After reading the first issue of 1602 (my first monthly comic), I'm kinda wondering how to approach the whole comics universe, which to me seems disjointed. I'd really like to know whats going on here, like with the X-Men, Daredevil, etc... So, um, are there any definitive collections that I should check out or why dont yall just tell me how the whole system works (does one guy write x-men?)?

Thanks!

Stupid people do stupid things, smart people outsmart each other-SOAD

X-Men just started from scratch about 3 years ago , Ultimate X-men. You might want to just pick up the graphic novels(those are multiple monthly issues together).

It's not what you say anymore...., it's all in how you say it.

I think Neil's going to do a reboot or an alternate history or something-- i don't think it'll be in continuity. Really, its not too hard. Most new Marvel comics have little recaps in the front that let you know how things have been going. The stories change, but the status quo is mostly the same:
Spidey lives in New York, along with Daredevil. Daredevil's secret idenity is known to the public, as is Iron Man's. Spidey's working as a teacher. Mutants are still persecuted, though Magneto is dead. Etc, etc, etc. I suggest going to a comic book messege boad (www.comicbookresources.com) is a good place to start...

aw, screw it. just read the comics for their own sake. Daredevil is great now, as is Ultimate Spider-Man, New X-Men, and some of the Fantastic Four stuff. I don't follow it as much as i used to, though... but read anything by Waid, Morrison, Bendis, Strazynski, or Ennis. I really don't think prior MU knowledge is needed for 1602, though.

See you, space cowboy.

~~~~~~~~~
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey thats me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Bruce Springsteen

http://lon.blogspot.com-- Its a slightly less eloquent me

In terms of the industry as a whole (specifically the superheroes), most of the books take place in a shared universe. That is, most of the superheroes exist in a universe with other superheroes, many of whom have their own titles. The two big universes belong to DC (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc.) and Marvel (Spider-man, Daredevil, Hulk, Captain America, etc.). Things that happen in one title in a shared universe may be referenced in the other titles. Most titles are stand-alone, in that a reader can read only that title without missing anything major. Occasionally, these stand-alone titles will tie a story between two or more titles so you have to buy them all to follow the story. These are called cross-overs. Some of the most popular characters/teams have titles that are often or always cross-overs in order to sell more magazines. If you're at a comic book store, you can always as the clerk about what titles are closely related and which ones can be safely bought by themselves.

Something note: Marvel added a second universe a few years ago, recasting their best teams and characters in a new universe. This is the Ultimate line (The Ultimates, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Spider-man, and I think there was a fourth title). They relate only to each other and not to the main Marvel universe which became popular in the 60's and is still going strong.

As for writers and artists, almost all the superheroes in the main universes are owned by the corporations and not by their creators. DC and Marvel hire writers and artists to take the stories from there, so who worked and is working on a title can vary a great deal. Some teams can be steady for a long period of time (like with Alan Moore and the artists for his Swamp Thing run in the 80's). Some vary wildly (Grant Morrison's run on JLA was handled by a variety of artists and occasional issues written by others, especially Mark Waid). And sometimes one worker is constant while the others can vary (Sandman had a lot of pencillers and inkers - but Neil Gaiman wrote the whole thing, Dave McKean did the all the covers, and Todd Klein did all the lettering).

==============
Gingerly, I clunked down the tunnel, eager to surprise my prey.

For a general overview of characters and their basic interactions, keep an eye out for the DK line of reference books for comics ( www.dk.com ). They collect information on both the major universes and release them in these coffee table books in white covers. I know they've done Marvel Universe, X-men, and Spider-man. Your local library may have one or two of them.

==============
Gingerly, I clunked down the tunnel, eager to surprise my prey.

The problem with books is that they get outdated so fast. Like... a reference book on the Fantastic Four probably lists Dr. Doom as the ruler of Latveria. He usually is, but currrently he's in Hell... unless the next writer just reverses Waid's story and pulls him out.

See how this can get?

See you, space cowboy.

~~~~~~~~~

Join the Church of the Risen Morrison!

Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey thats me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road"

"To fall in love is to create a religion with a fallible God"-- Jorge Luis Borges

http://lon.blogspot.com-- Its a slightly less eloquent me

True enough. But even the outdated ones can give you background on what has happened. It is certainly faster that trying to dig up every single back issue or reading the many, many 'classic' collections.

==============
Gingerly, I clunked down the tunnel, eager to surprise my prey.

Ya, but what's more satisfying-- reading a reference book about the Fantastic Four or reading reprints of classic Lee/Kirby stories? Same goes for all of them-- for the same price as the DK refernece guides, you can get reprints of the classic stories that define these characters.

To give it a Neil connection, I'm pretty sure Lee, Kirby, and Ditko influenced his work... probably Ditko more then some of the others.

See you, space cowboy.

~~~~~~~~~

Join the Church of the Risen Morrison!

Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey thats me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road"

"To fall in love is to create a religion with a fallible God"-- Jorge Luis Borges

http://lon.blogspot.com-- Its a slightly less eloquent me

Punisher! Whoo!

I really hate Punisher. The character, i mean. I've got enough love for Garth Ennis (a sick, twisted love) that i'm liking the series now, though... except when Frank beat up Spider-Man. That was mean.

Excelsior!

~~~~~~~~~

Join the Church of the Risen Morrison!

Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey thats me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road"

"To fall in love is to create a religion with a fallible God"-- Jorge Luis Borges

http://lon.blogspot.com-- Its a slightly less eloquent me

I think my two favorite moments in Punisher were when he beat up Daredevil and Spiderman. It was just a contrast between the cartoony nature of the altruistic, superpowered type vigilante and the more realistic, shellshocked, crazy guy with a lot of guns type of vigilante.

I felt like ripping up that ish with Spider-Man... i don't like seeing my favorite hero beaten to a pulp because some gun-nut (who was originally a Spidey villian) wanted to make a point.
Oh, and Spidey and DD have more complexity then Frank ever will.

Excelsior!

~~~~~~~~~

Join the Church of the Risen Morrison!

Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey thats me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road"

"To fall in love is to create a religion with a fallible God"-- Jorge Luis Borges

http://lon.blogspot.com-- Its a slightly less eloquent me

I think we've both voiced this disagreement before, Lord of Nothings, and I'm ready to call it a draw. You're very attached to some characters that I find cool sometimes, but overrated and eventually rather silly. I love Punisher for his nearly arbitrary violence, you don't. Neither of us is going to change based on anything the other says.

Nope,but I have changed: I think i'm going to love Punisher now for his Ennis-written nearly arbitrary violence.

'Cause pointless violence is cool when its done by Garth Ennis.

Oh, and I have a reprint of the first appearance of Punisher. Its also the first appearnce of The Jackal, who'd later become instrumental in the (incredibly horrible) Clone Saga... just a bit of stupid trivia.

Excelsior!

~~~~~~~~~

Join the Church of the Risen Morrison!

Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey thats me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road"

"To fall in love is to create a religion with a fallible God"-- Jorge Luis Borges

http://lon.blogspot.com-- Its a slightly less eloquent me

PHOOL,

THE PUNISHER(TM) is my favourite MARVEL COMICS(TM) character.

I am a great admirer of any story wherein he makes his point by forcing DAREDEVIL(TM) & SPIDER-MAN(TM) to rethink the propriety of the Value Judgements they have made about him & his methods.

*****************************************

THE LORD OF NOTHINGS,

THE PUNISHER(TM) used Bugboy as a shield; it was THE RUSSIAN(TM) who actually did all the beating.

I thought that it was an example of both tactical brilliance & the high esteem in which THE PUNISHER(TM) holds SPIDER-MAN(TM), for if the latter couldn't take the beating, the former would not have deployed him in the way that he did.

"...Be seeing you!"
MALCOLM XERXES
Stuntman/Actor
http://www.geocities.com/malcolmxerxes/index.html

I don't know if it means he holds Spidey in high esteem. He says something like, I can't hold out for long...but you can take it, can't you, bugboy? Or rather thinks something like that. I saw it more as sort of a joke about all the silly cross-story stuff that goes on in Marvel, as well as DC, I'm not playing favorites, or saying there's anything wrong with crossing story lines. But when, at the end of that issue, Spidey starts to get up and woozily asks Castle what just happened, and the Punisher says, "We had a team-up. You were great," I fall off my chair laughing every time I read it.

Just kidding.

Punny has contempt for Spidey. In the first story, the Jackal tricked him into chasing Spidey, and Punny really dosen't like superheroes. Hell, they even hated each other in the Fox cartoon.

I admit that last line is funny... yay Ennis.

Excelsior!

~~~~~~~~~

Join the Church of the Risen Morrison!

Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey thats me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road"

"To fall in love is to create a religion with a fallible God"-- Jorge Luis Borges

http://lon.blogspot.com-- Its a slightly less eloquent me

Plus there WAS the "Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe" story. That cracks me up too. Onl question is, how'd he kill Wolverine? Since in the Ennis/Dillon story Wolvie survived being run over by a steamroller and getting his face and nuts blown off with a shotgun. I thought THAT teamup only made the "Canuckle-head" seem like more of a badass. Albeit a slightly less intelligent badass.

Relax, you fiends! I'm only joking.

Well, from what i've heard that story made everyone suffer from what we on the Rumbles board like to call PIS-- Plot Induced Stupidity and CIS-- Character Induced Stuupidity.

Really, the second Punny got within five feet of Magneto or Dr. Doom he should be dead before he hit the ground.

Excelsior!

~~~~~~~~~

Join the Church of the Risen Morrison!

Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey thats me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road"

"To fall in love is to create a religion with a fallible God"-- Jorge Luis Borges

http://lon.blogspot.com-- Its a slightly less eloquent me

I think if he decided to go after Magneto, he'd be smart enough to not use anything metal, and to either get him from outside his effective range (much like Spider Robinson's suggestions for killing a psychic) or engage him somewhere with no metal, and use a ceramic knife or a plastic gun or something. As I know nothing about Dr. Doom, I couldn't tell you how Castle would handle him, or who would win. But, in truth, I don't think Ennis will ever pit the Punisher against someone else from Marvel continuity that he would feel he needed to kill.

Relax, you fiends! I'm only joking.