So I only read two comics. Spiderman, and Batman.
The problem I’ve run into is with Spiderman, the comic has been running since the 1940s or whatever, as one continuous comic. I’m the type of person who gets obsessive over one thing, instead of casual about 10 things. So my natural instinct is to start reading at issue 1, and then go until current. Let’s see, how many issues are there? Ohhhh…oh that’s a lot of issues…
So obviously I’m not going to read them all, and not even in order. Even though that’s what my brain is telling me I should do. At some point I have to let the logical side of me take the wheel and say NO! You’re not going to go reading hundreds if not thousands of comics, just so you can stay current with monthly releases!
So my other option is Batman.
And Batman releases little arcs I guess you could call them. I’m currently reading a little 5 comic mini-series, which is like the perfect size for me. A nice complete comic I can read once per day, for 10 minutes, and at the end of the week I have a complete story. But the problem is, each complete story doesn’t carry over to the next. Batman assumes you know a few core things about Batman. He’s Bruce Wayne, his parents were murdered when he was a kid. He’s constantly fighting crime to deal with his own mental illness of not being able to cope with the concept of crime. You know…the basics.
But the individual stories don’t carry over. Batman could kill Catwoman in a story. Murders her completely dead. And that will carry over the following issues. Until they reboot the whole damn thing, and then Catwoman is back. Never murdered. That’s no longer canon. It mattered to the story you already read…but that’s done now. We’ve moved on.
So I guess the thing I don’t understand is, why can’t comic books find the balance between “Neverending story that’s literally lasted since before your grandpa was born, but somehow is still going today with the same people”, and “Basic characters and themes stay the same, but individual stories will eventually mean absolutely nothing for having had them happen”? Why can’t we get comics that can be 5-10 issue complete stories, but if a future story wants to mention it’s past, then this character died. And no bringing them back. No making a replacement. I still haven’t gotten in the comics how Miles Morales exists. I heard of him through the video game…no clue how he comes to be though, or why he replaces spiderman.
I guess I’m just having difficulty finding points in comics where I’ll say “I start here”. Because I would like end dates. The open ended date of spiderman is intimidating. Even though Batman offers conclusions to the story, it’s also disheartening to know that eventually what you’re reading won’t matter.
You didn’t even mention storylines that continue across five different titles!
It’s all to keep people buying multiple books. It’s purely a sales thing.
I would maybe suggest looking into trade paperbacks, which are larger, bound books that are collections of all titles and issues that comprise a full storyline. Also, look into graphic novels, which are stand-alone books that are the equivalent of a dozen issues or so. There are tons of them out there with many types of story genres and styles.
When I used to collect comics, I more followed the artists and the art styles, being an artist myself, rather than following mainstream story arcs. There were some titles that I followed regular issues but those were ones that didn’t gimmick across the gamut of titles purely to sell more.
Also mini-series are a nice option - these usually can be found as TPBs later as well.
One more thing is maybe look at some other publishers too. I was extremely fond of Dark Horse, as well as some other smaller outfits. DC and Marvel are the two giants, and so they will always be going the mainstream route and that’s all built around massive sales. They’re still fantastic - but with some smaller publishers you might find a lot more gems that are easier to manage start to finish.