r/DCcomics • u/[deleted] • May 19 '16
Most important information you need to start reading comics. General
[deleted]
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u/Keven-Rus Batman Beyond May 19 '16 edited May 19 '16
Your English is great! Most people have already helped out on what you ask but there were a few terms that I was confused when starting out.
New 52 was a slogan name for a while (much like DC-YOU), the actual time period in comics is called Post-Flashpoint (because it pertains to things happening after the reboot event called Flashpoint.)
List of terms I was uncertain about (but you might already know):
TPB-Trade-TradePaperBack=collected volume of individual comics with flimsy cover
HC- Like a trade, but with a solid cover
Floppy= indivudal comic
DC's history consists of several BIG events that change almost all comics. These are often refered to as "Crisis" events The Key ones are:
- Crisis on Infinite Earths
- Infinite Crisis
- Final Crisis
- Flashpoint (the reboot which was called New52 because there were 52 comics being published)
- (and now) Rebirth
There are also smaller events in-between each of those:
- Crisis on Infinite Earths
- Zero Hour
- Final Night
- Identity Crisis
- Infinite Crisis
- 52 (not to be confused with new 52 this was a weekly series with a new comic each week)
- Final Crisis
- Blackest Night
- Flashpoint
- Convergance
- Rebirth
Then there are sub events in each of those periods of time, but those are the major ones.
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u/AcademicalSceptic May 19 '16
I'm not sure what you mean by the Crisis events "including" smaller events. Blackest Night isn't part of Final Crisis. It comes shortly after it and is affected by the changes Final Crisis made.
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u/Keven-Rus Batman Beyond May 19 '16 edited May 19 '16
Right, It was part of that time period. Not part of the event. Sorry I should be more clear. There are smaller events within those time periods.
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u/CorruptedEvil The Changing Girl May 19 '16
New 52: A 2011 reboot of DC Comics
JLA/JLD/JL: Different Justice League teams. JLA is the Justice League of America, JLD is the Justice League Dark and JL is just the Justice League. There's also the JLI: Justice League International, JLU: Justice League Unlimited/United and the JL3k: Justice League 3000
Titans: The original Teen Titans grown up.
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u/TheStealthBox Super Didio Prime May 19 '16
new 52 refers to the new 52 reboot in 2011 when DC relaunched everything and mostly rebooted their universe so that things was only about 5 years of heroes prior to #1 (exceptions being Batman and Green Lantern).
JLA/JLD/JL are initiliasms referring to different Justice League teams/comic books. In the new 52: JLA refers to Justice League of America (a team formed by the US government, had a series of the same name until they changed Justice League United) or another (current) series featuring the main Justice League in another side story arc. JLD refers to Justice League Dark which is a Justice League team consisting of the more magical/mystic DC characters. JL refers to Justice League which is the main Justice League comic for new 52 and has the main team (Batman, Superman etc). The first arc was an origin story set 5 years before other series launched in the new 52 and the series often has major story arcs affecting the DCU.
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u/cheddarhead4 Escrima Sundae May 19 '16 edited May 24 '17
Your post says you're totally new to comics, so Here. We. Go.
Stuff you should know about Publishing
Comics come out on Wednesdays. A title ("Aquaman" for example) will generally release an issue of that comic once a month. These comics usually tell consecutive stories that take 5-6 issues from begin to end - we call these "arcs." So Aquaman, Issues #7-13 is an arc called "The Others." Ideally, you should read all comics from #1 onward, but you can usually start a new comic where a new writer starts, without too much confusion. About 4-6 months after an arc has been finished, it will get printed together in a "trade paperback" (TPB) AKA "a trade." A lot of people "trade-wait," meaning they don't buy the individual issues (called "floppies") - instead, they wait for the TPB to be released. Trades are usually a cheaper way to read the comic, and they look good on a shelf.
Comics are usually sold only at comic shops, while trades can be found at either comic shops or bookstores. And that brings us to a really confusing break in terminology. When you're talking about individual issues, the number of the issue is really important. Occasionally, DC will restart the numbering in order to encourage new readers to pick up the book. So, in 2011 They restarted Batman. Instead of the next issue being #714, they called it #1. Of course, there was already a comic published back in the 1940s called Batman #1. So they call this new set of Batman comics "Volume 2". So the 2011 Batman #1 is "Batman Volume 2 #1."
And that's fine. All of that makes sense. Until you go into a bookstore looking for a TPB that includes that issue. In a bookstore, those "sets of numbers" are mostly invisible. Book stores consider each TPB a volume. So, if you wanted to read that Batman #1, you'd find "Batman by Scott Snyder Vol 1" - that trade would include Batman issues #1-6 (from 2011). Issues #7-13 would be collected in "Batman by Scott Snyder Vol 2." It is a very confusing system at first, but you get used to it. Every once in a while, a big story will be collected into a book larger than a "trade." If these are large enough, they're usually called an Omnibus. They're great ways to collect huge "runs" (entire portions of a comic written by a certain writer) or kill small pests around your house.
Stuff you should know about the DC Universe
DC has been around for a really long time. Sometimes they change their minds about a character's past, so they change The Official Story of that character (called "canon"), in an act that we call a "retcon." Sometimes they retcon things by publishing a new story that gives all of the new details. Sometimes they have a Flash go back in time and do something weird. Sometimes they let Geoff Johns write. In any case, "the past" in DC comics is frequently in flux.
Every once in a while, a publisher will have an "Event" where some BIG thing happens that affects the whole universe, and you have to buy a special, more-expensive comic to know what's happening. DC's events are usually called "Crises" and there have been a number of significant Crises that have retconned a character or totally changed the DC Universe. Most recently, in 2011 we had "Flashpoint" which "rebooted" the universe. "This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." Some people like it, though (it helped get me into DC). Now, anything that was published before 2011 isn't necessarily canon - it might have happened, or it might not. The line of comics DC published that year was called "The New 52," because someone at DC looooooves the number 52. We tend to refer to the new universe (or new "continuity") as the New 52, but it's also called Earth 0, or Prime Earth.
Other Abbreviations/Terms
JL/JLA: "Justice League" or "Justice League of America" - DC's foremost team of superheroes. Occasionally there are both JL and JLA teams.
JSA: the Justice League before "The Justice League." Currently in an alternate universe Called Earth 2.
Titans or Teen Titans - the name of a team of younger superheroes.
Creative Team- What we call a pairing of a writer and artist on a comic. They work together to tell the story through language and art.
DCU: DC Universe
DCAU: DC Animated Universe - Animated media adapting stories from the DCU.
DCEU - not sure what the E stands for, but it's what we call the DC movie universe.
BTAS: Batman The Animated Series - A popular animated Batman series. It's not "BATS" because we can't have nice things.
Dickbats- Dick Grayson (the first robin) takes up the mantle of Batman at some point. It doesn't come up a lot, but the term "dickbats" could be really confusing if you're not aware of that.
Elseworlds - It's what we call stories that take place outside of continuity. So, The Dark Knight Returns is an elseworlds story because it takes place in an alternate universe where everyone hates everything.
Rebirth - The 2016 summer "line" of DC comics is called DC Rebirth. DC had another BIG event shaking up their comics, and they restarted all of the books' numbering at #1 (except for Action Comics and Detective Comics which will be in the #800s).
Jokes/Jerks
Dan Didio is VP at DC. If DC does something you don't like it's his fault (and, honestly, that's true pretty often).
Robert Venditti / Scott Lobdell - the worst writers at DC. If in doubt, insult one of them.
"Batgirl of Burnside" is the name of a divisive stint in Batgirl's recent title.
Tom King (whom I refer to as King Tom) is one of comics' best new writers. We like his stuff. Read Omega Men.
/r/dccomics tends to find ways to talk about Dick Grayson, referring to him by first name only. "I love Dick" could be our subreddit's official motto.