Reddit reviews Astonishing X-Men By Joss Whedon & John Cassaday Ultimate Collection - Book 1
We found 26 Reddit comments about Astonishing X-Men By Joss Whedon & John Cassaday Ultimate Collection - Book 1. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Marvel
Chronologically, it would look like this:
> I'm weary of being almost required to have a HUGE background in Marvel to get going
A "HUGE background" is not necessary. Consider that reasons for being "weary" are partly YOUR self-limitation. You don't NEED to start at the beginning of every story. It's OK to jump into the middle. It's OK to NOT know a character's backstory IMMEDIATELY (e.g. Darth Vader). Have you ever watched a good movie with a non-linear narrative (e.g. Pulp Fiction)?
> before I'll be forced to pick up some random trades or something to continue the narrative because of a tie-in event or whatnot
Again, "forced" implies that YOU feel compelled to do it. You can just wiki relevant information IF YOU WANT TO. You can't expect to dive into the "wider X-Men universe" AND not encounter events. Further, it'd be difficult to read shared-universe superhero comics and not encounter events/crossovers.
> How possible is it to slowly dip my feet into X-Men stories
You answered your own question earlier: pick up a few self-contained/essential/recommended series like New X-Men and just start reading. The larger shared universe stuff will come with time (like slowly fitting random pieces of large, convoluted Jigsaw puzzle)—think of it as a side-bonus rather than the primary goal.
Here's a condensed X-related reading list (bolded are what you've already mentioned, events are labeled):
Here's some help from the r/ComicBooks FAQ:
>X-MEN Reading List
>Here are some popular X-Men books and related titles from Marvel:
>The Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont and John Byrne
>X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson
>New X-Men by Grant Morrison
>X-Force/X-Statix by Peter Milligan and Michael Allred
>Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday
>New Mutants by Zeb Wells
>Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender
>X-Factor by Peter David
>X-Men Legacy by Mike Carey
>All-New X-Men by Brian Michael Bendis, Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger, and Marte Gracia
Personally, I'd strongly recommend Whedon's Astonishing X-Men to any new reader.
If it's JUST Wolverine you're interested in, the Wolverine run by Jason Aaron is a pretty fun jumping on point.
There are a few different places you can start:
If you HAVE to start from the beginning just read the first 24 issues, you can then skip over to Claremont's era
My recommendation would be to either start with Chris Claremont's 1st era (aka 70's) & 2nd era (aka 80's) on Uncanny X-Men or from 2001-ish (aka modern X-Men) time period onwards onwards. Either way just skip the 90s for now, you can alway go back to that later.
If you want to start with Modern X-Men...
From there you can get caught up pretty easily if you follow this list in order:
From there I would move on to the current All-New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men titles:
Great, now you're all caught up!
PS, the great thing about X-Men is there is a ton of content to explore aside from the main storyline!
...and much more!
Happy reading! :)
Have fun!
X-Men (1975 - 1981)
Giant Size X-Men #1
Uncanny X-Men #94 - #124
Uncanny X-Men Annual #3
Uncanny X-Men #125 - #138
Uncanny X-Men Annual #4
Uncanny X-Men #139 - #143
Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 1
Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 2
Maybe better ways to get this that are more cost effective but this is one option (goes for all the links in this post).
If you know you can't get into comics from the late 70's and early 80's because the writing style bothers you then I would look at either Grant Morrison's New X-Men or Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men.
X-Men (2001 - 2004)
New X-Men #114 - #117
New X-Men Annual 2001
New X-Men #118 - #154
New X-Men Omnibus
X-Men (2004 - 2006)
Astonishing X-Men #1 - #24
Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1
Astonishing X-Men Ultimate Collection 1
Astonishing X-Men Ultimate Collection 2
IMO the Claremont, Cockrum, and Byrne stuff is much better then the others and holds up to this day however it was written in a time when you did have to read the comics there are lots of words compared to a modern comic, this bothers some people.
Okey, I'm actually very much a DC fan these days but I'll try to recommend some Marvel stuff.
>Spider-Man
This is a pretty decent Spider-Man guide that details some different starting points.. I'd also recommend The Superior Foes of Spider-Man which followed some of his villains and was incredible well-received in most circles.
>X-Men
All the current titles suck imo and they definitely don't make sense on their own so don't start with those unless you're feeling brave.
I'm personally a fan of the Wolverine and the X-Men comic from a few years ago, but it doesn't usually follow the main X-Men and isn't everyone's cup of tea, so you might not want to start there.
You could however start with Astonishing X-Men, a comic that does follow the more iconic members of the team and that's still pretty modern and fun to read.
>Avengers
Bendis' Avengers and/or New Avengers runs are decent starting points if you want to get to know the team a little. Modern stuff, not that hard to get into as far as I know. A lot of older Avengers comics aren't very good since they were kind of the B-team for a long time.
>Others
I'm a huge fan of Runaways, which follows a bunch of kids who discover that their parents are supervillains and decide that they need to do something about that. It's very self-contained compared to most comics which makes it easier to get into, and their live action series is debuting on Hulu this winter.
Mark Waid's Daredevil is also a fun/interesting read. It might be a little confusing at first but it doesn't require that much knowledge about stuff and it uses the medium incredible well.
Also, you might want to Google "read comics online" and look into that.
Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender was the first X-Men book I'd ever read and it made me really like the characters. It's a really dark story for the big 2
Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men is great too This book while still serious, is not nearly as dark in tone as Uncanny X-Force.
X-Men!
Go to you library and see if they have these (if they don't, get the ISBN numbers from their Amazon page and give those to your librarian. They can get the books on inter-library loan).
The list covers stories from 2001 onward (in order) ;)
Any of the first six bullet points would be good starting points, and then after that Extraordinary X-Men would be the starting point nearest to the current comics.
Or, if you don't want a bunch of back issues check out current issues of X-Men Gold and X-Men Blue!
Kommt natürlich auch auf den Autor an.
Wenn du mal was gutes mit Superhelden ausprobieren willst, die Klassiker sind dies nicht umsonst:
Würd sie auf englisch empfehlen, aber grad Watchmen kann da schon schwierig werden, ist halt keine Klo-Lektüre a la Lustiges Taschenbuch :D
Edit: Formaten
What you're looking for is called an omnibus; some runs (not all) are collected in this format. Astonishing X-Men is collected into 1 omnibus, or if you prefer something a bit smaller, some runs are also collected in ultimate collections which are bigger than a normal trade, but smaller than an omnibus.
Any particular runs you're looking into usually has it listed on wikipedia what formats it has been collected in (number of trades, omnibus', ultimate collections, etc.)
You can also go back to the semi-recent past, when the X-Men more-or-less entered the contemporary era, at the beginning of what's essentially been one big story.
From here on out, for the first time in a while, we have two main X-Books: Gillen's UNCANNY X-MEN and Aaron's WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN.
And now, all the plotlines that have been bubbling up for almost a decade come together in the big finale...
With another new beginning, the X-Books enter the newest status quo: Marvel Now! Almost everything gets a new #1 and a new creative team. (These are the books I outlined in the previous reply.)
I would recommend the Omnivore Editions of Chew by John Layman, it's funny as fuck and has wonderful cartoonish art also the the Joss Whedon run on Astonishing X-men has two resonably priced omnibus Book 1 and Book 2 if you like the X-Men
If you're just getting into the Avengers for the first time and are interested in the classic (movie) line-up then I highly recommend Busiek & Perez's Avengers aka Avengers Assemble. For X-men I'd say Grant Morrison's New X-men followed by Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men is a great introduction to the team.
If you don't want quite so long of a read Marvel Now is the more recent jumping on point for new readers.
If you have Marvel Unlimited I would check if they have the "Thor" comics by Jason Aaron, they are really good, I think you'll like them.
If you don't hate Batman (not necessarily like him, but you are ok with him haha), "the Black Mirror" by Scott Snyder is super good, it is probably my favorite Batman story and Batman is not even Bruce Wayne, it is Dick Grayson, the original Robin, it is damn good and that one IS dark haha
Not Marvel or DC but judging by what you have said you like (kinda dark, bad ass hero who goes through everything, etc...) I think you would really, reaaaally, like "Preacher" by Garth Ennis. In my opinion, Preacher is one of the best stories in any medium ever, big claim, I know, but that's how much I like it. It is collected in 6 Tradepaperbacks/Hardcovers (60 issues and some miniseries total) at about 10-15 usd each for the trades, so this will keep you entertained for a while.
This is the first volume
My favorite super hero series of all time is "Invincible" by Robert Kirkman, it is a bit more "traditional superhero" stuff but with some really cool twists if you want to check that one out.
I am not a fan of Deadpool alone but if you want something with both him and Wolverine, I think "Uncanny X-Force" by Rick Remender is top notch, definitely my favorite Deadpool, I think the trick is to have him in small doses. You can get the whole thing in two oversized TPB's, here is the first one there are only two volumes, just check that it is the "complete" collection. This one is a bit more "lore" heavy where it will reward you for knowing the backstory, but I think that even if you don't know anything it will be entertaining, However, don't be afraid to google some stuff after you finish or ask here to avoid spoilers.
Daredevil by Mark Waid is also pretty good, that might be on your Marvel Unlimited subscription.
OHHHH, I almost forgot, "Astonishing X-Men" by Josh Whedon is fantastic, again, if you have previous knowledge of the X-Men it is a plus but I think it is new reader friendly. This one is a must, in my opinion as well. There are two volumes of this one, here is the first one (maybe it is on Marvel Unlimited?)
The other X-Men stuff that always gets recommended is New X-Men by Grant Morrison but that one is heavier and harder to follow along, maybe if you really like Astonishing, give this one a try. (again, check Marvel Unlimited, it might be on there)
And finally, I promise, "Runaways" by Brian K. Vaughan, the gist of it is that a group of kids one day find out that their parents are super villains and they decide to ... run away. Again, this is a fantastic read, it takes place in the Marvel Universe, and I think there is going to be a Netflix show sometime...? haha But really, this is one of my favorite stories ever as well, there are 2 collections by Brian K Vaughan, don't bother reading the ones written by anyone else, volume one . (Marvel Unlimited?)
That's all for now haha
Let me know which ones pique your interest and if you decide to pick up any of these, you'll have a blast. Again, if you have any questions ask away!
PS. Moving Pictures > 2112 :P
Well, I bought them all originally as singles, and would honestly recommend that route, if possible. As far as TPBs go, I'm not sure which are still in print / easily available, but there's the Omnibus, which should cover the full run, or the Ultimate Collection duo of books, which split the series roughly down the middle.
There's also potentially Marvel Unlimited or Comixology or some similar service, but I'm not as familiar with those.
Astonishing X-Men (which as I understand is the follow up to New X-Men, I don't know for sure though because I haven't read New X-Men) was the first Marvel book I ever read. Not hard to pick up if you've watched any of the X-Men shows or movies. It might be of interest to MCU fans since it was written by Joss Whedon who's working on all the MCU stuff now.
You probably just haven't found the right book, try Joss Whedon's X-Men. Probably one of my favorite Marvel books.
This is the one?
https://www.amazon.com/Astonishing-Whedon-Cassaday-Ultimate-Collection/dp/0785161945/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr0_2?
The recent "Uncanny X-Men" reboot has been pretty great as well in my opinion. I've liked it much more than Wolverine and the X-Men.
I do agree with everyone here that Astonishing X-Men is your best bet, however.
6 Issue each TPB -
Volume 1 - Gifted #'s 1-6
Volume 2 - Dangerous #'s 7-12
Volume 3 - Torn #'s 13-18
Volume 4 - Unstoppable #'s 18-24 + Annual # 1
12 Issue each TPB -
Volume 1 #1-12
Volume 2 # 13-24 + Annual # 1
Full Collection Hardcover
Omnibus Entire Whedon run #'s 1-24 + Annual # 1
>Joss Whedon's run [on X-Men]
Do these two books (one, two) compromise his entire run, or is there more?
If you want to start from the start from the beginning of the X-Men, then they were first introduced back in 1963. [This should be the start of the original X-Men.] (http://www.amazon.com/X-Men-Masterworks-Vol-1-Various-ebook/dp/B00AWR06DC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414333610&sr=1-1&keywords=x-men+stan+lee)
However, there's a lot of reading to do to get up to date - about fifty years, and the X-Men have a huge variety of different books from X-Men to X-Force, X-Factor and... Well, there's a lot. If you liked the movies, I'd say start with the classic [Dark Phoenix Saga] (http://www.amazon.com/X-Men-Dark-Phoenix-Chris-Claremont/dp/0785164219/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414333888&sr=1-1&keywords=x-men+dark+phoenix), probably one of the best comics ever. If you'd like something more recent, [Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men] (http://www.amazon.com/Astonishing-Whedon-Cassaday-Ultimate-Collection/dp/0785161945/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1414333970&sr=1-1&keywords=astonishing+x-men) is also one of the best. Both are fantastic. If you want to jump right into today's X-Men stuff, check out All-New X-Men. It's a really good place to start, in my opinion.
As for condensed versions, the internet's pretty good for this stuff, and really helped me to figure out some plots and where to start. Wikipedia and the Marvel Wiki are useful resources.
If you've any questions, I'd be glad to answer them!
(As a side note, Matt Fraction's run on X-Men is generally disliked due to a lot of bad art and so-so writing. I haven't read much of it, but I'd say give it a miss)
EDIT: About the volumes thing: When comics are originally published they're published as numbers in a volume of the book: Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #1 is the first one, for instance. Later, when they're collected together to form a trade paperback/graphic novel, they're published as volumes in the story: For instance, All-New X-Men Volume 1 is the start of the All-New X-Men story, followed by Volume 2, et cetera. One way to think of it is like this: Issues are like episodes in a volume/season of comics, while graphic novel volumes are like the box-sets.
X-Men is more difficult, though if you want a broad context of how they got to where they are now, I'd agree with u/centipededamascus regarding Morrison and Whedon's runs
Right i'm bored in work so here are some suggestions!
Joss Whedons Astonishing X-Men Run - Great run and you can tell how much Whedon loves these characters
Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman - Never been a fan of the Four but Hickman has a great GREAT run here. Bit long and drawn out but if you like a slow build with a massive pay off this will be right up your street
Uncanny X-Force by Rick Rememnder Probably my most favored run out of marvel the last few years, great stories, great characters and a great ending.
If you enjoyed Saga basically anything from Image the last couple of years are fantastic and i genuinely prefer it to Marvel/Dc. My recommendations being Manhattan Projects, East of West, Black Science, Deadly class. The first two have a few volumes each and the last two have recently released their first trades.
What other characters do you love?
I used to work at a comic book store and love comics! Here are my recommendations:
For Marvel:
New Silver Surfer Comics (Although I might be partial because he is my favorite superhero.)
New Ms. Marvel They do a great job of making the comic very relevant for today. No idea why it is this much on Amazon, but you can find it for cheap elsewhere.
Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men. Supposed to be hilarious because Joss Whedon.
Great if you like Post-Apocalyptic Stuff:
Saga is great for beginners. My housemate had no interest in graphic novels and now she is hooked because she started with Saga.
Y: the Last Man has such a compelling storyline, can't stop reading the series!
Rover Red Charlie because I love animals and apocalypses! I always can't wait for the next one! (Also find it cheaper elsewhere)
We3 Your heart will die, but you will wish you had more to read!
Two I haven't read yet but are supposed to be Apocalyptic:
Sweet Tooth Look weird but cool.
Prophet Looks intense but worth the read.
For myself Blacksad because he is a cat detective. Need I say more?
And check out the Humble Bundle Image comic sale because you can buy some for one cent or the others for way cheap if you want some digital copies to interest you.
Edit: Added missing links and comments below for one super comment!