Reddit reviews Astonishing X-Men, Vol. 1: Gifted
We found 17 Reddit comments about Astonishing X-Men, Vol. 1: Gifted. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
We found 17 Reddit comments about Astonishing X-Men, Vol. 1: Gifted. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
I recommend starting with Grant Morrison's New X-Men. I think it's a really easy place to jump on, and it sets up a lot of stuff that is still going on in the various X-Men series. After that, then you should pick up Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men, which basically picks up right after Morrison's stories. Follow that up with the Messiah Complex crossover, then read Uncanny X-Men straight through Brubaker, Fraction, and Gillen's runs. That's a lot of good stuff there.
Forget about continuity, universes, timelines, etc; it's all very confusing, even to creators/fans. The best way to jump in is to just start reading.
How much time do you have for comics? The answer determines how expansive recommendations are. Regardless, don’t try to read everything. First appearances & early origins are not always good starting points—older comics can be an acquired taste for modern audiences. Remember, there are so many other great characters/stories/publishers to explore (and not all comics are about superheroes).
Think about your favorite stories from other media. What you might like to read in a comic? Are you more interested in good storytelling or becoming a Marvel knowledge nerd?
Creative teams change often and characters get re-worked e.g. I never cared for Hawkeye until Matt Fraction’s run. Focus on well-received and relatively self-contained stories. Pick an interesting character/team and seek their “greatest hits”. You may encounter the occasional unexplained reference/character/event—just ride along (Wiki if necessary).
Marvel Unlimited / Comixology for digital. instocktrades for physical (US). ISBNS for price aggregate.
Modern Marvel characters/teams:
Title | Writer | Note
---|---|---
Alias (Jessica Jones) | Bendis
Ultimates 1 & 2 (Avengers) | Mark Millar | Ultimate
Avengers / New Avengers | Jonathan Hickman | Hickman 2
Captain America | Ed Brubaker
Captain Marvel | Kelly Sue DeConnick
Daredevil (1979) | Frank Miller | Daredevil 1
Daredevil | Bendis | Daredevil 2
Doctor Strange: The Oath | Brian K. Vaughn
Fantastic Four / FF | Jonathan Hickman | Hickman 1
Hawkeye | Matt Fraction
Immortal Iron Fist | Brubaker & Fraction
Inhumans | Paul Jenkins
Iron Man: Extremis | Warren Ellis | Iron Man 1
Invincible Iron Man | Matt Fraction | Iron Man 2
Marvels (Marvel History) | Kurt Busiek
Moon Knight | Warren Ellis
Ms. Marvel | G. Willow Wilson
Planet Hulk | Greg Pack | Hulk 1
Punisher Max | Garth Ennis
Thor | Jason Aaron
Ultimate Spider-man | Bendis | Ultimate
Vision | Tom King
New X-Men | Grant Morrison | X-Men 1
Astonishing X-Men | Joss Whedon | X-Men 2
Uncanny X-Force | Rick Remender | X-Men 6
Events/crossovers can be fun and/or tedious. They are most appreciated by readers well-versed in relevant continuity. Generally, the best non-event comics integrate these seamlessly or avoid them entirely (notwithstanding editorial/executive mandates). Regardless, you may want to familiarize with major plot points.
Modern Marvel events/crossovers:
Title | Writer | Note
---|---|---
Avengers Disassembled | Bendis |
Secret War | Bendis |
House of M | Bendis | X-Men 2.5
Annihilation | Abnett, Lanning, Giffen | Cosmic
Civil War | Mark Millar |
World War Hulk | Greg Pak | Hulk 2
Annihilation: Conquest | Abnett, Lanning, Giffen | Cosmic
Messiah Complex | Brubaker, Kyle, Yost, et al. | X-Men 3
Secret Invasion | Bendis | Dark Reign
War of Kings | Abnett, Lanning, et al. | Cosmic
Messiah War | Kyle, Yost, Swierczynski | X-Men 4
Dark Avengers / Utopia | Bendis, Fraction, et al. | Dark Reign
Siege | Bendis | Dark Reign
Realm of Kings | Abnett, Lanning, Reed | Cosmic
Second Coming | Kyle, Yost, Fraction, et al. | X-Men 5
Fear Itself | Matt Fraction |
Schism | Jason Aaron, Kieron Gillen | X-Men 7
Avengers vs. X-Men | Bendis, Brubaker, et al. | X-Men 8
Infinity | Jonathan Hickman | Hickman 2.5
Secret Wars | Jonathan Hickman | Hickman 3
Discover your preferences and let them inform your next comic selection. Do you like older/newer comics? Weird concepts? Super-smart meta-analysis and social commentary? Family-friendly content? Hyper-violence? Male/female protagonists? Humor? Horror? Have you noticed that a specific artist, writer, and/or creative team consistently produces content you like? Follow these instincts.
Suggestions to improve the list are welcome.
EDIT: Formatting
For Marvel Comics
How to Get Into Comic Books (13:40) | Patrick Willems
Consider your intent/commitment. Think about your favorite stories/characters from TV, movies, games, books, etc. Do you seek quality storytelling or encyclopedic Marvel knowledge? Plan to collect? What time/resources are available i.e. how many comics could/should be read before burning out?
Don’t try to read everything—there’s too much. Forget about “catching up”, continuity, universes, and timelines; it's all very confusing, even to creators/fans. Older comics can be an acquired taste for modern audiences, so first appearances/early origins may not be the best starting points. Creative teams change often, characters get re-worked, and origins are re-told (e.g. I never cared for Hawkeye until Matt Fractions’ run).
Pick an interesting character/team and seek their “greatest hits”. Don’t get stuck “preparing”, just start reading. Focus on well-received, relatively self-contained, and complete stories. You may encounter the occasional unexplained reference/character/event—just ride along (Wiki if necessary). Remember, there are so many other great characters and publishers to explore, and not all comics are about superheroes.
Where to buy (US):
Modern Marvel characters/teams:
/r/Marvel sidebar for more info.
Events/crossovers can be fun and/or tedious. They are most appreciated by readers well-versed in relevant continuity. Generally, the best non-event comics integrate these seamlessly or avoid them entirely (notwithstanding editorial/executive mandates). Regardless, you may want to familiarize with major plot points.
Modern Marvel events/crossovers:
Discover your preferences and let them guide you. Do you like: old/new comics? Specific genres? Literary/natural narratives? Cartoony/realistic art? Familiar/weird concepts? References/self-contained? Social/political commentary? Family-friendly/explicit content? Optimism/pessimism? Have you noticed that a specific artist/writer consistently makes comics you like? Follow these instincts.
Suggestions to improve this guide are welcome.
Looks like you enjoy Batman. Maybe get Year One?
If you can get into X-Men, try out Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men. It's perty darn good. Starts here.
I personally dig a few comics that are becoming classics, but aren't classics in the traditional sense...
Try Fables.
Try Walking Dead
Try MY FAVORITE CURRENT COMIC Unwritten.
Also... do yourself a huge favor and start reading a comic or two that isn't in trade form already. There's a lot of great stuff that's either just come out or is soon coming out. In particular...
Try Saga.
I recommend Astonishing X-Men for anyone just starting out for X-Men.
It's recent enough that you won't be put off by the age and references and it's inclusive and well written enough that you won't miss out on too much of the stuff that came before it.
Introduction to Comics
How to Get Into Comic Books (13:40) | Patrick Willems
Consider your intent/commitment. Think about your favorite shows, movies, books, etc. Reading primarily for enjoyment or encyclopedic knowledge? Collecting? Have the time/resources to read 50 or 500 comics per character?
Don’t try to read everything at once. There’s too much. Forget about catching up, continuity, universes, etc. for now. Older comics can be an acquired taste for modern audiences, so they aren’t necessarily ideal starting points. Writers change often, characters get re-worked, and origins are re-told. Remember, there are many great characters, creators, publishers, etc. to explore.
Pick an interesting character/team and seek their most popular/acclaimed stories. Focus on self-contained, complete stories in one corner of the universe. There will be unexplained references/characters, just persevere or Wiki. Don’t let the tangled web of shared-universe comics overwhelm you. Think of it like solving a jigsaw puzzle one small piece at a time until you finally see the big picture.
Discover your preferences and let them guide you. Don’t get stuck preparing/over-analyzing, just start reading. Do you like/dislike old/new comics? Specific writers/genres? Cartoony/realistic art? Familiar/weird concepts? References/self-contained? All-ages/mature content? Follow these instincts. Didn’t understand a reference? Maybe read that next.
Acquire/Buy comics:
Marvel
DC
You can skip to the 2016 re-launch with DC Universe: Rebirth and then any Rebirth series #1.
Other
For X-men, I highly recommend reading Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men. It's available in four trades: Gifted, Dangerous, Torn, and Unstoppable, or as one giant book
Obviously you don't have to get them from Amazon, but I wanted to make sure I sent you the right books (there are a few different books called Astonishing X-Men).
Oh, you might also like Grant Morrison's New X-Men, which directly leads into Astonishing, but you don't have to read them in order if you dont' want to (although some things in Astonishing will make more sense if you read New X-Men first, I read them out of order and enjoyed them both just fine).
I'm also a big Batman fan. If you want to check out Batman, I can make some suggestions too. I'm really enjoying Grant Morrison's current run on Batman. You can find it all listed here starting with Batman & Son and running through Batman, Inc.
Scott Snyder's current run Detective Comics is really great, too. It starts with Detective Comics #871 and is still ongoing (#880).
Oh, also be sure to check out the FAQ
In that case, I'd say pick a character and start from the beginning of a "run" - meaning, a series of issues written by the same author. The best way to do this is via "trades" which are paperback books that collect a bunch of issues into one.
A few suggestions that I've personally enjoyed and are good to start with (with Amazon links to the first trade, but also, make sure you use your local library - either taking out physical copies or digitally via Hoopla):
Ultimate Spider-Man - Brian Michael Bendis
Fantastic Four - Waid / Wieringo
Gotham Central - Michael Brubaker
Daredevil - Mark Waid
Astonishing X-Men - Joss Whedon
Batman: Year One - Frank Miller
There are also tons of guides online, so if you have a specific character you want to start with, you can just google "best _____ comics to start with" and get some suggestions.
Don't be afraid to just jump in. Individual story lines for the most part can stand alone without any background.
EDIT: added the hyphen for the bot :)
I was in this position a few years back. It's an intimidating world for sure. Whilst I'm no expert, these books/story arcs got me off to a good start:
There's a lot of information available on Wikipedia if you just want to get caught up on specific things. Here's a list of all major and crossover events. Have a look and dive into what sounds most interesting to you!
Most of all, have fun!
Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!
Here are your smile-ified links:
Alias (Jessica Jones)
Avengers
The Ultimates 1-2 (Avengers)
New Avengers
Avengers
New Avengers
Black Panther
Captain America
Captain Marvel
Daredevil
Daredevil
Daredevil
Deadpool
Doctor Strange: The Oath
Fantastic Four / FF
Guardians of the Galaxy
Hawkeye
Immortal Iron Fist
Inhumans
Iron Man: Extremis
Invincible Iron Man
Marvels
Moon Knight
Ms. Marvel
Planet Hulk
Punisher Max
Thor
Ultimate Spider-man
Vision
New X-Men
Astonishing X-Men
Uncanny X-Force
Avengers Disassembled
Secret War
House of M
Annihilation
Civil War
World War Hulk
Annihilation: Conquest
Messiah Complex
Secret Invasion
War
Kings
Messiah War
Dark Avengers
Utopia
Siege
Realm of Kings
Second Coming
Fear Itself
Schism
Avengers vs. X-Men
Infinity
Secret Wars
---
^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot
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
You're right that it's dense. I'm a fan of DC but I'm currently trying to get into Marvel. I've picked up the first 3 issues of Captain America: Reborn and have found it very satisfying. I'm also reading Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men based on some online recommendations (I really want Morrison's New X-Men but I just don't have $300 for comics lying around, unfortunately). Anyway, I've been meaning to get reddit's opinion on the same issue so I'll keep looking in this thread.
If you're open to something other than Marvel then you might want to get into Blackest Night, which happens to be both relatively accessible to new readers and the biggest thing in superhero comics at the moment. I have more recommendations but they're also mostly from DC/Vertigo.
In terms of Ultimate X-men I found it to be rather hit and miss. It is also extremely different to the movies.
If you want some really good x-men check out Astonishing X-Men. It was written by Joss Whedon. While not origins, and based a little in some history, it should be fairly easy to catch up on and is some of the best xmen stories in a long time.
centipededamascus pretty much has you covered. To supplement his list I'd like to add Joss Whdon's run on X-men and Spider-Man: Big Time, although I highly recommend Ultimate Spider-Man if you want an amazing retelling of Peter's origins. Other noteworthy books to check out are Mark Waid's recent run on Daredevil, Remender's run on X-force, and Hickman's Fantastic Four.
Just seeing if you are interested in anything. Do you need a pic of my book? http://www.amazon.com/Astonishing-X-Men-Vol-1-Gifted/dp/0785115315
Thats the book on amazon.