Perhaps after watching one of several successful films based on a comic book/comic book character you fancied seeing said character in its original form. Perhaps you just wanted something different to read. For whatever reason, many people have had a desire to delve into the strange and wonderful world of the comic book. As someone who has never read a comic in their life, stepping into a dark, dungeon-like comic book shop is pretty daunting. But fear not. Hopefully throughout this article, we can give you some general tips (as well as recommending specific comics) to help you discover why it is that people will pay hundreds of pounds for something that’s about 30 pages long.
First, some general pointers. Not all comics have superheroes in them. Hard to believe isn’t it? This generalisation is fair; the most well-known and popular comics are published by Marvel and DC which (as a rule) are superhero comics. To paraphrase Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics (a fascinating read if you’re interested in art theory), this is confusing genre with medium. Comics, like any other artform, can deal with any subject, from gritty space operas to autobiographical stories of growing up in revolutionary Iran.
One useful tool in the quest for comics knowledge is the all-powerful internet. One very helpful article is ‘Building the ultimate bookshelf’ on IGN. It’s a very good place to start if you are interested in a particular character, as it gives you a few books to get started with.
The main obstacle newcomers face is continuity. Basically, in an ideal world, all the Marvel characters live in one universe, and all the DC characters live in another. But it never quite works like that. For example, Batman isn’t an alien, or a human with super powers. But his comics have been going since 1939, making him at least 90 years old. Clearly too old to be crime fighting. The way writers have got around this is by saying “That Batman is in a different universe to the current one.” This allows writers to use any character without paying much attention to what has been written before, but it can get confusing. DC have tried to rectify this by writing the ‘Crisis’ series, (Crisis on Infinite Earths being one) where a major catastrophe destroys all but one of their universes, leaving only the current versions of the characters in the surviving universe.
The people who run comic shops are comics fans themselves, and are normally more than happy to help if you have any questions or want any recommendations (Amazing Fantasy on Anlaby Road are brilliant). They may look a bit scary, but they’re nice people. Also, if you have any friends who are comic book fans, they can usually help.
Now on to our brief list of comics we really enjoyed to start you off:
1. The Sandman (DC/Vertigo) – Neil Gaiman is a well known author; he’s best known for his books but not his comics. Sandman is a gloriously written story blending horror, fantasy as well as mythology. The illustrations are always superb and the characters are always interesting.
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home (Dark Horse) – This whole series was released after Buffy finished and continues the plot. According to Joss Whedon, these are effectively Season 8 of the show. This one picks up where the show left off and shows what happened after the destruction of Sunnydale. The fact that it comes off the TV show means it is really easy to jump into, and gives a good example of the genre’s style.
3. Persepolis (Vintage) – Not all comics are about superheroes with unresolved parenting issues. This is the autobiography of Marjane Satrapi, who tells of her childhood growing up in Iran after the Islamic Revolution. The simple illustrations convey the story of maturing in the repressive times she lived in.
4. Maus (Penguin) – A tale of one Jewish family living through the Holocaust. The book is well known for using anthropomorphic animals to show the opposing groups. This visual style gives great symbolism to the story without distracting from the human emotion. In many ways this visual style makes it even more hard-hitting, showing how racial and social grouping is a preposterous idea.
5. JLA: New World Order (DC) – A plot that wouldn’t look out of place in a movie script. Grant Morrison (one of the best comic writers ever) re-booted the Justice League of America (a team of superheroes including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern) with this great story. At one point, Batman takes out about five super-humans on his own while everyone else is tied up. If that doesn’t sell it, we don’t know what will.
6. Shakara (2000AD/Rebellion) – On the first page, Earth is destroyed. On the third, the last human’s head is crushed in a giant alien’s hand. ‘Other-worldly’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. It’s sort of a modern, gritty Flash Gordon but with a barely sentient being created by the vengeful souls of an extinct tyrannical race instead of a blond American Football player. The film budget would be the GDP of Earth.
7. Phonogram: The Singles Club – Not very well known, but worth looking for if you are a pop music obsessive. Tells the story of ‘Phonomancers’, people who have learnt how to use music like magic. This, the second volume, is strangely the more accessible, and tells the story of one club night from seven different perspectives. Funny, insightful, and not as confusing as it sounds.
Hopefully you’ve found some useful hints as to where to start with comics. There’s a lot of rubbish out there (as with anything) but when you find something that really grabs you… well, put it this way, there is someone at this university who compares Gaiman’s The Sandman to Homer’s The Iliad. And he’s right to.
Jonathon Greenall & Leo Healy
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