#how to start reading comics

[zahri-melitor]

if I wanted to get into the bat comics do you think it matters if I miss a few? Does it matter that I go in order and read every issue, or are they not that deeply connected? Every guide on the internet says something different about which comics are the essential ones for the batfamily and I am so confused. I don't know how to tell what to read and how to tell what isn't worth my time. Help?

Short answer: no, you don’t need to read all the comics. However you’ll find it a lot easier to follow if you read comics in arcs or runs, rather than skipping between issues following an appearance list.

Longer answer: ‘essential comics for the Batfamily’ is a question that resembles ‘how long is a piece of string’, which is part of why you’re getting confused - people like different stories, and what ‘essential’ means differs between people, particularly as some stories get repeated over and over.

Now I don’t know which Bat characters you’re interested in, so I’m going to give general advice. If you’re getting into comics and don’t feel confident about where to start, my best advice is ‘pick one character or one team’.

Maybe two. But one is better.

This is for a very practical reason. The best way to get to know a character is to read comics specifically focusing on them.

There are four general categories of superhero comic.

Family Title. This is a headline book. For Batfam it’s Batman and Detective Comics. Batman is generally tightly focused on the current Batman (usually Bruce Wayne), though other characters may appear. Detective Comics is more the BatFAM title - it’s still often focused on Bruce, but is also where you’ll find team ups, stories focused on rogues, sometimes story arcs about a completely different character in the group.

Solos. These usually have the character’s name in the title. Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, etc. They star the named character.

Team books. Yes, there are teams within the Bats, but these also include other characters. You’re looking at Birds of Prey, Batman & the Outsiders, Red Hood & the Outlaws, Batman & the Signal, etc. More general team books are Justice League, Titans, Young Justice, etc. These are where you’ll often find stories focusing on characters who DON��T have a current solo.

Anthology books. These ARE samplers. You’ll get a taste of all sorts of characters here. Gotham Knights and Batman: Urban Legends are the best regarded.

Pretty much every Bat character you’re considering picking up has had at least one solo run. The simplest way to start is to pick up one of their solos and start there. (Their name is generally in the title). For some characters, you’ve only got a few choices. Open whichever sounds interesting/you like the cover art. For others, if you just picked up Nightwing, say, you’re staring at 28 years of ongoing solos at this point.

Now, you’ve probably heard or noticed people throwing around the names of different writers. What you want to do is EITHER start at #1 of the title you’ve picked, or start at the first issue of a new writer. Sit down. And read that writer’s whole run (or at least the first full story - that will usually be somewhere between 3-12 issues).

A new main writer on a title will generally give indications at the start of their story arc about where you are in time. They’re also considered a jumping on point - plenty of readers switch comics when a new writer comes in.

You’ll have an easier time if you treat a writer on a title like its own book. Don’t read issues #1-3, #7, #9 and #12 as those are the ones that have Damian in them; read #1-12.

If while reading a comic you come across a random crossover issue that doesn’t make sense, you have two options. Track down and read the crossover event, or skip it. I promise, it’s almost always safe just to skip over the issue (If you’re reading 90s Bat comics, it’s actually just easier to read the events and I can talk you through that, but that’s very much more Guide Dang It).

The more obscure a character you’re interested in, the more scrappy what you read will be. Honestly, don’t start with anyone less prominent than Helena Bertinelli.

Once you’ve read that story, skip ahead to the next one that sounds interesting to you. Keep trying for CHUNKS to read, rather than one or two issues. You’ll find branching out comes more easily once you’ve read a couple of dozen issues - you’ll want to follow someone to find out more.

I’ll finish with some suggestions for various characters:-

Bruce: honestly for Bruce, you might as well hop on board for either the current Zdarsky run in Batman (#125-) or the Ram V run in Detective Comics (#1062). They both work as entries. You will NEVER run out of Bruce comics. Just take whatever Bruce rec calls to you and read it.

Dick: Nightwing #1 (1996, 2011, 2016) all work as starting points. Also, if you really haven’t read a lot of comics, starting from Tom Taylor’s current run (you want Nightwing #78 2016) is probably going to be enjoyable, and line up with characterisation you’re used to seeing in fandom. If you want Dick as Robin? Robin: Year One, Robin & Batman, or Batman/Superman: World’s Finest.

Jason: I am not good on Jason, but you probably want Under the Red Hood (Batman #635-641, #645-650) followed by Red Hood: The Lost Days. Alternatively, I hear Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016) is better than (2011).

Tim: the three Robin miniseries between 1991 and 1993 make good intros to Tim, then dig further into Dixon. Alternatively I suggest Young Justice 1998. I personally would suggest saving Red Robin till you’re read more of his stories, just because it improves the more you know Tim.

Damian: look, go straight to Batman & Robin 2011, or Robin: Son of Batman 2015. Batman & Robin 2009 is far more uneven than these two.

Duke: We Are Robin or Batman and the Signal.

Jean-Paul Valley: Batman: Sword of Azrael #1 or Azrael #1 1995.

Selina: Catwoman #1 2002. Or honestly any other run of her solos, but 2002 is a particularly good starting point.

Barbara: okay, this depends on what you want. Early Batgirl? Batgirl: Year One. Oracle? Birds of Prey 1999 #1 (for Dixon) or #56 (for Gail Simone). Post-2011 Batgirl? As much as I hate to say it, you are the audience for Batgirl of Burnside. Start at Batgirl #35 2011.

Helena Bertinelli: Huntress #1 1989, Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood, or Huntress: Year One.

Cass: Batgirl #1 2000. Then read Spirit World.

Steph: you have three options. Batgirl 2009 is one. Pulling a list of Steph appearances and following her as Spoiler through Robin 1993 is another. The third is reading her four issues as Robin (Robin #126-128, Batgirl #53) but that’s actually hard mode.

ETA: Kate Kane: you are blessed and basically everything starring Kate is a high quality comic. Batwoman: Elegy (Detective Comics #854-863) or Batwoman #1 2011.

[bookburners]

I just got into reading comics and I feel like every “guide” was not that helpful so here is my impromptu guide on how to start reading comics.

Step one: Readcomicsonline is a website with free comics. Disclaimer it might not have what your looking but I have yet to run in to that issue. Also you might want to get a vpn, god is my vpn and I get a bunch of pop up adds towards sights Mark Robinson might frequent.

Step two: I found it easiest to pick a comic run and go from there. Personally I chose Dark Knight of Steel which was basically a Batman medieval au. Then I read Birds of Prey 1999 run. If your looking to get into a certain character then look up they’re comic appearances. When searching for specific characters I find it easier to type *certain comic run & issue readcomicsonline*, rather than using the website search bar.

[andstuffsketches]

girl who lives in a cave

[artkaninchenbau]

People keep on asking for more Baby Robin and Papadile so here is more Baby Robin and Papadile. Now never ask anything from me ever again

[welcometogrouchland]

[ID in ALT] I've made posts before about Talia/Dick co-parenting Damian moments (will never happen but let me dream) and this came to me in a vision. Took me ages to finish for some reason 😭 and then even longer to post

[originalartblog]

Apparently much-needed reminder that reposting artists' art (by saving the images or screenshotting them and reuploading them yourself) on other platforms without the artists' expressed permission and without credit is theft and an insult to their passion and craft. You are profiting (in views, in attention, in feedback) from someone else's work and ideas, who do not get that feedback for sharing their creation.

If you are an art reposter, you are a thief and I have no respect for you.

[redfirefox-55]

Please guys go read Software Entropy by @clubsheartsspades (I hope you don’t mind the tag!)

It literally destroyed me. I forced my sister to read it and it destroyed her too. I just had to draw something for it because I couldn’t get this quote out of my head, but I couldn’t possibly do the scene justice in the same way as in the fanfiction so you need to go read it yourself

[stump-not-found]

Second or Third Contact

part 1 /part 2 / part 3 / part 4

---

and they never ever had any problems ever . the end

[theresistanceneverquits]

There’s not enough people talking about how important Stephanie is to Damian’s growth pre-Flashpoint.

Bruce had seen Damian as a beast to be tamed, Tim sees him as a ticking time bomb, and Dick is far better with him but he’s still an authority figure for Damian to combat with. But then he meets Stephanie, a college-aged girl who nobody trusts and he bullies her relentlessly and becomes inseparable from her.

She doesn’t interact with him based on his past, but on what she can see. This 10 year old just threatened to kill her? Wow he doesn’t get outside much. He’s not old enough to have seen Gremlins. What do you MEAN you’ve never been inside a bouncy house before we are fixing that immediately.

They are like cousins to each other. They poke fun at each other for being lame and stupid and Dick has to tell them both to shut up. She doesn’t see him as a project to be molded and redeemed, he’s just a kid with a crappy childhood like her and if he’s nice to her for 5 seconds she’ll do something with him to let him feel like a kid. And he doesn’t look at her and see a liability or a failure or a lost cause, like everyone she’s ever interacted with does. When he’s awful to her, it’s because he’s an obnoxious preteen boy.

And then you get the “there’s room in our line of work for hope, too” scene. Because Damian has gotten to know Steph and he can’t fathom why she’s here. She obviously has had to deal with crap and is still working through being kept on a leash by Nightwing and Oracle, but she isn’t broken like the rest of them are. Damian is surrounded by people who were molded and shaped and torn down and broken to become the monoliths that they are, and then there’s this girl who seems so at peace with herself and is constantly making quips, and it’s so foreign to him.

And she tells him that she’s in his world because she believes people are worth fighting for.

[epicfirestormer]

This is what he said right

More meme accurate version underneath:

[zahri-melitor]

Thinking more on this (and even more general advice):-

Definitely go with a character's first solo mini or ongoing if you have no other indications (like every reading guide waving a sign saying START HERE).

MOST characters’ origin stories tend to be buried in storylines in more prominent comics. They're introducing the new character to existing comics readers and characters. For that reason, usually I would say you're better off initially picking up their solo and then coming back to the origin, simply as their origin is often not as tightly focused ON that character.

This is also the reason for the prominence of Year One titles. They exist as handy retellings of origin stories of older characters, to get new readers interested, written with contemporary sensibilities in mind.

It is 100% okay to pick up a fairly recent run with a character as your first story for them. It's like making a new friend. They've got a past, but they'll tell you about it as you get to know each other.

Seriously you're halfway set for success if you just figure out how to look up a writer's run on a title and then start from their first issue. 'Who is a good writer for Character X' is a question most people have clearer answers on.

Choose something with art that doesn't make your eyes bleed.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I came here for the silly haha doodles, but I've stayed for the absolutely blazing commentary in the tags. Your analysis of this story is so so so good! Thanks for all the work and thought you put into this!

I am just a silly little comics blog. I am not hiding anything in the tags, no way. Never.

[regular-gnome]

6. I'm The Collector

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[subzeroparade]

not actually part of my personal headcanon but i like to rotisserie the concept in my brain from time to time

[xxplastic-cubexx]

i didnt plan to spend my sunday this way

[deoidesign]

Ray of sunshine

(pre-launch page for their comic)