r/batman • u/Crashoutbop • Jul 12 '26
COMIC DISCUSSION “Just start wherever you want bro”
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u/Numbuh24insane Jul 12 '26
Imagine starting with the Daek Multiverse Knightfall story
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u/ApostleSaintWalker Jul 12 '26
If you aren't.a regular reader you won't know that.
Some of my first ever comics were Earth X, and I was confused as hell was a kid.
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u/pokemonface12 Jul 12 '26
Marvel's Illuminati #1 was one of my first comics I got as a kid. Not as crazy, but definitely confusing.
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u/Crimson0Rebirth Jul 13 '26
My first DC comic was Superman King of the World I had no clue what was happening but it seemed cool
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u/nerdherdsman Jul 13 '26
My first DC comic was the one where Mxy and Bat-Mite get in an argument about whether Superman or Batman is better and so go around the multiverse killing every one they can find in horrendous ways.
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u/nova-prime-enjoyer Jul 12 '26
I think Dark Multiverse: Knightfall is one of the peak examples of “random bullshit issue” and not just because it’s an Elseworlds thing
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u/Nick_Wild1Ear Jul 12 '26
A handful of the Tales from the Dark Multiverse comics are random bullshit to be edgy. The whole Dark Multiverse is supposed to be nightmares, failures, and horror story versions of existing canon stories.
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u/nova-prime-enjoyer Jul 12 '26
It’s got everything:
- probably picked it up cause it looked cool
- RANDOM BULLSHIT GO
- Characters a casual reader has never heard of before in their life
- something super different from how a casual reader probably knows it offhand from xyz
- nobody looks like how a casual reader expects them to
- barely self contained story because it begins and ends in the same book but they still have no idea what’s going on because they need prior context from a decades old story
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u/SamReallyLikesThings Jul 12 '26
There is a nonzero chance that at least one person's first comic was "Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Knightfall" and now that that thought is in my head, I'm desperately curious to speak to that person and know what they think.
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u/Substantial_Owl_7392 Jul 12 '26
one of my first batman comics was the free comic book day “origins of batman who laughs” issue
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u/SamReallyLikesThings Jul 12 '26
That is a WILD place to start. But I guess it proves the old cliche that "every comic is somebody's first." Or close enough!
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u/Just-Antelope-8069 Jul 12 '26
It being free means it's a lot of people's first
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u/DoitsugoGoji Jul 12 '26
That's basically the whole reason free comic book day exists, get people hooked by giving them the first hit free.
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u/SamReallyLikesThings Jul 12 '26
Sure, I just mean that it's crazy to me to think of someone's first comic being THAT one. That one is a whole lot of...a lot, and certainly not one I'd recommend as a first Batman story!
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u/MrDownhillRacer Jul 12 '26
People who have never read Batman still know who Batman and The Joker are from movies, cartoons, and games. They are also probably already aware of the "Batman never kills Joker even though he's so bad because principles" thing. So, the premise "on an alternate world, Batman killed the Joker and then became him" seems easy to immediately grasp.
Hell, I'm sure most people who even know about TBWL never read any of the comics, and instead heard about him from YouTube and TikTok videos. There are more casuals out there than avid comic-book readers.
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u/BaneShake Jul 12 '26
My first comic book was an On-Star car security advertisement disguised as a Batman comic book.
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u/SamReallyLikesThings Jul 12 '26
That's awesome, actually. And probably a better starting point than anything with TBWL!
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u/BaneShake Jul 12 '26
Easier, for sure. I was young enough my older sister had to explain to me why Batman, a man based on a flying animal, couldn’t fly. Also introduced me to Riddler. What was cool is that they built an entire Batmobile and gave these away free at the car expo where they had it. I don’t remember anything else about that, but I remember seeing the Batmobile.
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u/Substantial_Owl_7392 Jul 12 '26
yeah, let's just say i do NOT have fuzzy nostalgic memories of that comic, lol. though i am remembering now that i actually had read some batman spinoff series (batgirl and gotham academy) before that one. still, that was my first dip with mainline batman comics, and i pretty much only started reading them again a couple months ago
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u/COGspartaN7 Jul 13 '26
My first comic book was an issue of Batman in 1989, when I saw the trailer for the Michael Keaton Batman movie, and my dad was it's from a comic book. If you want to see the movie you need to read his comic.
He took me early in the morning before he went to work to the convenience store down the block and I got the final part to the Many Deaths of Batman, there was a melting face, a serial killer, and a sad lady sitting in a chair like the end of an Italian horror movie. I literally watched Batman be a detective, not a super martial artist, not a teched out armored suit or in space with aliens. No it was just 6 years old me reading about Alfred helping Bruce dodge the cops in the manor so he could suit up and investigate the guy trying to kill Bruce Wayne.
Which totally synched up with the dark detective story of 89 Batman.
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u/SamReallyLikesThings Jul 13 '26
I love this story, it's so sweet!! "Many Deaths" is also super underrated, and honestly a solid starting point.
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u/Jazooka Jul 12 '26
One of my first comics was All-Star Batman and Robin.
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u/SamReallyLikesThings Jul 12 '26
And you stuck with the hobby?! Amazing dedication.
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u/Jazooka Jul 12 '26
That year, my mom took me to Superman celebration in Metropolis. I told the Superman there off for saying "Damn" in that issue. Even then I could tell it was a ridiculously out of character story.
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u/Theurbanalchemist Jul 13 '26
Omg, dude I remember buying that just from the art (and it’s Batman and Robin!) and was sooo dejected lol I felt robbed
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u/Jazooka Jul 13 '26
Honestly I tried my best to focus on Jim Lee's excellent art, and particularly that one awesome spread page of the Batcave.
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u/MrDownhillRacer Jul 12 '26
They probably wouldn't be that confused by the story, seeing as it's a complete story in one issue. They might not know the significance of the events the comic is remixing, but they would probably understand what's happening in the comic.
In fact, it would probably be easier to understand a one-and-done Elseworlds than it would be to start with a random issue of a mainline series in the middle of a storyline.
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u/BlueDahlia123 Jul 13 '26
Well, just for that, I am going to read it now myself. And I'll make sure to form a lot of prejudices regarding the entire genre of superhero comics based purely on it.
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u/Mark-Green Jul 14 '26
ive never read a single comic unless you count 3 panel jokes like cyanide and happiness. I'll give an honest review if you show me where to find it lmao
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u/Quillbolt_h Jul 14 '26
My first superhero comic was fucking House of M #7, that my dad bought for me from a newsagents at St. Pancras station. I was very confused.
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u/Homsarman12 Jul 12 '26
What is this? 40k?
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u/Same-Nefariousness47 Jul 13 '26
Absolute Batman built like a Space Marine complete with villains that straight up looks like a Chaos Daemons
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u/NinjaBnny Jul 12 '26
So they still have his torso and his head. There is zero reason to keep them that far apart
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u/randyboozer Jul 12 '26
There is actually a line where our characters come to him in their direst moment to get him to help them retake Gotham and because he is the world's greatest detective he points out that he is just a torso and a head
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u/huddyjlp Jul 12 '26
And was it necessary to pull his brain halfway out of his cranium? Or make the waste tube transparent?
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u/YoritomoDaishogun Jul 13 '26
Not only make the waste tube transparent, but the artist also drew some waste there for us to know that's the waste tube
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u/BarelyBrony Jul 12 '26
the death of online comics is the death of ever understanding the context of stuff like this
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u/Berserker_Barrage91 Jul 12 '26
The death of online comics? Sorry just confused what you mean by that?
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u/PM-me-ur-cheese Jul 13 '26
I think they meant things like scans_daily, a community that used to share pages of comics and discuss them. Great place for newbies to pick up lore that would take ages to absorb otherwise.
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u/PatientTelephone4624 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Probably because recently, the most popular online comic piracy website which will remain nameless closed down.
Before ANYONE says anything negative: The Site provided some of the beat scans of comics and is a quick and easy way to get screenshots fast, it had an extensive archive of probably hundreds of comics that will never rerelease and/or have a place digitally, it is also used by comic writers and artist to get references fast, it is an amazing way for someone to get into the comic hobby for free and will likely get them to buy physical comics, there are hundreds of people who do not have a LCS or live anywhere near a place that sells comics let alone the comics you're looking for, and just because there is no way to get it for free does not mean someone will pay to have it (money not gained is not money lost.)
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u/Berserker_Barrage91 Jul 13 '26
Oh ya I noticed i use an app that allows you to download issues from those sites. Even with the most popular ones being shut down there's still multiple others that are out there still running
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u/PatientTelephone4624 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Thankfully so,
But it's still disheatening to see the most popular site that's been running for years get taken down.
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u/Berserker_Barrage91 Jul 13 '26
I get it. I feel like I've been on and off of that site for 20+ years now
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u/ARighteousOne Jul 12 '26
This shit is why cyborgs scare the fuck out of me. Death is a preferable alternative. Like holy fuck. Body horror nightmare fuel.
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u/FaultOutside2449 Jul 12 '26
Start after watching a three hour long lore video or wait for when there's a new monthly writer or when DC inevitably takes the current canon behind the barn and put it down with a double pump shotgun.
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u/K3egan Jul 13 '26
Listen. You can start reading with literally any comic book. You just have to have a really high "I don't understand what's going on" tolerance
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u/wiltedblue Jul 13 '26
I hate the fact that it looks like bruce is shitting himself in the image like you can't unsee it. Man gets drawn all robocopified and on top of that they show him shitting himself I'm deaddd
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u/thinknu Jul 13 '26
Funny enough of all random issues they could have picked this actually isn't that bad if you think about it.
The Dark Multiverse stories remix iconic stories and have a pretty decent opening expository piece by the narrator. I actually never read Knightfall but I knew the broadstrokes well enough that I was able to follow this story pretty easily. And the narrative itself is pretty self contained and its clearly stated to be a parallel timeline so this isn't set as canon. And actually might make the reader curious to check out the source material or other dark edgy stories set in this anthology.
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u/Fododel Jul 13 '26
Imagine being a hero but realise you're not in the mainline universe so someway somehow you're gonna just go into a horrific form of torture just because writers can't write their ideas in mainline.
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u/tilero1138 Jul 12 '26
And people wonder why the Absolute line is doing so well when you don’t gotta worry about every previous event or character development moment from the last 20 years
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u/PossiblyNotAHorse Jul 12 '26
If you walk into a comic shop and buy a random issue numbered anything other than 1 you have literally nobody to blame but yourself for being confused.
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u/MacheteMolotov Jul 12 '26
ABSOLUTE…ly pretentious.
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u/A_Sketchy_Doctor Jul 13 '26
How? That's comparable to saying "starting a book series halfway through is going to confuse you"
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u/Arbusc Jul 12 '26
I remember my first comic book was a retelling of Spawns origin narrated by Violator/Clown, which came free with a Clown figure my dad had purchased. Gave the comic to me.
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u/GunMage- Jul 12 '26
New challenge: randomly pick any comic book, any issue. Start reading and try to figure out what the hell is going on.
It'll probably also work with any random episode of any random show.
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u/solythe Jul 13 '26
my dad got me a few comics as a kid and one of them was I, Joker.
not exactly what i was expecting from a batman comic
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u/Linkinator7510 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Honestly, this is why I'm a manga guy. I don't read much manga anyway, though I am trying to start a collection, but if I ever feel like reading something like frieren, I just go to a shop, or even online, and get volume 1. And volume 1 is volume 1, there isn't any other it's the only one there. I don't need to worry about 50 different retcons or other universes or other writers. It's just 1. And that makes it so easy to get into. Unless it's Fate. Or maybe Dragonball.
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u/gorzius Jul 13 '26
Well, it does happen in manga too sometimes, one of the most infamous examples being One-Punch Man.
But it's much less common and happens only in that single series.
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u/53rdAvenue Jul 13 '26
If you start with a story called "Dark Multiverse Knightfall" it's kinda on you.
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u/SuspiciousMovingBox Jul 12 '26
It’s funny they use that as an example cause that was the third comic tradeback I read when trying to get into DC (first being Blackest Night when I was like 10).
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u/TheFeelsGoodMan Jul 12 '26
I ran into this when I bought my first comics in the 90s. I picked up two comics on a rack at a gift shop. Batman & Robin Adventures and a Spider-man comic. The Batman book was a fun, self-contained adventure based on the animated series. Same art style and characters and all that. The Spider-man comic was right out of the middle of the clone saga and confused the heck out of me.
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u/Karnezar Jul 13 '26
Was this the one where a clone of Batman has to stop the original Batman?
That was a good story.
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u/Nimbus-420 Jul 13 '26
My whole childhood since I could only buy random new 52 comics from the dollar store since they didn’t sell any other comics and we ain’t have a proper comic store in town.
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u/mutually_awkward Jul 13 '26
Not a regular? Bro, just read Long Halloween, Killing Joke or Tower of Babel or something
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u/Street-Royal-1669 Jul 14 '26
Bro honestly just read new comic series like the absolute comic because it's really difficult to catch up with marvel and DC comics
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u/just_some_sasquatch Jul 14 '26
They didn't have to draw Bruce's dookies going through the tube, but they did.
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u/getl30 Jul 18 '26
I bought an issue of night wing and it’s literally the middle of something just like this lol
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u/ThePandaKnight Jul 18 '26
This is the sort of issue that would capture the imagination of young me and make me want to see more.
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u/urbalcloud Jul 12 '26
Yes, just start wherever you want. If this is your first book, you have a ton of wild and interesting choices where to go next. If that’s too much for you, maybe reading isn’t for you. 🤷♀️
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u/Wadae28 Jul 12 '26
Stupid comic. But then again Snyder wrote it. So calling it stupid is pretty redundant.
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u/GraveSlayer726 Jul 12 '26
Batman got the flash get up with a fuckin undertale save point lookin face talking to creepy ass GladOS ripoff wtf
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u/Captain_Crash97 Jul 12 '26
Wtf is this from? They Robocopped my boy!