Worst. Thread. Ever.

You guys are either really retarded or seriously underestimating yourself. I'm a pretty big comic-book fan and have been reading them since I was ten years old. The first comic I bought was an issue of Spider-Man. In that story, Peter Parker wasn't Spider-Man any more, he was married and he and Mary Jane were expecting a child. Furthermore, he was also a clone and the real Spider-Man was a blond guy named Ben Reilly. And you know what? Two or three issues later, I understood the story without having read all the preceding stuff. If a 10-year old can figure out one of the most complex and convoluted storylines ever in comics, you guys can understand the fucking X-Men and Batman and all the other stuff. That's what a recap page is for, if you are completely unable to fill in the blanks without the comics spelling and drawing it out for you.

Some of the biggest properties in comics are currently more new-reader-friendly than they have been in a long, long time. Spider-Man recently got a major reboot and you only need to know a couple of plot points (I'd say the last three years have been the second-best run behind the first 100 or so issues). Same goes for X-Men. Batman has been distilled into 'awesome faultless crime-fighter' by Morrisson, so you only need to watch a trailer of a Batman-movie to understand the comics. The other two latest comic book that have been adapted into a movie (Thor and Iron Man) are a bit harder to grasp, but you won't need 300 issues to understand them. Their recent history began around 4 years ago or something.

I'm not saying you should all go out and buy comics, because honestly, a lot of the stuff kind of sucks ass. Some comics are seriously good (Invincible, Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, X-Force etc. etc.), while some are the equivalent of a decent sitcom you only watch when you're bored (Deadpool, Avengers, Wolverine, X-Men). I believe you like to read comics, or you don't. I don't feel like convincing people to read the same stuff I do, but I do think some of you guys are exaggerating the difficulty of understanding them. As long as you don't pick up an issue that's the third act of an five-issue story arc, you are probably going to be fine.

And for the visually-inclined people, there are a lot of insanely talented people drawing the shit out of comics these days. Sometimes the art is worth the cover-price alone.

 

I was into collecting comics as a kid. In my closet, amongst other random comics I have Punisher 1-100; and the four part prequil. Here's the kicker though...I don't think I've ever read one the entire way through, nor even believe that comics are awesome. It was just a stupid phase I went through, probably because my Dad had Spider Man #1 and Fantastic Four #1 growing up and I wanted to be rich.

I find the movies to be a little annoying; some are good but most are just too much. Obviously Batman is awesome, but other than that I can only stand Iron Man (the first one), Blade, and Hell Boy I and II. Hell Boy is the most surprising, my wife and I can't turn that one off if it happens to come across our TV.

 

I used to read comic books as a kid, still have them packed away in closet. My favorite was Wolverine and have issues #2-160 something. Haven't bought one in probably 16 years but still check Ebay every once in awhile to see what #1 costs. I will break down and buy it one day.

I also liked Ghost Rider (That Nicolas Cage movie was an abortion) and the Todd McFarlene Spiderman.

 

I used to sporadically read comics as a kid, but never followed story arcs really. I just liked the cool pictures. When I was in high school a character named Moon Knight got a reboot, and I happened to be in a used book/comic store to get a book, saw Moon Knight, and decided to check it out. He's kinda like Marvel's answer to Batman, a rich guy with no real superpowers but lots of martial training and cool gadgets, but with an interesting twist - he is completely and utterly insane. He was a mercenary for a while, and somehow in his initial run got mixed up with Khonshu, a terrifying looking Egyptian god of vengeance. Now Moon Knight believes that he is actually the avatar of this god, who pretty much urges him to brutally massacre criminals at every opportunity. They talk to each other regularly. Whether or not the god is in his head or real is pretty unclear. He also has 2 or 3 alternate personalities that pop up from time to time. He's like if the Punisher and Batman had a baby with multiple personality disorder and a god complex.

Also, in the first issue of his reboot, he pulls a longtime nemesis off a building, breaking bones all over the place, before crawling over to cut the dudes face off. Like from "The Pit" episode of Spartacus. Fucking intense. He makes a good anti-hero, and would definitely make a badass movie.

Since I finished high school, I fell off the comic wagon again. Oh well.

 

Preacher is one of the very good DC Vertigo titles. Sandman by Neil Gaiman being the best of them, probably best comic series ever, IMO. Preacher is about a, you guessed it, preacher who is possessed by a creature that's equal pure evil and pure good. This is a huge godlike power and he also has the word of god, meaning he can tell people to do stuff and they can't resist. The true God has abandoned heaven and his duties. Craziness ensues from all sides. The main premise is that he goes on a quest to find and confront God about why he quit.

It's got a very cool western vibe to it. Garth Ennis, who created it and wrote it is fantastic. He did some great stuff with Hellblazer. Hellblazer is another really great comic. The movie, Constantine, with Keanu Reeves was based on that comic series. Movie wasn't bad, but it was by no means as good as it should have been. John Constantine is a kick ass character and he's crossed over into The Sandman as well.

Those three series are dark, very intellectual and not for kids. It's why they were part of the Vertigo line. They were geared more for an older audience. I would say if anybody is not a fan of superhero comics, but likes interesting stories about good and evil where the line is very grey and both sides are far from perfect, check out The Sandman first, Hellblazer next and then Preacher. You can get most of them in trade paperbacks. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have lots of comics in pdf or cbz format to read on my nook or computer. I have the entire runs of The Sandman, Preacher and the first couple hundred Hellblazer issues if anybody wants them. The size of all the files adds up to a huge number and I don't know an easy way to send them, but if anybody is interested, PM or rep me a way to transfer gigantic files and I'll send them over.

Back to Sandman. It's 75 issue run is not only some of the best comic work I've ever read, but it's some of the best writing overall that I've read. It's an amazing group of stories. Watchmen, considered by many to be the best comics or graphic novel, is brilliant for what it is and it's treatment and humanization of superheroes, but Sandman is beyond. I'm also a fan of Gaiman's novels. The cover artist Dave McKean is also one of my favorite contemporary artists. Overall, the writing, cover art, story art is all top notch.

 

If you have an iPad: X Comics. I imagine it'll work on iPhone, but may be too small to read. I would also think there's an Android version if you have a tablet.

Free comics and pay comics. It will also track storylines so you don't miss an issue. There's a Marvel version too, but they don't have as many free comics and you miss out of the little indie gems that turn up in X Comics sometimes.

 

Preacher and Sandman are two stories that I think are fantastic, regardless of medium. I would add Kabuki, 100 Bullets, The Dark Knight Returns, and V for Vendetta to that list. I've convinced the Girlfriend to peruse some of these titles and the response has been extremely positive. I think people would enjoy these stories if they were in a traditional novel form, movie or television show. A comic just happened to be the best cheap medium for the artists to tell the story. Let's face it, Sandman is an amazing set of stories, but it would cost exponentially more money to tell them in another format.

Certain writers have developed a following for good reason: Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Garth Ennis, and of course, Neil Gaiman are all talented storytellers that have done work in a variety of mediums that is worthwhile.

As far as the movies go, I highly doubt we'll ever see an Oscar-worthy portrayal of a superhero, and for every 300, Red or Batman Begins, there is a Fantastic Four or Ghost Rider. On the whole, I've enjoyed more comic-based entertainment than I've hated and I hope instead of re-doing everything that made money, they expand into lesser-known materials, or more adult centered comics.