Samiul Bashar Samin
In the previous instalment, we discussed the origins of comic books and how to get around them in detail. This part will feaute how to approach getting new comic books and finding your favorite graphic obsession. Word from the wise though, if you haven’t already bought a comic after reading the first part, you really need to rush to the store right now.
Hitch Your Wagon to Creators, Not Characters
The most common mistake in the comics community is trying to read everything you can about a specific character or team. The simple fact is that not all comics are good, and as a general rule of thumb, the more popular a character is, the more terrible stories they’ve had written about them.
Any character can be great in the right hands. Green Lantern struggled to be relevant for years until Geoff John’s saw how to make him interesting again, so if you read and enjoy Johns’ Green Lantern run, the last thing you should do is go back to what came before, just read more stuff by Geoff Johns.
Most people gravitate towards characters they know, and that can be a great gateway drug into the medium. But when you find a book that you really enjoy, you’ll probably find that the writer has his name on a couple of other superhero titles, and maybe some Creator-Owned work as well. There are so many different voices in the comic medium, and the chances are high that if you find one you like, you’ll enjoy whatever else that writer is doing.
Taking the Next Step
That’s the basics all covered, next is finding something to read. I’ve compiled a big list of recommendations that I’ll be posting over the next few weeks, starting with self-contained stories in single volumes, then building up in length until we get to some of the bigger commitments. After each recommendation there’ll be a handful of other books to try next, so if you like something specific you’ve got some options to try next.
Thanks for taking the time to read this lengthy introduction to the wonderful world of comic books. If you were unfamiliar with the medium, then hopefully you’ve gone away with a better understanding, and if you’ve been previously baptised at the church of Batman, hopefully you enjoyed the lecture anyway.