If you've not read them yet, you might want to check out Batman: Black Mirror which is a detective story with Gordon as the main protagonist or Gotham Central which is basically The Wire set in the Batman universe.

Start with Warren Ellis' run and then when you're done with that you go Jeff Lemire.

Batman: Year One is a fantastic way to begin. It introduces the major elements, tells a solid story, and the art work is fantastic.

The Long Halloween and Dark Victory are my next two suggestions. They're also my personal favorites (and Christian Bales!).

Others of note:

The Killing Joke

Arkham Asylum

Batman: Absolution

Batman: The Cult

A Death in the Family

Batman: Hush

I've got a few more but they're a bit scattered in terms of story line or canon. I'm also an outlier but I didn't care for "The Dark Knight Returns."

Had I seen the show beforehand?

No, nor had I previously seen or read any of the other associated works.

What did I think of the episode?

I thought the first episode felt incomplete. In an effort to give the show a fair chance, I therefore watched the first two episodes. I'm still ruminating on what I think of Death Note on the limited basis of these two episodes alone, but here are some thoughts. (Oh: and to the extent it matters, I watched a subtitled version of these episodes rather than a dubbed version.)

1. Death Note has an promising premise.
   
   The idea of a human having literally godlike powers can be a source of comedy or of [creepy drama](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734580/ "Huh: TIL Cloris Leachman was on this episode of 'The Twilight Zone'..."), though it's clear Death Note is aiming more towards the latter. There's certainly something seductive about the idea of you having nearly unlimited power, though it's a cause for panic that anyone else might have such power.
   
   There are a number of themes such a premise could fruitfully explore, too: the corruption of absolute power, the social isolation inherent to having the power to pass judgment upon others, and the toll of keeping a dangerous secret.
   
   
2. Watching the second episode gave me a much clearer picture of what Death Note wants to do with its premise.
   
   On the basis of "Shinsei"/"Rebirth" alone, here's where I speculated Death Note might have going with its premise: a young man acquires godlike powers, and the show explores how seductive such power is, as well as the morality of his inevitable abuse of them. Ryuk, the death god who dropped this death note into the human world in the first place, would be looking over his shoulder, simultaneously a devil on Light's shoulder encouraging him to do more and possibly the only entity that could understand and enjoy Light's inevitable crash as he begins to make mistakes.
   
   Based on the second episode, "Taiketsu"/"Confrontation", the series is set to proceed in a very different direction. For all I know, the series will still explore some of what I anticipated on the basis of "Rebirth" alone. In trying to avoid possible spoilers, I'll just say that Death Note reminds me as much of past Weekly Watch Hannibal as of, say, past Weekly Watch Legion.
   
   
3. The artwork for the death gods is wonderfully creepy.
   
   Not only are the death gods sharp, angular, and enormous, but the incongruity of Light being the only one able to see or hear Ryuk results in some interesting visual juxtapositions of Ryuk with very mundane settings. (Ryuk is the funniest character so far, too.) For that matter, more of the artwork for the show is in black-and-white than I'd have expected, but this makes sense as a choice for depicting the Realm of the Death Gods. The fact that Ryuk is so imposing but hasn't—yet—been overtly threatening is also an interesting choice.
   
   There are some other visual touches I appreciated, too. For example, when Light realizes that the Death Note actually works, the background in his bedroom fades to black. The montage where Light kills off a number of criminals is wonderfully kinetic, especially given that all he's really doing is writing.
   
   
4. "Rebirth" focuses primarily on a single character, Light Yagami, but it doesn't provide much characterization for him. The second episode improves on this... only to introduce a second main character who has no real characterization other than "mysterious badass".
   
   Consider some other characters motivated to rid the world of crime in comparably dramatic ways. Batman, Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, and Rorschach from Watchmen, among others, come to mind. Each has a discernible personality and motivation for doing so: revenge, family legacy, disgust, a traumatic childhood, etc. Someone who wants to pursue this, especially outside the law, typically has some character-based explanation for why he—and it is nearly always a "he"—would seek to mete out justice unilaterally. With that in mind, what do we actually learn about who Light Yagami is as a character?
   
   In "Rebirth" alone, I'd argue we don't learn much at all. Light's allegedly incredibly smart, but we see minimal evidence of Light being smart in "Rebirth". He's a stereotypically sullen, jaded teenage boy, like some Japanese Holden Caulfield, but with nothing that distinguishes Light's personality or psychology from that of any other smart, gloomy adolescent. (Unless you exclude Light's boundless arrogance and megalomania, I suppose.)
   
   "Rebirth" tells us how smart Light is rather than showing us, which is doubly frustrating. First, "show, don't tell" is basic to good storytelling. Second, the very next episode demonstrates that the show is capable of showing rather than telling, so not having done so in "Rebirth" feels like a missed opportunity. In "Confrontation", the false-bottom drawer and mechanism to burn up the Death Note are creative solutions for Light's security issues (though Light seems disproportionately self-satisfied with his own cleverness).
   
   Exacerbating this is that Light is the series' protagonist, and giving your single most important character such thin characterization is a baffling choice. Maybe the show's point is that every teenage boy has these impulses, that Light just happens to be the one who discovered the Death Note, and he also happens to be particularly smart for his age.
   
   Of course, with the introduction of the otherwise unnamed character "L" in "Confrontation", some of the characterization of Light gets undermined. However smart Light is, it's clear that L can readily outsmart him. Much like Light, though, L indulges in self-congratulation (and publicly, too!) that seems dangerously counterproductive to his desire to identify and apprehend an international mass murderer.
   
   I get why the writers of Death Note would want this, since it sets up a mutual cat-and-mouse pursuit between Light and L. But at this point in the story, I have a minimal understanding of who Light Yagami is as a character, and I have virtually no understanding of who L is as a character. As a result, I can't see how their decision follow from a character-based explanation—at least not based on what's provided in the first two episodes. I expect (or at least hope) that future episodes help us understand these characters' motivations beyond "teenage boy acquires godlike powers, becomes supernatural fascist". At this point, though, the storytelling feels far too much like "and then..." rather than "therefore/but/meanwhile".
   
   
5. I was surprised how much of the story of Death Note felt western.
   
   I say this, in full disclosure, as someone who has minimal knowledge of Japanese culture or history. The following, though, struck me as story elements that seemed out of place, at least relative to what little I do know about Japan:
   

• Most stories involving vigilantes like this are in very high-crime settings, like Batman's Gotham. Modern Japan has a reputation for being one of the safest countries in the world, so it felt odd to have this story set there, especially if there's no portrayal of life there as especially dystopian. (To make things more concrete, Japan has a population of roughly 127 million people, and in 2014 it had a total of 395 homicides. Its per capita homicide rate is less than a third of that of the safest US state, New Hampshire. Moreover, both South Carolina and Louisiana have fewer than 5 million residents each, but each has more homicides than this entire country over 25 times more populous.)
  
• The religious imagery was remarkably western. The death gods are definitely from Japanese culture, but the other religious imagery, music (including Gregorian chants), and themes of Old Testament wrath are very recognizably western. This is a bit of a reversal, but in Death Note a human gives apples to a god, too, and the apple imagery at a minimum rhymes with the story of the temptation of Eve.
  
  None of this is a complaint, to be clear. But I found it interesting that much of the story would make just as much sense if it were set in New York or Rome or many other western cities, especially at their most crime-ridden.
  
  Will you keep watching? Why/why not?
  
  I don't know. I'd be more inclined to do so if I had a more reliable access to future episodes, but for now such access is intermittent.
  
  [W]hich episode would you recommend to those unsure if they will continue?
  
  Watching "Taiketsu"/"Confrontation" (season 1, episode 2) is, I expect, necessary to understanding Death Note enough to decide whether one would want to continue. This isn't to say that "Confrontation" will be sufficient to convert everyone, but I'd definitely recommend continuing with episode 2 before jumping ahead to any other episodes.

The movie sucks and totally deludes the message. The graphic novel/comic (1988) is way better and shows that V is the mirror image of his oppressors.

• Crisis on Infinite Earths | Marv Wolfman
  
• Identity Crisis | Brad Meltzer
  
• Infinite Crisis | Geoff Johns
  
• 52 | Geoff Johns, et al.
  
• Final Crisis | Grant Morrison
  
• Blackest Night | Geoff Johns
  
• Flashpoint | Geoff Johns
  
• Forever Evil | Geoff Johns
  
• The Multiversity | Grant Morrison
  
• Darkseid War | Geoff Johns
  
• DC Universe: Rebirth | Geoff Johns
  

https://www.amazon.com/Watchmen-Alan-Moore/dp/1401245250

> What can I watch or read that will give me a solid background on Watchmen?

Watchmen.

absolutely. (though my recommendations will probably be pretty cliche/entry level in the world of comics)

If you want to stick to recent marvel, but want an "everyman" story, check out Matt Fraction's run on Hawkeye, where it basically just explores his everyday life. it's comedic and fun and Aja's art is wonderfully simple.

Another current series that is great (and will be constantly recommended) is Saga. Brian K. Vaughan's writing is great and Fiona Staples is one of the best digital artists in comics. The story is like star wars on acid, but with a wholesome focus, at it's core, on family. it's weird, funny, progressive, and quite graphic. interesting, sympathetic characters. Highly recommend it.

Another classic Brian K Vaughan series is Y: The Last Man. All men on earth simultaneously die, barring the protagonist, Yorick. Vaughan's writing is great in this as well.

One of my favorite series from all time is Neil Gaiman's famous Sandman. the series is basically stories about storytelling, with the (occasional) main character being Morpheus, "god" of dreams (though he has many other names/titles/definitions). it is often surreal and appropriately dreamlike. Gaimain loves his deities and mythologies and the world of Sandman simultaneously creates its own mythology while including/alluding to all those that humans have created IRL. Sandman's depiction of "reality" changes as drastically and frequently as the constantly shifting roster of illustrators involved.

Around that same time was Grant Morrison's Batman: Arkham Asylum - A Serious House on Serious Earth. while this was just a one-shot novel, it was very dark and directly focused on the psychological aspects of batman as a character. the idea that batman is as crazy as his enemies is nothing new, but this book epitomized it. like Sandman, very late 80's/early 90's feel.

another trippy comic i love is Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing. Moore reworked swamp thing as a sympathetic monster with themes focusing on identity and memory, while still being within the horror genre. Alan Moore is probably a literal genius and he's known for his many other famous classics, like Watchmen (probably the most classic/important comic, which is also about comics), V for Vendetta, and From Hell. Anything by Moore is a safe bet and he sets the bar for writing in the comic medium.

If you are more interested in art than story, my biggest reccomendation would be literally anything drawn by Jean Giraud, aka "Mœbius." He is probably a national hero in france and he was one of the most celebrated comic artists of all time. he made masterful linework look easy and he has a genius understanding of simple composition and color.

there are tons of smaller, fun books/series, many of which i have yet to read, but the ones i listed are all pretty standard, accessible recommendations. definitely check out a few! Edit: typos

For those of you interested, Manapul and Buccaletto (the creative team behind this page) did an excellent arc for The Flash from New 52 #1 through #29. These are collected in Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol 3, Vol 4, and Vol 5. I highly recommend reading them if you're interested in the comics, as they are a great introduction to the character of Barry Allen.

The best way to start, imo, is with graphic novels/collections.
Going into a store and buying individual issues is going to be overwhelming, as you experienced.

As a DC reader I can recommend some books for you:

Batman - Batman Vol.1: Court of Owls has the first few issues of New 52 Batman and it's fantastic.

Superman - All-Star Superman is a great book, and widely considered THE best Superman book.

For Barry:

• The Flash: The Silver Age Volume 1
  
  
• The Flash: Rebirth (2009)
  
  
• The Flash Vol. 1: Move Forward
  
  
• DC Universe: Rebirth and The Flash Vol. 1: Lightning Strikes Twice
  
  
  For Wally:
  
  
• The Flash by Mark Waid Book One
  
  
• The Flash by Geoff Johns Book One (where I started)
  
  
• DC Universe: Rebirth and Titans Vol. 1: The Return of Wally West
  
  By the way, these are just starting points. I'll help you with an actual reading order if you need.

You can get the original 12-issue comic series in a collection here, it is all you'll need to understand the Watchmen world, every other work is just supplementary. The graphic novel is very highly-regarded and popular in the comicbook community so DC obviously wants the world to keep on going in one way or the other.

But it's honestly one of my favorite books, and very thought-provoking too. Would highly recommend.

>[I'll help.](Batman: The Killing Joke, Deluxe Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401216676/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_Whg6wbZKJTKB8)

It's $10 on Amazon. Or walk into any well stocked comic store and they'll have it.

• Batman and Robin vol. 1: Batman Reborn
  
  
• Batman and Robin vol. 2: Batman vs. Robin
  
  
• Batman and Robin vol. 3: Batman & Robin Must Die
  
  
• Batman: The Black Mirror

I feel like Nolan's The Dark Knight takes more influence from Jeph Loeb's Batman: The Long Halloween than from any other published stories. In fact, if you buy this trade version of the book, you can read an introduction from Chris Nolan and David Goyer where they discuss the influence this book had on their writing and filmmaking, as well as the cinematic quality of the book itself.

The Killing Joke - FTFY

>Hey huge marvel fan, (heathen, i know)

A lot of us read Marvel too you heathen!

Batman: Court of Owls, great place to start. Check the side bar or listen to these other lovely people too for more stuff.

• Tommy Elliot is Bruce Wayne's childhood friend in the comics. If you are interested in him, I recommend Batman Hush and then Batman Heart of Hush
  
  
• As for understanding Jim Gordon. I recommend Batman Year One for a really well done origin story.
  
  
• And just cause it's a good read and features the birth of Two-Face. Batman: The Long Halloween for a great story of the birth of Two-Face and the fall of the crime/mafia families. A lot of the Maroni v. Falcone mob war dynamic can be seen here.

Comparatively she is a very new character having premiered in 2012. So you can start right from the beginning.

https://www.amazon.com/Ms-Marvel-1-No-Normal/dp/078519021X

Bone

Akira

Mouse guard

Persepolis

Scott Pilgrim

Swamp thing by Alan Moore

Judge Dredd: The cursed earth uncensored

Nemesis the warlock

The league of extra ordinary gentlemen

Hellboy

Zot! by Scott McCloud

V for vendetta

Nimona

The sandman

Maus

American Flagg

Bean world

Dan Dare by Garth Ennis

Flintstones by Mark Russell

Giant days

Groo

The incal

Jonah Hex

The nam

Queen and Country

Rork

Usagi yojimbo

Nausicaa

A great place to start is with the current book it's being written by a die-hard Flash fan and has been knocking it out of the park with every issue (its on issue 11). Also, if you can find it I would suggest getting that in tandem with with New 52 Vol 1 "Move Forward" that book is a great introduction into Barry Allen as the Flash

A big part of the Flash is their legacy so I'll briefly explain that for ya. There have been four Flashes to date: Jay Garrick (Flash I), Barry Allen (Flash II), Wally West (Flash III), and the short lived Bart Allen (Flash IV). There are also members of the Flash family that go by different names like Max Mercury and Jesse Quick; additionally Bart Allen originally went by Impulse.

A small bit of history that may be helpful if you go and read some of the Pre-New 52 Flash books is that Barry Allen is dead. He sacrificed his life in Crisis on Infinite Earths to save the universe. That's all you need to know from that event, you may even recognize this homage from the finale of season 2. The effect of his death weighs really heavily on Wally for the first part of his time as Flash. However, Wally's time as Flash is the one with the most well regarded stories. Barry does eventually come back in another event 25 years later, those events are detailed in Flash: Rebirth (2009)

The rest I'll let you learn, but we love answering any questions you may have over on r/theFlash. Moreover, to find the official list of our recommendations check out the subreddit's wiki located on the top bar.

Here is a synopsis...

The Flash, Volume 2 (1987-2009):

• Born to Run by Mark Waid: #62 to #65. Quintessential origin story for Wally. It sets the tone for the rest of Waid's work and firmly defines Wally's character.
  
  
• The Return of Barry Allen by Mark Waid: #73 to #79. Wally deals with the shadow of being the "unworthy" successor to the great Barry Allen.
  
  
• Reckless Youth by Mark Waid: #92 to #94. Impulse's debut! Wally gets a sidekick and learns more about the late Barry Allen's legacy.
  
  
• Flashing Back by Mark Waid: #0. An interlude in Waid's grand epic, Issue #0, takes Wally for a run down memory lane reliving his greatest moments. One of the single best issues of the Flash. In other words its a must read.
  
  
• Terminal Velocity by Mark Waid: #95 to #100. (you might want to read a couple issues prior to #92 to understand what the "Speed Formula" is and why Wally has it). While training the young Impulse and thwarting crime Wally's speed begins to malfunction and only the 'Zen Guru of Speed' knows why; The Speed Force is introduced into the DC landscape.
  
  
• Dead Heat by Mark Waid (this one is a little weird, order wise): #108, #109, Impulse #10, #110, Impulse #11, #111 for all six parts. (Impulse is Bart's own title, obviously a spin-off of the Flash). Speed Force Lore, Savitar, and ninjas! Thats the 90's for ya. It's still a good read.
  
  
• Race Against Time by Mark Waid: #112 to #118. Fun time travel shenanigans.
  
  
• Emergency Stop by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar: #130 to #132. Wally West gets crippled + Speed Force Lore.
  
  
• The Human Race by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar: #136 to #138. This story is beyond ridiculous. I'm talking aliens, I'm talking space. I'm talking running REAL fast. You should read it.
  
  
• The Black Flash by Mark Millar: #139 to #141. The nasty side of the Speed Force.
  
  
• Chain Lightning by Mark Waid: #145 to #150. (The previous three issues are needed to fully understand this story). Oh, you thought Human Race was crazy? Think again. THE FLASH FAMILY RUNS TO EVERY CORNER OF TIME TO GATHER ALLIES FOR A BATTLE. I'M TALKING WIBBLY WOBBLY TIMEY WIMEY SHENANIGANS. That's all I'll say. It's really fun and a great read, an epic if you will.
  
  
• The Dark Flash Saga by Mark Waid: #152 to #160. Alternate Future Wally comes back in time, but he has a dark secret! (Also Wally gets married!)
  
  Johns run starts at #164, and is more of a collection of one-shots, team-ups, and "Rogue Case Files" from #164 to #191. The later being an individual study on each of Flash's rogues John's wishes to flesh out and give an origin. John's does create a few of his own Rogues as well. Plainly put, John's is far better than Waid at creating villains while Waid excelled at writing Wally and the Family. I recommend getting them all, they are not only necessary but a real joy to read.
  
  
• Birth Right by Geoff Johns: #175 to #176. The Weather Wizard is pissed. This is more or less a two-part Rogue Case File but I just love it so much I wanted to break it out into its own thing.
  
  
• Crossfire by Geoff Johns: #184 to #188. Keystone and Central City are under siege by two different entities both wanting the other's side but more importantly, Wally's life. Wally is stuck in the crossfire with no allies.
  
  
• Grodd Returns by Geoff Johns: #192 to #194. Dredeuced calls it this and I quite like it. This is pretty important, not just because of Grodd...returning, but because something snaps inside of Hunter Zolomon which leads up to #197 and their conflict. (I recommend reading the issues between Grodd Returns and Blitz! to fully understand Zolomon and his perspective.)
  
  
• Blitz! by Geoff Johns: #197 to #200. Enter Zoom. This is Wally's worst day of his life; his life is torn asunder by not only Zoom but by the choices he has made. This is one of the single most important things to happen to Wally. While there have been arcs that pushed Wally's life and powers forward--Return of Barry Allen for instance--none like this one. Read it and literally weep.
  
  
• Ignition by Geoff Johns: #201 to #206. Kind of a glue arc, connecting Blitz to Identity Crisis to Rogue War.
  
  
• Identity Crisis: Flash / The Secret of Barry Allen by Geoff Johns: #207 to #217. Wally learns about his predecessors darkest hour, one that is tearing the super hero community apart.
  
  
• The Rogue War by Geoff Johns: #220 to #225. A war that begins as the Old Rogues versus the New Rogues quickly spins out of control and becomes to big for one Flash to handle.
  
  
• Personal Volume 2 Favorites: #0, #54, #73, #91, #134, #175-176, #209, Speed Force #1, JLA #4
  
  *Flash Fact!: these are all about Wally's time as Flash.
  
  Barry's resurrection and takeover of the Flash solo titles begins with
  
  Flash: Rebirth (2009) by Geoff Johns: #1 to #6. This story flings Barry back into the forefront of the Flash Family revealing secrets about the his origin, powers, and the Speed Force. This can be very confusing so its best understood with the knowledge from the previous books.
  
  The Flash, Volume 3 (2009-2010):
  
  
• The Dastardly Death of the Rogues by Geoff Johns: #1 to #6. Barry is back! but a group of people from the future calling themselves the Renegades have appeared attempting to arrest Barry for a crime he hasn't even committed yet? It's Rogues vs. Flash vs. Renegades. (This arc actually has supplemental material you can read before hand: "The Flash: Secret Files and Origins" (2010) #1
  
  Flashpoint (2011) by Geoff Johns: #1 to #5. Following the devastating news revealed in Flash Rebirth, Barry attempts to go back in time only to find out by doing so he has changed the entire world. With no powers Barry must find a way to undo his most desired wish.
  
  The fallout of Flashpoint leads to the creation of The New 52. a line wide reboot, making Barry the only Speedster in the Flash Family.
  
  The Flash, Volume 4 "The New 52" (2011-2016):
  
  
• New 52 Vol 1-4 by Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul. See a young Barry once again have to learn the ropes of being a super hero and the Fastest Man Alive!
  
  
• Personal Volume 4 "The New 52" Favorites: #2, #10, #12, #21, #25, #26, Annual #2
  
  Flashing forward to today, a new event has spawned, and the information revealed explains the absence of members such as Jay and Wally. Wally has been trapped in the Speed Force! and the entire world forgot who he was. His return to the DC landscape was accompanied with certain people recovering their lost memories and discovering a new threat, the one who stole them!
  
  All this is detailed in DC Universe: Rebirth followed by Flash: Rebirth #1 (2016) and the current run with issue 11 coming out next week. If you'd like to follow the exploits of the returned Wally West read Titans (2016-) you can also check out Teen Titans (2016-) to explore Kid Wally's development. Pick it up on Comixology or your local comic book shop!
  
  *Flash Fact!: During the New 52 a different Wally West is revealed to be black (I call him Kid Wally, others call him Chocolate Wally). In DC Universe: Rebirth he is also revealed to be the white Wally's (as I call him Adult Wally, others Strawberry Wally) cousin! Today the Flash Family is 3 members strong once again!
  
  The Flash, Volume 5 (2016-):
  
  
• Lightning Strikes Twice by Joshua Williamson: Flash Rebirth #1, #1 to #8. Following Barry and Wally's reunion in DCU: Rebirth an overwhelmed Barry begins to realize he misses having a partner and his wishes are soon answered when a Speed Force Storm appears over Central City granting powers to everyone it hits! However, from the storm a villain emerges. Meet Godspeed.
  
  
• Personal Volume 5 Favorites: Flash Rebirth #1, #9
  
  
  Titans, Volume 3 (2016-): (Optional)
  
  
• The Return of Wally West by Dan Abnett: Titans Rebirth #1, #1 to #6. Wally West is back! After visiting with his old mentor, Barry Allen, Wally rushes off to gather his closest friends in an attempt to figure out what or who made everyone he knows forget about him. All the while he is desperately trying to rekindle the love he once had.
  
  
• Personal Titans, Volume 3 Favorites: Titans Rebirth #1

By now you've had millions of "read the graphic novel" responses... but please let me explain why.

Don't get me wrong, I honestly despise this response when I'm trying to have a discussion about a movie. Be it Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or even Twilight, people often start with "OMG the book is sooo much better." This is often true, but their movies are still good representations of the stories and usually capture the essence of the books well.

I honestly don't feel like this is the case with The Watchmen. The movie is fun, and I almost never read, but the original graphic novel is such an incredibly deep story that the movie doesn't even hold a candle to it. If you feel strongly enough about how brilliant the movie is, just wait until you read the source material. I think that's the reason why you aren't getting much actual discussion about the story, everybody that wants to talk about The Watchmen wants to talk about the sheer brilliance of the graphic novel, which in almost every aspect, the movie falls short. Here are some examples:

• The character development (for both the old Watchmen crew and the new one) is vastly superior in the graphic novel. I won't spoil anything or go into detail, but not only did the movie get the characters wrong as other comments have stated, but the ones they do get right don't get anything near the spotlight they deserve.
  
  
• The relationship between Rorschach and the psychologist. Again, I don't want to give spoilers, but this is so shallow in the movie and is possibly one of my favorite stories in the novel. We actually learn about the psychologist's life and marriage, and more importantly, how speaking to Rorschach (over several sessions, not just one) changes his entire life. If you think Rorschach is a well-developed character in the movie, just you wait.
  
  
• The ending, as u/Flamma_Man pretty much said perfectly, is ultimately flawed. The entire point of the plot is basically lost on the movie, and if not lost, definitely cheapened.
  
  
• The scene on Mars between Dr. Manhattan and Laurie. The conversation they have in the novel is so eloquently worded and also shows more of Dr. Manhattan's character, particularly what's left of his humanity. It shows that even a 4th dimensional super-being can be vulnerable, and even more importantly, realize they are incorrect and change their mind. It's done in such a genius way that it made me re-read the section a few times just to truly understand what was going on... but the movie made it as basic as possible to get the point across. It focused more on CG and "ooh look at this cool structure" than the actual conversation between the two of them and what the structure actually symbolized.
  
  
• The backstory between chapters. In the novel, there are several full-page sections that delve into the back story and explain more of the Watchmen universe. It adds an incredible amount of depth to the story that the movie didn't even touch on. In the same vein, Tales of the Black Freighter was almost completely cut from the movie, save for a small reference to it at the newsstand at (what I remember) the end of the film.
  
  I'll stop there. The ridiculous thing is that I could go on. This is why you aren't getting much discussion about the movie, because compared to the novel there isn't much to talk about. Again, I despise people telling me to read the story when I just want to talk about it. However, this story is truly an exception, and at a price of less than $20, you seriously need to read it. Just think about this: My reasoning for why you should read the graphic novel is longer than your original post. I tried to be as concise as possible, but the differences between the novel and the movie go deeper than "oh it was this character that actually said that in the books blah blah blah." The entire narrative is different and brilliantly executed, while the movie feels like the product of a director that didn't truly understand the story and wanted to make a movie that sold tickets. Maybe you won't find the novel as stunning now because it's been over-hyped to you and you'll naturally want to defend your love of the movie, but I implore you to let go of those inhibitions and truly enjoy the novel.
  
  In summation, and I truly feel like a jerk for saying this, read the graphic novel.
  

This is the reading order for a modern Barry Allen. If you're interested in the best of the best Flash stories and the greater Flash mythos, Flash in the 90's to mid 2000's is the best era of the Flash. Mark Waid's Flash currently has 1 trade out with trade 2 coming out May 2nd. The first trade is an origin story about Wally West, the second trade is a story called "The Return of Barry Allen" which is the best Flash story of all time. Waid's run is the best Flash run of all time and the third trade is coming out in the Fall. Grant Morrison and Mark Millar wrote a short zany run in the middle of Waid's run. It's one trade long and worth the read. Lastly, Geoff Johns Flash run is phenomenal. It's the second best of the three and there are currently three trades out. It's a bit more serialized than Waid's run, which is a plus. Waid writes Wally a lot better than Johns but what Johns has over Waid is phenomenal and relatable villains.



Flash Rebirth brings Bary up to speed with the world and shows him dealing with being a man out of time.




The Flash Dastardly Death of The Rogues is the best Barry Allen story, it is a must read




Flash: Road to Flashpoint. This story is pretty alright, the collected version has a lot of interesting one shots and such and it directly leads into Flashpoint. This doesn't get recommended often, but I enjoyed it and I think it should be at least mentioned




Flashpoint kicks off the New 52 and is a decently written Barry Allen story. This leads into the New 52 series




The Flash New 52 Vol 1-4 Collected in this omnibus. This has absolutely stunning art and it's the same art team that did Dastardly Death of the Rogues, the artists also double as the writers and they capture a good Barry Allen in my opinion. This run is great but everything after is pretty mediocre




DC Universe Rebirth is a great story and Barry and a certain other speedster are very relevant to the story




The Flash Rebirth (2016) is the current ongoing, you can digitally purchase it or buy the issues individually from Midtown Comics (The website) or your LCBS. I'm linking the first volume of this run.

> can someone point me towards a comic or book?
It's collected as a trade, on Amazon here:

https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Long-Halloween-Jeph-Loeb/dp/1401232590

I'm sure other booksellers have it too.

Hush is often regarded as one of the best Batman trades out there, so you're off to a good start.

Here's a rough list of other books you might enjoy, all widly embraced by fans of Batman while staying with a darker tone similar to Hush.

• Batman: Year One
  
• Batman: The Long Halloween
  
• Batman: Dark Victory
  
• Batman: The Killing Joke
  
• Batman: Haunted Knight
  
• Batman: A Death in the Family
  
• Arkham Asylum
  
• JLA: Tower of Babel
  
  I''d also suggest reading Identity Crisis. Batman isn't the only character of the story, and while he doesn't make many appearances when he does he certainly makes an impact. Lastly, Gotham Central is also a great read, but it focuses on the GCPD MCU rather than on Batman himself, and how they deal with supervillains and working in a city with a masked vigilante.
  
  Hope this helps.

Did anyone else actually read the article? 'Telos', 'Night Force' or 'Blue and Gold' would not count.

>Before fans get too excited about finally pitching their untold stories about Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, they should know that DC Universe is NOT asking for narratives. It appears that they are not looking for fans to redefine a character’s origins, à la Batman: Year One, or for fans to provide alternate takes on a character, à la Superman: Red Son. Instead, they are looking for “non-narrative ideas inspired by the world of DC.” This could range from reality shows, game shows, travel shows, documentaries, or any other non-narrative category fans can think of.

Watchmen and that's it. The additional stuff is completely optional and nowhere near as good.

It's always a good time to begin reading DC Comics! Check out the Volume 1 TPB's of the characters you mentioned above. You'll be caught up before ya know it!

Wonder Woman Vol. 1

Batman, Vol. 1

Green Arrow, Vol. 1

As far as Batman goes, you're going to love Scott Snyder's run. It's next level. Picking up Justice League wouldn't hurt either. Don't miss out on great stories just because there's a big event coming up. DC has had some brilliant runs over the last few years and they're definitely worth reading regardless of Convergence.


EDIT: Just realized you're coming back to comics after only a year away rather than being completely new to the New 52. Definitely catch up, a lot of cool stuff has happened since you were away from these characters!

That picture is from Moon Knight: The Bottom, the first volume of the 2006 series by Charlie Huston and David Finch. I highly recommend reading that series.

I also recommend the 2014-2015 series starting with Moon Knight: From the Dead by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, and Jordie Bellaire. After reading that series, hop onto the current series starting with Moon Knight: Lunatic by Jeff Lemire, Greg Smallwood, and Jordie Bellaire.

You don't need much context to read these series; they'll explain Moon Knight's backstory to you. I recommend using my Marvel Universe 616/Prime Earth Moon Knight Comic Book Chronology Project to keep track of how these series are ordered and also to see what else is available. Check out the Trade Paperback Collections tab for a list of trades.

The run that starts with the Warren Ellis arc seen here is really good both in quality and for bringing in new readers (the trade for that starts with "From the Dead").

I was introduced to the character from a the slightly older Charlie Huston/David Finch run that happened around the time of Civil War. Sadly, it looks like the physical trades are out of print, but I'm sure they'll reprint a collection for it in anticipation for the series.

I've been reading comics for a while but haven't read any Moon Knight yet and plan on doing so before the show comes out.

The main runs for beginners are:

Charlie Huston/David Finch's Run (Moon Knight #1-13) (this revitalized the character for the modern day)
Warren Ellis/Declan Shalvey's Run (Moon Knight #1-6) (critically acclaimed run)
Jeff Lemire/Greg Smallwood (Moon Knight #1-14) (another critically acclaimed run)

It would probably be easier by using Marvel Unlimited (Marvel's Netflix style subscription to comics)

Or if you want the physical copies your local comic book store. You can try Amazon but it could hard since certain books are out of print.

Huston/Finch's Run Vol. 1 + Vol. 2 - on Amazon
Ellis/Shalvey's Run - on Amazon
Lemire/Smallwood's Run - on Amazon

NOTE: You don't strictly have to read the runs in order. It's like watching Age of Ultron then going back and watching Thor 2. As long as you understand the basic chronology (Huston->Ellis->Lemire) you can read them in any order you want. I've been told the runs are pretty compartmentalized/modular.

Also if you plan on getting Marvel Unlimited it works best with using the app (like on a tablet or a big phone). You can try the browser but I always found it too clunky.

Check out The Flash: Rebirth. Next, read the series by Geoff Johns, Francis Manapul, and Scott Kolins (2010-2011). It's collected in two volumes. After that, read Flashpoint, and then read the New 52 series.

Here's a breakdown:

• Flash: Rebirth
  
  
• Flash: The Dastardly Death of the Rogues
  
  
• Flash: The Road to Flashpoint
  
  
• Flashpoint
  
  
• Flash Vol.1: Move Forward
  
  
• Flash Vol.2: Rogues Revolution
  
  
• Flash Vol.3: Gorilla Warfare
  
  
• Flash Vol.4: Reverse
  
  
• Flash Vol.5: History Lessons
  
  
• Flash Vol.6: Out of Time
  
  In addition to these, you can check out a list of some more recommended Barry Allen reads here.
  
  EDIT: Don't be discouraged if you find The Flash: Rebirth very continuity-heavy - it is. This was one of the first non-Batman comics that I read when I was getting back into comics, and I had no clue what was going on. The thing is, that frustration only encouraged me to dig deeper and understand more about this world. I hope you (or anyone for that matter) takes that approach when something comes along that doesn't seem to make sense.

I'm not sure where you got the idea of Flash as a snob or jerk. I'd recommend the Buccellato / Manapul run from the beginning of the New 52. It's a fun, lighthearted-but-not-goofy superhero book. (I haven't read any of the Jensen/Venditti run that follows, so I can't speak to that.)

• The Flash, Vol. 1 Move Forward
  
• The Flash, Vol. 2 Rogues Revolution
  
• The Flash, Vol. 3 Gorilla Warfare
  
• The Flash, Vol. 4 Reverse
  
• Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion
  
• The Flash, Vol. 5 History Lessions

Well, I'm not certain that I could recommend other novels outside of the Batman mythos, but there are a couple of Batman graphic novels that explore the same concepts and thoughts of being Batman as does The Dark Knight Rises. Most of these are either graphic novels or trade paperbacks. Trade paperbacks (TPBs) are collections of a series of comics that would come out weekly all bundled into one nice thick book. Graphic novels were not published as comics, but as books themselves.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns -
This series has Batman returning to Gotham after 10 years of absence. It's critically acclaimed and generally hailed as one of, if not the, best Batman TPB/graphic-novel.

Knightfall (Part One | Part Two | Part Three) This TPB is all about Bane and Batman. It details Bane's origins, his rise, the moment where he breaks Batman's back, Bruce's recovery, and all the chaos that ensues. Three massive volumes of about 600 pages each, this will take you a while to pour through, but it is one hell of a ride.

No Man's Land - (Volume One | Volume Two | Volume Three | Volume Four - not released yet | Volume Five - not released yet) - This massive Batman event has Gotham going through a cataclysmic earthquake which labels it as a federal disaster area. With no law and total anarchy, the rules of Gotham change and the role of Batman transforms. The second half of TDKR is pretty much this, except this comic series explores the concept much further. Seriously, all in all, this is about 1500 pages of pure Batman. And I'll be damned if these aren't just about the best 1500 pages of Batman out there.

These are all the comics I can think of that are related to TDKR. If you're interested in the books that inspired TDK or Batman Begins, I recommend The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, The Killing Joke, Birth of the Demon, and Batman: Year One.

Hope I helped!

Batman Year One

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401207529/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_iRgNDbRCC8PMX

https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Killing-Deluxe-Alan-Moore/dp/1401216676

http://www.amazon.com/V-Vendetta-Alan-Moore/dp/140120841X/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254211371&sr=8-5

In 2011, DC launched "The New 52", a reboot that reset every title back to #1, and condensed/erased many portions of the old continuity, in order to make the new books more accessible to new readers. Generally, you can start with "trades", which are volumes of issues (generally around 5-8) collected in a novel form. Vol. 1 of any series is usually a good place to start.
 

For Batman and Batman-related books, I recommend starting with the following:
Batman, Vol. 1: The Court of Owls
Batman and Robin, Vol. 1: Born to Kill
Nightwing, Vol. 1: Traps and Trapezes
Batman: The Black Mirror - This is actually just before The New 52, but I recommend this mainly because it's a very well-loved modern story that made Scott Snyder (the current Batman writer) famous. It's also fairly accessible to new readers.
 

For other characters, I would recommend:
Green Arrow, Vol. 4: The Kill Machine - The first three volumes are heavily disliked by fans. Vol. 4 is when the next writer (Jeff Lemire) takes over, and he establishes a different status quo and tone, making it easy for new readers to jump in.
The Flash, Vol. 1: Move Forward
Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: Blood
Earth 2, Vol. 1: The Gathering

Your work?

They announced last week that the next animated movie would be based on New 52 Justice League Vol.1 and the design is pretty similar to how they look in those comics.

How about Asterios Polyp?
It could be described as a serious work: an architect's apartment burns down, and he leaves on a journey to find meaning and examine his life. Some really clever art to compliment the themes and characters of the story as well.

Jason is kind of unique. He tells fiction with often long passages of no words. He has a really subtle sense of humor. You would have to look to alt comix for similar comics, stuff like;

Daniel Clowes - He's got a dry sense of humor and often writes satirically about life and culture. You can check out the movies he made with Terry Zwigoff, Ghost World and Art School Confidential.


Charles Burns' work is often surreal and some what disturbing though fascinating at the same time. he is most famous for his massive Black Hole about teen age STD's gone wild. He just finished a trilogy which is part auto bio and part surreal dream sequences, X'ed Out, The Hive, and Sugar Scull

I guess you could include David Mazzucchelli's Asterios Polyp in this group of similar works though it's really original. It's about an architect that goes through a midlife crisis though it's one of the most inventive graphic novels to ever have been made. He uses every aspect of the comic to communicate to the reader, from the drawings, to the type face, to the color and even the very design of the book. It's a must read experience, thought completely unique.

Robert Crumb often has a dry, satirical sense of humor to his work. He is most famous for his 60's underground comics as shown in the Complete Crumb #4. He's done some really beautiful biographical work like his Patton about country blues musician Charley Patton. His newest work is the illustrated Book of Genesis a massive strait comic adaption of the Bible.

• Year One | #404-407 | 1987 | Miller
  
• The Man Who Laughs | #784-786 | 2005 | Brubaker
  
• The Long Halloween | #1-13 | 1996-1997 | Loeb
  
• Dark Victory | #0-13 | 1999-2000 | Loeb
  
• A Death in the Family | #426-429 | 1988 | Starlin, Wolfman
  
• The Killing Joke | GN | 1988 | Moore
  
• Arkham Asylum | GN | 1989 | Morrison
  
• Knightfall | Batman #484-515, Detective Comics #654-682, etc. | 1993-1994 | Moench, Dixon, et al.
  
• No Man's Land | #563-574, etc. | 1999-2000 | Gale, Rucka, et al.
  
• Hush | #608-619 | 2002-2003 | Loeb
  
• Under the Red Hood | #635-641, 645-650 | 2004-2006 | Winick
  
• Batman | #655-658, 663-669, 672-683 | 2006-2008 | Morrison | Reading Order
  
• Battle for the Cowl | #1-3, etc. | 2009 | Daniel
  
• Time and the Batman | Batman #700-702 | 2010 | Morrison
  
• The Return of Bruce Wayne | #1-6 | 2011 | Morrison
  
• Batman and Robin | #1-16, etc. | 2009-2011 | Morrison
  
• Batman, Incorporated | #1-8, 1-13, etc. | 2011-2013 | Morrison
  
• The Black Mirror | Detective Comics #871-881 | 2010-2011 | Snyder
  
• Batman | #1-52 | 2011-2016 | Snyder
  
• Batman and Robin | #0-40, Annual 3 | 2011-2015 | Tomasi
  
• The Dark Knight Returns | #1-4 | 1986 | Miller
  
• Batman (Rebirth) | #1-ongoing | 2016-2018 | King
  
  
  I also got into comics with Batman Rebirth, afterwards I found this list here on reddit and all of them are just great, few of them are even extraordinary and without any of them we wouldn't have the Batman we have right now.
  
  If I had to pick some highlights, it were The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, No Man's Land, Black Mirror and Hush, especially Hush was fantastic.
  
  Still love Batman Rebirth though.

• The Dark Knight draws heavily from The Long Halloween and plenty of the Joker's lines are taken straight out of a prose issue collected here. There's also the obvious influence of The Killing Joke and The Man Who Laughs. The Killing Joke was also the primary influence on Tim Burton's Batman.
  
  
• Batman Begins draws from a number of stories include Year One, Blind Justice and The Man Who Falls which is collected here.
  
  
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier was based on the fairly recent Ed Brubaker run which is phenomenal.
  
  
• The Dark Knight Rises combines elements of Knightfall, No Man's Land and The Dark Knight Returns. The Dark Knight Returns is also a major influence on the upcoming Batman V Superman.
  
  
• The Avengers mainly draws from the original first issue of The Avengers, which is collected here and retold again here in a modern setting, as well as The Ultimates. There are plenty of shots that feel like they were lifted right out of The Ultimates. On a side note, Joss also wrote the introduction to the book years ago and it was through doing this that he figured out exactly why the Avengers work.
  
  
• The X-Men movies tend to draw more from the 80's, especially Chris Claremont's run. X-Men 2 draws heavily from Gods Loves, Man Kills. X-Men 3 is loosely based off of The Dark Phoenix Saga as well as Joss Whedon's relatively recent Astonishing X-Men. The Wolverine draws from Chris Claremont and Frank Miller's [Wolverine mini-series] and Days of Future Past is based on, you guessed it, Day of Future Past. Even though X-Men: First Class takes it's name from the comic of the same name it has more in common with the early Stan Lee stuff. X-Men Origins: Wolverine draws from several comics include Wolverine's Origin mini-series and Weapon X. The first X-Men movie isn't really based off any particular arc although it did heavily influence Ultimate X-Men.
  
  
• The upcoming Daredevil TV series seems to be drawing heavily from Frank Miller's run, particularly his origin story The Man Without Fear. While Miller's main run took place in the late 70's/early 80's The Man Without Fear came out in the 90's.
  
  
• Guardians of the Galaxy takes its line-up from the 2004 series but the plot of the movie is all its own.
  
  
• Avenger: Age of Ultron seems to be an original story that's taking it's cues, at least in part, from Ultron Unlimited which is collected here.
  
  
• Man of Steel was heavily influenced by John Byrne's 80's reboot although its structure is heavily modelled on the 2010 graphic novel Earth One. There are also bits and pieces taken from Birthright, Secret Origin and All-Star Superman.
  
  
• Iron Man 3 certainly takes its cues from Extremis but a lot of it is just pure Shane Black. The first Iron Man isn't based on a particular storyline but Tony's origin stuff in Afghanistan is almost identical to the flashbacks in Extremis that revamp Tony's origin for a modern context. Iron Man 2 borrows a little from Demon in a Bottle and Armor Wars but ultimately does its own thing.
  
  
• The writer of the Fantastical Four reboot has mentioned that they've been influenced by Ultimate Fantastic Four.
  
  
• Ant-Man follows an original story but is primarily influenced by the Scott Lang Ant-Man books from the late 70's/early 80's.
  
  
• The Thor movies aren't based on any particular storyline but they are vaguely influenced by Walter Simon's run as well as J. Michael Straczynski's run
  
  
• Green Lantern draws heavily from Geoff John's run, especially his near-perfect origin story Secret Origin
  
  
• AKA Jessica Jones is based on the incredible Alias.
  
  EDIT: Formatting

"/u/beary_good is our lord and savior, and his teachings are scribed here."

And they're all paperbacks!

Edit* but don't get Batman & Son or Final Crisis from those links - they lack a few important tie-ins. Get the new editions sibbo mentioned. linked here: Batman & Son and Final Crisis

The Killing Joke is rather short, but still quite good.

It is, without a doubt, the best. You can usually find it cheaper in the compilation "DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore".

However, if you want coloring/shading that is much improved over the original, check out The Killing Joke: Deluxe Edition.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401235425/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_cVdEub0W460ZK

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401237789/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_aWdEub1Y4A0Q0

Vol. 1 & 2

For Court of Owls, you only need New 52 Batman volume 1: Court of Owls, and New 52 Batman volume 2: City of Owls. There is a paperback that collects the tie ins (i.e. Nightwing, Robin, Redhood, Batgirl, etc fighting during this event) called Night of Owls, though it spoils a big reveal of City, so I would read it after City of Owls. In fact, the quality of each tie ins varies, with some being really poor in my opinion, so I probably wouldn't even bother with it, there are much better books out there you could be reading. Court and City are great though, and they make the start of Snyder's New 52 run, afterwards it leads perfectly into volume 3: Death of the Family, and then volume 4: Zero Year - Secret City and volume 5: Zero Year - Dark City, and so on. Snyder's run is really great, I recommend the whole thing!

Basically if he doesn't run the speedforce becomes unstable and does strange thinks like sucking up people.

I got them from random newsstands, but here's a Amazon link for the first trade paperback.

Warning! Long-as-shit recommendation post incoming!

Halo:

There are several ones published by Marvel, haven't read any but my friend, whose a big Halo fan liked Halo: Blood line by Fred Van Lente

Mass Effect:

These are all written by Mac Walters, the lead writer of Mass Effect 3

• Mass effect: Redemption Liara tries to find Shepard body, set between the intro of ME2 and when Shepard wakes up in the Cerberus Lab.
  
  
• Mass Effect: Evolution The origins of the Illusive Man, set during the first contact war.
  
  
• Mass Effect: Invasion Aria defends Omega against husks and Cerberus, explains why she's on the citadel and sets the Stage for the Omega DLC
  
  
• Mass Effect: Blasto: Eternity is Forever The most glorious of all comic books.
  
  Star Wars:
  
  
• Star Wars by Brian Wood and Carlos D'Anda, set directly after Ep IV, the first TPB isn't out yet, go pick it up in floppies.
  
  
• Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi set waay back in the time-line, before Star Wars: KOTOR and Old Republic, focuses on the discovery of the Sith species among other things.
  
  
• Star Wars: Dark Empire and Empire's end set after the movies, features the return of a character, Don't want to spoil who it is. Sets the stage for Crimson Empire.
  
  
• Star Wars: Crimson Empire I,II,III (there's a collected version with all three), Follows the last Imperial Guardsman(the dudes in red armor) on his quest to bring the traitors of the Empire to justice
  
  
• Star Wars Legacy I, Star Wars: Legacy II just got started and it's been really good so far. Set 130 years after the movies, I follows Cade Skywalker and him coming to terms with his legacy. II follows Ania Solo, who's not force-sensitive, who has to deal with finding a lightsaber and being hunted by Imperial Knights(Imperial Jedi).
  
  
• Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, set before the video game, follows Zayne Carrick after he's been accused of murdering his fellow Padawans. No worth reading after the main plot ends.
  
  
• Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi, starts with the founding of the Jeda'ii order and first contact with the Rakata's Infinite Empire and their Force Hounds, The Next arc will be the Force Wars(the first schism between the light and the Dark side)
  
  They have 25$ omnibii for most of the series they've made, except for the new Legacy, Star Wars by Brian Wood and Dawn of the Jedi.
  
  
  Lighthearted books:
  
  
• Adventure Time by Ryan North with art by Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb.
  
  
• Plants vs. Zombies: Lawnmageddon by Paul Tobin and Ron Chan a digital series on Dark Horse Digital, will be collected into a Hardcover eventually.
  
  
  Sci-Fi:
  
  
• Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples, two lover are hunted across the galaxy by bounty hunters and military police. It's also weeeeeeiiiiird and at times disgusting.
  
  There are also several Firefly/Serenity comics if that your thing, they are all good.
  
  
  
• Spiderman
  
  The best place to start is the current Superior Spider-man, Which stars a slightly different Peter Parker
  
  
  
• Batman:
  
  
• Batman By Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, it's batman bringing justice to the superstitious and cowardly lot that is criminals, there really isn't more to it.
  
  
• Batman Beyond it's a digital series on Comixology.com and other digital comics sites.
  
  Stuff with Vikings:
  
  
• Northlanders by Brian wood.
  
  
  Other Recommendations:
  
  
• Hellboy by Mike Mignola
  
  
• B.P.R.D. by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, Scott Allie and various artists
  
  
• Francesco Francavilla's The Black Beetle(HC isn't out yet added digital bundle link)
  
  
• Mind MGMT by Matt Kindt
  
  Also Check out the sidebar's ''Where to Start reading'' section -------------->
  
  EDIT: cleaned up a bit.
  
  EDIT 2: Links, added links to digital version where I couldn't find floppies or HC/TPB that had come out yet. Reading Digital comics on a Tablet is recommended. Dark Horse has their own app, and Comixology has most publishers except Dark Horse and some smaller ones.

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):

• Digital: Marvel Unlimited, Comixology, e-library (e.g. Hoopla - free), webcomics (free)
  
• Print (collected editions): instocktrades, ISBNS, library (free)
  
• Print (singles): midtowncomics, mycomicshop, DCBS
  
  Modern Marvel characters/teams:
  
  
• Alias (Jessica Jones) | Brian Michael Bendis
  
• Avengers | Kurt Busiek
  
• The Ultimates 1-2 (Avengers) | Mark Millar
  
• New Avengers | Brian Michael Bendis
  
• Avengers / New Avengers | Jonathan Hickman | Hickman 2
  
• Black Panther | Christopher Priest
  
• Captain America | Ed Brubaker
  
• Captain Marvel | Kelly Sue DeConnick
  
• Daredevil | Brian Michael Bendis
  
• Daredevil | Ed Brubaker
  
• Daredevil | Mark Waid
  
• Deadpool | Joe Kelly
  
• Doctor Strange: The Oath | Brian K. Vaughan
  
• Fantastic Four / FF | Jonathan Hickman | Hickman 1
  
• Guardians of the Galaxy | Abnett, Lanning, Giffen, et al. | Cosmic
  
• Hawkeye | Matt Fraction
  
• Immortal Iron Fist | Brubaker & Fraction
  
• Inhumans | Paul Jenkins
  
• Iron Man: Extremis | Warren Ellis
  
• Invincible Iron Man | Matt Fraction
  
• Marvels | 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 | Brian Michael Bendis
  
• 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
  
  /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:
  
  
• Avengers Disassembled | Brian Michael Bendis
  
• Secret War | Brian Michael Bendis
  
• House of M | Brian Michael Bendis | X-Men 2.5
  
• Annihilation | Abnett, Lanning, Giffen | Cosmic 1
  
• Civil War | Mark Millar
  
• World War Hulk | Greg Pak | Hulk 2
  
• Annihilation: Conquest | Abnett, Lanning, Giffen | Cosmic 2
  
• Messiah Complex | Brubaker, Kyle, Yost, et al. | X-Men 3
  
• Secret Invasion | Brian Michael Bendis | Dark Reign 1
  
• War of Kings | Abnett, Lanning, et al. | Cosmic 3
  
• Messiah War | Kyle, Yost, Swierczynski | X-Men 4
  
• Dark Avengers / Utopia | Bendis, Fraction, et al. | Dark Reign 2
  
• Siege | Brian Michael Bendis | Dark Reign 3
  
• Realm of Kings | Abnett, Lanning, Reed | Cosmic 4
  
• 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 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.
  

Warren Ellis’ Moon Knight is a good intro. 6 issues that stand alone and work together.

https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Knight-1-Warren-Ellis/dp/0785154086

Start with Scott Snyder’s run on Batman which started in 2011. It is a very well regarded run and starts fresh off a reboot.Here

In 2011, DC "reset" their universe. Everything basically started over, making it much easier to jump in. That is the New 52.

Here is the first volume. It collects the story of the first time that the Justice League members meet and their first big battle.

Have you tried Amazon?

DC

• Batman Volume 1
  
• Batman Vengeance of Bane one-shot
  
• Doom Patrol Volume 1
  
• Forever People Volume 1
  
• Justice League of America Volume 1 (or New 52?)
  
• The Omega Men Volume 1
  
• Supermans Pal Volume 1
  
  Marvel
  
  
• Amazing Spider-man Volume 1
  
• Avengers Volume 1
  
• Iron Fist Volume 1
  
• Journey Into Mystery Volume 1
  
• Tales of Suspense Volume 1
  
• X-Factor Volume 1

> If I get a comic how do I know which comic to read next


As a new reader, the easiest way to get into comics would be by reading trade paperbacks (trades, or TPB for short). They collect usually 5 or 6 issues from a series, and will say "volume 1, volume 2, etc" on the book. DC did a relaunch of all their books a couple years ago called "DC Rebirth", so pick any character you want to read and look up volume 1 from there. I'll link a couple examples for you; The Flash, Green Arrow, Batman. Also check out the sidebar for other recommendations

We got the Return of Barry Allen, featuring Reverse Flash and Dead Heat featuring Savitar, both from Mark Waid's run. During Geoff Johns's run, there was Blitz, featuring Zoom (which is a fan favorite story) and Flash: Rebirth, featuring Reverse Flash. If you want something more recent, the New 52 series features a new iteration of Reverse Flash by the name of Daniel West, the Future Flash, and a heavily retooled version of Eobard Thawne (that last one is a bit more controversial among fans but it's worth a shot.)And lastly, the DC Rebirth series (different series from the one I mentioned up above) featuring a new speedster by the name of Godspeed.

Justice League by Geoff Johns and a rotating roster of artists is DC's flagship title. Can't go wrong with that. First volume is titled Origin.

Swamp Thing is a great superhero horror epic.

The first six volumes of Wonder Woman from Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang are fucking perfect. They recently changed creative teams, so I'm not sure how the book is doing atm.

EDIT: Also, Omega Men is a twelve issue series currently running that is utterly flawless. It's written by one of Grayson's cowriters.

He got hit by Darkseid's Omega Beams, which everyone thought killed him. It turns out they sent him back through time. He spent a few issues of a limited series working his way back to present day (honestly, I don't really remember the mechanics of that -- it wasn't a great mini), until he made it back to the present and became Batman again, founding Batman, Inc.

My take is that DC told Morrison to write the story he wanted for Final Crisis, but then made the editorial call that there was no fucking way they were killing Batman permanently, so the aforementioned rigamarole was Morrison's best attempt at a solution.

The Batman & Robin series with Dick and Damian is awesome. Once Bruce comes back, the series loses steam and things get convoluted.

Hush is usually described as "Jim Lee draws the Rogues Gallery." It's a big mystery story with a different villain each issue and one main central foe, the titular Hush. Batman tries to figure out who Hush is and what his end goals are, with help (and hindrance) from a lot of Bat characters. It's a fun ride for most of it, but towards the end, the writing sorta falls apart. I'd still recommend it though. Snag the trade on Amazon if you're interested.

this is the most self contained book of his that is really good
https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Knight-1-Warren-Ellis/dp/0785154086/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520438707&sr=8-1&keywords=moon+knight+ellis

I vote to start with the revamped Moon Knight series written by Warren Ellis; it stands on its own VERY well, and it's also a beautifully stylish series that's badass as all hell. After the Ellis run, if you like the character, you can keep working your way forward through the Brian Wood-written run (styled after the Ellis run aesthetic but not as tightly written IMO) into the current run written by Jeff Lemire, and/or you can go back to the classic '70s-80s runs and check those out too.

Mental illness has been a long-running theme for Moon Knight, but not a consistent one. Moon Knight has long used multiple aliases and identities, and it varies whether those are deliberate cover identities for one man or are multiple split personalities like MPD / DID. It depends largely on the writer how the mental health aspects play out. The Brian Michael Bendis series looks at Moon Knight's relationship to the Avengers and has him talking to hallucinations. The Warren Ellis series focuses on the Egyptian God connection and uses fearless nonsensical dream logic in ways that remind me a lot of Delirium from The Sandman. The Jeff Lemire series has been poking at elements from many of the previous series in a metafictional examination of how much of Moon Knight's history if any was ever real.

Indeed. The comic market is targeted toward the "early adopters" who can't wait for each new bite sized bit of plot, but they do pick up the rest of us on the back end with the graphic novel collections. For your new Ms. Marvel example, this is taking pre-orders for an October release. There's a bit of a price break, and you get much more content at once which will probably leave people like us much more satisfied. For older series, there can be huge price breaks, and massive amounts of content in a single book, like this.

Batman: Court of Owls is a great starting point, and a personal favorite. I could go on, but this is a great list that has the most recommended New 52 books from /r/DCcomics.

Right, basically some of these rely on pre New-52 continuity until stated otherwise. All volumes referred to below will be New 52 unless otherwise stated. That being said...

11-7 years ago: The Zero Year storyline by Scott Snyder currently running throughout the Batman title had a series of backups detailing Bruce's training (in current continuity). This is covered in Batman Vol 4.

Also see Batman and Robin Vol 1 which I believe covers Bruce's Ninja training, though only in flashbacks.

6 Years Ago: You're in luck for this one. The current, in continuity take on Batman's first year is being told in the current Batman title. It's a 12 part story called Zero Year, dealing with Bruce crafting the persona, meeting the Red Hood, Riddler etc. It's in progress at the moment and well worth a look. The volume referred to above is the first part, and the entire storyline has great art by Greg Capullo.

6 Years Ago: Batman's first encounter with the Justice League is found, naturally enough in Justice League Vol 1.

However, Superman and Batman's first encounter was detailed in, again naturally enough, Batman/Superman Vol 1

Dick Grayson's time as Robin can be found in the zero issue of Nightwing.

4 Years Ago: Batgirl's zero issue.

3 Years ago: I'm actually kind of week on this one in current continuity. Jason's death and return are here.

2 Years Ago: Read Tim Drake's new, bad origin in Teen Titans #0 or the most recent issue of Secret Origin, I think it was #3. They both tell roughly the same story. That story is bad.

1 year ago: Going to have to go out of continuity, as I'm nearly sure the founding of Batman Inc. is only covered in the pre New-52, as part of Grant Morissons Bat saga. The first volume is here, but you really need to look up everything else that preceded it, see below. This also goes for dead Batman being replaced by Dick Grayson, which is recounted in Batman and Robin, first series, Vol 1.

The origin of Damien, however, is handily recounted in Batman and Robin #0. This is in New 52 continuity.

Now: Woo! Nearly there. Breathe. So the Court of Owls story basically starts in Batman #1 pretty much, and can be found here.

Batgirl's return to superheroics can be found here, in Batgirl Vol 1. Barbara is still only just reacclimating to life as Batgirl as the series begins.

Joker removes his face in, maybe one panel or so in Detective Comics #1.. Spoiler, issue's shit. Get Snyder Batman instead.

Joker returns, sans face in Batman Vol 3, Death of The Family.. That link contains only the main story told in Batman, but it tied into several Bat-Titles as well. The HC contains these, though the quality varies a bit, IMO.

Tim forms the Teen Titans in Teen Titans Vol 1.

Again, not sure, but I think the Anti-Fear stuff was in Dark Knight.

Happy Reading!

NANANANANANANANA BAT-EDIT: I am by no means a Batman authority, I read nearly all of these, but feel free to correct or append if you are more knowledgeable. Bonus sassy batman

If you enjoyed Batman, I would highly recommend checking out the new Scott Snyder setup with the new 52 for Batman. Vol. 1 - Court of Owls and Vol. 2 - City of Owls is a fanatasic story arc that plays well with Batman (and I'm not a huge super hero comic fan).

After that it kinda went wierd, but still enjoyable.

Also would highly recommend Preacher (Careful with Preacher, as you WILL get addicted, and have to purchase all 9 volumes, but amazing story and well written with some adult humor/content btw).

Also Sandman, Y: The Last Man, and Saga all always good choices (Saga is being written as we speak, only volumes 1 through 3 are out, same author of Y : The Last Man. Fantastic mix of fantasy and sci-fi... again adult elements)

If you're interested in Suicide Squad, I'd recommend you just start it. It was the first comic I read that got me interested in them, and now I've spent far too much money (or not enough.) I love the series. The first volume is called Kicked in the Teeth

If you like Harley in that series, I'd absolutely recommend her new solo series, the first volume of which just launched recently.

If you're wanting Flash, his New 52 run was made to be a jumping in point for fans. It's a great place to start if you're new to Flash.

If you want to try something slightly different, but still relating to the overall Justice League, Flashpoint rocks my socks every single time I read it (Or watch the movie)

And if you want something completely different but is one of the most awesome/entertaining things to read, you can't really go wrong with Demon Knights

Superman: Red Son, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, Flashpoint (and the world of, especially Batman ) are three obvious and good ones

edit: also, Batman: Year 100

edit 2: I can't believe I forgot one of the most important examples! Definitely check out DC:The New Frontier

I'm going to list what I think are important, or perhaps emblematic, Batman graphic novels with links to their wiki amazon page, because the wiki pages were surprisingly unhelpful, so you can check them out. Hopefully you find something that interests you.

The Dark Knight Returns: The book that revitalized the genre in the 80s. An important Batman read; however, I think there are better reads.

Year One: Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy borrows from Year One, and a lot of others I've listed, in some pretty cool ways. As the title suggests this comic tells the story of the beginning of Bruce Wayne's career as Batman.

The Killing Joke: The quintessential Joker story told by one of the most important men in comics, Alan Moore. The story is short, especially for a graphic novel, but fantastic.

The Long Halloween: One of my personal favorites. TLH highlights Batman's detective roots following him on a year long hunt for a serial killer. Much of the rouge gallery makes an appearance and the murder mystery elements are classic Batman at his best.

Hush: A good example of a newer Batman comic; it was first published serially during 2002 and 2003. Very good read, definitely take a look.

Arkham Asylum: A newer comic that I have yet to read but thought I would add it to the list because it usually comes up in conversations like this one. I'm hoping to read it soon.

I just finished this yesterday and it was really great, all around.

The artwork, which was already really cool to begin with, was colored in a way that contrasted between the parts of the story that took place in Russia vs America.

The nods to the "alternate" universe (the one we all know and love) like when Lois and Superman first see each other and immediately feel something like a familiarity was a neat touch.

Anarchist Batman was a really cool idea and his patchwork costume with the bat ears on a typical Russian winter hat was fun. The time adjustment for the looks of Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern were also cool and added to the self awareness of the story.

If you haven't read it yet, you may want to stop reading this post. Be assured though, it was a really good story and you should definitely check it out.

I really enjoyed how Superman was ethically the same character. He really just wanted what was best for his people, and even with all the influence assuring him that Marx's vision of a utopia was the only way to go, he still struggled with the concept for most of the story, often choosing to follow his altruistic intuition over the principles he was raised with. Superman is just pure like that. However, in the end, the concern for Superman being too powerful was realized and it was totally necessary for the story to keep being interesting.

The whole book was really well written and drawn and I think if I had to pick out one bad thing about it, it would be the very last page. I liked the progression of the Luthor lineage basically starting a new "Kryptonian-like" humanity and even the baby Luthor being rocketed off into space moments before the red sun destroyed the planet, but I feel like it should have ended right there. Even still - very fun read.

Edit for next week's discussion vote: Flashpoint

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_League:_The_Flashpoint_Paradox

Book

Movie

took 30 seconds, buut dont worry I got you.

Just read it. It is well worth it here is the link.

Also I'm pretty sure it's on Netflix.

• Black Casebook: Helps give some context for the weirder stuff that he dragged out of the past, but not essential. It's a good read, though, because one of the cornerstone aspects of Morrison's run is that he's folding every single Batman story ever into continuity.
  
  
• 52: Not strictly needed, but a damned good story that shows Bruce's experience of cutting out his inner demons and becoming a new, more focused Batman after the events of Infinite Crisis. Read it sometime no matter what.
  
  
• Final Crisis: Yeah, you need to read this. It's pretty much part of the Batman saga even though it's an event book. If you can, hunt down the new paperback edition that contains a lot of the ancillary material (Final Crisis: Submit, Superman Beyond 1-2, and two Batman tie-in issues).
  
  While it seems daunting, it's actually not that hard to read.
  
  You'll want to find these trade collections (I've included Amazon links):
  
  
• Batman and Son: New Edition
  
• Batman: RIP
  
• Final Crisis: New Edition
  
• Batman: Time and the Batman (This one isn't 100% essential, but has some good issues and a few that help patch a few holes in the story.)
  
• Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn
  
• Batman and Robin: Batman vs Robin
  
• Batman and Robin: Batman and Robin Must Die
  
• Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne (Takes place before Batman and Robin #16.)
  
• Batman Incorporated (Pre-New 52)
  
• Batman Incorporated: Demon Star
  
• Batman Incorporated: Gotham's Most Wanted

Here https://www.amazon.ca/Watchmen-Alan-Moore/dp/1401245250

Read this book to get the modern JLA origin, along with Cyborg.

It looks like this is the lineup they're using.

Here you go:

https://www.amazon.com/Watchmen-Alan-Moore/dp/1401245250/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1551202634&sr=8-2&keywords=watchmen+graphic+novel

It's an amazing book!

Mr. Freeze is my favorite villain and he actually has some good moments.

By far the best Mr. Freeze stories aren't comics at all, but episodes of Batman: the Animated Series: "Heart of Ice" was written by Paul Dini and set the fundamental origin of Mr. Freeze. Check it out here, episode 14.

Paul Dini also wrote a graphic novel (I don't know if it's standalone or not) called Mr. Freeze. It's kind of hard to find off the net, and I've never read it, but how bad could Dini on Freeze be? :)

Mr. Freeze is one of the villains in Loeb/Sale's Dark Victory, the sequel to Long Halloween. He is very visually interesting in the story, but not the main villain.

There was a miniseries told within Legends of the Dark Knight, I think it went for 3-5 issues or something, called Batman: Snow. It's been collected since.

In the New 52, Snyder and Capullo did Mr. Freeze in Batman Annual #1, rebooting his origin. It was pretty good, but I have problems with his new look. That issue is collected in Volume 2 of Snyder and Capullo's Batman series, The City of Owls.

Freeze was also the main villain in one of Batman: Dark Knight villain month issues, though I didn't read it.

Hope that helps!

P.S. Speaking of Loeb/Sale, they also did a graphic novel called Haunted Knight, which focuses mainly on Scarecrow and Mad Hatter. I don't know if you've ever read any Loeb/Sale team ups, but they're consistently awesome.

Batman/Superman only has 3 issues out so the collection is a little while off.

For Metal you should be fine with the [regular TPB.](Dark Nights: Metal https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401288588/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Q74UDbSZXS0K1) The one problem with this collection is that it doesn’t include The Batman Who Laugh’s origin which is collected here I loved Metal and thought it was a lot of fun

If you were interested in the story about Gordon and his son then I’d recommend checking out Batman The Black Mirror which is a great read.

Ooh! I used to love reading new things that teachers left out for us when we finished tests early or whatever. I don't know what kind of reading you typically arrange, but can I suggest bringing some comics? Even when the subjects aren't distinctly for teens, the medium can be a good way to introduce new topics and characters that they typically wouldn't pick up (kind of like your "ooh, Teen Vogue -- just kidding, it's also political news" plan).

Off the top of my head, I can recommend March, which is about John Lewis and the civil rights movement; Ms. Marvel, who is a young Muslim American superhero; American Born Chinese, which is a really well done coming-of-age story. Just something to consider if you ever want new things to bring in for teens.

From Batman: What Ever Happened To The Caped Crusader?
>"I'm the Batman, I protect the city. I rescue people. I investigate crimes. I guard the innocent. I correct the guilty. And I GET it. I mean I REALLY get it. The end of the story of Batman is he's DEAD. Because in the end the Batman dies. What ELSE am I going to do? Retire and play golf? It doesn't work that way. It CAN'T. I fight until I drop. And one day, I WILL drop. But until then, I FIGHT."

The image

From Batman Year One
>"Ladies. Gentleman. You have eaten well. You've eaten Gotham's wealth. It's spirit. But you're feast is nearly over. From this moment on -- none of you are safe.

True, and while there are certainly very interesting things in the movie, the author of the comic Alan Moore refused to have his name on it after he saw the script. The original comics are even better!

Asterios Polyp

Love it. Love it. Love it.

EDIT: I just finished it. This is one of those few books that has hit me at just the perfect time in my life. This changed my life.

Absolutely, here's a link

https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Knight-1-Warren-Ellis/dp/0785154086/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466468795&sr=8-1&keywords=moon+knight

14th october according to amazon

Enter "waiting for the trade."


Right now you can preorder Moon Knight vol 1 from Amazon for $13.67. That's probably #1-5. Assuming you don't have to pay for shipping that's $2.7 an issue. In a nice ad-free collected edition.


I think Marvel knows this. And I'd imagine thats why they get their volumes out so fast and the "must have it now" mentality is built into the price.

Maybe he likes Asterios Polyp. It's not superhero stuff, but it's nice and the hardcover edition looks super fancy.

Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine is quite good (fiction, but very non-pulp).

I haven't read it yet, but Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli is on my to-read list (also fiction).

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

Volume 4

Volume 5

Volume 6

The Recommended Reading side bar on this sub has some pretty good suggestions.

Additionally, when looking to purchase books make sure you are buying what is known as the trade paperback (this may or may not be an actual paperback book). These are collected editions of a comic series containing multiple issues in a single book format.

Here's an example.

If you want to just read Batman, buy a trade paperback, starting at Volume 1 like this:

amazon

This collects issues 1-7 from the New 52 comic, all in one convenient package! I'm just a casual DC fan (im more of a Marvel guy), and what's nice about Batman is it can definitely be enjoyed without much knowledge of the DC Universe, like of such things as Pre-crisis thingabobs or Post- Convergence doohickeys.

Or if you would prefer to start with rebirth try this:

amazon

Both the New 52 and Rebirth Batman have been great. Have fun!

Each of these books cost around $10 from amazon, all come highly recommended:

Flash: Volume 1

Batman: Volume 1 Volume 2. This was a year long arc and both volumes are one story. The current run in Detective comics, called Icarus, is fantastic, but it hasn't been collected yet.

Green Arrow: Volume 4. Don't read books 1-3. You'll thank me later.

Green Lantern carries on from the old series, which starts here

I would also recommend the Wonder Woman series (starts here) and the Aquaman series here (Aquaman rocks now, in case you haven't heard).

I hope you have lots of fun reading and collecting comics, it really is a great hobby.

The Flash. I hear the run by Manapul and Buccellato that started in the New 52 was great. It starts here. Also, that always mentioned Carmine Infantino for more Silver Age Flash. One that I've always wanted to read is Mark Waid's run. I hear it's great, but it's really hard to get ahold of because it's OOP. Grant Morrison also had a run on Flash right after Waid's run. But out of all the Flash runs, I hear Geoff Johns name mentioned the most. If you're brand new to Flash, I'd probably start with Geoff Johns run, which is collected into three omnibus editions, and then maybe start the new 52 run.

I should state I've really only read the Morrison run, however.

The side bar is really helpful, as someone else stated. However, currently my favorite comics are Saga, Sex Criminals, and Batman.

You should check it out, it's how I first started reading comics and no background is needed
http://www.amazon.com/Justice-League-Vol-Origin-The/dp/1401237886

As for Batman, I would recommend The Court of Owls and its sequel, The City of Owls





If you enjoyed Batman Year One, the writer behind the previously mentioned stories did his own take on the Batman origin called Zero Year that draws a lot of inspiration from Year One. It's also a two-parter. First is Secret City and it's followed by Dark City



If you want more stuff in a similar style to Year One, the same writer has probably the most famous Batman story of all time. It's called Dark Knight Returns


Finally, another essential Batman story would have to be The Long Halloween It has a sequel called Dark Victory and it has its moments but it's eerily similar to the first one and isn't nearly as good.



Personally, I would stray away from events. I'm sure some are alright but most of them just pale in comparison to what the rest of the industry has to offer.



If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Start with THIS and THIS.

Both of the current Batman and TMNT series are pretty great and have easy starting points and I wholeheartedly recommend trying to get ahold of them.

Batman Vol 1: Court of Owls

TMNT Vol 1: Change is Constant

And you don't have to read either of these books to enjoy the Batman/TMNT you're gonna pick up, as long as you're familiar enough with the characters from the movies and tv shows, it should be a pretty fun read.

Check the sidebar for a lot more recommendations and just search around.

Well in the current continuity (The "New 52") that meeting would take place in Justice League 1-6 aka "The Origin"

you're thinking about the trade paperbacks

they're coming out in the new year

each will contain a run of ~6/7 issues and be a complete arc (usually)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flash-TP-Vol-Rebirth/dp/140126784X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1478367363&sr=8-2&keywords=flash+rebirth