this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2024

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Comic Books

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I'm so lost..... (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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So, over on (a pirate site) I see they have Venom Wars #2.

Hey, great! I like Venom. But I'm not a regular comic book reader. I'm very much a newbie. So I figure "Well, thats part 2, I should get part 1 first."

And that's where all the trouble began. There's like 10 different comic branches all called "Venom Wars 1" and they all have different covers. And they all have assumingly different stories!

I just want to read a Venom comic book, where he does the Venom things! And now I see the description "The symbiot has bonded with Eddie, and his son Derek"

WHO THE FUCK IS DEREK??? I thought Eddie was supposed to be a high schooler in Peter Parkers class! How does a 16 year old have a son???

So now I'm REALLY confused! I feel like I need a comic before the comic to get me caught up to the comic, but only if THATS the comic I'm supposed to read, because there's also 10 comics all named the same thing.....and I'm not experienced enough to know what the fuck I'm doing.

I assume I'M the probem, with my lack of knowledge on the subject, but also.........what the hell even is this? I thought "Venom Wars #1" would be enough in the search bar to get me the comic to read about Venom.

I'm not even sure what "Venom Wars" is, but I assume it's Venom, having some kind of war from Venom's perspective with Spiderman, or maybe Carnage. Or whomever. But I assume it's a story told through Venom/Eddies perspective. But where do I start? I assumed #1 would be the start of the story.

And now I'm overwhelmed, and don't know what is going on.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

https://www.howtolovecomics.com/2020/11/04/donny-cates-venom-reading-order/

I like to aim for the collector's edition volume sets if I'm going through a long-running series. So starting with

Venom by Donny Cates Volume 1: Rex Collects: Venom (2018 series) #1-6

and working your way down the list is a good way to go.

Alternatively, just go with the VENOMNIBUS By Cates & Stegman which came out in 2022.

I agree that it sometimes feels like the industry is designed to confuse you. But the good news is that you've got a full 36 books and change to work through and enjoy.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Oooooooh, that list is just what I need!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

(Whew) now that the mod post is out of the way, lets talk about the actual question:

Generally, when there's a big event like this, someone will put out a reading order or checklist. Sometimes it's Marvel themselves on the last page or couple of pages of every book, other times it's a fan source like this:

https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comics/event/14402/venom-war

There were actually FOUR books before Venom War #1.

Also, when it comes to a character you aren't familiar with, there are fan sites that run down every single appearance of theirs.

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Dylan_Brock_(Earth-616)

https://cmro.travis-starnes.com/character_details.php?page=3&list_type=1&limit=30&order_listing=1&character=29625

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I used the ever helpful wiki to dig into this. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venom_War

It seeks the one you found mentioning Dylan is #1 in the series. There also appears to be a prelude series.

Not sure if these will explain who Dylan is. I clicked through the wiki but it got confusing. Superhero stuff always confused me.

The other #1 issues you found looks like the titles from the "tie in" comics.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Please do not link to piracy sites. Lemmy.World can't afford lawyers. ;)

I'll give you a chance to edit the post because it is a good question, but I'll have to remove it otherwise.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Edited. I originally put it in, because I feel it may be important for others to be able to search the same site I'm seeing and see the same things. Although, I don't see how Lemmy.World would be liable. If anything the website that I edited out would be liable. And possible me personally, although I doubt Marvel or DC or any other big company would try to sue an individual for linking to another website, with that other website doing the actual infringing hosting.

Just to be clear to others who saw this after the edit, the hosting material was never on Lemmy, it was never on the fediverse, it was always on another 3rd party website. I simply gave the name of the website, which I guess auto links it as a clickable link. This in turn takes you to their website, no longer on Lemmy. I would give a cheeky little hint as to where this site is, but if mods are taking the concept of pirating this seriously, then I'll just leave it at that. I just wish you guys could see what I see for the sake of the discussion.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Yeah, unfortunately the Admins have made it clear they can't take chances and I can't say I blame them! Same goes for ROM sites for emulation.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I feel your pain and understand the confusion. The Venom series was pretty good a few years ago under Cates. It’s gotten a little silly and away from the essence of the character in my opinion. It appears that Venom War may result in Eddie and the summits suit coming back together for a reset under a new creative team at the end of this year or early next year.

It will be interesting to see what the next creative team is and what their plans are. I’d personally like a series that was more focused on the headspace and psychological aspects of the character but the Venom series has been pretty bombastic lately.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So I just read Seperation Anxiety. It was a 4 part series from 1995. But the pages said "Copyright Marvel 2016".

So I'm even more confused.

But that story wasn't self contained. It STARTED with Eddie Brock looking like Aquaman for some reason. And he's in a pod, already in jail. His symbiot already seperated from him. But they made references to what he did in the past, with little astricts like "if you want to read THIS story, check out comic number 574" or whatever. In the first issue, there were three astricts referencing three different series.

So apperently to read any comic, I guess you need to start in 1940s, and then read thousands.

Are there any comics where venom has a clear start to the story, and a clear end, and its all self contained?

Start here, go in order, the issue numbers make sense, and it's X number of issues long. Thats the end.

And if someone wants to make a sequal, they can, but again, self contained.

Am I asking too much? Or am I just too inexperienced to know where to look?

Do you have any reccomendations?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That copy of Separation Anxiety was probably published in 2016.

There are an almost infinite amount of stories. Especially in the early-mid 90s. The editors liked to make sure there was some level of continuity and those little asterisks ( *read about this in xxxxx) are mainly a way for people to understand there’s more to read.

It’s not necessarily essential, you typically will just assume what has happened elsewhere, and comic subtext was NOT subtle (especially in the 80s and 90s!), sometimes the character will just completely summarise that plot from elsewhere in a thought bubble.

But it can lead you down a rabbit hole of linking a bunch of different books and stories together.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

So they re-publish older comics (in this case, 21 years older) at later dates? Are there any differences between the new ones and the originals? Do they update things to keep in line with things that may not have existed 21 years prior? Or is it essentially a literal copy/paste/publish kind of thing?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

They don’t change it. It’s just re-printing to keep popular storylines available.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

From time to time they do reprint old famous runs. Back in 2019 they did a reprint of Hulk #181 (maybe 180 too) the first appearance of Wolverine. Throughout much of 2019 they did these really famous issues and runs at $1 an issue. Iirc they even kept the original adverts in them. Basically nothing changed, just making older stuff more accessible to newer readers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So I recently saw Deadpool vs Wolferine. I was just in the mall, buying shoes, and the thing is, size 15s are VERY hard to find in person. But I insist on doing things in person. So I expected to have to go to a shitload of stores. DXL is my usual source, but their selection was just atrocious, so the next week I decided to make a day of it. Literally the first store I walked into had shoes in my size. What I expected to be a 6 hour soul sucking time actually took 15 minutes. As I walk out of the shoe store, there's a theater in the mall.

Innitially I was just going to buy some popcorn, because I wanted some theater style popcorn. Then I saw Wolferine vs Deadpool was playing. Didn't even know that was a thing. I figured "Hell, I got free time. I don't have any shoes to buy. My whole day is free. Fuck it, lets see this thing."

Here's what's important to note here. I never saw any of the X-Men movies. I never saw any of the deadpool movies. I never saw any of the movies that would be considered important to see before this one. So for me, a LOT of the references, and cameos, and whatnot all went right over my head. I later learned the guy they got to play Gambit in the movie was actually a really big deal. I was just like "Hey, cool, it's Gambit."

So now, you saying that Wolferine first appeared in The Hulk comics makes me wonder if that brief moment they showed Wolferine fighting The Hulk was a nod to that, or if the flashback really was a flashback to something from a previous movie.

Personally I wish Deadpool had picked the 5'3 Wolferine. I'm pretty sure that's what he's supposed to actually be anyways in the comics. If we're going to have a non-canon wolferine, and if the actor is ACTUALLY 5'3, that just seems like a win-win for everyone involved.

Also, did Wolferine SERIOUSLY never wear a superhero costume before THIS movie??? Isn't there like 4 X-Men movies, and then like 5 more Wolferine solo movies??? And he NEVER wore a yellow/blue superhero costume until the final battle of THIS movie. And it's not even the "real" wolferine. SERIOUSLY???? HOW??? JUST HOW????

Also, what the hell was the head agency doing allowing a guy to build an existance destroying machine, and they didn't even KNOW??? And then they come in at the end like "Ok, what happened here?" I'm in the theater thinking "YOU NOT DOING YOUR JOB, THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED HERE!!!" They're supposed to oversee all the different existence agencies to make sure everything goes swimmingly, and they just trust some guy on his word, and leave him unsupervised indefinately until they come a wisker away from ending all existances everywhere??? Oh NOW you want to walk in, and act like you run the show? Pssshhhhh!!! I work at an airport, and I get my badge checked dozens of times a day to make sure I belong wherever I am. And all I do is push people in wheelchairs! You expect me to believe this agency is tasked with ensuring the safety of the very concept of existence, and they're just like "Yeah, we'll check in on you......never."

Sorry. I'm ranting. It's just I saw that movie last weekend, and I don't know anyone who cares about anything super hero related. I have a casual interest, but you know how it is when you walk out of a movie. First thing you want to do is talk about it. Well, I haven't been able to for about 10 days now. So this is like the pressure in the kettle coming out.

Whew. Ok. Rant over. You just reminded me of a brief 10 second shot from a movie, and all THAT came out. Yes. It was a lot. Sorry.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Yes, the Wolverine vs Hulk scene was a nod to Wolvie’s first appearance.

No Wolverine has never worn a comic accurate suit prior to Deadpool and Wolverine. There were the black suits from the X-Men movies. But nothing comic accurate.

Yes Logan is 5’3” in the comics. There were rumors they would show that through movie magic, like was done in the Lord of the Rings. John Rhys Davies is the tallest of the actors, but plays one of the shortest. I always felt the height was not an issue in the movies. Plus it got rid of the little man short fuse stereotype. Logan was just a cranky old bastich.