Entry Level Geek: Marvel Comics Reading Chronology

I’ve been back here at Hijinks for just under a month, I’ve brought you The MMA Minute, T.W.I.S.T., Saturday’s Shenanigans, and helped to re-popularize (re-popularize? Is that even a word?) Hijinks Reviews of all sorts. It only makes sense that I’d squeeze in one more new ‘theme’.  I’m not sure anybody is actually reading these, but I’m still crankin’ them out regardless!

With that entry out of the way, welcome to Entry Level Geek. This title inadvertently describes the reason I’m here at Hijinks in the first place! Said nicely, I’m not at the same level of geekdom or nerdery as the rest of our terrific staff, you probably realized that after the first or second post I made. But they haven’t kicked me out yet, so I must trudge forward. Entry Level Geek will include an assortment of things but will probably center mostly around comics and maybe some rumors about upcoming movies based on comics (Avengers anyone? The next Batman flick?). I chose Entry Level Geek because I’ve just recently begun my trip into the world of comics, so I’m far from an expert, but I’m having fun taking it all in.

To find out what all this nonsense is about, follow me through the jump.

Before I started actually reading comics, I would usually refer to the Marvel Comics Database and the DC Comics Database. These were great sites to get both general and specific information on any superhero under either of these umbrellas. But when I decided to take the plunge and start to read the comics for myself instead of just gleaning other people’s knowledge, I wanted to be sure to do it the right way, chronologically.

I understood comics enough to know that there is an overall story that each issue for every character helps to move along. Characters would show up in each others story lines, a big event in one issue of Captain America would affect something happening over in Iron Man’s story. Because of this, I didn’t want to simply pick up a random issue and start, and I didn’t want to read only the big mainstream stories. I wanted to experience the whole thing for myself.

It was during my research that I stumbled across this website. Travis Starnes had similar goals. I was able to get a hold Travis and see if he wanted to add anything to this story, and I found out that it was his brother that initially get him interested in comics. He looked around the internet for a guide like this and when he wasn’t able to find anything, he took it upon himself to create the master list, and he’s already completed over 1000 issues. Every issue of consequence, in chronological order, spanning every important characters story lines in the Marvel universe.

He gives a quick overview as to why he’s undertaking this massive project, and why he’s been kind enough to share it with the rest of the world. It’s quite astounding, and very helpful to ‘completionists’ like me. The only things he asks in return are feedback from those that find the list useful, and if there are any discrepancies, to have them pointed out, to make it as accurate as possible. Travis, you’re doing a great job, keep up the good work, I hope I’m able to bring your work to a few more people along the way.

So Travis’ guide will help me through the Marvel timeline. I found a number of websites to help me through the DC side of things. Batman is really the only character that interests me from DC, so I focused mainly on his story line, but also mixed in the big stories from the other characters into the timeline, I’d be happy to give you more information from my own research if that sounds like something that might interest you.

In closing, I’d like to encourage you to let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to review or blog about, geek or otherwise. Movies, games, TV Shows, comics… if you’re curious what it’s all about but don’t want to waste any time, I’d be happy to offer my time for the wasting. Plus, it’s always encouraging to know people out there are getting anything out of our posts, so feedback is always appreciated.