So you wanna read comics, huh? I don’t blame you: they’re super cool, seem really interesting, and tell a story with words as well as pictures, bringing stories to life in a way that prose or poetry will never be able to do. And thanks to online apps like Comixology and Marvel Unlimited, they can be read both in print and virtually.
There’s only one teensy con as a new reader to comics: there’s So. Dang. Much.
With an industry that started in the 1930s-1940s, and beloved characters today that started back then (like Captain America and Superman), where do you start? How do you start? How do you sort through all the history and story arcs without drowning in page after colorful page? Thankfully, the comic industry has had a new boom, thanks to superhero movies being on the rise: at SUNY New Paltz’s comic book club, most of us started reading comics after The Avengers came to theaters. New stories and trades (a paperback collection of comic issues) are being written every month, many of which are great places to start for you novice super-readers out there.
Here are my personal recommendations for story arcs/comic trades you should read if you want to get started as a comic book reader!
Hawkeye Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction and David Aja (find it on Goodreads!)
This trade came out in March 2013, right after the height of The Avengers and making fans love witty archer and Avenger Clint Barton. In this volume, we see Clint being an idiot, but a lovable idiot: seeing him be an identifiable mess of a person, fighting his landlord for raising the rent and nearly forcing his neighbors out of their homes, and adopting a dog who he feeds pizza. The main plot, though, is that Clint has suddenly become the most wanted man in the world. Why do people want him? What did he do? And what exactly is on that tape that he wants so badly?
The story is so easy to pick up and read, and the only context you’ll need to read this is just knowing that Clint is part of the main Avengers team (which is obvious, if you were a person not living under a rock when Marvel Studios started pumping out their superhero blockbusters). This is actually one of the first comics I personally read, and really grabs you into the style of comic books and helps you adjust to reading such a different layout for storytelling. Also, it has a 4.17 out of 5 on Goodreads, so how could you go wrong?
Lumberjanes Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson (find it on Goodreads!)
This title is from the indie company Boom! Studios; an independent company separate from Marvel or DC, where the power is in the creators and not the company execs. Lumberjanes follows five girls enrolled in summer camp, and the crazy antics they get caught up with. However, it’s not the cookie selling and campfire-building you may remember from your Girl Scout days; these girls (from left to right: Ripley, April, Jo, Molly, Max) are lucky enough to spend their summer finding all sorts of supernatural discoveries within the forest they’re living in for the summer. If I had to define it as a genre (other than graphic novel, of course), I’d honestly say it’s one of the very few young adult comics out there. But don’t let that stop you from picking this story up! Even though it’s geared towards younger readers, it’s still incredibly enjoyable for adult readers because of how unique the story is (my friend has described it as Gravity Falls meets Over the Garden Wall) and how quaint it is: instead of swearing, the girls curse names of feminist icons, like Susan B. Anthony and Georgia O’Keefe. Each of the girls also have very realistic and multi-faceted personalities, and you’ll love each and every one. Ripley is the tomboy that loves to make messes and do crazy stuff, April is the extremely competitive one of the group, Jo is the calm leader, etc. The comic also does amazing things in the name of diversity: first off, the girls aren’t the same shade of white, and gay relationships pop up as cute adolescent crushes and puppy love (it just happens to be two girls, instead of a guy and a girl).
I can go on and on about Lumberjanes, and just how incredible it is. I really could. But I have to leave some stuff to surprise you, don’t I?
Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli (find it on Goodreads!)
I read this comic my freshman year of high school, mainly because I was obsessed with Batman (like everyone was at the time). This is a perfect retelling of Batman’s origin, without being an origin of Batman. Instead, it’s an origin of Batman’s first year of existence, and Bruce Wayne coming back to Gotham City after years of being away, and seeing what’s happened to his beloved town. It’s a really intriguing read to see the sometimes-rocky, sometimes-failing beginning of such a beloved character as Batman. The story doesn’t just focus on Bats, though: Commissioner James Gordon has a new role in Gotham, and a decent part of the story focuses on him and what his life is like in Gotham City with crime being rampant. This is part of DC’s small collection of Year One stories, focusing on the first years of iconic heroes such as Wonder Woman and Green Arrow, and are a really great place to start to get to know a certain character within the comic world (since there are many differences between portrayals of stories in text and onscreen). If you’re a batty for Batman (or other DC superheroes), and wanna start on this side of the comic world, I definitely suggest you give it a read.
Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona (find it on Goodreads!)
This book was big in the news one or two years ago, for an important reason: this title is all about a Muslim girl with Pakistani parents. Kamala Khan is a teenage girl dealing with normal teenage girl problems, plus some extra: being Muslim and Pakistani in modern day America, and, oh yeah, she suddenly unlocked latent superpowers she didn’t realize she had. This book is incredibly relatable, because it’s a book focused on finding out who you are, told through a nontraditional point of view. Ms. Marvel is also a great place to start because it immediately introduces you into other big things in the Marvel world: the Inhumans, a human-alien crossbreed that unlock superpowers through exposure to teh Terrigen mist (which is a big concept on ABC’s Agents of SHIELD), and the character Captain Marvel (who’s getting a movie in 2019). Captain Marvel is especially important because it’s where Kamala gets her superhero name from: as Carol (Captain Marvel) is her idol, she names herself after her, taking her old monicker of Ms. Marvel (and the iconic lightning bolt logo).
If you want to be introduced to multiple big concepts and characters in Marvel, or you’re a big fan of Agents of SHIELD and want more about the Inhumans, this is definitely the book for you.
The comic book world can be very intimidating if you don’t know what to look for, and there’s way more than the four titles I suggested for a brand-new reader. However, now you have a solid basis to start reading comics from Marvel, DC and independent companies. All that’s left for you is to find a copy from either your local comic book store, library (you’d be surprised what you can find there!), or local bookstore that has a graphic novel section. If you really want to get into comics after this, I’d suggest looking at the wiki pages of characters you want to learn about, pick up Issue #1’s of any characters or titles that look interesting, or finding big events or storylines that have happened in Marvel or DC.
Good luck, and have fun reading!