I'd recommend

Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis. The original ultimate universe was Marvel's attempt to refresh and update it's characters for modern audiences so they wouldn't have to know years of continuity just to read the comics. It's a fantastic run and one that not only has an interesting new take on Peter but his entire supporting cast and villains, too. The run can be found in 4 omnibuses, or Marvel has printed a Modern era epic collection of the first 13 issues of the run, too. Epic collections are affordable collections of Marvel runs that are printed occasionally. Or the entire run can be read digitally on Marvel Unlimited.

Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman is great, too. This is quite different from a lot of Spider-Man stories as in the new Ultimate universe, this Peter was never Spider-Man thanks to comics shenanigans, but, recently, this world's Peter has been feeling that he was meant for more and he decides to become this world's Spider-Man. It's a great run and a really interesting take on a different more adult Peter who has more responsibilities. The first arc of this run can be found in a trade paperback called Ultimate Spider-Man: Married with children.

Spider-Man: Brand new day is a really fun era, too. This follows Peter, who recently had his marriage to MJ, erased and is slightly younger thanks to comics shenanigans. This run wasn't looked on too fondly at first, but it's now regarded as one of the big bright spots for modern Spidey, and it's a lot of fun. This run started with issue 546 if you're looking to read it on Marvel Unlimited or there is an omnibus that collects the first half of the run. There are several complete collections, but they have been out of print for a few years now. However, there is an omnibus that collects the first half of the run that has been released.

Spider-Man: Life story is great, too. This follows Peter from his early days as Spider-Man all the way to when he's in his 70s training Miles. It's really interesting cause each issue covers about a decade or so of Peter's life so you see him get older and age in real time with each issue and seeing him grow up from this kid essentially playing hero into this distinguished and decorated hero who's respected and loved by thousands is so good.

There's also a great Spider-Man one shot called Amazing Spider-Man: Full Circle and it was really interesting because it functioned like a baton race where one creative team would do a story that would end with Peter on a cliffhanger and it'd be up to the next creative team to follow that up and then eventually end the issue back where it started thereby literally going full circle.

This guide for Spider-Man is really good too.

If you're looking to get into Batman, I can't recommend Year One enough. A lot of the films have drawn from this, but there's a reason for that. It's just fantastic and is arguably not only the definitive Bruce Wayne origin story but the definitive superhero origin story. It's also interesting getting to see Gordon's perspective (which a lot of adaptations neglect) he's in a new kind of terrifying city with a pregnant wife and he's got to deal with increasing reports of a vigilante that looks like a bat running around Gotham.

Batman: The Long Halloween is great, too. This follows Bruce, Gordon, and Gotham's new DA Harvey Dent as they attempt to put an end to organised crime in Gotham. But, just as it seems like they might finally achieve their mission, Holiday a serial killer who only kills members of Gotham's Mafia families on holidays strikes and changes the lives of the three men forever.

Batman: The man who laughs is great, too. This follows Bruce and his first encounters with the Joker and how radically different he was to everything else he'd encountered up to that point.

Batman by Scott Snyder is really good, too. This was the new 52 run that rebooted Batman's continuity/ history to make it easier for new readers to read the comics. The first arc of this run sees Bruce attempt to deal with the Court of Owls, a mysterious culture that may have secretly been running Gotham for centuries.

As for general recommendations, I'd recommend:

The New Frontier. This is about older Golden Age superheroes (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman) meeting Silver Age characters (The Flash, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter.) The story acts as a bridge between the gap of the end of the Golden Age and the beginning of the Silver Age in the DC Universe. I realise that might not sound exciting, but it really is. It's arguably the best DC comic ever published, and it's more than deserving of that reputation.

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja is fantastic, too. It follows Clint and looks at what he does when he isn't with the Avengers, it's just such a fun run and really adds a lot of depth to a character that a lot of people might see as being uninteresting.

I wrote DC comics recommendations here! It has a lot of Batman

You can read everything on DC Universe Infinite. A great option if you have a tablet! Use code LOOKUP for a discount. There's also your local library or their digital Hoopla service. Free options!

Pick a character (or team), buy a book and read it, Best way to start.

Energon Universe Transformers. Can’t say enough good about it, Daniel Warren Johnson just finished his 24 issues, Kirkman starts next month with #25

How old are you? This is an important fact

Southern Basterds and Deadly Class are a couple of my favorites.

Southern Basterds is like narcos meets Texas football.

Deadly Class is a dope love letter to growing up in the 80s about kids going to high-school to be assassins.

Saga is also really great an intergalactic Romeo and juliet with magic and spaceships.

From Image I would recommend Rick Remender for his fantastical worlds and wild ideas.

Department of Truth is an ongoing series that is really good if you enjoy conspiracy theories and cryptids and things of that nature.

Not Image, but Something Is Killing The Children is superb blend of horror and action.

For image?

-Spawn

-Invincible

-Saga

-Criminal

-Oblivion Song

-Outcast

-Firepower

-Void Rivals

-Transformers

-Kill or Be Killed

-The Walking Dead

I really enjoy Geiger, a nuclear superhero

Descender.

Ultimate spider man by brian michael bendis.

Avengers by kurt busiek.

New avengers by Brian michael bendis (look for a reading order online for this one, as it involves several different comic books).

Daredevil by brian michael bendis, followed by daredevil by ed Brubaker (these essentially tell one story).

Alias by brian michael bendis (Jessica Jones makes her debut here).

Captain America by Ed brubaker.

New X-Men by grant Morrison.

Astonishing X-Men by joss whedon.

Punisher max by garth ennis.

Iron man by matt fraction.

Hawkeye by matt fraction.

Immortal iron fist by matt fraction and ed brubaker.

Guardians of the Galaxy by abnett and lenning.

Side Note: these suggestions are not necessarily the best comics based on their respective characters (though imo, many of them are, if not all), but they are what i would consider to be the most new reader friendly entry points possible. Also most of these are what the movies take inspiration from.

if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Immortal Iron Fist by Brubaker

Daredevil by Frank Miller

Daredevil by Garth Ennis

Fantastic Four by Hickman

Hawkeye by Fraction and Aja

Avengers Forever by Kurt Busiek

The best tip is to follow good writers. Following a character is usually not recommended, as there are tons of bad stories of Spider-man or whatever. That’s why I mentioned some of the best for Marvel above.

Start with the current run of Fantastic Four by Ryan North.

Try Brian Michael Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man from 2000, you can then dive into the original Ultimate Universe which a lot of the early MCU was influenced by.

Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross would be an excellent starting point in my opinion.

The History Of The Marvel Universe by Mark Waid and Javier Rodriguez is also excellent, for broad strokes.

Dan Slott and Mike Allred’s Silver Surfer run is great.

Daredevil is consistently one of the best written characters in all of their comics. There are so many great runs of that character that you could pick from. Frank Miller is the first writer whose run on the character is massively acclaimed.

While some people find them to be dated, the original runs of The Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four hold up, in my opinion. Reading them now almost feels like reading classic literature.

Beside these recommendations, other people here in the comments have given you a whole bunch of great recommendations that I did not want to be redundant in repeating

Batman: Year One and The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb

Batman: Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb

Superman for All Seasons by Jeph Loeb

Nightwing by Tom Taylor

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction

Fantastic Four by Ryan North

Thor: God of Thunder by Jason Aaron

The Vision by Tom King

Maus by Art Spiegelman

Fables by Bill Willingham

Planetary by Warren Ellis

Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis

Lazarus by Greg Rucka

Monstress by Marjorie Liu

East of West by Jonathan Hickman

Once & Future by Keiron Gillen

Saga of the Swamp Thing by Alan Moore

Check your local library! If your city has a big library system, you may be able to borrow books from different locations using their app. Also check out the digital Hoopla service, which is free with a library card. Digital comics are great with a tablet!

In addition, DC comics can be read on DC Universe Infinite. Use code LOOKUP for a discount. If you like, I wrote more DC comics recommendations here!

What are you interested in? Here are some general recs;

For Fantasy check out Bone. One of the best comics ever.

For crime, Stray Bullets by David Lapham and Criminal by Brubaker and Phillips.

For DC Superheroes check out All-star Superman, Batman: Year One and New Frontier. All self-contained with zero need for backstory.

For Marvel, check Frank Miller and Chris Claremont's Wolverine, Frank Miller's Daredevil and Chip Zdarsky's Peter Parker Spectacular Spider-Man. Also, Brian K. Vaughn's Run Aways since you liked Saga.

For Sci-fi check out Jeff Lemire's Sweet tooth and Jonathan Hickman's Decorum.

Astro City and Hellboy

Transformers by Daniel Warren Johnson. #1-24; #24 came out last week and ended DWJs run.

Paper Girls which is also by Brian K Vaughan is really good. It follows four newspaper delivery girls (Erin, MacKenzie, KJ, and Tiffany) as they get started on their routes but, before they can finish, their town is invaded by a mysterious force from the future and the girls get caught up in the conflict between two warring factions of time travellers.

The Mignolaverse is great too. You've probably seen or heard of the Del Toro films, but the comics are very much their own thing and very different from the films. This reading order is very good, but if you're just looking for a place to start, I'd recommend Seed of Destruction or The Crooked Man. I think what makes Hellboy so good is how disaffected he is by what he does, sure he's got to fight the vampires of Prague or an ancient demon in Ireland but to Hellboy, it's all just another day at the office and to Hellboy, the best day at the office is a quick one. The cast of characters is great, too, especially in the B.P.R.D. books. You just grow to love the team, and the way they're each other's found family is so well done. Hellboy is a great outsider character too, obviously he's accepted in the B.P.R.D and they love him but, his own personal journey of questioning who he really is (a demon or a human) and his birth is just fantastic and something you don't really see in comics.

Ultimate Spider Man 2000 is a great place to start. My bf started there and he is really loving it, 130 issue deep and still reading like a mad man.

If you like Batman I would recommend Batman year one it’s an amazing introduction to Batman.

I wrote DC comics recommendations here! It has a lot of Batman.

Here are some Marvel reading orders:

I wrote Spider-Man recommendations here!

I wrote Fantastic Four recommendations here!

I wrote a Daredevil reading order here!

I wrote a Captain America reading order here!

I wrote a X-Men reading order here!

And I wrote an Avengers reading order here! Spider-Man joins the team in this era!

For Marvel, you can read everything on Marvel Unlimited. A great option if you have a tablet! Use code FOUR4 for a discount. There's also your local library or their digital Hoopla service. Free options!

Have fun!

Batman: Year One is always a first.

Check out the absolute series that’s going on. I’m currently reading absolute Batman and absolute Superman and it’s amazing.

Pick a character you like and either start at number 1 or find a newer great introductory run.

to start reading comics you need to realize one thing: its okay not to know stuff. thats the best part of comics to me is that the worlds are lived in, characters are old and things have been happening for a long time, so its okay to just jump in and pick up in the middle of a storyline.

but if youre looking for a more specific answer "amazing spiderman" had a new #1 a few months ago (january?), theres "spiderman and wolverine", a miniseries which began in june, and DC is having a new batman #1 in october. you can also look into marvel and dc's "ultimate" and "absolute" series, respectively.

I too am new to the comic world and love Spider-Man. I started reading Ultimate Spider-Man (2024- )
It's not your traditional Spider-Man story, A different take on the character -- What if Peter got his powers at 35 years . I enjoyed it so far, its still an ongoing series. Heard the other "ultimate" comics are good too. Yea check them out.

This is my understanding and where I will be beginning soon. It is subject to any and all critiques:

1)Pick any comic book at random and decide if you like the artist’s style and enjoy the story writing no matter what the genre of comic is.

2. Google that artist/writer combo and see how many issues are this particular run or if they have any other runs to enjoy. “Run” is a term to describe consecutive issues by the same pair of artists.

3. Go back and start that run or any new run from the beginning if you want the whole story.

4. Repeat steps 1-4 on new storylines and characters as well as other artist/writer runs

5. Compare and contrast what you like/dislike about both.

6. The size of comic book goes in this order and will determine how many issues/the length of each story you get per purchase and will also go up in price each level.

Single issue<Trade paperback<Volumes<Graphic Novels<Entire Run combo book<Omnibus

7. Consider an online subscription if you’re still committed at this point

I personally started with ultimate Spider-Man which is very beginner friendly, then went on to 616 (the main universe) and read Jack and Stan's fantastic four, ditko/John romira and Lee's Spider-Man (old), then after that I'd just see a cool comic page or panel posted and read wherever it's from, or just read something to quell my curiosity

I'd recommend the Ultimate series from 2000 onwards. Spiderman and X-Men are good starting points. It resets their stories from the start with a fresh (at the time) spin. It was my re-entry point, and I don't regret it at all.

Here are some reading orders if you are interested...

I wrote Spider-Man recommendations here!

I wrote Fantastic Four recommendations here!

I wrote a Daredevil reading order here!

I wrote a X-Men reading order here!

And I wrote an Avengers reading order here! Spider-Man joins the team in this era!

Have fun!

Ultimate spiderman (2000)

https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/466/ultimate_spiderman_2000_2009

hawkeye matt fraction and david aja

https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/16309/hawkeye_2012_-_2015

X men

X-Men season one

https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/14340/x-men:_season_one_(2011)

Jean Grey Origins

https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/5301/xmen_origins_jean_grey_1_2008

New X-Men (2001)

https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/2281/new_x-men_2001_-_2004

Astonishing

https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/744/astonishing_x-men_2004_-_2013

House of M

https://www.marvel.com/comics/guides/258/house-of-m-the-complete-event

New X men (2004)

https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/749/new_xmen_2004_2008

All new X-Men

https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/16449/allnew_xmen_2012_2015

House of X/Powers of X

https://www.marvel.com/comics/guides/1556/house-of-xpowers-of-x

Avengers

Bendis era avengers reading order on another reddit question

https://www.reddit.com/r/Marvel/comments/82amsx/whats_the_reading_order_for_new_avengers_by_bendis/

hickman avengers reading order

https://www.howtolovecomics.com/2015/04/06/jonathan-hickman-avengers-reading-guide/

Captain america

https://www.marvel.com/comics/series/832/captain_america_2004_2011

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction
Moon Knight by Warren Ellis
Thor by Jason Aaron

Ultimate Spider-Man (2000) and Daredevil (1998) are what got me hooked, but I will say Ultimate was much more accessible as a new reader, Daredevil was just so good I didn’t care that I didn’t have all the background info. Some good websites to find reading order are Continuity Guide and Comic Book Reading Orders, which has guides for specific characters, events, and a master marvel reading order if you’re really ambitious.

The Walking Dead. It is the first comic I owned personally, and it inspired me to write comics.

The first 24 issues of New Teen Titans or Avengers #181-200 or Batman Year One or X-Men the Dark Phoenix TBP.

No matter where, you're probably gonna be kinda confused. So just dive in and figure it out from there! What sorta heroes or characters are you into or interested in?

Go to your local library, go to the Graphic Novels section, and see what jumps out at you.

Marvel did these great Season One graphic novels for a bunch of characters during the 2010s, modern retelling of origin stories, my great art, and easy to consume without any prerequisite reading material.

I would strongly recommend these as a starting point for new readers.

I like his 1996 run which has him move to Bludhaven, a city next to Gotham which is even more corrupt in some ways than Gotham could ever be.

Basically, those who don't wanna get beat up by Bats move to Bludhaven so Nightwing has his work cut out for him.

At the time the Titans had been disbanded so it's pretty much a solo adventure for him until a few years later. And the crossovers with Bats are kept to a minimum except for like major events like Cataclysm and No Man's Land which involve a HUGE earthquake that hit Gotham and its shutdown by the US government.

tom taylor’s run is a nice start!

Each of these is an accessible jumping on point:

Nightwing: Year One

Nightwing: A Knight in Blüdhaven Compendium One

Nightwing: Leaping into the Light