Get Started in Comic Books

With help from Spiral Comics, it's easy to get started in comic books...even if you've never bought one or haven't bought one in many years. It's not too complicated to get started with your favorite characters from movies or television. We've created specific articles--and we keep them current--to help you get started in particular characters and series.

It's easy to get started in comic books!

Comic books are simply serialized stories published periodically. But it can be intimidating to start from zero when long-running comic book series such as Action Comics (Superman) and Detective Comics (Batman) have already passed issue #900. Thankfully, the comic book production process has always had naturally occurring “jumping on” points, as creative teams or editorial direction changed or as characters experienced major situational changes. While those points where only occasional, more recently, publishing companies have taken to artificially creating “on ramps” through reboots and numbering restarts to entice new readers. Additionally, publishers have nearly universally turned to producing serial comic books in 4-6 issue story arcs that can be collected into encapsulated trade paperbacks for the book market which tend to stay in print for long stretches. This almost always means you don't need to start at issue #1 to get started. You just need to know where to start. We're making getting started in comic books easy for you, even if a character's publication history is complex.

Comic book movies have become intensely popular, regularly topping the box office results. Television and made-for-streaming shows based off comic book properties have been equally well received. If you want more, there are a plethora of other excellent stories in graphic format starring your favorite characters. Nearly every one of the media products uses some aspect of comic books as its original source material, and movies and television have only scratched the surface of the amount of comic book material that's out there. Some comic book characters have transcended their humble origin to become some of the biggest icons in modern culture.

Comic book movies/tv comic books!

If you're ready to explore beyond movies and television, the articles we've created are the perfect solution to alleviate confusion about where to start.

Originally, comic books were intended to be a disposable item, like newspapers and magazines. But their appeal was so strong, fanatic readers started collecting them. While early issues are rare in the top conditions, modern comics have become much more numerous. However, compared to those early issues, storytelling has also made massive leaps and bounds in quality. In the hands of some of the modern masters, modern comic book stories can have the same emotional impact as other contemporary print media. Comic books are entertaining and collectible. You can buy them just to read, or you can read them carefully and collect them. Each time some issue is identified as the source for a comic book movie or television show, it enjoys a slight pop in market value. You could either try to get ahead of that trend by buying comic books that appeal to you, or you could enjoy hunting for back issue treasures. These articles are intended primarily for new readers, but they aren't just for newbies. Even long-time fans can deepen their knowledge and expand their collection with the information in these articles.

Start a comic book collection!

A constant flow since the 30's, it's never too late to get into comic books. There have been and continue to be multiple starting points, and we can identify them for you. There are quality stories with amazing artwork to complement and enhance the media you already enjoy, and we can list the key storylines for you. We can identify a character's first appearance, origin, key issues, and media source material. It's easy to get started in comic books. If you don't see the character you're interested in, submit it to us on the next page, and we'll see about creating an article for that character.