hey guys I'm Patrick Williams and I want to talk to you about comic books I've been reading comics since I was about four years old and over the past 15 years just about all my friends at some point or another have come to me and said the same thing I want to read Comics but I don't know where to start and I know a lot of people out there feel the same way especially right now when like half the movies and TV shows that come out are based on Comics so I'm making this video to help you out give you a bit of a guide to how to get into Comics because Comics are great they're really great I love them and I'm pretty sure everyone out there can love them too you just need to know where and how to start let's [Music] go so why are Comics so cool anyway well for one thing other than Jazz it's the only art form indigenous to America but beyond that Comics are an incredible truly unique storytelling medium they're not books with pictures and they're not movie Stills with text put over them the definition of comics is sequential art it's using images with supplementary text to tell a story and the range of what can be done with that is immense Comics can be as entertaining as engrossing as funny or scary or exciting as any movie or book can be plus they have rad artwork and one of the really great things about Comics is that they're better than any other medium at serialized storytelling see with a movie franchise you'll only get a new movie every two or 3 years and with TV shows there are budget limitations to consider but with Comics you can tell a story that spans years on a massive scale with no need to worry about actress schedules or budgets or anything like that a Captain America movie is cool but a Captain America story with a new installment every month that builds into a giant multi-year Saga is cooler so here's what's tough about getting into Comics it's not like saying Hey I want to start watching Game of Thrones are hey I want to try reading a Stephen King book this is an entire medium it's like saying hey I've never seen a movie before where do I start that's a big question before making this I talked to a bunch of people and heard about all the different obstacles that stand in the way of them actually reading comics so I want to address a bunch of those now one thing I hear sometimes is that people aren't sure how to read Comics like they don't know whether to look at the text or the artwork first the truth is it doesn't matter it's reading so you generally go left to right top to bottom it's like watching a subtitled movie you do whatever works for you and it gets easier really fast before you know it you aren't even thinking about it anymore yes Comics are more expensive than they should be but that does not mean that you have to spend a lot of money to read them I will get into this more later in the video by far the biggest problem I hear is that there's already too much out there and it's impossible to catch up under all for instance there is over 50 years of Spider-Man comics so you might think that to read a new Spider-Man comic you have to read everything that came before I understand the sentiment but this is not true at all personally I have read at most 5% of all the Spider-Man comics out there not only do you not have to start at the beginning you probably shouldn't I promise that as long as you know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man you'll be able to understand almost any Spider-Man comic out [Music] [Applause] there another complaint I hear is that Comics are just all superheroes and some people aren't into that yes superheroes are the most popular genre but saying that's all that exists is like saying the only movies that exist are Blockbuster action movies Comics exist in every genre and for every age or audience imaginable so there's gritty crime stories historical dramas humorous Memoirs lgbtq romantic comedies psychedelic sci-fi any kind of story that exists in movies or books also exists in comics okay let's talk about the different formats that Comics come in because this is important to [Music] understand this is the single issue it's the most common format for Comics they're about 20 pages long stapled together and cost $3 to4 a series usually releases one of these every month I buy a lot of them but if you're new to Comics I don't recommend starting with these about every six or so issues of a series will be collected into one of these P called a trade paperback or a trade for short and an ongoing series will usually have a volume number on the side like these are each volume one so instead of going to the store every month and buying an issue that you'll read in about 10 to 15 minutes with these you go in every 6 months and get a more complete story also these are cheaper one of these costs about $10 to $15 and then there's the graphic novel this term gets thrown around a lot because some people want to make all Comics sound more legitimate an adult by calling them graphic novels but it really only applies to works that are like a singular entity like written as one book like a novel but in comics form these are a great way to get started because you only need to read the one book to get a complete [Music] story here's where I want to talk about the biggest misconception when it comes to Comics specifically DC and Marvel superh hero comics that there's too much backstory and history to catch up on let's go with Batman because we all like Batman Batman has been around since 1939 and pretty much all the Batman comics that have come since then fit together into the same larger Story the DC and Marvel universes are essentially the largest collaborative storytelling projects in human history but here's how it works see if you take the Batman series that runs continuously for decades with a new issue every month that series is divided into these periods where a writer and artist team will be making the comic and that period whether it's for 12 issues or 100 issues is called a run these runs while they might reference stuff from the past are usually Fresh Starts and so you can pretty much start at the beginning of any run and understand what's going on for example last year writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg capula wrapped up a 50 isy run on Batman that was phenomenal and super popular so if you want to read Batman you could and should just start with the first volume by SNY and Capo and go from there and you'll have no trouble understanding what's going on and also it's great and here's the thing you have the internet on Wikipedia is the entire history of every comic story that's ever been published so if you want to know a character's entire backstory or understand a story that you see referen you can just go on there and find out all of it back in the 9s when I was a kid getting into Comics it was so much tougher we had to just go in blind and figure it out for ourselves now you guys have it so easy at your fingertips is everything you might ever need to know so if you ever get confused the answers are all right there so you don't have to start at the very beginning or catch up on 75 years of History just start wherever you want and use the internet to fill in the [Music] gaps it's really really helpful to have a friend who's already into comics and already has a big collection I've have been that friend to so many people because a lot of us suffered through that dark period when Comics were shunned by the mainstream and deeply uncool and so we're still really excited when someone tells us they want to read Comics this friend will let you borrow stuff we'll give you recommendations and we'll be your personal personal guide into the world of [Music] comics these days pretty much every library has a big section stocked with graphic novels and trades and I don't know if you've heard but libraries are free so when you're starting out and trying a bunch of different Comics to figure out what you're into this is super helpful if you've never been to a comic book store before you might be afraid they're like the one on The Simpsons where a surly condescending employee will mock you for your inferior knowledge I'd be lying if I said those didn't exist but they've been kind of dying out over the past couple decades and the vast majority of them are not like that anymore in fact most are great and excited to welcome new readers so if you go in and say I don't know what to read they will help you out and guide you in the right direction and when you go back and ask for more recommendations they'll help you out based on what you liked or didn't like so they're like a drug [Music] dealer when it comes to deciding what comp to read ask yourself what movies and TV you enjoy especially when it comes to stuff based on Comics so if you want to read a superhero comic ask yourself what superhero movies you really like if you watch The Walking Dead hey there are like 30 volumes of The Walking Dead comic if you love Star Wars the current Marvel Star Wars comics mostly set between episodes four and five are really good or if you just dig hard sci-fi and want to read some Comics like that you're in luck because there are a lot of comics like that I mentioned this ear earlier but if you want to read a series you're way better off reading the trades than the single issues this is like the comic equivalent of waiting until a TV season is on Netflix and then binging it over the weekend the truth is you can start anywhere I started when I was a kid by just buying a random Batman comic that had a cool cover it was Legends of the Dark Knight number 120 and it turned out it was the middle chapter in this giant year-long story that would be continued in the next issue so I just kept buying them there is no wrong place to start just read whatever seems cool to [Music] you as you move beyond your first Comics a major piece of advice I want to give is to follow the creators like the writer and artist not the characters a million people have written Batman so if you find one that you really like you should check out their other stuff especially their nons superhero stuff that they've created themselves and if you want to sample a bunch of stuff without spending much money you should really considered digital Comics Marvel has a Netflix like service called Marvel unlimited where you can read the vast majority of Comics Marvel has ever published just not stuff from the past 6 months also comixology the primary Marketplace for digital Comics frequently has sales and promos where Comics are either free or a dollar so you can try a lot of stuff there while spending very little money okay now for the most important part the recommendations these are for if you're new to Comics but want to read certain things I'm going to do this really fast so the links to everything are in the description below here we go for Batman start with year 1 or the court of ows Superman start with Birthright Wonder Woman read the first volume of the latest series Spider-Man start with Ultimate Spider-Man or brand new day or if you want to read Miles Morales start with his first volume for X-Men start with either astonishing X-Men by Jos Weeden or Wolverine and the X-Men Avengers start with either Avengers Assemble volume 1 or Avengers by Jonathan Hickman volume 1 Captain America read the first volume by Ed breaker which introduces the Winter Soldier Thor start with the god butcher Black Widow start with the first volume of her latest series Hawkeye read the series by Matt fraction and David AA for Iron Man start with the first volume of the series by Matt fraction and Salvador loka Doctor Strange read Doctor Strange the oath Justice League start with JLA by Grant Morrison The Flash read the Run by Jeff Johns Green Lantern read the Run by Jeff Johns Guardians of the Galaxy read the Run by Dan Abnet and Andy Lanning preacher start with the first volume of the comic Scott Pilgrim start with volume one Lucifer start with volume 1 I zombie volume 1 if you like Riverdale start with druge head volume 1 Daredevil start with the first volume by Brian Bendis or if you want a more fun version of the first volume by Mark Wade Jessica Jones read Alias volume 1 Luke Cage read Power Man and ironfist ironfist read Immortal ironfist volume 1 if you want a great crime comic set in Gotham City read Gotham Central for teen superheroes read runaways or Young Avengers for Crime Comics read criminal Southern bastards 100 bullets or scalped if you want war comics read Fury my War gone by old school Noir read the Parker graphic novels by Darwin Cook a hilarious series set within the Marvel Universe unbeatable Squirrel Girl if you want something serious and literary Sandman or from hell if you want bad ass feminist sci-fi Planet if you love old Hollywood stuff read the Fade Out for 20th century history read mouse or prepis or March for more diverse female driven superhero stuff read Miss Marvel or Mockingbird or the legend of Wonder Woman if you love Star Wars read either Star Wars volume 1 or Darth Vader volume 1 for some legit sci-fi read planetary East of West profet or Lazarus if you want good all ages or young adult stuff read this one summer giant days Gotham Academy backstages or anything by Raina telgam for crazy satire that is very relevant to 17 read trans Metropolitan for fun female driven fantasy read Rat Queens or pona for good Standalone graphic novels check out Essex County or the underwater welder for a good horror comic read witches if you're 17 or up read sex criminals just trust me on that and in my opinion the best overall starting points are blankets bone wide last man Saga Scott Pilgrim and Sandman look I could go on recommending Comics all day but I think this is a good start if you have any more questions or want more recommendations leave a comment below or hit me up on Twitter I want to thank my friend comic book writer Katie Shankle for helping out with the recommendation list you can check out her stuff at a link in the description so if you're a person who hasn't really read Comics before and wasn't sure where to start I hope this was somewhat helpful so good luck have fun and remember if you read enough one day you too could be the one your friends turn to with questions when a new Marvel movie comes out bye hey guys thanks for watching so super quick outro everyone keeps asking me what I thought of the color grading in Guardians of the Galaxy volume too I thought it was great they basically solved all the problems that I complained about in my video so way to go James gun also I love the movie so check out the patreon follow me on social media I'll see you next Wednesday