along side the Justice League. After being brought to Earth in a teleportation accident, he decided that he would fight crime. No real reason for it, but it seemed like the right thing to do. I really enjoy his stories, but definitely is a bit more of a side character.

Aquaman/Arthur Curry: He is one of my personal favorite DC characters. Why you might ask? Because he has interesting powers, and if they are used correctly, it can create interesting stories. Plus he is from Atlantis, and the ruler. They have struggled to tell really good stories with him, and he gets used as a punchline in the same way that Cyclops does with the X-Men. But when written well, Aquaman, Mera, and the enemies that they face off against have some interesting stories to tell. And just be adding in the land of Atlantis, they are able to tell stories around him with some more fantastical elements.

How much do you like Aquaman or have you not even read any of his comics? If so, let me know, and I can help you figure out where to start.

 
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