Suggest some Marvel/DC graphic novels or comics for a noob

I always regret not reading more comics when I was a kid because of how much I enjoy the stories now and feel like I would enjoy them more if I had all the background from the old material. I was considering ordering a few graphic novels such as Age of Ultron, Infinity Gauntlet and Civil War. Is this a good place to start, or can anyone make any recommendations? I'm not looking to take up a second job or anything so I don't want to start from the beginning and work through everything, I just want a few things to read casually.

Infinity Gauntlet is a great place to start.
Daredevil "Born Again" is worth the read.
"Tower of Babel" from DC is a very good Justice League/Batman story.
Geoff Johns' rebirth of Green Lantern, and subsequent stories, are worth the time.

But if you're basically just looking for some things to flesh out the movie universes each house is building, the Marvel titles you mentioned, minus AOU, are good to start with. From there your interests will probably be piqued to seek out other stories that stem from those. I don't know what DC stories to read that relate to the movies, but All-Star Superman and Red Son are awesome Superman stories. Red Son is an Elseworlds story where his ship landed in Soviet Russia instead of Kansas. Kingdom Come is a must read.

Thanks very much, I added them all to the list. Why not Ultron? Is it not very good, or just a bad place to start without having the background story?

I've also added 300, V for Vendetta and one I'm not sure about.. Watchmen. I've gone for 'Watchmen International Edition', is this one okay? I noticed there were a lot of 'Before Watchmen' ones.

I didn't much enjoy AOU is all. lol

Watchmen is a very good read. You can always go back and find things you missed before. I've got no idea about the International Edition and what it has or hasn't got that's different from the original.
I never read any of the Before Watchmen stuff, but haven't heard anything really positive. They were done only recently, after the success of the movie, in order to cash in on the characters.

AOU was weak. Very weak.

Looking for standalone stories? Check out "Old Man Logan." Also "Identity Crisis," if you're any sort of a DC guy, or have a soul, for that matter. Joss Whedon's "Astonishing X-Men" lives up to its name. It's tough to go wrong with "Planet Hulk." And Ed Brubaker did an astounding run on "Captain America" that's worth reading. Speaking of Brubaker, his run on Daredevil, as well as the preceding DD stories by Brian Michael Bendis, give an incomparable lesson on how to elevate comics to an art form.

One of the big underdogs of the past decade is "Ultimate Iron Fist," scribed by Matt Fraction and illustrated by David Aja. And if you wanna go back a quarter century or so, check out "Camelot 3000." It's a fantastic tale, told with a bit of a hokey old-school style, but gorgeous illustrated by Brian Bolland. I have the hardcover, and pick it up regularly to flip through it.

Some great picks there.
Old Man Logan is one of the coolest comic stories of recent memory. Very fun.
Identity Crisis was also quite good. Very "un-DC" for those who think DC is still the G-rated comic house.
Whedon's X-Men story was also superb. One of the greatest ever, easily.
The whole Hulk saga, Planet & War, was excellent.
I've been on a big Daredevil kick recently and been devouring all I can. I gave Murdock a cold shoulder for too long and I regret it now. He's become one of my favorite characters right now. His stories give me what I always wanted from Spidey.
Kevin Smith did some great things with both Daredevil and Green Arrow. I loved his rebooting of each character, and I am by no means a fan of Kevin Smith.

cilantropants said:

Kevin Smith did some great things with both Daredevil and Green Arrow. I loved his rebooting of each character, and I am by no means a fan of Kevin Smith.

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Funny you should say that I came into this thread thinking exactly the same thing.

I have just had the unbelievable pleasure of reading Kevin Smiths Quiver for the first time & I absolutely loved it, one of the best stories I've read for a long time.
Still need to get Sounds of Violence but I finished Archers Quest yesterday As well & that was wonderful too not quite up to Quiver standards but a great read.

I also agree that AoU was bad.
I got really excited for it only to realise that it was basically just another Wolverine story & a particularly bad one at that.
It went nowhere.

I would also recommend a whole hap of Geoff Johns run on Green lantern, everything from rebirth onwards was brilliant with Sinestro Corps Wars being one of the highlights.
Blackest Night & Brightest Day are well up there too.

On a Marvel note the Cosmic stuff has long been my favourites from them with the Annihilation story being simply sublime.
J Michael Straczynski's run on Thor was fantastic as well
Also go back a long way to Walter Simonsons run on Thor as well where he introduces Beta Ray Bill, that's well worth a read & leads to a couple of good stories featuring the Oath brother

Infinity Gauntlet & War are a must as well

Lee Bemerjo's Joker is definitely worth getting along with the original Death in the Family (NOT to be confused with the truly awful & totally wasted opportunity that was Death OF the family)
Hush & RIP would be another couple of Bat titles worth hunting out along with Knightfall & Knightsend

I will stop there as I think I've gone on long enough

Neil

I thought the new "Original Sin" event was very cool, and did a fine job of bringing together classic characters and current "movie" characters for a neat cosmic event.

Dark Knight Returns
New Teen Titans
JLA vol 1-4 by Grant Morrison
Swamp Thing by Alan Moore
Uncanny X-Men omnibus vol 1 & 2