If you are new to comic books or haven’t read comic books in a while, you are probably wondering what is the best comic book for you to read.
This guide will help you get the perfect match according to your taste.
What is the best comic book for me?
This is a question that is often asked to us.
Unfortunately, the answer is not that easy, of course, when you come in our Montreal comic book store, we will be more than happy to guide you or to tell you what’s “hot”.
However, at the end of the day, everyone has his own tastes and you will probably have to choose for yourself.
Thankfully, our new released are available unwrapped so you can browse the issues before picking the right one for you.
How to choose the best comic book for me?
The best way to find a suitable comic book for you is to follow these three simple steps:
Check the main comic book publishers on the market.
Each comic book publisher offers a different universe, this is not only limited to the heroes, but also the cities they evolve in, the villains that they fight and the global ambience.
Review the list of the most popular comic book heroes and find the one you like the most.
Each comic book reader has a set of favorite Heroes, there is a plethora of Heroes to choose from, some have super-powers (like Superman, Wolverine, Spider-Man), others are just humans vigilantes (such as The Punisher or Batman).
Check out the comic book artists and their art to choose the one you prefer.
One of the greatest pleasures of reading comic books is the artwork, each comic book artist has its own style and it is important to choose the one that you enjoy the most.
Browse through the comic book to review the storytelling style of the writer.
Different writers will tell stories in a different way, the writing style will not only impact the story line but also dialogs and the humor within the story.
Start looking for the best match
In order to help you kick start your search for the perfect comic book for you, we have created a short guide that is meant to introduce newcomers to the Comic book universe.
Our first guide will cover the major comic book publishers out there with some specificity about their Universe, their heroes and what you can generally expect when reading one of their comics.
Our second guide will introduce you to the main heroes in Comic books, in order to be more convenient, they will be sorted by publisher.
Finally, our comic book artists guide will showcase some of the most popular artists while showcasing an example of their work. Please note that this guide will show case also inactive artists in case you want to start reading back issues (old comics).
Unfortunately it is too complicated to present a guide for writers but you should still factor in the storytelling in your decision.
As said in the introduction of this article, please feel free to drop by in our shop and either browse new releases or ask for help if you are undecided as to what to pick.
Comic book terminology (Comic book lingo)
There are some Comic Book related words that you want to understand when jumping (back) into comics.
The most important ones to know are the following:
Comic book:
A comic book is a magazine type book that relates the story of a hero (often a Superhero) over several episodes.
One-Shot:
A one shot comic book is an issue that is telling a story from start to end and can be read outside of any ongoing series.
Trade paperback (TPB):
A trade paperback, sometimes referred to as simply trade or collected edition is a book that is released covering the content of several comic books. It is usually a full story or part of a multi volume set
Mini-series:
As opposed to ongoing series that can run over a hundred comic issues or more, a mini-series will be limited in time and number of issues.
Previews:
Previews is a monthly magazine that lists all Comics to be released two months later (i.e. July for September). It is used by comic shops and their customers to order in advance the comics they want.
New comic book day:
Wednesday is new comic book day (NCBD), it’s the day of the week when comics are released.
Local comic store:
The friendly name given to your local comic shop. Often abbreviated LCS
Multiverse:
For several comic book publishers (mainly Marvel and DC), their universe is split into separate space and time continuities in order for their heroes and villains to be able to mind their own business without impacting other story lines.
Golden age comics:
This term refers to comic books released between the 1930’s and the beginning of the 1950’s
Silver age comics:
This term refers to comic books released between the mid 1950’s and the early 1970’s
Bronze age comics:
This term refers to comic books released between the early 1970’s to circa 1985
Back issues:
Back issues is a term used to describe previous issues of ongoing series. Usually not used for rare and high value issues or any issue prior to 1985
Variant cover:
Quite often, publishers will release comics with alternate covers that are called variants.
First print:
For very popular issues, publishers will sometimes run re-prints of their comic books. In that case, re-prints will be identified on the cover. The content of the comic book itself will usually be completely identical. The notice on the cover being mostly for collectors since re-prints will have far less value than original prints. Please note that in some rare cases (like X-Men gold #1) reprints will be edited to remove an error or a controversial image / text.
What makes a comic book valuable or collector?
If you see comics as an investment, there is no absolute rule that allows to predict the value of a comic in the future. Some however do reach crazy prices (the record sale price is $3.2M for Action Comic #1).
The things that make a comic book valuable are the following:
First issue.
If your comic book is the very first of a series that turns out to be popular, it is more likely gain value as time passes.
Rarity.
It seems obvious, but the less issues of the comics are available for sale, the higher the selling price will be this is very true for rare variants or older comic books.
First appearances of popular heroes.
Some heroes, before having their own series, start in some other hero’s story line. A good example is The Incredible Hulk 181 that features the first full appearance of Wolverine.
Comic book grade
The overall quality of the comic book you have is very important to estimate its value. Even though you might not want to do it for comics that are under $100 in value, most rare comics get graded based on their general condition.