The structure of this blog is finally coming together in my mind and I thought I'd share it with you. I'm going to (try) to post a blog every Wednesday and Sunday. Sunday's are a review of whichever trade of whichever character I am reading that week, which means I might post more than once. And Wednesday's will be other comic book related blogging, like this one!
The first five trades I am going to review on a Sunday are all origin stories, of each of the named superheroes or superhero groups named at the top of this blog. They are as followed:
Spider-Man - Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1: Power and Responsibility
Batman - Batman: Year One
Superman - Superman for All Seasons
X-Men - Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 (not strictly an origin story but certainly a reworking)
The Avengers - The Ultimates Vol. 1: Superhuman
Not only are all the above titles origin stories, but they are all modern retellings of the origin stories of these superheroes. There are a couple of reasons why I choose to start this way. I do intend to go back to some of the early, original comics (I am currently investigating the Marvel Essentials series to go right to the start) but I thought it might be better to start from a more modern angle. I am sure the early work is good, but it is likely to have dated a little, and I think it is far more likely I will read them and find them charming if I have a least a little knowledge of what the characters evolve into.
The second reason is I have taken the advice of more knowledgeable people than myself: these are the books I have seen most often recommended for first timers into these characters, and who am I to argue? My specific reason for starting which each trade is how I will start each review so I won't go into too much detail here. But they are all now making there way to my front door so there's no going back now!
Where to start is possibly one of the most difficult aspects of this whole project: I could have agonised forever and never found the perfect trade to bring me into the fold. In the end I have jumped in here. All beginnings, I guess, are relatively arbitrary so it probably won't make a great difference in the grand scheme of things. If it's wrong, though, I'm not going to give up. I think that might be the key to a good comic book reading career: even if you hate one incarnation, there is always another.
This is one of the reasons the top of this blog looks the way it does: the 'big five' of the movie world are there because they're the characters I am most excited to follow. As they become a bigger part of popular culture, it becomes more important to educate yourself about where they come from and what the ideas at the heart of them are. Hollywood movies are great, some of the recent superhero ones have even been awesome, but they are not always credited for the strength of their ideas. In the same way I always try and read a novel before seeing the film, I am pleased to be able to read some of the sources of these huge movies.
This does not mean, however, that I only intend reading the 'big five'. Expect that top line to grow a lot over the coming months: I have very big plans for how wide ranging I want my knowledge to be. But I don't think you can start by reading everything: in fact, even five is a bit ambitious. I guess some will fall by the wayside and some will become my all time favourites. I'm going to read these five and decide which take priority and go from there.
So the first one to arrive will be the first one I read, and the first one I review on Sunday. See you then for my first ever review here on Starting From Splash.
- Grace
The first five trades I am going to review on a Sunday are all origin stories, of each of the named superheroes or superhero groups named at the top of this blog. They are as followed:
Spider-Man - Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 1: Power and Responsibility
Batman - Batman: Year One
Superman - Superman for All Seasons
X-Men - Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 (not strictly an origin story but certainly a reworking)
The Avengers - The Ultimates Vol. 1: Superhuman
Not only are all the above titles origin stories, but they are all modern retellings of the origin stories of these superheroes. There are a couple of reasons why I choose to start this way. I do intend to go back to some of the early, original comics (I am currently investigating the Marvel Essentials series to go right to the start) but I thought it might be better to start from a more modern angle. I am sure the early work is good, but it is likely to have dated a little, and I think it is far more likely I will read them and find them charming if I have a least a little knowledge of what the characters evolve into.
The second reason is I have taken the advice of more knowledgeable people than myself: these are the books I have seen most often recommended for first timers into these characters, and who am I to argue? My specific reason for starting which each trade is how I will start each review so I won't go into too much detail here. But they are all now making there way to my front door so there's no going back now!
Where to start is possibly one of the most difficult aspects of this whole project: I could have agonised forever and never found the perfect trade to bring me into the fold. In the end I have jumped in here. All beginnings, I guess, are relatively arbitrary so it probably won't make a great difference in the grand scheme of things. If it's wrong, though, I'm not going to give up. I think that might be the key to a good comic book reading career: even if you hate one incarnation, there is always another.
This is one of the reasons the top of this blog looks the way it does: the 'big five' of the movie world are there because they're the characters I am most excited to follow. As they become a bigger part of popular culture, it becomes more important to educate yourself about where they come from and what the ideas at the heart of them are. Hollywood movies are great, some of the recent superhero ones have even been awesome, but they are not always credited for the strength of their ideas. In the same way I always try and read a novel before seeing the film, I am pleased to be able to read some of the sources of these huge movies.
This does not mean, however, that I only intend reading the 'big five'. Expect that top line to grow a lot over the coming months: I have very big plans for how wide ranging I want my knowledge to be. But I don't think you can start by reading everything: in fact, even five is a bit ambitious. I guess some will fall by the wayside and some will become my all time favourites. I'm going to read these five and decide which take priority and go from there.
So the first one to arrive will be the first one I read, and the first one I review on Sunday. See you then for my first ever review here on Starting From Splash.
- Grace
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