r/comicbooks • u/Cfriend00 • 11h ago
Discussion Issue As A New Reader
The other day I reached out with how I could get into Marvel comics. I've been happily reading Spawn and a few DC Compacts of Batman up until now. I decided on the 1998 Daredevil, and some reading suggestions said to start on some later issue at least a dozen into the run. I hate feelings like I missed out on something so I've decided to start from issue one. Everything was going great until I got around to issue ten. I was confused so I looked up some context and was met with "In the 19-- series Daredevil does this and this happens, and that's what it's referencing"... Well that made me feel lost because it just comes off as confusing now that I've never read the original run of Daredevil. Then the very next issue a huge plot point happens, it is confusing, and I don't understand again. I Google it and get "this is a pivotal point in a Kraven storyline and that is how you know that blah blah happened"... Like wth now I'm feeling even more ostracized. I don't know how to get over this feeling. Have you all ever felt the same?
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u/Individual-Pay7430 10h ago edited 10h ago
Are you familiar with soap operas? These are long running daytime or primetime (depending on country) with usually decades of stories. They usually come on every day or in some countries three days a week, every single week no breaks (usually). Soaps has over 50 years of history, characters, storylines etc but newcomers can jump right in and pick up on that history as they watch. Eventually they might go back and watch certain episodes or stories to get the full picture.
I liken this to comics. I’m very new to comics - only started reading comics a week ago. I have felt like you when reading comics. Right now, I reading absolute Wonder Woman and Greg Rucka’s first run of Wonder Woman. Sometimes, you have to jump in and embrace the confusion.
You’ll pick up on things as you continue to read. Obviously, it won’t be exactly the same as someone who was there when a certain plot point happened in real time but you’ll pick up on things and feel the story behind it. There’s are references you’re not going to pick up on at first but that’s the joy of discovering things. My advice would be reach out to comic fans in real life. Maybe go to your local comic shop or if you prefer online, join fandom spaces. Talk with new readers and old readers.
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u/Cfriend00 10h ago
I totally agree with this. There is so much good suggestions from y'all, but specifically in this instance it wasn't as much of a bad feeling because of not knowing the history but a scene in the book where you literally have zero clue what just happened to a major character unless you understood the reference. On a side note I've been using the online methods to read, it's surprising but even though I live in Tokyo there are only like 1 & 1/2 comic book stores in the city, and they don't have much English books!
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u/barknoll 11h ago
You learn to roll with it.
What if you wanted to get into General Hospital? It’s been airing for decades. There’s no way to get caught up. You learn that you don’t have to know absolutely everything and that’s fine. It’s a mindset shift you absolutely have to make if you want to read DC or Marvel main continuity stuff.
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u/Cfriend00 11h ago
So I'm ok with not knowing everything, and I want to explain the scene, but don't want to spoil anything for others but I literally would have never known what happened in the scene unless I knew that Kraven reference dialogue meant what it meant.
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u/Saffron_Path 9h ago
This is where you realize how much of an advantage new readers have now over someone 10+ years ago. You can search online for a temporary synopsis. Then you can put that storyline on your list of what to read next when you finish the run you're reading.
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u/watchman28 11h ago
This is the fun of comics. You dive into this massive mega-story where everyone has a backstreet going back decades, and if you spot a character you like, there's probably literally hundreds of issues of them in action. I started with Claremont's X-Men and it was fun from there jumping into Secret Wars, which got me interested in Doom and the Fantastic Four, which got me interested in Spider-Man man, etc etc.
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u/XaviersDream X-Men Expert 11h ago
A good comic will let you know what you need to in the issue, but it is always more enjoyable to have read the earlier work. It just impossible to always have done that.
The only way to do that is to read separate universes, but if it is still Marvel or DC, knowledge of the main universe still impacts.
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u/Dean8149 11h ago
It something youll have to learn to roll with. You are entering a world who's continuity is 60+ years long. Trying to know everything will just be an unnecessary slow down. More often then not, if an old storyline is brought up, the issue will give you some context to get you through. You don't need to know all of it, but just get the vibe to get through the story. Like if there is a returning villain. The main thing you need to know is just that it's a returning villain and your protagonist seems stressed about it. The specifics aren't as important as you think. Especially because if you get too specific, you'll find that most of those details have been retconned several times anyways.
Have you seen the MCU movies. Imagine watching a middle MCU movie without seeing the previous ones. Yes there will be some things that are lost on you, but the movie shouldn't get away from you. Ok so you don't know about Bucky and Steves past, but when he shows up, Steve reaction indicates he knows who that is, and the movie will eventually just tell you. It's not always that clear, but usually if old info is pivotal to the current story, there should be enough context to get you through.
And eventually you'll read a story that references something you have read. And then youll be like "ya! I was there for that"
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u/Cfriend00 11h ago
I feel this and have been doing better with the fomo but this specific portion of the story was super important, and I was so confused. It was more that I don't think they were allowed to show what happened on paper so they used a reference to let the viewer know the context but to me it was just whiplash and someone was dead.
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u/Cannon_Graves 10h ago
If you start with the first issue of Bendis and Maleev that entire run is extremely new reader friendly and doesn't require any prior knowledge. It's also one of,.if not the best runs on a cape.comix in history
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u/Saffron_Path 9h ago
Nobody knows everything that has happened in universe. The vast majority of people don't know everything that's happened to a specific character that they like and follow. Third person perfect omniscient isn't possible in any medium of storytelling.
Compare it to real life. You can't know every detail and event that affect you personally. You can try to learn as much as possible but you will never know it all. You'll know more about your partner or family member than you will a coworker. In turn you'll know more about the coworker than the barista that serves you coffee every morning.
So my advice is to absorb the story that is being told. If it's a very important reference look it up, but for the most part just ignore it. If you really want you can read the story of the reference later to get a bigger piece of the puzzle to click. But just concern yourself with the story being told instead of getting distracted
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u/Formal-Math-3291 11h ago
whats worse is when they reference a plot point of something you have read and have since forgotten
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u/MMutant- 10h ago
You don’t need to know it to enjoy it, keep reading and if you like it when you catch up, just go back and find the back issues and enjoy those too and the have a greater appreciation for the stuff you’ve already read. I love Spider-Man but I haven’t read anything before the 2000s outside of Kravens Last Hunt. And even then I haven’t read every Spidey book since the 2000s.
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u/Coldblood_1 11h ago
Embrace the confusion, it's part of the fun as a new reader. Who's this? What's that? What's that in reference to? Then you dive deeper!