I have never read comics/graphic novels before, where do I start?

Question

I have recently been thinking about starting to read comic books or graphic novels. I especially like female leads. Any suggestions on where to start or what to read first?

I am a 29F, married no children. I really liked Sin City and Ghost World and have been told they were both based on Comics/Graphic novels.

Answer 1

I would recommend picking up The New Avengers, from Marvel comics, as it has plenty of female characters, and if you are at least a little bit familiar with Spider-Man, then the stories won't be too difficult to follow. I would recommend X-Men as well, but at times the stories get convuluted, but there are also plenty of female characters, and lead characters at that. It might be what you want to read, as I know there are female fans of the X-books. DC has some titles under the "Vertigo" imprint, which are stories away from the regular Superhero stuff. There is a variety of titles to check out, and if you are into vampires, check out "Vamps" as the main characters are female, and look for other titles, such as the "Sandman" stories, which were put out about 10 years ago, but were incredibly popular with male and female readers, written by Neil Gaiman. Graphic novels to read would be "Watchmen" by Alan Moore from DC, and this was a 12 issue series put out in 1986, and is available in a Graphic novel trade. You don't need to be familiar with any superhero stories, as the characters were created just for this story. While the story is great, it can get a bit complex, and may be a bit difficult to follow, but I suggest you read it in paces, as if you read it all at once, you will get lost. The Graphic Novel "Kingdom Come" is another story that is outside the norm, but it involves the DC Superheroes, and takes place in the near future. It revolves around Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, specifically, and what would happen if the "new" superheroes got too aggressive with their tactics. The art and story are great. This is under "Elseworlds", which is an imaginary line of DC stories. Also under Elseworlds are the many Batman graphic novels, and I really like the Dracula, Red Rain, and Crimson Mist stories, as they involve Batman as a vampire. There are other Batman Elseworlds, such as Batman, Gotham by Gaslight and plenty more, which are a lot of fun. In general, if you can find some trade paperbacks of the regular stories, such as Justice League, Avengers, X-Men, and Justice Society (which has female characters, both good and evil!), then this would be your best bet.

Answer 2

For female leads, I would recommend some of the Love & Rockets compilations from Los Bros. Hernandez. There are sooo many to choose from and the characters are so varied, you might ask someone in a comic book store where to start- but I think the books "Chester Square" and "Whoa Nellie" can be read without any background.

Of traditional graphic novels, I'd say Kingdom Come by Alex Ross, The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, Black Widow, and if you're a fan of the X-Men, Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon.

Answer 3

If you liked Sin City, start there. There's at least 7 volumes or so, and it's a great read. If you're interested in superhero books in that vein, try Daredevil Classics by Frank Miller (who wrote Sin City) and current Daredevil work by Kevin Smith, David Mack, Brian Bendis and Ed Brubaker.

If you're more into independant-type comics (no superheroes, more mature situations) I'd recommend two of my favorites- Fables by Bill Willingham or Y: The Last Man by Brian Vaughn. Both books feature harsh language and occaisional nudity, but are fantastic reads.

Fables is the story of all our fairy tale heroes who have been driven out of their homelands by an evil conqueror known until recently as only the Adversary.

Y: The Last Man is the story of a world where all but two male mammals were wiped out in a strange global plague- magician Yorrick Brown and his helper monkey Ampersand. Yorrick tries to survive in the female-ruled world and reunite with his lost love, Beth, while his companions Doctor Mann and Agent 355 attempt to find the cause and the cure of the plague.

All are available in collections at major bookstores. Usually graphic novels are near science fiction.

Hope those help!

Answer 4

It doesn't sound like you would be too interested in superhero comics so try something like Sandman. It is very intelligent and entertaining. Start with The Doll's House, if you are looking for a strong female lead. Some other things you might be interested in is V for Vendetta ( the book is much better than the movie), or Strangers In Paradise. If you do want some superhero stuff Frank Miller the writer of Sin City has wrote alot of great Batman stories.

Answer 5

I've recently just started reading DC comics and I had to do a bit of digging as to where the best place to start would be. I kept hearing people refer to all the DC characters as pre-crisis and post-crisis and it turns out that what they are referring to is a story arc called Crisis On Infinite Earths. This seems to be the best place to start and it is where I started. If you want the whole story and the most important stories then I suggest starting with this. It was published in 1985. After reading CoIE I would jump about 20 years forward and read things like Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, 52, Final Crisis and Blackest Night. Most issues tend to explain things you might of missed through flashbacks and character dialogue. I've read Blackest Night and I'm halfway through Infinite Crisis. Don't just jump in to things though because I've discovered that most of these stories come with tie-in issues and some lead-ups that are quite important to understanding the story. You might need to do your own research but if you just search for Reading Orders or look on wikipedia or the DC wikia you should find what you need. Obviously buying all of these will cost a lot of money and I cannot afford to buy them all so I used torrents to find what I needed. Good luck.

Answer 6

If you love female leads then you'd love the 'Martha Washington' series by Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons - the first (which stands alone) is called "Give Me Liberty".

I'd also second the calls for you to try Sandman, by Neil Gaiman. His graphic novels "Murder Mysteries" and "The Books Of Magic" are also outstanding.

Answer 7

I'm not entirely sure what you're looking for, American comics or Japanese manga... Many manga fans love Fruits Basket. I wouldn't say that Tohru is a strong female lead, but it's a great story with great characters. Very soap opera-ish. Or maybe Chrono Crusade. The female lead is very strong, imho. I know I'm not much help since I'm not really a manga reader, but you might find one of these likable nonetheless.

Answer 8

That's a tough one. There are so many great graphic novels out there. You can always research online. I suggest that you start out with your favorite genre. If you like mystery, then just pick a mystery g.n. that looks interesting to you and start there. Hope this helps.

Answer 9

I'm not sure if I should suggest a manga or not.. but Death Note is pretty ingenius. Just try to read a book or two and see if you're hooked

Answer 10

Would be easier to make you a recomendation if you would tell ur age and what kind of stories you like, or what kind of movies just to have an idea of what could fit you.