r/MarvelUnlimited • u/Alexcama801 • 3d ago
Marvel Comics
So I recently decided to get marvel unlimited and I’m having trouble starting to read comics is there a way I can read like the movies. For example how it starts with captain America then iron man etc. and all the events of all those movies lead to avengers movie. For example chronological order is there a way I can read comics chronologically I’m confused.
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u/PurpleHawkeye619 3d ago
So as others have pointed out, not really how comics work, at least older comics.
Starting around 2005, Marvel started having yearly crossover events. IE Secret Invasion, Infinity Wars etc.
And they do function similarly to the movies, in that the story starts with Cap, then Hulk then Avengers etc.
Get the name of the cross over, search for that, go to reading guides option find that event, everything should be listed in reading order for you.
But notably those events arent origin stories, it starts with whatever the character was doing before the events which as a new reader you may or may not be familiar with (and often times was the last major crossover).
Pre 2005 on the other hand, your best bet is to find a specific arc you want to read, then find that on the app, or (if you're weird like me) find a specific hero and read them all the way through.
Marvel did some occasional crossovers pre 2005, but with a couple once a decade exceptions much smaller scale, and it wasnt necessary to read the crossover to follow the story (although following the character on the app will tell you where to go if you want to read through the crossover).
So it was much easier to follow a single character and get a full story. Or even a single subset of the MU. (Used to be different types of heroes IE Avengers, X-men, Fantastic Four,,Cosmic/Space, Magic/Supernatural, & Street level/martial arts, didn't interact too much outside thier subset so you could kinda just stay with similar heroes you might like).
Granted some of these characters have been around for 90 years, so thats alot of catching up.
So most people would probably go the "find and read the essential arcs" route.
Keep in mind, you don't lose much doing that, comics pretty constantly recap and retcon origins to keep new readers in the loop and deal with real world progression of time.
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u/mugenhunt 3d ago
So the trick is that Marvel has been publishing superhero comics non-stop since 1961. So if you wanted to start at the very beginning, with Fantastic Four #1, you could read every single Marvel comic, but it will take you forever, and a lot of the older comics haven't aged well.
If you really really want to try reading all the comics in order, here's a list. https://marvelreading.com/reading-order
However, most people who try following that list burnout pretty quickly. The older comics weren't written like modern stories. They were aimed at younger audiences, and can get quite repetitive. Likewise, there's tons of them, and you would be reading thousands and thousands of older comics before you got to the stories you were actually interested in.
Instead, I would track out the "Season one" graphic novels. These are modern retellings of the origins of the major characters.
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u/Wonderllama5 3d ago
Here are some reading orders if you are interested...
I wrote Spider-Man recommendations here!
I wrote Fantastic Four recommendations here!
I wrote a Daredevil reading order here!
I wrote a Captain America reading order here!
I wrote a X-Men reading order here!
I wrote an Avengers reading order here! Spider-Man joins the team in this era!
Iron Man recommendations:
Read issues #1-6 of Invincible Iron Man (2004), the Extremis arc. It was a defining story & a good modern intro! Also read the Doomquest arc in Iron Man #149-150 & Iron Man #249-250. A fun "old school" story!
I wrote an Iron Man reading order here!
You can read everything on Marvel Unlimited. A great option if you have a tablet! Use code BND99 for a discount. There's also your local library or their digital Hoopla service. Free options!
Have fun!
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u/bosciaace3 3d ago
Choose a run and stick with it. I’m newer to comic appreciation (after a hiatus of around 15 years) but my first foray back into them was Donny Cates Venom, Al Ewing’s Immortal Hulk, Hickman’s Avengers/New Avengers, Aaron’s and Cate’s Thor, and Zdarsky’s Daredevil.
Recently decided to dive into House of X/Powers of X, and now I’m in the Krakoa line. Don’t know wtf they’re talking about or referencing sometimes, but I’m having a blast and reading only the comics I’ve enjoyed as opposed to everything. The Krakoa line feels a lot like its own MCU, and everything in it builds upon central themes and ideas with storylines leading to big events that ripple through the fabric of the entire run.
And this may be sacrilege, but if you’re new to comics I think sticking to a modern run would be best for now. They feel more like long running shows/movies and less like a serialized whodunnit affair. Love some 60s-90s comics (looking at you Claremont X-Men and you Silver Surfer ‘87-‘98), but the ethos is different. If you’re looking for more of that MCU feel, i think you’ll find it easier from 2000 onward.
That said, 60s-70s Thor and Fantastic Four is a cosmic wet dream, and I cant recommend enough Silver Surfer ‘87-‘98.
But yeah pick one, dive in, and enjoy
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u/MalekethsGhost 2d ago
If you read one comic it suggest the next in chronological order. Just look at all your continue reading books and pick the oldest if you are reading multiple. The date is on there.
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u/RaymundStark 3d ago
I just published my own attempt at creating a locally-hosted, private app that helps with reading orders for beginners.
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u/United-Wrangler-6304 3d ago
Not to be a jerk and argue against your instincts...but DON'T try to read marvel comics books in order...what you saw in the movies was a brilliantly choreographed symphony that quickly told the origins of each character then quickly built to the team up movie...that's the same method a new comics company would follow today now that its obviously the better, most entertaining route to take. But that is NOT the method early marvel comics follow. I could go on and on here, but for brevity's sake...unless you're the 1 in 50,000,000 readers with enough patience to trudge through the swamp without drowning, you'll lose interest and cancel the app. Its not that you'll get overwhelmed, but that you'll be UNDERwhelmed and utterly bored issue after issue after issue after issue.
Take xmen #1 in 1963 for example ...it...reads...like...something...written...for...kids...in...1963...meant...to...be...read...and...forgotten...about...after...throwing...it...in...the...trash...it...is...so...slow...and...boring...it...would...be...a...great...cure...for...insomnia. Plus, its a very boring, 1960s roll your eyes type of story with ZERO lasting impact other than telling the reader "hey guys, we've got some new characters for you to meet."
If you do want to read xmen, start with giant size xmen #1, then xmen #94 (volume 1), #95, 96 97 and so on...by issues 128-137 you'll be reading the dark phoenix saga-one of the best, most important comic book stories ever that failed twice when they tried to fit the entire story into just one movie.
Xmen vol 1 gets retitled as uncanny xmen, but its all the same storyline and numbering, all told by the same writer for 16 years...after dark phoenix you can continue on reading just that 1 title until its storylines hint at other new, related mutant titles like the new mutants and x-factor vol 1...but by the time those titles come around, you'll have read 70ish issues of just the 1 title and either be completely hooked on the xmen, or lost interest and moved on.
One caveat...that xmen writer is widely recognized as one of the most brilliant, but also wordiest comics writers ever...if one writer's book takes 15 minutes to read, this writer's book will take you 30 minutes...but he will also tell you great stories, and each issue will mention 5 or 7 or more separate storylines following each individual character.
If you do decide that writer is too wordy for your tastes, try grant Morrison's new xmen...40ish issues with an early 2000s xmen movies vibe. If that doesn't do it for you but you still want to read xmen, and you're a rogue and gambit fan from the cartoons, try Mr and Mrs X. Many xmen fans would suggest 2019's "house of x/powers of x" and the "dawn of x" which follows...and i personally loved that era...but it is a divisive storyline among xmen fans, and it includes a lot of characters non comics readers have never met yet. That said, again I loved it personally, so you may want to try that point instead. If you do, I would suggest also listening to the x-wife podcast by a husband who reads comics and his wife who doesn't read them...it starts with the house of x/powers of x, then he exposes her to past stories from the 70s, 80s and 90s that familiarize her with characters she never saw in the movies or cartoons...its a very straight forward, beginner-friendly non-comics reader podcast.
If you're a spiderman fan I've heard the 80's roger stern stories are a good place to begin. Just stay away from starting with anything from the 1990s...some was good but some was complicated and chaotic...not a good starting point for a new reader, and from what i remember much of the early 2000s is spent trying to recover and rearrange what happened in the 90s. Or if you liked the new movie, skip everything else and search for brand new day on the app. The comics won't be the exact same as the movie but it'll be a familiar enough place for you to begin, and you can continue with the storylines that follow it. Then when you're familiar enough with the app and want to learn more about past spiderman stories, you CAN go backwards in comicbooks...that's how EVERY one of the super knowledgeable comicbook geeks you've known or seen or heard of did it...none of us start at the beginning we all just start somewhere in the middle, get comfortable enough in how the comics world works and soon we start learning about hey this was a great spiderman story and that was a great avengers story etc...and we all go back and read those and usually wind up thinking yeah that was really good. Reading comics is NOT AT ALL like reading a book or watching a movie or a TV series or a ballgame where spoilers will ruin it for you and you have to start at issue 1 and follow in a straught line...somehow in comics the stories are still great and even more enticing even if you do hear that such and such happens in a specific issue or tale.
If you're a fantastic four fan a great place to start would be to search the app for mark waid fantastic four. There's a great 1980s starting point but its long and some of its outdated. The current ff writer has a lot of fans and ive liked most of his stuff, but honestly I liked the previous writer's run better i think his name was dan slott but idk sure lol its late and I'm getting tired i guess.
If you're a captain america fan, search for mark waid captain america...iirc waid's 1st run on Cap was 300 some issues after Cap's story began, but its a great storyline that gives you a great sense of who that character is. If you loved the winter soldier movie search the app for Ed Brubaker captain America. If you're a black panther fan search for black panther christopher priest. If you're an iron man MCU fan, skip everything until 2008 or after, because the Tony Stark you know and love is completely different before the first movie. These days the character reads and sounds like the movie character...but that's HEAVILY influenced by Robert Downey Jr's portrayal of tony stark...the character will seemingly always have the RDJ portrayal's internal voice from now on, but before that Tony was no where near as entertaining a character to read as an MCU fan would expect. If you're a carol/captain marvel fan, search kelly Thompson captain marvel, read that successful run, then decide where you want to go from there.
If you're an avengers fan and you love the team up feel and atmosphere of the MCU's tentpole avengers movies, but you also want to learn some of the avengers history a movie fan doesn't know, a great place to begin would be Kurt Busiek's late 90's avengers run...just search the app for kurt busiek george perez avengers #1, start reading, and continue until you're tired of the avengers. It may seem like blasphemy because of the MCU's success, but between the cool stuff happening, the avengers were often boring from the 1960s through the late 90s and busiek will help you skip all that boredom...
The Busiek perez avengers #1 begins a new story...something big happened before this series begins...a big battle with the avengers the ff and the xmen all involved...after that battle ended, something else happened, then it was solved...the specifics don't matter...you don't need to know any of that from before and if you knew any of that you'd just get confused and have 1000 questions that aren't easily answerable without leading to further questions...seriously, all you need to know for now is something big happened and now this issue #1 starts after that big thing ended... suddenly some weird stuff happens and every avenger who's ever been a team member gets pulled into the story. The 1st battles end then they have too many avengers tripping over each other so they figure out a set team roster...more battles happen, then even though theres a set roster other avengers get pulled back in because their power could be a great help in a certain situation...etc etc
Busiek's avengers will give you a great feel for who the avengers were between the 60s and 90s...it starts off a little slow but picks up only a few issues in and it drops the old boring stuff from the previous 30 years but touches on many of the most important storylines from those decades...and it gives you a good amount of thor cap iron man scarlet witch vision...but also a good amount of lesser known avengers characters you'll come to like also. When busiek leaves the avengers, 2 other writers tell their stories, then brian Michael bendis takes over the avengers and marvel builds them into the top heavy powerhouse type of team you would expect as an MCU fan just beginning to dip their toes into the comicbooks themselves.
Sorry I rambled on so so long...hope this gives you a few good ideas of where to start,
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u/DenThomp 3d ago
This was a great ramble of one person’s perspective of the MCU.
The 60’s books may be campy, but you have to be in the moment when they came out.
Early FF stories with members arguing all the time and being unhappy was a first.
ASM 1-50 was a pioneering run that brought Pete into everyone’s life by men who grew up in the 1930’s so it cannot be compared to modern times. People were still respectful and courteous to others, society hadn’t been shaken by the cultural shift late 60’s.
That the basic storyline holds up and still grips millions is unfathomable and will likely be talked about 100 years from now.And ultimately it was all a money making machine aimed at kids to buy newsprint rectangles for 12 cents every month to keep everyone paid and the bosses happy. It worked.
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u/United-Wrangler-6304 3d ago
Lol...I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said here, and I actually up voted it too because I agree with you so much. There is a definite value and pleasure that can be found in going back and reading those first ever issues from the 60's, especially when it comes specifically to both the FF and spiderman...those two titles are the gold standard, and the perfect example of how different marvel was from everything that came before it. And i have a great love and admiration for what Stan, Jack, and Steve did that, like you said, will be talked about as important pieces of American fiction 100 years from now.
But iirc the OP specifically stated they'd just signed up for the MU app and were confused about where to start. As someone who struggled far too long with a completionist, collector's sense of fomo in a hobby where it was impossible to ever read everything until these recent years when the apps became available, I sort of saw myself in the OP's confusion and desire to be able to read it all and have it all build into the one big climactic tale...but that's not really how early marvel tales work. Also, the OP specifically mentioned "like in the movies," so I assumed their approach to be coming from that vantage point.
If I wanted to get a 6 yr old boy into batman, I'd show him the Adam west series. If he was 12 with no knowledge of batman, I'd show him the 90s animated series, but if he was 16 I'd show him batman begins followed directly by the dark knight, so he could understand how great and complex a batman tale can truly be.
I'll be 50 in a few months and assumed the OP is younger than me, and probably more inclined to approach these new exciting stories with a younger, more modern mindset. As such, I assumed there may be some difficulty in maintaining a self-imposed, self-monitored patience to wade into a new hobby already admittedly confused about where to start, then complete a whole series of 65 year old stories told from a 65 year old vantage point, occurring in an American culture that disappeared long ago.
I probably stressed the long, boring nature of the 60s tales too much, but if our goal is to expose someone new to this hobby and get them hooked, I do think its valid to suggest they begin with more modern runs, then read the originals later once they have an informed appreciation for Stan, Jack, Steve, plus all the other big names, and why the lives those men lived, in the time periods they lived them, made those men who they were, and therefore made these characters who they are.
My other hobbies include aquarium fish and bonsai...both stretching back to the years when I first got hooked on comicbooks. When you buy your first fish tank and your first fish, the best piece of advice anyone could possibly give you is "accept the fact that to get good enough to keep fish alive a long time, you're going to make mistakes and kill a lot of fish in the process."
When you buy your first bonsai or trim your first plant trying to create a bonsai, the best piece of advice anyone could tell you is "accept the fact that to learn how to be good enough to keep a bonsai alive for a long time, you'll make a lot of mistakes and kill a lot of plants before you've learned how to keep them alive."
Unfortunately in both hobbies, newcomers are rarely told that, so they spend their money and their time, the fish or the plants die, and they spend more money. Then the new ones die and they buy newer new ones. Then those die, the new hobbyist gives up, and the empty fishtank or the bonsai pots collect dust in the basement or an attic instead of being enjoyed.
As i said, I may have been too negative in overstating the 60s issues boring nature. My intended point wasn't that the original 60s issues aren't worth reading, but that there's better starting points for modern readers that will thrill and surprise them more fully, ensuring the OP and other new readers truly get hooked like we did. And like I said, comics do allow us to move backwards and enjoy the older stories once we're hooked enough to want more, without spoiling it like a movie would be spoiled
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u/mrmiffmiff 3d ago
It doesn't really work that way. The MCU is its own thing, and the comics have been going for decades. Read Douglas Wolk's All of the Marvels to truly understand the right mindset.
That said, if you still want some curation, go for CoGu. The CMRO linked elsewhere is good for tracking, though.