Geek Beat: Five Superhero Comics for the Uninitiated
A.K.A. Five Gateway Drugs That Will Get You Addicted to Mainstream Superhero Comics
Superheroes are everywhere these days. You can find them dominating the box office at your local movie theater, taking up an entire aisle at your local toy store, or even, apparently, on the Broadway stage. So why do so relatively few people seek them out at their source, the comic book store? Well, a big part of that reason is that these days the continuities of “mainstream” superheroes (Marvel and DC) can seem extremely daunting and convoluted. How are you supposed to keep track of four different Deadpool books coming out every month, much less catch up on the backstory?
There are really two ways to get into the big superhero books. One is to start reading them when you’re a kid, and just keep on going. But if you’re reading this, you’re most likely now above the age of twelve, so what’s the other way? Well, everyone I know who reads comics started reading one book, and they loved it. But then something in that book made them want to read another book, and then another, and then… you get the idea. If we’re honest with ourselves, DC and Marvel superheroes are really like an addiction, and what you need to get started is a gateway drug.
So in this list I’ve tried to come up with five books that include mainstream superheroes, but are not too bogged down in comic book backstory. Some of them even take place “outside” of continuity. These are not the greatest superhero-related graphic novels ever written, as I would not recommend that anyone read Watchmen or The Dark Knight Returns as their first comic. Neither are they the biggest events in superhero comics, as I doubt Identity Crisis or Civil War would make much sense to a neophyte. These are comics that may just hook you if they’re the first Marvel or DC book you buy.
All-Star Superman
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Frank Quitely
Superman is somewhat maligned these days, as he’s starting to gain a reputation as a character that it’s impossible to tell an interesting story about. However, if you want to understand superhero comics, you need to understand Superman, since pretty much everything in superhero comics today comes from him. And his reputation is somewhat undeserved, as this series certainly reveals. DC’s “All-Star” line is intended to be a way for the top comic book creators to take a character and tell whatever story they want about them without having to deal with comic book continuity.
Morrison and Quitely took advantage of that mandate starting in 2005 with this 12-issue series that distilled the long, long history of Superman down to its essence. The story itself involves some stray Kryptonians, Lex Luthor, and Clark Kent revealing his true identity to Lois Lane… but that makes it sound far less interesting and inventive than it actually is. Grant Morrison is one of the greatest and most unique of modern comic-book writers, and this is him at his crazy best. However, the real star may be Frank Quitely, whose take on Superman immediately became the definitive version of the modern era.
If you like this, try… the current Superman series written by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, as well as Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, a similar attempt to do the definitive Superman story, by comics legend Alan Moore. Steer clear of the other major All-Star book, All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, by Frank Miller, which turned out to be one of the biggest missteps in comics history.
The Doom Patrol
Written by Arnold Drake and Bob Haney
Art by Bruno Premiani
If you think that all-out sixties Silver Age superhero action might be your cup of tea, this may be where to start. The Doom Patrol were introduced in 1963 in DC’s anthology series My Greatest Adventure in the eightieth issue, and soon became so popular that by #86 the series was re-titled The Doom Patrol. The book was about a team of misfit superheroes whose powers isolated them from the world. Embittered and angsty, they were brought together by the wheelchair-bound Dr. Niles Caulder in order to do some good in the world. The book actually pre-dates Stan Lee’s launch of the superficially similar The X-Men, though only by a few months.
The book was trippy and weird in the best way possible, with the Doom Patrol being given a Rogues Gallery that included Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, a living Brain, and a superintelligent gorilla (a classic comic book staple). The series, ahead of its time with its well-characterized, somewhat depressed heroes, gradually waned in popularity until it was cancelled with #121. However, the writers gave the series a twist ending that became comic book legend, and the series developed a cult following. Eventually, Grant Morrison re-booted the series with a ground-breaking run that may be the closest superhero books get to avant-garde art, and these days the title is synonymous with the cutting edge of mainstream comics.
If you like this, try… If you’re brave, Grant Morrison’s run on the re-boot of the series. Also, try some of the great cosmic Silver-Age comics, such as Jack Kirby’s New Gods, as well as Stan Lee’s early X-Men and Fantastic Four. I would especially recommend “the Galactus Trilogy”, which starts in Fantastic Four #48.
Power Girl
Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
Art by Amanda Conner
This seems an unlikely entry, as Power Girl’s backstory is famously convoluted (she’s basically an alternate universe version of Supergirl, but she’s a sassy career woman instead of a flighty 16-year-old girl). However, starting in July 2009 Palmiotti, Gray, and Connor started a new Power Girl series that gained a great deal of popularity just because it was so much fun. The character is fundamentally cheesy, with a huge rack with a cut-out spot in the front of the costume so we can get a really good look at it, but Gray and Palmiotti use this to great effect. They give us a Power Girl who is so sick of being hit on everywhere she goes and just wants to be taken seriously. Meanwhile Conner’s art is brash, bold, and fun, all primary colors. Her facial expressions are frequently hilarious.
Power Girl picks up a sidekick with earth powers, Terra, who is an alien from under the ground and whose enraptured discovery of American pop culture is played for laughs. Power Girl takes her to the movies and instructs her on what kinds of outfits you can wear your costume under and which you can’t. Together they fight the Ultra-Humanite, who is, as you may have guessed, a mad scientist who implanted his brain into an albino gorilla. It’s all just about the perfect woman-centric superhero book, so it was sort of a tragedy when Conner left the book after only 12 issues, and Palmiotti and Gray determined they couldn’t keep going without her. However, the book has continued under a new creative team and is still one of the more fun superhero titles to make it to stands on a monthly basis.
If you like this, try… Geoff Johns’ work on the Justice Society of America, of which Power Girl is a member, as well as Gray and Palmiotti’s Terra mini-series, which introduced the current version of that character. You might also try the more recent Supergirl books, which try to take a similar tone with varying degrees of success, or, for superheroine action mixed with much female bonding, Gail Simone’s run on Birds of Prey.
Runaways
Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Adrian Alphona
While Brian K. Vaughan was writing his classic Y: the Last Man, he also wrote this cult-hit original teen superhero series within mainstream Marvel continuity. Runaways is the story of a group of a diverse group of teenagers, including a mutant, an alien, a witch, and a girl telepathically linked to a Velociraptor from the future. When they suddenly discover that their parents are a powerful group of supervillains, they run away from home and set out to take them down. The series became known for its group of relate-able, interesting characters, and pop-culture savvy dialogue. This is a series where we first realize Alex likes Niko when he lends her DVDs of The Prisoner, and he’s good at battle strategy because of his experience with MMORPGs. The book became a fan-favorite due to characters like adorable, super-strong 11-year-old Molly Hayes, the powerful-but-shy goth witch Nico Minoru, and Karolina Dean, who can burst into spectacular rainbow colors and fly but still isn’t sure whether to tell her friends about her sexuality.
Due to the wide variety of the characters, the series connected to many corners of the Marvel universe, especially the X-Men (Wolverine is a frequent guest star), and later characters included a Skrull and the son of Ultron. At one point the gang is even hired by the Kingpin. Vaughan finished out the series’ original story-arc in 2004 after 18 issues, but was later persuaded to bring it back as an ongoing series. The book continued at basically the same quality level through 44 additional issues. Vaughan eventually left the series (and is unlikely to return, given his recent shift to film and TV writing) and was replaced first by Buffy creator Joss Whedon and then by Strangers in Paradise auteur Terry Moore, both of whom professed to be huge fans of Vaughan’s creation. The book is now on “hiatus”, but don’t expect that to last forever, since there is a film version currently in production that is scheduled to shoot next spring.
If you like this, try… During Marvel’s Secret Invasion event the Runaways had a crossover with the characters from Young Avengers, and while that book is not as much of a classic it explores many of the same themes. The current Avengers Academy book, which started only a few months ago, is also an extremely promising Marvel Universe series about angsty teen superheroes. It’s also worth recommending Vaughan’s other work, especially Y: the Last Man and Ex Machina, though those books are not in the “mainstream” superhero universes.
Ultimate Spider-Man
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Mark Bagley
In the early 90s Marvel started a series of books known as the “Ultimate” line, which jettisoned previous continuity and re-imagined the major Marvel characters. Most of these books depicted classic versions of their characters in modern times. Ultimate Spider-Man is a particularly refreshing change of pace, as in original continuity the character had progressed from a nerdy teenager to an experienced, married adult. The series followed a young Peter Parker as he gets a radioactive spider bite and becomes one of Marvel’s top heroes while still negotiating high school and trying to impress Mary Jane Watson.
Brian Michael Bendis turned out to be a genius at snappy teen dialogue, and the book became a major hit. The series has continued on-and-off for twenty years and is still going today, and Bendis stays on-board even though he has gone on to bigger (though not necessarily better) things like big event books and The Avengers. X-Men character Kitty Pryde was introduced somewhere along the line for added romantic tension, and we’ve done “Ultimate” versions of many major Spider-Man story-lines. This book is still a lot of fun, Peter’s still in school, and it’s still a great introduction to one of the most popular and influential superheroes.
If you like this, try… I would say the current mainstream books featuring these characters, especially the twice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man, but recent story-lines in that book have ranged from sort of okay to universally reviled. Try Joss Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men, which made great use of Kitty Pryde and could easily have made it onto this list itself, as well as other popular “Ultimate” titles, such as Ultimate X-Men and The Ultimates, basically the “Ultimate” version of the Avengers. Speaking of, if you like Bendis’ distinctive dialogue, you might like his current Avengers run, though some people have criticized it for featuring too much of Captain America and Iron Man standing around talking while holding coffee cups.
If you’re still not hooked on superhero comics after reading these books, they may not be for you. However, I’m sure that for a lot of folks, especially geeks, these will be impossible to resist. You’ll be puzzling over Final Crisis and cackling at the adventures of the Secret Six in no time. Sometimes all it takes is that first hit…
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