So, you’ve seen the good DC movies like Wonder Woman, Aqua
Man and Shazam, and you’re thinking “Wow, I’d like to read the comics about
these characters!”, but soon realize that some of them have been around since
the 1930s, and several have confusing histories! Well, today, I’m going to
give you a beginner’s guide to getting into DC comic.
First off, start with 2011’s New 52 reboot. It was intended
as a line wide reboot to open things to new readers, current landscape
notwithstanding. The New 52 is a great place to see the origins of these
characters you’re seeing on the screen. Once
there, the Justice League is the place that carries the main storyline of the
DC Universe and introduces 6 of the major players of the DC Landscape, and,
during many of the Justice League books, Shazam is a back up feature.
From there, you’re going to want to pick one or two
characters out of the Justice League and follow their books. You don’t need to
follow ALL the stories of the League members, and if you’re curious, there are
resources like Comicstorian,
Comics Explained, and
many other places to help you catch up with certain characters and storylines
when they perform crossovers and tie into Justice League storylines. However,
beware of a couple of characters, since they require more reading than you may
desire to do.
When it comes to characters, Wonder Woman, Aqua Man, Superman, and the Flash are all easy
to get into.They are full reboots into the New 52, although Superman has a
caveat that I’ll get into later. Batman
gets a partial New 52 reboot, but a few stories that came before are not retold
into the New 52. Those stories are the origin story of Damian Wayne, the
current Robin, Under the Red Hood, which are both retold in the New 52 movies,
The Killing Joke and Tower of Babel, which are not retold as movies. These all happen between Batman Zero Year and
the five-year time skip that happens after the first story arc told in Justice
League, save for Tower of Babel, which is just a character piece for Batman.
As for Green Lantern? Well, that series treats the New 52
reboot like it never happened. It just continues on with the storyline started
with Green Lantern Rebirth from October 2004 to May 2005. Don’t get me wrong, the Geoff Johns Green
Lantern Mythos is really, REALLY good, and if you still want to get into it,
you can. But there’s a faster way to get caught up on the mythos that I’ll get
to momentarily.
Now, the New 52 ran from August 2011 to June 2016. In June 2016, they revealed that, in
universe, the New 52 reboot wasn’t a reboot at all. In universe, what happened was that time was stolen
from these characters caused by the events of the Flashpoint storyline that
kicked off the New 52, which, like the Batman stories that I previously mentioned,
is retold in an animated movie, so you don’t need to hunt down the books for it. More importantly, the
Flashpoint event becomes a plot point in the DC Rebirth issue.
With that in mind, there are a couple of books that you
should pick up from the end of the New 52 run to help ease you into a few plot points. First is Superman: Lois
and Clark from 2016. This series
introduces the Superman we’re going forward with from Rebirth onward. This is the classic Superman, who happened to
be outside space and time at the moment of the Flashpoint, the man who married
Lois Lane and had a child with her, and who experienced all the events from
Crisis on Infinite Earths(the first linewide DC reboot from 1985, I might add) onward. This
is the Superman that we think of when we think of Superman.
The next book is Titans Hunt. Long story short, the New 52 version of the
Teen Titans wasn’t well liked, and this is the introduction of the original
Teen Titans, who had their memories removed of their time as the Teen Titans. They’re
full grown at this point and are facing down the ghosts of their past. This team is where another important
character, the original Wally West, will make his home for the first phase of
the DC Rebirth.
Now, the DC Rebirth initiative is the desire to bring back
aspects of the pre-52 continuity into the current one. So, events like Crisis
on Infinite Earths from 1985, Zero Hour: Crisis in Time, Infinite Crisis, Final
Crisis, Blackest Night, and the Death and Return of Superman all happened, but
many of the heroes and villains don’t remember them. In fact, save for the Blackest Night, only
the Pre-52 Superman remembers these events happening, thanks to the stolen
memories. Rebirth is kicked off with the
named “DC Rebirth” issue, which introduces relationships and characters that
have been gone, like the Aquaman and Mera relationship, Green Arrow and Black
Canary relationship, and the original, red haired Wally West that was in the
Justice League cartoon back in the early 2000s.
Now, remember how I said that there was an easy way to get
into the Green Lantern mythos? Well, that’s what the Green Lanterns Rebirth is
all about; the protagonists are brand new, barely trained Green Lanterns, and
they’re learning about the Corp and mythos as the audience is. It is a great crash course in the Green
Lantern landscape without having to go back and read 12 years of comics,
although I would still recommend going back and reading the Geoff Johns run,
which is continued into Hal Jordan and the Green Lanterns series from his Green
Lantern Rebirth in 2004-2005. It is THAT good.
And that’s the thing about the rest of Rebirth too. Yes, going back and reading these crossovers
is rewarding in and of itself, but you don’t have to. All of the Rebirth
books do a very good blending of pre-52 continuity and New 52 continuity. For example, the first arc of Action Comics
Rebirth has the reintroduction of Superman’s relationship with Doomsday, the
being who killed him during the Death of Superman arc. And all of the series are like that, blending the past with the New 52 continuity.
Now, the time has come where I’ve got to talk about the
books to avoid. First off, Lobo. The Lobo introduced isn’t the Lobo fans of the
character liked, nor is he even the current one. He went from the parody of guys like
Wolverine to a leather daddy stereotype, and at some point, between when his
book was cancelled and when the classic Lobo returned, he was apparently
captured and jarred up by the villain Brainiac.
And that’s where the New 52 Lobo sits, put on the shelf, never to
return.
Next book that’s not very good is the New 52 Teen
Titans. This was not well liked by the
fans, and two of the New 52 versions of old characters, Conner Kent Superboy
and Bart Allen Impulse/Kid Flash, were not well received. Skip this and go with Titans Hunt if you want
to see the Teen Titans.
Third book that’s not considered good by fans is Red Hood
and the Outlaws. Like the New 52 Teen
Titans, this versions of the characters, save for the Red Hood himself, were not
well received by the fans, Starfire being the most glaring; she is NOTHING like the Starfire from the Cartoon Network Teen Titans series. though DC Rebirth treats her FAR better. If you really want to follow Red Hood, just
skip this and go with the Rebirth version of the team.
And furthermore, since these books weren’t well received,
none of them factor all that much into the greater Rebirth storylines. That Lobo, those Teen Titans and that Outlaws
team don’t really come up, save for a small cameo in Rebirth Outlaws book from
Roy Harper and a Starfire AI.
However, I do have a bit of recommended reading. First is
Shazam Rebirth. If you liked the movie, you’ll like this series. Second, is
Wonder Woman Rebirth. This helps introduce her current version of her origin
story, tying it in better with her depiction in the movie. Third is Superman Rebirth. Through his
interactions with his son, you get to know the kind of man that this version of
Clark Kent is. Fourth, is Super Sons,
the adventures of Jonathan Kent and Damian Wayne, both in and out of their
costumes. And finally, Dark Knights
Metal. The whole thing. Dark Knights
Metal does a LOT of important stuff for the future of DC, including making
Final Crisis better, explains away the confusing history of Hawkman and
Hawkgirl/Hawkwoman, and does a great job of explaining the DC Multiverse.
Don’t think that you can’t continue with the books of
characters you’ve been reading since the New 52’s beginning, though. Feel free.
These are just a few stand out series that I highly recommend.
Well, that’s it for my primer on DC comics. Check out the
resources below for more information on some of the things I referenced and
check out the youtube channels of some comic focused youtubers to help you get
up to date on characters you’re not familiar with.
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