Comics · getting started
Finding my way into comics
A favorite character and the beginnings of a reading list.
I just did a deep dive into how comics work, and it's been pretty fun.
If you don't know how superhero comics work, this is basically how I'm understanding it.
How the pieces fit.
- The larger history
Continuity
The character's history within a shared universe.
- An ongoing title
Series
Nightwing, for example. A sequence of numbered issues.
- A creative stretch
Run
A writer or team's time on that series.
- The individual chapter
Issue
#118, #119, #120… Each is a single release.
Tom Taylor
Through #118Dan Watters + Dexter Soy
From #119 ↗The team changes. The numbering and larger story continue.
I've already read Batman: The Black Mirror, and that's another example of how these things fit together. It has its own title as a book, but the story originally ran in Detective Comics #871–881, with Dick Grayson as Batman. It's a particular story within the main continuity of that time, not a completely separate universe.
Then there's the Absolute Universe, which is a different thing. What I think is cool is that DC can keep the existing history going while also giving someone like me somewhere new to begin.
Same publisher. Different histories.
DC All In
New entry points in the core line, alongside a separate universe.
Main DC Universe
The ongoing history continues, with new places to jump in.
Nightwing · Batman · SupermanAbsolute Universe
New versions of familiar heroes, beginning at #1.
Absolute Batman · Absolute Wonder WomanBoth welcome new readers. Absolute doesn't require the older main-universe volumes.
All In Special #1
Darkseid becomes tied to the Absolute Universe's reality.
DC K.O.
A tournament to find a champion who can confront him.
Connected events, not a tournament that reset everything and created Absolute Batman.
The Absolute books don't expect me to have read the older main-universe volumes. That's part of why they appeal to me. I'm still putting those pieces together. It's interesting that there's this much going on around the individual stories.
Next for me is Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn, with Dick Grayson as Batman. Then I want to get into the Absolute Batman, Absolute Wonder Woman, and Absolute Superman runs.
We have to do Superman as well. he got that shit on doe ↗
Nightwing is the longer plan. I want to start at Rebirth and read forward through the main series, working my way up to what's out. He's my favorite character and superhero, so why not start there?
I'm putting together a place for books, comics, and manga on this site. For now, there's one finished comic and a list of things I want to read. I'll have somewhere to keep them as I go.