The Comic Book Thread (spoilers)

[Avenged Probably]

Have Marvel said what stuff is essential reading for the build up to Infinity?

I'm assuming Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova and Thanos Rising all probably are? All of which I need to actually get onto at some point.

The only things I'm reading regular are Avengers, Uncanny Avengers, All New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men.

[TKz]

Guardians, Nova and Thanos are all to do with it. You can probably skip Thanos Rising if you want, as it's really just an intro to the character's past rather than a set up for Infinity, I think. Guardians is the main book to read, but Nova is pretty essential to the story too. They actually set up what I think will be a big part of the villains for the story, a familiar face that you probably wouldn't expect.

They've said that all of the Avengers titles are going to link into it too, in some way. But if you're not reading New Avengers anyway, fuck man, get on that. I like Avengers and Uncanny Avengers, but New Avengers blows them the fuck out of the water.

I really hope comics like Iron Man aren't going to join in, because holy shit the Marvel NOW Iron Man has been pretty fucking generic.

[Avenged Probably]

Yeah, heard good things about 'new' and the first issues was great (I always loved the Illuminati idea too). So I shall get to that as soon as.

Iron man has been random as. I only read the first arc, which while was fine I felt like I was reading the start of Matt Fraction's run again so I ditched it. The second story was a AvX follow on? Surely that should have been the first thing they did.. to be fair though I pretty much refused to read it based on how much I hate Iron Man's new "space armor" - looks awful. And the newest story is some kind of origin.. it's as if they can't decide what to write about.

Is Nova any good then? The last Nova series was probably one of my favourite runs ever, so I'm a bit worried it won't match up. Also I have no idea what happened to Ryder since I still haven't read Thanos Imperative and the last parts of the previous Guardians run, I'm assuming the worst though.

[TKz]

Yeah, heard good things about 'new' and the first issues was great (I always loved the Illuminati idea too). So I shall get to that as soon as.

Iron man has been random as. I only read the first arc, which while was fine I felt like I was reading the start of Matt Fraction's run again so I ditched it. The second story was a AvX follow on? Surely that should have been the first thing they did.. to be fair though I pretty much refused to read it based on how much I hate Iron Man's new "space armor" - looks awful. And the newest story is some kind of origin.. it's as if they can't decide what to write about.

Is Nova any good then? The last Nova series was probably one of my favourite runs ever, so I'm a bit worried it won't match up. Also I have no idea what happened to Ryder since I still haven't read Thanos Imperative and the last parts of the previous Guardians run, I'm assuming the worst though.

Read Thanos Imperative first. You'll hate yourself for spoiling one of the greatest stories Marvel ever printed, which will happen if you read Nova and Guardians.

I've grown to really enjoy Nova now I'm past the whole "not Richard Rider as Nova" hate. Guardians... 0.1 was great. 1 was okay. But two was where I started to adjust to it and enjoy it. The addition of Iron Man seems entirely pointless and I kind of hate it, but he's not really in the second issue much. My only other problem was a cameo from Gladiator where it seemed like they'd forgotten any characterization he'd previously had. You can find the last bits you need to read online in a torrent called Marvel 6 Cosmic Events, which is how I read all of it. I'd definitely read that then dive into Nova and Guardians.

And yeah, Iron Man just seems all over the place. The first story just felt like too much of a retread, obviously good for new readers but killed my interest quick. I tried to jump into Godkiller, but it was less about cool Iron Man in space stuff and more like Iron Man in gladiatorial combat. Which... isn't what I'd be reading an Iron Man comic for. Maybe secret origin will be interesting, but my hopes aren't high.

[Avenged Probably]

Ah awesome, thanks for the spoilering myself warning. I shall get on it right away!

[TKz]

Hawkeye 10 was kind of boring. I get why this issue happened, but I was looking forward to more fun with Clint and his friends.

[Your Mom]

Hawkeye 10 was kind of boring. I get why this issue happened, but I was looking forward to more fun with Clint and his friends.

Thats disappointing. I finally picked up all my issues and it's been amazing so far up to issue 7

[TKz]

Hawkeye 10 was kind of boring. I get why this issue happened, but I was looking forward to more fun with Clint and his friends.

Thats disappointing. I finally picked up all my issues and it's been amazing so far up to issue 7

Yeah, it's not really the same kind of comic as the rest of the issues. It's setting up for a new villain, rather than the usual fun of Hawkeye and Kate. It wouldn't be so disappointing if we didn't have to wait a month for the next issue.

Also I've developed a love for Kate Bishop. That girl. Wonderful. I love me some strong female characters and she's brilliant. She's in Young Avengers, right? I've got the first four issues, going to have to jump into that next.

[Your Mom]

Hawkeye 10 was kind of boring. I get why this issue happened, but I was looking forward to more fun with Clint and his friends.

Thats disappointing. I finally picked up all my issues and it's been amazing so far up to issue 7

Yeah, it's not really the same kind of comic as the rest of the issues. It's setting up for a new villain, rather than the usual fun of Hawkeye and Kate. It wouldn't be so disappointing if we didn't have to wait a month for the next issue.

Also I've developed a love for Kate Bishop. That girl. Wonderful. I love me some strong female characters and she's brilliant. She's in Young Avengers, right? I've got the first four issues, going to have to jump into that next.

I agree that issue was kinda weak. Kate is awesome and yes she is in Young Avengers. I admit I found Hawkeye a bit lame before reading this series but it's pretty awesome.

Speaking of changing my mind after some pressure from Christopher Daniels (name drop) I tried Superior Spiderman 1. It wasnt too bad. I'll probably read more. If the thing I think happens in issue 9 actually happens I might not read past that though

[TKz]

I've got issue 1 sitting around, I'm interested in the series but I really just kind of want Peter Parker Spider-Man... It's a cool idea in theory, but it's one I have no interest in seeing play out.

[HailtotheYo]

It's good, read it

[Horus]

From what I've seen of Superior Spiderman so it, it isn't have bad, and if it was a long term thing is something I wouldn't mind investing in.

But then, I keep telling myself at any given moment it could be rebooted at any moment, and right there is the double edged sword - the idea behind it is pretty brillant, but as soon as sales start dropping, it'll just go back to the status quo and nothing leading up to Peter getting his body back will have long term effects :/.

[=BK=]

Reading Green Arrow. I like it but it's prob my least favorite New 52 thing I've read.

[TKz]

Fucking Avengers Academy, man. I still can't believe they cancelled this series.

[GoGo Yubari]

Yup

[Johnny Latino Heat]

I, too, loved Avengers Academy. Avengers Arena just isn't cutting it for me... Seems more like a book for shock value's sake. I kind of warmed up to it a bit, but still, Avengers Academy is definitely superior to Arena.

Since I mentioned Arena, might as well ask if anyone's following it, and what're your thoughts on it?

[TKz]

Anyone got an idea of where to jump in on X-Men? I want to read some of the last run pre-NOW, around the time the split between Wolverine and Cyclops started. (Schism? Is that it?) I don't even know what book to start with. Pretty sure I've read all of AvX stuff. (which wasn't that bad.)

I'd quite like to read the Whedon run, too. Which book was that on?

[GoGo Yubari]

I, too, loved Avengers Academy. Avengers Arena just isn't cutting it for me... Seems more like a book for shock value's sake. I kind of warmed up to it a bit, but still, Avengers Academy is definitely superior to Arena.

Since I mentioned Arena, might as well ask if anyone's following it, and what're your thoughts on it?

I still refuse to read it. Trendwhoring emotional blackmail bullshit isn't my thing.

Whedon run is the first twenty-five issues of Astonishing X-Men or so.

[Avenged Probably]

To be honest, the more time you have and the further back you can go the better.

Schism is a good jumping on point for what you said, with Wolverine and the X-Men starting a new volume of Uncanny starting there - however I'd be tempted to go back as far as Second Coming. It was pretty awesome and more of the other X-titles stem from that (if you were intending on reading others too).

Not sure when it started but New Mutants was really good for the most part and Uncanny X-Force (which I believe started just after SC) is probably the best X-Men comic you'll ever read. It also starts to crossover with goings on in Wolverine and the X-Men later on.

[TKz]

This is my problem. I'm willing to jump back about as far as... I guess, I dunno, pre-Utopia? I've been interested in that ever since I read the whole Dark Reign stuff. That's the problem with comics, I've got access to fucking all of it through the interwebs, but I never know where to jump in. I decided Red Hulk was a good jumping on point to the Hulk series, but it's a bit less interesting knowing who Rulk turns out to be.

And fuck. I really enjoyed Fear Itself and I've read it all already, but I'll never deal with this bit well. When Mettle has to kill someone and Tigra has to tell him he'll have to do it again.

EDIT: Hercules. God damn, man. I love me some Hercules.