• UncleJoe [comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        So first you gotta start with the last episode but then you go all the way back to the first two and then you watch episode 7 and then you watch all of Serial Experiments Lain to prepare for episode 3, after which you must read up on every single school of thought in Greek Eudaimonian Philosophy starting with stoicism, once you fully digest that you can finally watch episodes 10 and 11, and when you finally get to Endless Eight you gotta watch it 15532 times before continuing with the rest of season 2, and then you

      • SorosFootSoldier [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        With Gundam you can't go wrong watching in production order. Things get messy in the expanded lore of manga, model kits, hobby magazines from Japan, but a lot of that stuff is supplemental and can be skipped over.

  • DragonNest_Aidit [they/them,use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Seriously what's the fucking point of western comics, literally rehashing the same god damn plotline since Truman presidency. Oh no Joker shitted and pissed Robin for the one billionth time how could anyone foresee this.

    • GVAGUY3 [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Superhero monopoly. I really wish major publishers would push more for non Superhero comics.

    • Deadend [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Have you read shonen? They are all the same story with slightly different hair.

      • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        the difference is that most shonen that get big have something special in them. Kimetsu no yaiba focuses on the beauty of human life and struggle, short and weak as it may be, Jujutsu Kaisen has conflict of how to keep going despite your own weakness against established power and a world about to collapse, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has really unique abilities and weird plot points, and so on. Sure, there are 30 imitators for every unique one, but that's better than thirty batman comics all running at the same time.

  • LGOrcStreetSamurai [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    I am big American comic fan. I hate that can't just reocmmend a starting position to my friends. It is really annoying. That's why I tend to like indie comics like Spawn, Hellboy, Outer Darkness, or Bitter Root, you can just pick up #1 and move forward. Better yet pick up the volumes collections. It feels much better when one writer or and one artist just tag-team their way through a whole series.

      • LGOrcStreetSamurai [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Agreed. It really sucks that big box chains basically make it impossible to actually support writers,artists, and other talented comic makers. I wish I could directly pay creators. Thats why I am starting to support much smaller creators that are just as good as the big publishers

  • SorosFootSoldier [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    This so much. For a minute I thought about getting into american comics and my god the depth, billions of issues, story arcs, characters, universes, crossovers etc. etc. etc. Manga? Chapter 1, here ya go.

    • CthulhusIntern [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I once subscribed to Marvel Unlimited. I quickly realized that I needed to get a Reading Order Guide, and even then, the reading order guide itself was quite complex.

      • SorosFootSoldier [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        If you like the depth, it's certainly a plus but I have OCD and feeling like I'd need to read everything within western comics feels like a nightmare.

    • Bugger [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      That's why I(mostly), read independent stuff. Like saga, watchmen, preacher etc.

  • Kanna [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    There's so many places to read manga scans for free too!

  • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    To be fair, this is probably mostly limited to giant superhero franchise schlock that has been going on for over 50 years. When I read Bone as a kid, I also started from volume 1 and ended at volume 9 or 10 or however many there were

  • Sen_Jen [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Unless you want to continue a manga after finishing an anime, in which case you have to start at chapter 309. Or if you're watching One Punch Man you have to read the manga and the webcomic and the redraws. Or if you watch Tokyo Ghoul and you have to find the seven bust of Napoleon scattered all across the globe to continue the story

  • mittens [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    True Chad position is starting from anywhere you want and then infer everything through context

    • Deadend [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Right? Psylocke shows up and you know what she does - "this is the focused totality of my psychic power!"

      Only weak nerds who worry how Monkey D. Luffy will win this fight need to read everything in linear order.

      • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I read western comics when I could find them as a kid, it really wasn't that hard to keep up. When a character showed up who wasn't around for a million issues, there was usually an author's note explaining. I read most of the green lantern blackest night comics as a kid without any knowledge of what was going on, and mostly followed it fine. It made more sense as I got access to more of the comics that set it up, but I still knew bright green guys need to fight grey and black guys with help of the rest of the rainbow, simple enough.

  • Deadend [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    These arguments are for dumb babies.

    Go watch wresting, or a soap opera. You don’t start from the beginning of time.

    Most major comics have been built based around the current year for the last 20 years.

    Just pick a story arc that sounds cool and good at it, if you can’t handle The fact you don’t know everything, don’t fucking whine, keep reading.

      • Deadend [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I like my comics with less burnout. American comics are bad about payments and rights and stress, manga industry in Japan is even worse.

  • Bugger [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    I'd agree but Immortal Hulk was a banger. Haven't read any marvel in years but I loved it, even though I didn't know many of the characters.

  • Ithorian [comrade/them, he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Start here!

    Seriously Immortal Hulk is great and it covers all of the back story, you don't need to know anything going into it.

  • GVAGUY3 [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I do think the Manga scene is more visibly diverse than the American scene. I'm hesitant to say Manga is better than Western Comics because I really don't know much about them besides superheros. That being said, Berserk is the best of any of the scenes.

    Both scenes do have major labor issues tho... The Manga scene the worst of all. Hopefully it gets changed as their greatest, Kentaro Miura, died.