How to Read Superhero and Marvel Comics

Hollywood is turning out an increasing number of superhero movies featuring heroes both famous, such as Batman, and obscure, such as Ghost Rider. More and more people are becoming interested in reading comics, but going into their local comic book store can be an overwhelming experience. Marvel Comics is one of the biggest comic book publishers in the world, and they have been publishing superhero comics since the late 1930s. The modern age of Marvel began in the early 1960s, when they first started publishing titles such as The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, The Uncanny X-Men, and The Amazing Spider-Man. This period is often known as the "Silver Age of comics" and featured the first appearances of many of the most famous superheroes ever created, including Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk.

Top 25 Comic Book Superheroes

Like jazz, comic books and more specifically the superhero is a wholly American art form. As a result of the popularity of superhero films like the Dark Knight, Iron Man and the X-Men, superheroes have begun to enter into the awareness of the general public. The following is a list of the best superheroes that comic books have to offer. The list is designed to provide a starting point for the new reader. I tried to distinguish between good characters and a good story or a good run of issues when I could but in some cases characters have been so significantly defined by a series or an issue that they made the list. 25. Spectre (Jim Corrigan): The avenging hand of God. If the Spectre has decided that you need to be punished consider yourself lucky if he just takes an eye for an eye. Even the heroes get a little nervous when the Spectre shows up.

24: Kid Eternity: Kid Eternity makes the list because he's a cool concept with an awesome power and heck he can even be educational. 23. Green Arrow: For the first twenty plus years of his creation Oliver Queen was simply a second class version of Batman. He was a millionaire; he had an Arrow-Car; an Arrow-Plane, an Arrow-Cave and a teen-aged side-kick. 22. Black Bolt: One of the strongest beings in the Marvel Universe and yet he never uses his true power for fear of the destruction it would unleash. Black Bolt still gets angry. The self-control that it takes for Black Bolt to remain silent only makes him seem more noble

Naruto - Not Just Another Comic Story

Naruto is one of the most popular manga and anime series around. It features a young boy, Naruto, whose body actually contains the spirit of a fearsome nine-tailed fox that had been terrorizing his village some twelve years earlier. At that time, this nasty fox was captured and its spirit was sealed in the body of a baby boy (our Naruto).

Jump ahead twelve years and you've got the star of the story, now a mischievous and hyperactive young ninja with great aspirations. Both Naruto anime (animated television shows) and manga (the comic book series) go through episodes of high-flung adventures battling monsters, other ninjas and, last but not least, doing ninja exams.

Both the manga and anime series have spawned numerous fan sites and forums, with all manner of products available online (screen savers, online games, etc.) and for sale (apparel, DVDs, and more). Kishimoto won Shonen Jump magazine's Hop Step Award for new manga artists with his manga Karakuri, but he didn't stop there. His first Naruto version was a story of fox spirits and the story grew. It fast became a most popular ninja manga, in fact one of the most popular in Japan.

Comic Movies To Come and The Comics Books You Should Be Investing In!

There's little doubt that the surge of comic movies have made quite a few comic books go up in value enormously. Movies about a certain comic character or title makes the demand for that character's comic go through the roof sometimes.

However, for who are new to comic collecting or investing, not all of a certain character's comic issues will be in demand. Only certain key issues will. For example, The Amazing Spider-Man movie will have the Lizard as the flick's main baddie, so you can bet the comic book issue with the Lizard's first appearance will be getting a boost in value.

1. Amazing Fantasy #15 - Yeah, I know. It's really expensive, but it's the 2 first appearance of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Spidey was actually the first superhero character to change the face of comics during it's time by having a teenager with extraordinary powers as well as problems and flaws.

I'm talking about the 1963 series, not the series after.

Asterix and Tintin - The Best Comic Books of All Time

Asterix Comics:

Written by Rene Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo, Asterix Comics is a series of French comic books that was first published in the late 1950's. However, after the death of Rene, Uderzo took up both the tasks and has played an instrumental role in raising the popularity of the books.

The main characters in the Asterix Comics are Asterix, a clever little Gaul, and his friend Obelix. This magic potion gives each villager superhuman strength and only Obelix is the one who doesn't need the potion as he fell into the potion cauldron as a child and hence it has a permanent effect on him.

Tamil Short Stories

The short story format originated from Europe. The Tamil world believes that the short stories in Tamil can be traced back to the seventeenth century to 'Paramartha Kurunkathai' a transition from the classical Tamil poetry. V.V.S. Iyer started a new trend in the 1880s giving the short stories its profound form.

Pudumaipithan started the next stage of Tamil short storiesand many other writers came out with brilliant stories in Tamil. Pudumaipithan, Ku.Pa. Ra and P.S.Ramaiya and their contemporaries have written many stories that is today popular format with the Tamil literary circles and readers as the short story format.

The Dark Knight - Ten of Batman's Most Important Stories in Comics

Batman is back, and he's bigger and better than ever. The new series of films featuring the caped crusader himself has seen countless new fans flock to his adventures in print, but with the world of comics being such a daunting prospect to a newcomer, it is easy to get stuck on what to read first. There are many decades worth of Batman reading to be enjoyed, but what are the moist important stories? Here we take a look at ten essential titles in the Batman pantheon

THE KILLING JOKE

Widely considered to be the finest Batman story ever created, The Killing Joke was written by comics legend Alan Moore and featured art from Brian Bolland. KNIGHTFALL VOLUMES 1-3

This notorious three volume tale tells the story of Batman's protégé, Azrael, taking over the mantle of Batman when Bruce Wayne's back is broken by the murderous Bane. A classic.

HUSH VOLUMES 1 AND 2

A very strong mystery story involving the enigmatic killer Hush, this two-book story was one of the biggest hits in recent years for DC comics. Hush is intent on Sabotaging Batman's reputation. A thrilling story, told with style.

A classic of 1980s Batman, and one of the Milestones in modern comics history. The Joker succeeds in killing Robin, who dies in Batman's arms, and thus the chase is on for vengeance. But will batman actually take the Joker's life?

ARKHAM ASYLUM

An extremely disturbing piece of graphic literature, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth was written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by the renowned Dave McKean. THE LONG HALLOWEEN

By Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, The Long Halloween features the Falcone character that was seen in the film Batman Begins, and follows his story to its comics conclusion. It also covers the transition of Batman's foes from mobsters and gangsters to actual supervillains in detail.

DARK VICTORY

From comics luminaries Jeph Loeb and Time Sale comes this 14 issue tale (Brought together into a much loved graphic novel), is the sequel to The Long Halloween. Featuring Two-face, this is a noir-ish murder mystery following Batman on the trail of a serial killer who is offing police officers in Gotham.

WAR GAMES

This is an epic story told over three volumes, which crossed over the whole family of Batman related DC comics titles. A tale of batman trying to end a vicious gang war, it one of the most hard-hitting Batman stories of recent years.

BRUCE WAYNE: MURDERER?

When Bruce discovers the dead body of his girlfriend, Vesper Fairchild, in Wayne Manor, the police arrive and charge him with her murder! The other Batman characters are unable to work out the mystery, and thus Bruce breaks out of jail and vows to just live as Batman until the case is solved.

BRUCE WAYNE: FUGITIVE

The story that began with Bruce Wayne: Murderer concludes with a frantic tale of Batman and his colleagues piecing the facts together and discovering a conspiracy to discredit him forever as a murderer, with a surprising culprit behind the whole thing...

These are amongst the most seminal works of the Batman's adventures in comics, and are a must for the bookshelf of any fan of the character or the medium. With more feature films on the way in this new series, there seems to be no stopping the Dark Knight in his battle against crime.

Golden Age Comic Books for Teenagers

For years now, superheroes have been popular amongst teenagers. The paper comics were on top of this popularity long before movies, television shows or Internet threads have been made available for superheroes. Comic book enthusiasts adored these paperbacks much more than the stories. These comics really delved into political, societal and social thresholds, highlighting the state of the era they had been introduced. Marvel's historical past goes back to October 1939 at the time when the first comic was published with the title Marvel Comics #1. With the success of this comic, particularly the popularity of the very first super hero Human Torch, a second superhero was introduced by Marvel called Captain America during 1941.

The Second World War signified the ending of Golden Age comic books. The comics by Marvel responded to the precipitous downfall in the popularity of the superhero books, displaying characters like Captain America and introduced new selection of humorous books centered on characters like Super Rabbit.

But, the beginning of Vietnam War heightened the interest in superheroes which influenced Marvel to creation of 4 brand-new superheroes which joined as The Fantastic Four. There were also other characters like X-Men, Ant-Man, Iron Man Hulk, and Spider-Man. The collectors will pay an enormous amount to get Golden comic books, even spending millions for the vintage issues in perfect condition. Believe it or not, even the government identifies the enormous influence that the superhero comic books have on the pop culture. During 2007, some commemorative stamps displaying superhero characters had been introduced.