k i see you reblog a lot of the marvel comics and it's starting to pique my interest. i'm really only following mcu right now but not even the shield show so i don't know a whole lot, but i don't want to have to read all of them since the 50s or whatever. i guess what i'm mostly interested in is the newer ones like the kid avengers and the space lesbian w dragon girlfriend and then the ones where barton is constantly covered in bandaids. where would you suggest i start?
oh man okay. I’m also just getting into comics fairly recently and as such am not the world’s Most Qualified Expert to be answering this question? BUT I’ve read a solid amount of comics and have some recs i could throw at you that require minimal background knowledge (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
A disclaimer, though: the thing about comics is that, usually you dont need to know what’s happened in all the time since the 50’s so much as what’s happened recently - or currently happening - in the comics-universe-at-large. These recs are, for the most part, pretty manageable reading them on their own, though.
Here or here are good places to download comics en masse, and this site is pretty good for keeping up with issues as they come out, but I include download links for all the stuff recced here. If you don’t do piracy, Comixology has a huge selection for purchase online, and there’s always physical comic shops.
okay, let’s start with the stuff you specifically mentioned:
*Young Avengers (2005-2006, aka vol 1, and 2013-2014, aka vol 2, and stuff in between) - a bunch of teenagers with the power to do something fighting to be able to do that (by “that” I mean “superheroics”, naturally). Teamwork, bonding, badassery, and plenty of female/queer/PoC representation. Just generally awesome all-around. (Sidenote: most of that stuff in the middle is tie-ins to bigger stuff, or crossovers, and while you could just plow right through and see how much sense it makes, for minimal confusion you can just skip everything except the two main series, and in between them YA Presents and Children’s Crusade.)
For “the space lesbian w dragon girlfriend” - yup okay just gonna admit it I’m not much of an expert here BUT
Annihilation Conquest: Quasar (2007, the main AC series also features them) is the miniseries where the girlfriend becomes the dragon. It’s not THE newbie-friendliest series - it takes place in the midst of a spacebattle and is a sequel to a different spacebattle, but though it might be confusing, you don’t REALLY need to know the details to appreciate space lesbians and dragons.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2008-2010, aka vol 2) has Phyla-Vell (the space lesbian, not the dragon girlfriend) as one of the team members. It’s a pretty cool, pretty fun series that takes place in the aftermath of Annihilation Conquest (so if you read that, it’s a good setup for this, especially AC: Starlord, which is included in the dl with the main series) but doesn’t really NEED that much background. SPACE ADVENTURES, some cool scifi concepts, strange bunch of misfits making up a team.
(sidenote: Guardians of the Galaxy (2012-on aka vol 3) lacks space lesbians, but is still fun space adventures about a team of giant dorks. It’s also CONSIDERABLY more newbie-friendly than the previous two, in part because it’s meant to be better prep for the upcoming movie since it has a closer roster of characters on the team. Let’s all pray to get space lesbians in the sequel, though.)
*Hawkeye (2012-on, aka vol 4) is “the ones where barton is constantly covered in bandaids” (what a beautiful description wow). Great series about Clint Barton and Kate Bishop being kind of messes at life (okay, mostly Clint) who still help people by shooting other people with pointy sticks. More focused on characterization than epic battles, funny and touching.
OTHER RECS, in alphabetical order cause I could’t decide on a different one. Starred are my SUPERFAVES, but all these are good reads
All-New Ghost Rider (2014-on): stories about new characters make good starting places for new readers. This one introduces Robbie Reyes, a guy who’s looking for a way to get himself and his kid brother Gabe (who he has an adorable relationship with) out of the crappy neighborhood they live in, when he happens to take a ride in a car haunted by a vengeful spirit who takes an interest in Robbie.
*Avengers Assemble (2012-2014) is a series of loosely connected story arcs each focusing on a small group of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes - some familiar faces from the book, others not - going on adventures (and sometimes being dorks). (Sidenote: the first eight-issue arc is…okay. A different writer takes over on the ninth issue and you can totally start there.)
Avenging Spider-Man (2011-2013) is a series of mostly one-shots and two-shots featuring Spidey teaming up with various other heroes. It’s fun, needs no background, and serves as a little intro to a whole bunch of characters.
*Black Widow (2014-on) is a more character-driven series about Natasha as a spy-slash-assassin, but still dealing with, well, “having red in her ledger”. Great characterization, but still plenty of badassery.
*Captain Marvel (2012-2013 aka vol 7 and 2014-on aka vol 8): Adventures of Carol Danvers, badass pilot lady with superpowers and ambition, which is all you need to know to start here. (Sidenote: After issue #12 of vol 7, the next chunk of the story is split up between it and Avengers Assemble. Read this, then AA#16, CM#13, AA#17, and CM#14. If you’re reading just AA, you can skip those issues - they’re more a part of Carol’s own ongoing story.)
(Sidenote for both Avengers Assemble and Captain Marvel: the Infinity tie-in issues will be pretty confusing if you haven’t read the main Infinity series. You could do that by downloading it here, but you could also just skip them, tbh.)
*Ms Marvel (2014-on): SUPER GREAT. Origin story about Kamala Khan, Muslim girl struggling to fit in and superhero-fangirl-turned-superhero. Funny, cute, great with character development so far, SUPER GREAT.
Runaways (vol 1 & vol 2) is about a group of teenagers who, well, run away from home tigether after finding out their parents are supervillains, and try to take them down. They’re not really superheroes - just kids who get caught up in something big, and the story is just as much about their lives as their occasional hero-ish escapades. The group of kids has a good amount of diversity in race, sexuality, and gender - there’s even a genderfluid alien who later joins the gang (though I’m hesitant to call them ideal representation, being an alien.) (Sidenote: There is a Vol 3, but we’ll just pretend there isn’t.)
She-Hulk (2014-on) is a fun series because it introduces you to Jennifer Walters not so much just as a superhero, but as…a lawyer!! But, of course, the two end up intersecting in various entertaining ways.
Thor: The Mighty Avenger (2010-2011) is an 8-issue retelling (so slightly AU) of Thor being cast down to Earth and having various adventures as he does. Not quite like the movie, but it’s a fun series with great moments from both Thor and Jane Foster.
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (2011-2013, then read Cataclysm:UCSM right after and Spider-Men...at some point) takes place in a different universe than most of these comics. In the Ultimate universe, Spider-Man dies, revealed to be Peter Parker, and grade-schooler Miles Morales, who'd recently developed spider-powers in a similar accident, realizes he has to take up the mantle. (Sidenote: reading the Ultimate Spider-Man series about Peter Parker isn't strictly necessary, though it's a good place for newbies to start too since it's an AU reboot, and it is pretty good. I like Miles's series better, though.)
Okay, I KNOW you said Marvel comics BUT. Just gonna slip in two REALLY GREAT other series that I love that ALSO require no background knowledge of comics (and obviously no background knowledge of Marvel comics).
*Blue Beetle (2006-2009, aka vol 7) (DC) is really, really great. Also an origin story for a new character, Jaime Reyes, who stumbles into some superpowers inadvertently but ends up making the most of them. Good-hearted and dorky PoC main character who goes through great character development, good and fairly fleshed-out cast of suppirting characters (also mostly PoC, and there’s a solid amount of ladies treated significantly better than DC has a reputation for),friendship, family, aliens, magic, LOTS of humor but emotions too. Gosh I love this series so much.
*Saga (2012-on) (Image Comics) is this wonderful mix of sci-fi and fantasy, with great characters you like almost instantly, centering on an inrerspecies couple from two warring races, and their child that they struggle to keep safe. Cool creatures, cool magic, cool worldbuilding, robots dressed in fancy outfits.
aaaaaand that’s about all the Comics Wisdom I have to impart! This is not The Definitive List by any means, but it’s what I’ve come across, read, and liked enough to share through my own adventures maneuvering the confusing and tangled world that is comics. Have fun!
