bubosquared | (no subject)

Current Mood: ... dammit!

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OKay. Fine. Fine. I give!

Hey, comic people on my friendslist? Anyone want to give a girl some pointers on how to get into this fandom? You know what kind of thing I like, I'm assuming, and I've sporadically read X-Men in the past, so I at least know who the players are, there. Well, sort of.

ETA: If it helps, from reading scans_daily, I seem to be developing an odd affection for this Bart fellow. Hm.

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Starting at the beginning is kind of difficult, as people make their first appearances one place and then show up somewhere else in their own title, and everything's all over the place.

Impulse, since you like Bart, wasn't so hard to pick up from the beginning, but it wasn't all right out there either. I'd say Young Justice is pretty good, because it's primarily a comedy series, and its storylines are mostly internalized. (Mostly.)

Batverse, I'd say start when Dixon was writing everything. I'm not sure when that is in Batman or Detective Comics, but it will be issue 1 for Birds of Prey, Robin, and Nightwing.

Starting from the beginning is generally a bad idea because the sixties stuff? Is terrible and boring.

Yeah, I'm starting to learn that. Amy linked me to the Bruce spanking ewee!Dickie post, and um. Um. MAH BRAIN! I will never be able to read Bruce/Dick. EVER!

*cackle* but Dick wuuuuuubs hiiiim.

EVIL! *rocks back and forth* Can't sleep. Batman will spank me.

Grimly.

You know, The Titans (1998) is a good place to start also, for a lot of these characters. There's a lot of backstory, but you don't need it to understand what's going on.

That might be a good idea. And they're not from too long ago; I might be able to find second hand copies. (I like reading my comics in hardcopy. Especially in the bath.)

If you're going to read in hardcopy, look for trade paperbacks, as they're often arranged in order to be a semi-coherent story.

.. Trade paperbacks? *tilts head*

(I am a n00b!)

:D Trade paperbacks (tpbs or trades for short) are when the comic company recognizes something is a fairly major storyline, and puts the issues of that storyline together into what is essentially a paperback book. Some comics, like the Ultimates universe, and Birds of Prey are released entirely in trade form as well as multi-issue form. Most trades include about 6 issues of the comic and are somewhat cheaper than buying all the issues seperately. However, they come out a few months after the latest issue in the trade, which is why most hardcore comics fans don't buy them solely. However, they're a good jumping off point (and a good way for non-collectors to read back-issues), and are good for more casual comic fans.

American comics confuse meeeee! Shitloads of different writers and artists, storylines all over the place, all this terminology ...

I wish I could remember how I started reading comics. I think I started with the current Teen Titans run and then went back and read New Teen Titans in bittorrent form (It's nearly 200 issues, so I wouldn't suggest buying it if you can help it); after a lot of time confused, things started making sense.

I am fond of American comics in a way for two reasons:
1) It's kind of like fanfic, in a way. A bunch of different writers working with characters they most likely didn't create. It's interesting.
2) While the intertwining plots is a bitch to read because you have to buy so many different issues, it's also fun because the whole universe is so entwined.

Oh, I definitely see the appeal, I just ... I'm not used to it, is all. European comics tend to be much more ... stories in graphic format. Graphic novels proper, so to speak. I'm gonna take some adjusting to get used to this, is all.

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