psa: if you’d like to actually know how natasha deals with and addresses her infertility and her suffering at the hands of the red room (spoilers, NOT LIKE JOSS WHEDON DID) please read marjorie liu’s black widow: the name of the rose as a palate cleanser
bold is a) current runs and b) the ones I would recommend reading first.
so a lot of people are always like “I want to read comics but I don’t know where to start?” and let me tell you friend, there’s not a bad or a wrong place to start. but if you want to read comics, especially marvel comics, it’s super easy to get overwhelmed because there’s so fucking many of them. here are my tips on how to deal with this:
pick one character/team to start off with and read their stuff. I started with black widow & x-men: first class because there wasn’t a ton of issues in both of those runs. different runs may be set in different verses so don’t worry too much about reading them “in order.”
read reviews, look up masterposts on here (I have some in this tag). in my experience a lot of those posts are older and the links may not work but they usually have some sort of commentary or guidance to direct you.
prioritize and pace yourself. there’s no deadline or requirement for you to read every single issue of every single character’s every single run.
another question I get a lot is how/where I read my comics and I’m going to be frank: I torrent 90% of them, which I can do since I have a mac and am less likely to get viruses //knocks on wood. if I really like an issue, or I’m really excited about the run (i.e. Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Silk, Thor and Spider-Gwen, All-New Captain America the most often), I’ll buy them either through Marvel’s official app on my phone or at a comic book store.
there’s a couple apps that you can read comics on but those usually either cost money per issue or you have to sign up for a membership and there’s a yearly/monthly fee (I got a membership to Marvel Unlimited for christmas which is AWESOME and they have a ton of back comics/older issues but fair warning: the app kinda sucks and it’s not the easiest format to read comics on). I torrent them from kickass (when you go there type ‘.to’ at the end instead of .com or anything) and there’s usually a download for what I’m looking for; sometimes you have to type the year the specific issue was published [i.e. “All-New Hawkeye 2015″].
other places I get my comics from:
amazon: if you’re looking for a physical book of compiled issues, this is a good place to look. usually they’ll be a dollar or two less than what you’d pay in a comic book store or in barnes & noble or sth.
books a million: at a shitty mall near me there is still one that’s open and they have a huge bookshelf full of clearance comic books where you can get books that are usually $30 for $10 and ones that are usually $15-20 for like $3-8. they have some clearance ones on their website but it’s shitty and hard as hell to navigate.
midtown comics: they’re a chain in NYC but they do online orders and if you sign up for a newsletter, they’ll email you when there’s a sale going on which can save you a lot on single issues.
local comic stores
and you probably just read that last bullet point and went “but mackenzie, THERE ARE NO COMIC BOOK STORES AROUND ME???” there’s like a 50/50 chance that there is one somewhere relatively close to you, actually. there’s apparently like six or seven within a reasonable driving distance of me which is mindblowing? just google “comic book stores near [insert your zipcode]” and see if something comes up. if not: take heart in knowing that you do not have to deal with the attitude of the dudes in the stores if you are a female by ordering them online.
listen: comics are expensive as shit. there’s no way around that. a single issue which might be 23 or 24 pages is on average $3.99. if it’s a smaller company like image comics, it might be a little more. books can be $14-40+. but if you can, it’s always awesome for you to go to a comic book store and buy the physical issue both to support a struggling industry and the character. you might have noticed a theme in the examples of the issues that I buy the most often and it’s usually because they’re a) one of my faves b) a female driven run and c) it’s sam as cap. b & c are “risks” in the eyes of the publisher so hell fuckin’ yeah I’m gonna spend $3.99 to communicate to marvel “yes, good, I like this series. ANOTHER.”
and now that we’ve covered the basics, let me fill you in on which runs I would highly, highly recommend you start with first:
fraction & aja’s hawkeye because it’s ending soon-ish (maybe? idek if they have a release date for the final issue yet [broken heart emoji]). this is the run that like sucked me into comics for real and also made me fall in love with clint [heart emojix1000]. plus kate!!!
young avengers 2013 run because a) it’s great and b) eVERYBODY IS QUEER BY THE END OF IT //kisses the writers on their noses
ms marvel!! kamala is so great and this run is really cool and important and I love the generational commentary they’ve got going on throughout it
hawkeye vs. deadpool: I love these two nerds to pieces and they’re working with kate AND it deals with clint being deaf AND deadpool is deadpool and there’s an uber car.
all-new captain america: I love s am wi ls on s omcuh??/????? ???//? tin y pre cisou snf louc wer ?//???/?
if all of the secret avengers run doesn’t sound good to you: please at least read issue #7 it’s a beautiful piece of art
silk!!! SUPPORT ROBBIE AND CINDY!!!! plus cindy is super cute and so far it’s very good
spider-gwen
thor: yes this is the new thor who is a lady. and I don’t actually like thor but so far I’m really really loving this run???
bitch planet is like… the most feminist thing I have read to date and it’s super good and the art is great and kELLY SUE [heart eyes emoji]
sex criminals is absolutely fucking ridiculous and so fun to read??? and so cute??? and so great????? chip+matt 4eva \m/
in summation: the world of comics is stupidly overwhelming and huge. the best way to tackle this is pick a starting point and dive in headfirst. there are lots of ways to read comics, but unfortunately lots of them cost money. figure out which way is the best for you. and most of all – HAVE FUN!!!!!!! AND ENJOY THESE NERD CHILDREN!!!!!
COMICS YOU SHOULD BE READING (or, random comic recs because I love these comics and I want more people to read them!)
THE WICKED + THE DIVINE | kieron gillen + jamie mckelvie | image comics
Gods have an expiration date. They live for two years, die, and come back 90 years later. With two years to live, the gods do what anyone would—live like celebrities and rock stars. There’s no point in bettering themselves, or putting the time into a goal (fuck college, right?) they’ll never finish. So gods become celebrities with expiration dates. (x) (wiki, image, comixology)
BITCH PLANET | kelly sue deconnick + valentine de landro | image comics
“The book follows five women prisoners as they go from Earth to a prison planet populated by those labelled Criminally Non-Compliant—too difficult, too dangerous not just for society but for our world. There, they not only have to figure out how to survive lockup and each other but also compete in gladiatorial sport for their lives.” (x) (wiki, image, comixology)
Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley are five best pals determined to have an awesome summer together… and they’re not gonna let any insane quest or an array of supernatural critters get in their way!It’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Gravity Falls and features five butt-kicking, rad teenage girls wailing on monsters and solving a mystery with the whole world at stake. (x) (wiki, boom!, comixology)
RAT QUEENS | kurtis j. wiebe + stjepan šejić | image comics
Who are the Rat Queens? A pack of booze-guzzling, death-dealing battle maidens-for-hire, and they’re in the business of killing all gods’ creatures for profit. It’s also a darkly comedic fantasy series starring Hannah the Rockabilly Elven Mage, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, Dee the Atheist Human Cleric and Betty the Hippy Hobbit Thief. This modern spin on an old school genre is a violent monster-killing epic that is like Buffy meets Tank Girl in a Lord of the Rings world on crack! (x) (wiki, image, comixology)
SEX CRIMINALS | matt fraction + chip zdarsky | image comics
Suzie’s a normal girl with an extraordinary ability: when she orgasms, she stops time. One night she meets John… who has the same gift. And so they do what any other sex-having, time-stopping, couple would do: they rob banks. (x) (wiki, image, comixology)
SILK | robbie thompson + stacey lee | marvel comics
The series tells the story of Cindy Moon and her crime-fighting, alter-ego named Silk. She possesses certain powers that allow her to fight evil in the Marvel universe powers she gained after being bitten by the same radioactive spider—that turned Peter Parker into Spider-Man. (x) (wiki, marvel, comixology)
ROSIE, I am so glad you came to me even though I’m probably not the best person to ask this! I mean there’s just so much Diana to take in, and really Wonder Woman is a different experience for everyone. I mean my opinions on…
I will be updating this as I continue to read more comics and as new comics are released :) I’d recommend reading the files with CDisplayEx for Windows, or with SimpleComic for Mac
MARVEL COMICS
WINTER SOLDIER VOL.1 (complete) 2011
(In Trade. This collects: Fear Itself #7.1: Captain America, and Winter Soldier #1-19 all in one large file)
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THEATER OF WAR (complete) 2008 - 2010
(Single One-Shots. These can be read as a collective group or individually)
Operation Zero-Point 001 Prisoners of Duty 001 America First! 001 America the Beautiful 001 A Brother in Arms 001 To Soldier On 001 Ghosts of My Country 001
this mini suffers from some questionable art in places, but it’s generally well written and offers a bit more of an insight into mcu natasha’s past and what drives her. it’s sort of a take on the itsy bitsy spider storyline from 616, updated for the mcu. it’s worth a read imo
for your reading and downloading pleasure, here’s a masterpost of all my favorite comics. to read them on a pc, use cdisplay. to read on a mac, i suggest comic view.
![tonystarks:
“ for your reading and downloading pleasure, here’s a masterpost of all my favorite comics. to read them on a pc, use cdisplay. to read on a mac, i suggest comic view.
Hawkeye [vol. 4]
001 - 002 - 003 - 004 - 005 - 006 - 007 - 008 - 009 -...](https://64.media.tumblr.com/37c91a4bbc39771fe788545f6e79bf67/tumblr_n9r07pa6SM1rgwx9zo1_500.png)
