hey guys I'm Patrick Williams and I want
to talk to you about comic books I've
been reading comics since I was about
four years old and over the past 15
years just about all my friends at some
point or another have come to me and
said the same thing I want to read
comics but I don't know where to start I
know a lot of people out there feel the
same way especially right now when like
half the movies and TV shows that come
out or based on comics so I'm making
this video to help you out give you a
bit of a guide to how it can get in the
comics because comets are great they're
really great I love them and I'm pretty
sure everyone out there could love them
too you just need to know where and how
to start let's go
[Music]
so why are comics so cool anyway well
for one thing other than jazz it's the
only art form indigenous to America but
beyond that comics are an incredible
truly unique storytelling medium they're
not books with pictures and they're not
movie stills with text put over them the
definition of comics is sequential art
it's using images with supplementary
text to tell us stories and the range
what can be done with that is immense
commas can be as entertaining as
engrossing as funny or scary or exciting
as any movie or book can be plus they
have rad artwork and one of the really
great things about comics is that
they're better than any other medium at
serialized storytelling so you with a
movie franchise you'll only get a new
movie every two or three years and with
TV shows there are budget limitations to
consider but with comics you can tell a
story that spans years on a massive
scale with no need to worry about actor
schedules or budgets or anything like
that a Captain America movie is cool but
a Captain America story with a new
installment every month that builds into
a giant multi-year saga is cooler so
here's what's tough about getting into
comics it's not like saying hey I want
to start watching Game of Thrones or hey
I want to try reading a Stephen King
book this is an entire medium it's like
saying hey I've never seen a movie
before where do I start that's a big
question before making this I talked to
a bunch people and heard about all the
different obstacles that stand in the
way of them actually reading comics so I
want to address a bunch of those now one
thing I hear sometimes is that people
aren't sure how to read comics like they
don't know whether to look at the text
or the artwork first the truth is it
doesn't matter it's reading so you
generally go left to right top to bottom
it's like watching a subtitled movie you
do whatever works for you and it gets
easier really fast before you know it
you aren't even thinking about here
anymore
yes comics are more expensive than they
should be but that does not mean that
you have to spend a lot of money to read
them I will get into this more later in
the video by far the biggest problem I
hear is that there's already too much
out there and it's impossible to catch
up under all for instance there is over
50 years of spider-man comics so you
might think that to read a new
spider-man comic you have to read
everything that came before I understand
the sentiment but this is not true at
all
personally I have read at most 5% of all
the spider-man comics out there not only
do you not have to start at the
beginning you probably shouldn't I
promise that as long as you know that
Peter Parker is spider-man you'll be
able to understand almost any spider-man
comic out there another complaint I hear
is that comics are just all superheroes
and some people aren't into that yes
superheroes are the most popular genre
but saying that all that exists is like
saying the only movies that exist are a
blockbuster action movies comics exist
in every genre and for every age or
audience imaginable so there's good ii
crime stories historical dramas humorous
memoirs LGBTQ romantic comedies
psychedelic sci-fi any kind of story
that exists in movies or books also
exists in comics okay let's talk about
the different formats that comics come
in because this is important to
understand this is the single issue it's
the most common format for comics there
are about 20 pages long stapled together
and cost three to four dollars a series
it usually releases one of these every
month I buy it a lot of them but if
you're new to comics I don't recommend
starting with you
about every six or so issues of the
series will be collected into one of
these call it trade paperback or a trade
for short and an ongoing series will
usually have a volume number on the side
like these are each volume one so
instead of going to the store every
month and buying an issue that you'll
read in about 10 to 15 minutes with
these you go in every six months and get
a more complete story also these are
cheaper one of these costs about ten to
fifteen dollars and then there's the
graphic novel this term gets thrown
around a lot because some people want to
make all comics sound more legitimate
and adults like calling them graphic
novels but it really only applies to
works that are like a singular entity
like written as one book like a novel
but in comics form these are a great way
to get started because you only need to
read the one book to get a complete
story here's where I want to talk about
the biggest misconception when it comes
to comics specifically DC and Marvel
superhero comics that there's too much
backstory in history to catch up on
let's go with Batman because we all like
Batman Batman has been around since 1939
and pretty much all the Batman comics
that have come since then fit together
into the same larger story the DC and
Marvel universes are essentially the
largest collaborative storytelling
projects in human history but here's how
it works
see if you take the Batman series that
runs continuously for decades with the
new issue every month that series is
divided into these periods where a
writer and artist team will be making
the comic and that period whether it's
for 12 issues or 100 issues is called a
run these runs while they might
reference stuff from the past are
usually fresh starts and so you can
pretty much start at the beginning of
any run and understand what's going on
for example last year writer Scott
Snyder and artist Greg Capullo
wrapped up a 50 issue run on Batman that
was phenomenal and super popular so if
you want to read Batman you could and
should just start with the first volume
by Snyder and Kapoor Lowe and go from
there and you'll have no trouble
understanding what's going on and also
it's great and here's the thing you have
the internet on Wikipedia is the entire
history of every comic story that's ever
been published so if you want to know a
character's entire backstory or
understand a story
you see reference you can just go on
there and find out all of it back in the
90s when I was a kid getting into comics
it was so much tougher we had to just go
in blind and figure it out for ourselves
now you guys have it so easy at your
fingertips is everything you might ever
need to know so if you ever get confused
the answers are all right there so you
don't have to start at the very
beginning or catch up on 75 years of
history just start wherever you want and
use the Internet to fill in the gaps
[Music]
it's really really helpful to have a
friend who's already into comics and
already has a big collection I have been
that friend to so many people because a
lot of us suffered through that dark
period when comics were shunned by the
mainstream and deeply uncool and so
we're still really excited when someone
tells us they want to read comics this
friend will let you borrow stuff will
give you recommendations and will be
your personal guide into the world of
comics
[Music]
these days pretty much every library has
a big section stocked with graphic
novels and través I don't know if you've
heard but libraries or free so when
you're starting out and trying a bunch
of different comics to figure out what
you're into this is super helpful if
you've never been to a comic book store
before you might be afraid they're like
the one of The Simpsons where a surly
condescending employee will mock you for
your inferior knowledge I'd be lying if
I said those didn't exist but they've
been kind of dying out over the past
couple decades and the vast majority of
them are not like that anymore
in fact most are great and excited to
welcome new readers so if you go in and
say I don't know what to read they will
help you out and guide you in the right
direction and when you go back ask for
more recommendations they'll help you
out based on what you liked or didn't
like so they're like a drug dealer when
it comes to deciding what comics to read
ask yourself what movies and TV you
enjoy especially when it comes to stuff
based on comics so if you want to be the
superhero comic ask yourself what
superhero movies you really like if you
watch The Walking Dead hey there are
like 30 volumes of The Walking Dead
comic if you love Star Wars
the current Marvel Star Wars comics most
is that between episodes 4 & 5 are
really good or if you just dig a hard
sci-fi a 1 read some comics like that
you're in luck because there are a lot
of comments like that
I mentioned this earlier but if you want
to read the series you're way better off
reading the trades than the single
issues this is like the comic equivalent
of waiting until a TV season is on
Netflix and then binging it over the
weekend the truth is you can start
anywhere I started when I was a kid by
just buying a random Batman comic that
had a cool cover
it was legends of the Dark Knight number
120 and it turned out it was the middle
chapter in this giant year long story
that would be continued to the next
issue so I just kept buying them there
is no wrong place to start just read
whatever seems cool to you as you move
beyond your first comics a major piece
of advice I want to give is to follow
the creator's like the writer and
artists not the characters a million
people have written Batman so if you
find one that you really like you should
check out their other stuff especially
there are non superhero stuff that
they've created themselves
and if you want to sample a bunch of
stuff without spending much money you
should really consider digital comics
Marvel has a Netflix like service called
Marvel unlimited where you can read the
vast majority of comics mortal has ever
published just not stuff from the past
six months
also comiXology the primary marketplace
for digital comics frequently has sales
and promos where comments are either
free or a dollar so you can try a lot of
stuff there while spending very little
money
okay now for the most important part the
recommendations these are for if you're
new to comics but want to read certain
things I'm going to do this really fast
so with the links to everything or in
the description below here we go
for Batman start with year one or the
court of owls Superman start with birth
right
Wonder Woman read the first volume of
the latest series spider-man start with
ultimate spider-man or brand new day or
if you want to read Miles Morales start
with his first volume for x-men start
with either astonishment by Joss Whedon
or Wolverine and the x-men Avengers
start with either Avengers Assemble
volume one or offenders by Jonathan
Hickman volume one Captain America read
the first volume by Ed Brubaker which
introduces the Winter Soldier Thor start
with the God butcher Black Widow start
with the first volume of her latest
series Hawkeye read the series by Matt
Fraction and David Audra for Ironman
start with the first volume of the
series by Matt Fraction of Salvador
LaRocca Doctor Strange read Doctor
Strange the oath Justice League start
with JLA by Grant Morrison the flash
read the run by Geoff Johns Green
Lantern read the run by Geoff Johns
guardians of the galaxy read the run by
Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning preacher
start with the first volume of the comic
Scott Pilgrim start with vol 1
Lucifer start with vol 1 izombie vol 1
if you like Riverdale start with drug
head vol 1 daredevil start with the
first volume by Brian Bendis or if you
want a more fun version for signed by
Mark Waid Jessica Jones Rita Elias vol 1
Luke Cage read Power Man and Iron Fist
iron fist and mortal iron fist vol 1 if
you want a great crime comics set in
Gotham City we've got them central 14
superheros read Runaways or Young
Avengers for crime comics read criminal
Southern bastards 100 bullets or scalped
you want more comics read Fury my war
gone by old-school noir read the parkour
graphic novels by Darwin cook a
hilarious series set within the Marvel
Universe unbeatable Squirrel Girl you
want something serious and literary
sandman or from hell if you want badass
feminist sci-fi planet if you love
old Hollywood stuff read the fade-out
for 20th century history read mouse or
persepolis or march for more diverse
female driven superhero stuff read miss
Marvel our Mockingbird our The Legend of
Wonder Woman if you love Star Wars
neither Star Wars vol 1 our Darth Vader
vol 1 for some legit sci-fi read
planetary east and west profit or
lazarus if you want good all ages or
young adult stuff read this one summer
giant days Gotham Academy back stagers
are anything by Reina tell Domeier for
crazy satire that is very relevant to
2017 read trans metropolitan for fun
female-driven fantasy read rat Queens
are nimona
for the
stand-alone graphic novels check out
Essex County are the underwater welder
for a good horror comic lead witches if
you're 17 or up read sex criminals trust
me on that and in my opinion the best
overall starting points are blankets
bone wide last man saga Scott Pilgrim
and Sandman look I could go on
recommending comics all day but I think
this is a good start
if you have any more questions or want
more recommendations leave a comment
below or hit me up on Twitter I want to
thank my friend comic book writer Katie
Schenkel for helping out with the
recommendation list you can check out
her stuff at a link in description so if
you're a person who hasn't really read
comics before and wasn't sure where to
start I hope this was somewhat helpful
so good luck have fun and remember if
you read enough one day you too could be
the one your friends turn to with
questions when a new Marvel movie comes
out bye hey guys thanks for watching so
super quick
outro everyone keeps asking you whether
some of the color grading in going as
the galaxy vol 2 I thought it was great
they basically sold all the problems
that I complained about in my video so
way to go James Gunn also I love the
movie so check out the patreon follow me
on social media I'll see you next
Wednesday