Are Modern Mainstream Comics Worth Reading?

I've been doing some thinking for the last few weeks, mainly about whether I should pick up the post Secret Wars comics that Marvel's been putting out. However, all I keep ending up with is, 'Why bother'? Because, from what I've read of Marvel and heard about DC in from the last several years, it doesn't seem like reading most modern comics from either Marvel or DC is really worth it.

I actually started binging through the Marvel backlog years ago for the explicit purpose of catching up to the modern era, but when I actually got there, it turned out to be full of 'earth-shaking', lackluster crossover events that are essentially required reading at least twice a year, characters coming back and dying again due to contrived reasons, past characterizations being trampled into the ground, some of the books not moving forward when they should, (X-Men, I'm looking at you,) some of the books moving forward in questionable ways (X-Men, still looking at you), needing to read multiple books just to understand what's going on in one single title, etc. And from the look of things, none of this is going to change any time soon, if at all.

On top of that, some of the writing in the leading books, such as Bendis' and Hickman's Avengers, have just felt hollow for one reason or another, which doesn't help matters. All that going through the old comics to now seems to have taught me that mainstream comics were in an overall better state back then than they are now, and I'm not really sure how to feel about that.

Really, I'm wondering if I should just mostly stick to old comics and maybe the odd standalone new one rather than trying to keep up with most of the current stuff. And it's not like I've already gone through most of the old stuff either; sure, I've got most of Avengers and X-Men covered, but I've still got Spiderman, Defenders, Alpha Flight, and even more to go through. And I think I'd actually be happy with that, if it weren't for me feeling like I'd be still be missing out in some way by just dropping most everything being put out nowadays. (Though I might try Ms.Marvel and Squirrel Girl out. I've heard good things about those two.)

Then again, maybe I'm just overreacting, and things aren't as bad as I'm making them out to be. And sure, there's still been some good stories in the last decade or so, but a lot of that has been from stuff in the margins as opposed to the headliners, which doesn't exactly fill me with enthusiasm. What I'd like to ask then is: Are mainstream comics nowadays as a whole worth it? Or were comics overall better years ago than they are now? Or is there something else I'm not really considering here?

I think there's a lot of interesting stuff happening in superhero comics right now.

DC and Marvel both recently adopted similar "anything goes" approaches to continuity, so there is more variety in their books than ever.

Big Crossover events have never really been very good, but DC at least has started doing a better job of not derailing its series for the sake of those crossovers. And though not really a crossover in the normal sense, I can't recommend Grant Morrison's The MULTIVERSITY enough.

And if you ignore the crossovers there's a ton of really good books that are easy to overlook. Stuff like Omega Men, Gotham Academy, and Midnighter are all fantastic but no one is really reading them.

edited 27th Nov '15 5:21:14 PM by BBrown052

Comics really were better overall years ago. It's not just you.

I don't think it's worth it to try and get into comics these days.

Plenty of modern mainstream comics are definitely worth reading. If you're not already reading Ms. Marvel then you're doing comics wrong. Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is ridiculously delightful. The upcoming Hellcat comic looks like it'll be more delight. Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur is off to a fun start. Vision is creepy as hell. All-New Wolverine is starting very strong. Angela has moved into, to quote a character from the book, "Orpheus and Eurydice, with a Nordic death metal soundtrack," and it's as awesome as it sounds. I'm pretty psyched for the upcoming Mockingbird solo. Power Man and Iron Fist looks bro-tastic. Ultimates is awesome. So is New Avengers.

I don't read DC, so I can't comment on them. But aside from the X-Men franchise, Marvel's output is looking incredibly strong going forward. Growing diversity in terms of characters, creators and genres. ANAD also seems like it's going to be a bit better for continuity. No characters on multiple teams, and less emphasis, at least for now, on big crossovers. I think the plan might be for more small crossovers - things like Squirrel Girl and Howard the Duck, or the Spider-ladies crossover. There is the Pleasant Hill event, but even that, I get the impression it'll be a bit more small-scale than recent events have been.

So I think Marvel's doing a lot right. There's a lot to love. We'll see if they fuck it up, but for now, it's looking good.

Hm...

Well, maybe I'll give some of them a shot. Quick question though: Can I understand what's going on in most of them without having read the last couple years worth of comics? Because I'm pretty caught up to 2013, but I was kind of burnt out by that point and needed to take a break. Do you think I could just jump in now, or would that be ill advised?

Marvel has gone out of their way to make jumping in right now easy to understand. Every series I have read from the new relaunch has been super newbie friendly.

Sam Wilson, Captain America and Ms. Marvel are my own favorites so far.

Yeah, most of them really are just "pick it up, you'll be fine" books. I mean, with some of them, I'd recommend checking out the pre-Secret Wars stuff. Ms. Marvel is a book you should read from the start, because it's so good. But for the most part, with these books, read the recap page, you'll be fine. A few of them are starting brand-new anyway.

So, yeah, you probably don't really need to read anything to follow along with most of the ANAD titles. If anything comes up in a title that you're not sure about, you can always ask.

the main issue with mainstream comics as a whole is that the fact that the stories need to be in continuity and go on forever, basically makes them soap operas with people in silly costumes where meaningful change can be hard to find and the characters and stories never have a true end other than one you arbitrarily decide for yourself. even attempts to shake the status quo almost inevitably lead right back to it, which makes stuff like "DEATH OF *insert character here*" events pretty hollow and meaningless.

this also leads to a lot of other narrative issues for certain characters like the stupid Cardboard Prison in Batman comics, for example, since the characters need to keep being used so narrative reasons have to be invented for it instead of the stories playing out in a sensical manner.

the best thing to do is to find individual runs/books that are good and treat them as stand-alone stories.

other than that it's probably best to stick to image and dark horse, if you ask me.

edited 27th Nov '15 6:53:15 PM by wehrmacht

Loki: Agent of Asgard's 17-issue run is probably my favorite modern comics run. It's not all that confusing if you didn't read anything before it, you get a rundown of Loki's current state of existence anyway, but it can kind of feel like you're missing out on something. Still, I think it's a delightful exploration of Character Development, magic, gods, and the nature of stories themselves.

I can definitely understand if you're having trouble finding a reason to buy most comics these days, I'm inclined towards skipping most stuff myself. I don't buy much Marvel these days, and I haven't really delved into any of the major Marvel crossover events since Siege.

But even when their major 'events' come off as 'why should I bother', I'd be lying if I said their wasn't some real gold to come out of the tie-ins. AXIS had an absolutely amazing Carnage mini-series where he feels compelled to be a hero and is both absolutely horrible at it and yet still actually manages to get some redeeming qualities.

I enjoyed the Civil War, Renew Your Vows, and Giant-Sized Little Marvel minis from the almost-finished Secret Wars, too. Giant-Sized Little Marvel especially.

I'm not reading much DC right now either, but they've had some good stuff too. Batman 66 is basically over at this point, but it was great while it lasted. And as previously mentioned, Multiversity is definitely something to look into.

Even beyond that, there are comics out there that are doing really good things - it may depend on what you consider to be 'mainstream'. IDW is doing some really good stuff right now; their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles run can be favorably compared to what Marvel did with the Ultimates line when it wasn't being a big fat mess (and it counts Kevin Eastman as part of its creative team), and their Transformers has some really good material - More Than Meets the Eye especially.

Oh, and the Invader Zim comic that started a few months back (which is published by Oni Press), which is absolutely a hoot.

So I may not agree that there's much worth buying from Marvel or DC right now, but they do have some good stuff if you know what to look for, and if you're willing to dive outside Marvel and DC you might find some really good gems.

edited 27th Nov '15 7:22:34 PM by TheSpaceJawa

Thanks. I'm actually interested in checking out Transformers, but looking at IDW's website, it's hard to tell just where they to start. They've got just plain Transformers, but there's also Meets the Eye, Last Stand of the Wreckers, Windblade, etc. If you could tell me just where their current main Transformers continuity actually starts, then I'll probably check it out.

Anyhoo, I also checked out Sam Wilson, Captain America #'s 1 and 2. They're pretty darn good, and so was All New All Different Avengers, but I've kind of realized something else. I do not want to try and read 20+ related series simultaneously right now, and yet, I know that if I start reading All New All Differnt Marvel, that's just what I'll do. If the Avengers books had a crapton of volumes out right now, I'd just read them, but they don't, so I'd have time to read all of the different solo books related to the Avengers,(Ultimates included,) and I know I'd use that time. That means I'd also be reading Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Vision, and so-on and so-forth, and I just can't do that right now. 2 or 3 related series, I can handle, but other than that? I just can't. (Never mind the cost...)

So yeah, considering that, Transformers and TMNT sound pretty darn appealing, even if I haven't had much experience with them until now. The only full Transformers show I ever watched was Beast Wars, and I barely remember watching TMNT when I was a kid. Do you think I'll still be good to go, or should I have some more background experience first?

I got into the current IDW run of Transformers around the time the "Dark Cybertron" story arc started, and followed out of that. I couldn't really tell you where the actual 'continuity' started, but for the most part I've been able to follow along relatively well, I'd suggest that TFWiki is probably your best bet to figure out where to get started and research any gaps you might come across. And honestly, reading through TF Wiki is an experience all it's own that's arguably worth looking through for the sake of it's own entertainment value.

Ultimately, I think the whole thing is loosely based on Generation 1 but uses it more like a guidebook or foundation upon which to build off of.

If you want a simpler answer, starting with MTMTE #1 (which kind of runs off and does it's own thing a little aside from when it gets pulled into Dark Cybertron) or MTMTE #28 (which kicks off right after Dark Cybertron ends) is probably a safe bet for simple entertainment value; you might find somewhere else you like better as a starting off point if you do some TF Wiki research.

TMNT is it's own thing, it had a double-sized issue #50 recently which was kind of a big deal; it's entirely it's own continuity that you don't need to be familiar with any other incarnation of the turtles to really enjoy it, though it probably helps a lot if you are. That said, it is over 50 issues (plus a number of mini-series and one shot side pieces) so reading it all could be a bit of a hassle to get into, especially since they've done such a good job with build up over those 50 issue (even if not every issue is necessarily 'essential reading') that there's a much bigger impact if you've been reading from #1.

Honestly, as someone who has been reading all the way through, I wouldn't know where to suggest starting other than at the beginning, and as stated before, I recognize that over 50 issues worth of material can kind of be a bit to go through, even if you don't really need to read or be familiar with anything from other continuities to follow along.

Oh, 50 issues is nothing, trust me. I don't have a problem with reading individual series on their own, no matter how long it takes to get through it. It's reading a crapton of related series at the same time that I currently have a problem with. But yeah, it wouldn't take me more than a month to breeze through it.

As for Transformers, I've looked it up on Wikipedia done a bit of digging, and the IDW continuity apparently started back in 2005 with Transformers Infiltration. It was a 5 issue miniseries, with was followed by a few other miniseries over the next few years until they did 'All Hail Megatron' for 14 issues in the late 00's. After that, they launched Robots in Disguise and More Than Meets the Eye, and aside from a slight name change in Ri D, that's how it's been ever since.

But yeah, thanks for letting me know about this, and I'll be sure to check 'em out. (Here's hoping they're at the library...)

If you want to read IDW Transformers: Read Last Stand of the Wreckers, then proceed to More Than Meets the Eye volume 1 (by James Roberts).

You need absolutely nothing else, and you will be reading one of the finest comics out there right now, if not THE best. It's very hard for me to say whether it or Ms. Marvel is my favorite current ongoing, because both of them are doing very different things well - but seriously, Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye is great.

I've always found it difficult to get into mainstream comics. Every time I wanted to jump in, all I saw was the Red Hulk beating people up for no reason, Spider-Man undoing his marriage, and crossovers filled with characters I knew nothing about (I have no idea if Blackest Night was good or not, I just found it hard to follow). The only series I was fully enjoying was Agent Venom back in 2011, and I lost interest around the time of Spider-Island (a seemingly out-of-nowhere event from the main Spider-Man series).

But recently (since 2014), I finally feel like there are series I can follow without bothering to clear the backlog. Ms.Marvel and She-Hulk were runs I enjoyed without checking additional series ^note (which is impressive, what with Ms.Marvel tying into Inhumans lore, and She-Hulk being filled with C-listers), and I heard good things about Hawkeye and Black Widow as well (and from what little I saw, they looked easy to follow, too). Now I'm following Sam Wilson, Squirrel Girl and Vision and I haven't been disappointed with any of them (I was actually surprised to learn Sam already had a previous series before ANAD kicked in, it really feels like a jumping point).

And I enjoyed these without bothering with or caring about any of the Secret Wars stuff. So, I feel like at least Marvel has plenty of genres and variety to see without being bogged down by the main crisis du jour.

(Now granted, I'm much more a Marvel guy than a DC guy, I'm not sure how things are on their front)

I don't read much from DC or Marvel these days other than a few books. Marvel are too silly and DC are tonally all over the place.

I'm generally against questions like this; you can really only answer the question for yourself. Obviously some people find them worth reading, or else they wouldn't exist. You won't really know until you read 'em for yourself.

That said, I'm finding myself reading a lot of older stuff, these days. I've never really been a Marvel guy (expect for the Lee/Romita Spider-Man) and, even though I'm a big DC fan, DC doesn't feel right to me anymore. Seriously, it's gotten to where every time I read a synopsis of an upcoming story, I groan inwardly. NONE of 'em sound good to me. I've nothing against any of it, just it's clear to me that they're aiming at an audience in which I am not included.

I will say, I think it's a bit of a mistake to make arc after arc after arc and completely eschew the done-in-one stories. I realize that pretty much every time they do a series comprised of short or one-shot stories it gets cancelled within 2 years or so (like Adventures of Superman), so maybe they've got good reasons for doing what they're doing.

Anyhow, mainstream comics, while I've loved 'em in the past, don't feel like a friendly place anymore. If you like 'em, great! Your time is now.

edited 28th Nov '15 3:08:57 PM by Robbery

I heard Kieron Gillen's doing great things with Darth Vader, if Star Wars interests you.

Otherwise, I'd recommend Ms. Marvel and Al Ewing's New Avengers. Actually, I'd recommend anything written by Al Ewing. He might be my favorite writer right now - very smart, and very funny.

edited 28th Nov '15 3:29:07 PM by KarkatTheDalek

Thanks to everyone who replied, but I think I've found my answer, espically after reading this. Basically, Marvel's having another crossover event only a few months after Secret Wars has ended, and it's about heroes fighting other heroes. Again. And that's not what I read comics for.

I just can't really take it anymore; this and the rest of the problems I have with modern mainstream comics. I think this was the last straw, really. I'll read a few select series, and I'll definitely check out more of Marvel and DC's respective backlogs, but when it comes to regularly following their main ongoing series and storylines, I'm done. (For now, anyway.) Honestly, I feel like a grumpy old man who's fed up with the way comics are going and wants to back to 'the good old days', even though I'm only in my early twenties. I guess that's what I get for starting from the beginning rather than just picking up the current stuff. Give me Claremont's X-Men and John's JSA over whatever we've got now any day.

Anyway, I'll be checking out IDW's stuff at some point. From the sound of things, they might have what I'm looking for. (Thanks again, SJ.) And maybe other indie titles too. But when it comes to most of modern Marvel and DC, I'm going to be staying faaaaaaaar away.

edited 28th Nov '15 3:35:20 PM by kkhohoho

Huh, I wasn't aware of that next crossover. Seems like it will only affect a few titles, but still, reminds me of Spider-Island, which I thought really hurt the Venom solo series.

Hmm...well, you do what you think is best.

Still, I highly recommend, at the very least, Ms. Marvel and Loki: Agent of Asgard. Granted, the latter ties into quite a few crossover events, but it does a good job at letting you know what's going on, and doesn't let them affect the story negatively, in my opinion.

Erm, the article you link to is speculating the story will be another Civil War. Doesn't mean it will be. We'll have to wait for more details.

Take comfort in the fact that people will, eventually, get sick of events, and a new age of comic books will dawn featuring - probably - better storytelling.

edited 28th Nov '15 4:12:10 PM by Aldo930

And Marvel is already going in a direction that encourages more quirky and auteuristic superhero comics. I can see that leading to the crossover's decline.

edited 28th Nov '15 4:42:57 PM by TheEvilDrBolty

So, there isn't any official story saying that Steve, Sam, and Bucky will all fight each other with their own Avengers teams? Because that sounds like Civil War to me, though I wouldn't mind at all if this weren't true.

Still though, it's another event starting just a few months after the last one, and even if it only crosses into so many titles, there will also apparently be something going on with Weirdworld at the same time. And then there's supposed to be an even bigger crossover soon after that. The crossovers aren't the only problem I have with modern comics, but I'd be lying if I said they weren't a rather significant one.