How to Get Started Reading Comics That Have Been Running For Decades

Comic book movies are the most popular thing since they started releasingmagic movies during the holidays.

Comics themselves, on the other hand, are much harder to get into.

Here’s how to find a place to jump in if you’re overwhelmed by decades-long comic book stories.

But where did Ultron come from?

And who the heck is thatother weird robot dude?

If you’re asking questions like this, you may try taking a character-centric approach.

A little research can go a long way.

Choose a Story:Comic history is filled with iconic and milestone stories.

Some are huge events (which we’ll talk about in a bit) likeCivil War.

Some are personal stories likeSpider-Man No More.

For example, Frank Miller is well-known for the Batman seriesThe Dark Knight Returns.

There are several ways to get some context.

The quickest way to find out is to read wiki entries for those characters.

While Wikipedia itself has entries for most comic book characters, there are also dedicated wikis for specific publishers.

It’s one of the best ways to get familiar with a character.

Keeping up with current comics and getting context on older characters are very different things.

These are parts of the story where you could start reading without being too lost.

There are a few different ways to find jumping on points, depending on what you want to read.

Comic book companies lovetheir events.

It’ll be a lot less overwhelming, and you’ll get the bits that matter most.

Then you could branch off and read the tie-ins for just the characters you want to follow.

These collections usually have a whole story from start to finish in one place.

In some older cases, they’ll be high-profile stories that you’ll see referenced later on.

They could be in-continuity stories,standalone events, or even retellings of a character’s origin.

For example, Comic Book Herald has massive reading lists for bothMarvelandDC.

Similarly, keep an eye out for “fake” #1 issues.

Once you find a source that you like, keep exploring.

The beauty of reading comics is that there’s no single “storyline” that you have to follow.

Comics are very different.

Comics themselves are the exact oppositethose origins happened decades ago.

Especially if you’re trying to find the comic book version of the movie story you liked to compare.

The Age of Ultron comic is wildly different from the Age of Ultron movie.

It features Ultron in the distant future after he’s beaten everyone and rules the world.

Both of these stories aren’t even in the primary continuity of their respective universe.Crazy,right?