I never been into reading comics but now I have more time and would like to start. But I’m not sure where to start which books to start.
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What characters are you interested in?
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How did you get membership to service with more than 20,000 comics if you’ve ever even tried it. Talk about jumping in with both feet.
We are here to help. Tell us what characters and teams interest you and what kind of superhero media you enjoy and we will give you deluge of suggestions.
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Welcome to comics! I’m so excited for you!
I’d pick a character and read over these quick, fun guides that give you a brief overview of the most popular stories.
Superman: https://www.dcuniverse.com/news/where-start-reading-superman-comics/
Batman: https://www.dcuniverse.com/news/where-start-reading-batman-comics/
The Flash: https://www.dcuniverse.com/news/where-start-reading-flash-comics/
Wonder Woman: https://www.dcuniverse.com/news/where-start-reading-wonder-woman-comics/
Justice League: https://www.dcuniverse.com/news/where-start-reading-justice-league-comics/
Green Lantern: https://www.dcuniverse.com/news/where-start-reading-green-lantern-comics/
…to start!
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Welcome, I’ll let these two give you some ideas but just wanted say the comics here are great and I bet you’ll find plenty to interest you.
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It might be worth it to look at the book clubs over in the Comic Books forum and see if anything catches your fancy, too. Those members curate interesting, bite sized stories over a few issues.
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Probably the best way is to pick a character or team you like, look them up on DC Database, and when you hear about a plot point that sounds interesting, hunt down the issues where it happened.
If you’re not big on homework, though, there are some good beginner comics that people on here will suggest as starting points for certain characters or teams. Batman: Hush and Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern run in particular are known for being very beginner-friendly.
Some people will recommend checking out either the 2011 or 2016 series for characters you like, since those were the years when DC did major “jumping-on point” initiatives (the New 52 in 2011 and DC Rebirth in 2016). Personally, I think they made some really bad creative decisions, but all the 2016 series in particular are a solid way to get up-to-date on new stuff that’s coming out. The library on here has everything up to a year ago (with some major gaps in older stuff that was never digitized, but the Library is basically complete from 2000 or so on and pretty thorough for the '80s and '90s), and they add all the issues as they turn twelve months old, so you can follow along kind of a year “behind” the new releases without having to pay anything extra.
Finally, you could always just pick something completely at random, see if you like it, and then start looking into other related books from around the same time if you do.
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In the Browse Menu, there are
Get to know Section on 38 major DC characters, which direct you to their major Movies TV and Comic Book Titles. It can be sorted alphabetically.
There are more than one hundred Storylines, describing major charactor arcs or events in the DC Universe. It too can be sorted alphabetically. Character arcs have Character Name in Front
Suggestions
Batman
Batman Year One
Batman #404-407
Superman
Superman Lois and Clark
Superman 2016
Wonder Woman 2016
Even numbers
Wonder Woman Year One.
Aquaman 2011
Shazam backup story in
Justice League (2012)#7,8,9,
10, 11,0, 14, 15, 16,18,19, 20
and 21
If you feel you need some background on the characters before starting, I recommend these two videos:
Secret Origins History of DC Universe
Justice League New Frontier
Go to Movies and TV
At bottom of page Browse.
Videos are listed alphabetically
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Oh, and here’s a quick, heavily summarized timeline of the publication eras (with a bit of unnecessary editorializing because I can’t help myself):
1937 to circa 1955: Earth-Two. Classic characters, including earlier versions of characters like the Flash and Green Lantern who are better known for their Earth-One versions. Superheroes other than the big three mostly stopped being published in the last few years.
Circa 1955 to 1986: Earth-One/Pre-Crisis. Several characters were reimagined. the multiverse was created to explain the new Flash, hence the Earth-One/Earth-Two distinction. The Flash #123 from 1962 explains the distinction.
1986 to 1994: New Earth/Post-Crisis. Modified timeline that got rid of the multiverse and stuck everybody on one Earth. Started with Crisis on Infinite Earths.
1994 to 2006: Post-Crisis version two. The event Zero Hour! made some minor continuity changes. Nothing serious.
2006 to 2011: Post-Crisis version three/Pre-Flashpoint. The event Infinite Crisis shuffled a few things around but still nothing too important.
2011 to 2016: The event Flashpoint dumped everything that came before but some select Green Lantern and Batman stories.
2016 to present: DC Rebirth reintroduced some elements of the old continuity, but wasn’t very clear about which elements are restored or what actually happened. The changes from 2011 are still dumb, but now they’re both dumb and confusing.
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Great work.
As a supplement
Here is DC Universe official eras, as found in the ERA Filter in the main Browse Function
GOLDEN AGE
(1938-1956)
SILVER AGE
(1956-1971)
BRONZE AGE
(1971-1986)
MODERN AGE
(1986-2011)
NEW 52
(2011- 2016)
REBIRTH
(2016-
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Don’t you think the eras just make things more confusing for him at this point? It’s like teaching someone to run before they can crawl. While we are at it, why don’t we do a brief history of Hawkman and explain why he should hate Dan Didio before he reads his first comic? lol
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Maybe. But it’s just something that you run into quickly and gets confusing.
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Very valid point
Member had already been told about 2011 this and 2016 that,
that I though he should know they are the same as New 52 and Rebirth. Otherwise, more confusion for him
Absent that, he need a good but short reading list for each characters he is interested in.
I hope the member gets back to us.
Most of the time, the members doesn’t, which makes me think we failed them.
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Honestly if you’re looking for a fresh start, start out with some of the 1st volumes of DC Rebirth series. I would suggest volume 1 of Superman, volume 1 of Deathstroke, and volume 1 of Red Hood and the Outlaws!
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There are usually six issues in a volume, or whenever an arc ends.
Our library is in single issues not volumes.
There may be a 0 issues with a slightly different name, so issues 0 to 6 most times.
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Or maybe if they never respond that means they are now too busy reading comics to respond.
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Would be nice to get some validation though.
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Literally just read randomly, skip around. It makes it such more enjoyable, putting pieces together from different stories. Reading in order can become very bland. Reading canon gets old, mix it up with non canon and mix it up with vertigo as well. Just read. Thats all you can do.
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I will say for a new reader introduced to comics, I hightly recommend starting with someting written at least after 1985 and preferably in the 2000’s. The writing style was VERY different in the early years. The ones from the 40’s are not an easy read to most people and comics from the 60’s come off very juvenile in most if not all cases. If you pick a character look for the series with the most recent date next to it (for Example if Batman I suggest start with Batman (2016) ). Don’t fall into the trap of “I like Superman, this Superman #1 from the 1940’s is the first one printed, seems like a good place to start” it isn’t.
If you don’t know character to start with some stories on here that… not everyone but the masses… seem to like are.
Kingdom Come which looks at a possible future of DC heroes if they get out of control and has AMAZING artwork
Batman: Year One - the most famous telling of Batman’s origin and early years.
All-Star Superman - Arguably the best Superman story ever
Identity Crisis (this one is less universally loved, but when I worked a comic shop a lot of new readers seemed to like it)
Batman; The Dark Knight Returns (if you liked the Batman v Superman movie if you saw it, you should like this one)
JSA (It is about the heroes from WWII and their descendants, not sure how accessable it is to someone completely new but everyone I talk to says it is great)
Blue Beetle 2006 (Very accessible to people without a lot of past knowledge of DC Comics and with short easy to read stories)
Secret Six 2006 which continues in 2008
Supergirl 1996 (a personal favorite but most I know who read it like it)
Superman: Secret Identity which looks at what if Superman were to exist in “the real world”
The Terrifics (a new series but a good one)
Also The New Teen Titans (1980) might be worth a look. I know what I just said abotu prior to 1985 but that one is an exception as it is well written, if you saw and liked the Titans show on here the show was heavily influenced by that series. Also, in the earlier days before the comics selection was so huge it was one of the best and most spotlighted series on here, so a lot of members especially earlier members have read it. So you will have plenty of people to talk to about it after you start reading if you want to.
Also worth noting if you have not read the comics but came here, I am guessing there is a good chance the TV somewhere over the years got you into DC characters. If so a lot of the TV series have comic book daptions (as in set in the same continuity as the show) of said show. Most notably are Arrow, Supergirl, and Smallville as well as a Krypton One Shot are all on here. As is Batman '66 if you used to watch the Adam West batman series. Most of the animated shows like Batman: The Animated Series, Brave and the Bold, Teen Titans, Teen Titans Go and others also have comic adaptions.
On a final note, if you want a good laugh read DC COmics Presents (1978-1986) issue number 81. Which some will testify I recommend to everyone but I don’t care. it is the funniest thing I have ever read and EVERYONE should read it 
Hope that helps some.
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Of all the members here, you are one that I have the greatest respect for your opinions.
I have been converting certain responses on various threads to text, so they will be readibly available to me, without going through bookmarks.
This will be one of them.
You show your love of comic books and your opinions are very well reasoned in rverything you do in the forum.
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