How confused will I be if I start reading comics?

[Mardi Gras Gunslinger]

Slacker Spice

Max Mercury

That's really my biggest concern. Honestly, the whole reason I want to get into comics is because I've seen a lot of the bigger media recently but I yearn for something with a more thorough story. I'm worried that when I go to a comic book store, I'm gonna run into some purist who flips s**t because I haven't been an avid comic fan since 20 years before I was born and all the typical rantings that come with it. People like that are what keep me from getting into things like this p 3p

[deadguy]

Urd Tanzanite

Mardi Gras Gunslinger

Urd Tanzanite

Interesting. So I guess if I were to read The New Teen Titans first, as was my original plan, I might have some reservations with the new stuff.

The New 52 Teen Titans have no historical link to the other prior incarnations.

If you've seen the cartoon, that was the Teen Titans from the 2000s (with Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy).

The New 52 lineup is completely different: Red Robin, Wonder Girl, Superboy, Kid Flash, and a few others--I leafed through the first issue; didn't buy it.

Really, just consider them as two different teams (and stories) with the same title. Enjoy them (or not) on their own merits. You'll be much happier that way. For myself, I have decades of comic book issues and memories of those issues (baggage if you will), and I can't set them aside as easily, hence my "issues."

The Teen Titans cartoon used the lineup from the early 80's (including d**k-Robin). New 52 lineup is pretty similar to the core lineup they had immediately before the reboot, except they brought Tim-Robin back as leader instead of Cassie, tossed Raven back in, and introduced a few new characters.

[deadguy]

Mardi Gras Gunslinger

Slacker Spice

Max Mercury

That's really my biggest concern. Honestly, the whole reason I want to get into comics is because I've seen a lot of the bigger media recently but I yearn for something with a more thorough story. I'm worried that when I go to a comic book store, I'm gonna run into some purist who flips s**t because I haven't been an avid comic fan since 20 years before I was born and all the typical rantings that come with it. People like that are what keep me from getting into things like this p 3p

http://www.comixology.com/ No local comic shop necessary.

[Fishy Fingers]

Mardi Gras Gunslinger

Slacker Spice

Max Mercury

That's really my biggest concern. Honestly, the whole reason I want to get into comics is because I've seen a lot of the bigger media recently but I yearn for something with a more thorough story. I'm worried that when I go to a comic book store, I'm gonna run into some purist who flips s**t because I haven't been an avid comic fan since 20 years before I was born and all the typical rantings that come with it. People like that are what keep me from getting into things like this p 3p

Don't let the elitist scare you off. Most comic fans aren't like that and are really welcoming actually. I've only been reading comics for a year and I remember how nooby I was the first couple times I went to my lcs(local comic shop). But Wednesdays at the comic shop is part of the experience of being a comic fan that you shouldn't miss. And trust me, no one knows everything about comics, read what you like and don't worry about the continuity.

[agger]

Max Mercury

Mardi Gras Gunslinger

agger

The nice thing about New 52 is that all the old continuities have been mostly wiped clean. Which means they can make new ones. This would be a good time to get into it if you have a particular character interest that is in New 52. You could purchase some TPBs to get caught up.

......... I um.... don't know what a TPB is emo

TPB= Trade Paper Back.
Sometimes they are special, stand-alone stories that would not fit in the standard comics.
Usually, they are collections of stories across several issues, a story-arc.
It allows you to read an entire story in one book rather than collect each comic
individually. Often, they reprint stories that were popular a few years ago so you can
read them for yourself.


If you start now, you can follow the post-Flashpoint Nu52 continuity as well as anyone else.
Naturally, now that DC is wiping out the continuity more often than once a decade,
you will be partly lost the NEXT time they do it, and you might just get frustrated and
stop buying.

DC won't care.

What they want now makes the comic books TERTIARY.

Primary: the movies
Secondary: the television shows/cartoons on television
Tertiary: the comics

The toys, technically, come up alongside the movies, but they won't affect the others
that much. DC is about making money (which is not a crime), but they're currently
following the big money- movies, cartoons, television, toys/merchandising-
and the comics are almost an afterthought.
The comics really only exist to give them something to change completely and
remake for the other media and sometimes to drum up customers for the other
products.

This is why Im sticking with All Star Western and Swamp Thing. The Hex movie was crap but the comic is doing well as far as story. Palmiotti knows what he is doing and also has a pretty good and chatty presence on twitter. I dont think they want to try anything more with swamp thing right now and thats fine because when they brought it back the author reworked the mythology in a way that didnt seem completely unreasonable and the story arcs were great. The new author is doing things a bit different but still not terrible...

[Jin_of_the_thunder]

Mardi Gras Gunslinger

agger

The nice thing about New 52 is that all the old continuities have been mostly wiped clean. Which means they can make new ones. This would be a good time to get into it if you have a particular character interest that is in New 52. You could purchase some TPBs to get caught up.

......... I um.... don't know what a TPB is emo

its a trade paper back. basically its 5 to 8 issues of a comic put into a neat book. its a complete story arc in one book as opposed to several issues.

[LaFuerza69]

I recommend Batman by Scott Snyder, I am a big Batman fan, the other writers didn't do him justice if you ask me. It would be a good investment but it clearly depends on the super hero(s) you like, though like other people have commented some heroes might be a bit different from what you know and Deathstroke aka Slade from Teen Titans is great in my opinion.

[MillyMonka]

If you have a local comic shop, try talking to the people who work there. I used to live fairly close to one where the lone clerk loved to chat about comics, and gave me some of the best recommendations I ever got, since he had read so many comics.

Failing that, I strongly suggest trying out reading your comics digitally. My friends use their smartphones to get the latest issues; I think they use comixology, and they frequently have older comics for very low cost. I personally haven't used it, but I also don't read nearly as many comics as they do. whee

If you're gonna go the trade paper back route, I've gotten very lucky finding sets of comic TPBs on ebay for less than the cost of a single retail TPB.

However, I much preferred buying comics at my local shop, so I could support them and also chat about comics with some very knowledgable people. 3nodding

[VampiraFairie]

I'm going to bed really soon, so I'll say more on this later, but I'd say check out the Injustice comic. Even if you don't have the game.