Is there a collection of Batman Comics somewhat like Marvel Masterworks (only with DC)?
There's a series of books called "Batman Chronicles" which will collect every Batman story from his first appearance. Here's volume 1: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Batman-Chronicle... DC makes "chronicles" books of all of their popular heroes: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern.
As a DC comics fan how do you think of Marvel movies?
I wish DC would stick to TV and stop trying to compete with Marvel on movies. The DCAU and the CW-verse are both better than anything DC has done since The Dark Knight. Fingers crossed for the Wonder Woman movie, but overall I don’t think this is worth the effort when WB could take that same money and put it into Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl or their new Justice League relaunch.The MCU, on the other hand, is masterfully done. At worst they feel a little formulaic, at best they push boundaries while still fitting in with the rest of the setting.
What the best stories for getting into comics Marvel/DC?
Masterpieces like the Dark Knight Returns, the Killing Joke and Watchmen are better enjoyed when you have some experience reading comics. So I like to recommend some good origins and other stories.Superman: Secret Origin - This is the best introduction to Superman in the comics and comics in general. Though it is not my favourite Superman origin story, I feel it is the perfect entry point for new readers.Batman: Year One - The best origin story I can think of right now. A classic in its own right.Justice League: Origin - This is the current origin for the Justice League and tells you how these superheroes got together. It's really awesome but you might feel a bit of basic info on each character except Cyborg might improve your experience. This is just a tiny thing and you can enjoy it even if you don't know about all he characters.Wolverine - Though not technically an origin, this is the story that defined Wolverine, definitely worth a read if you don't mind a violent superhero.The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - This is not a superhero comic though it is published by DC. If you like this, there are a lot of non-superhero comics which are great. Feel free to ask for recommendations.Captain America: Man Out of Time - This is one of the best Captain America stories.Daredevil by Frank Miller - This is not just one story but an entire run collected in 3 volumes. This is completely independent of any other titles.(X-Men) God Loves, Man Kills - Mind blowing story. One of the Marvel Graphic Novels.If you want to go deeper, check out Farzan Byramji's answer to How can I get started on reading Marvel or DC comics?Feel free to ask for more titles.
Now that I know Marvel and DC exist as part of a multiverse, I want to learn everything. Where can I find every comic and issue of Marvel and DC?
DC Multiverse is really complex, different writers take a lot of liberties on defining it and all the reboots changes how big it is.Best way to get an idea about DC Multiverse is from Multiversity comic book by Grant Morrison. It’s really boring and I am not a fan of Morrison, but it gives you the basic idea of DC Multiverse.THE MULTIVERSITY #1Don’t take Multiversity as hard truth, because not long after Morrison wrote Multiversity, Dan DiDio rolled out Convergence event which completely fucked Morrison’s Multiversity run changing everything once again.Now Convergence is what I recommend reading, it was a great blast to the past. A lot of people dislike it, but I like it, entertaining.CONVERGENCE #1Convergence is a huge event, so here is a reading order or just all the comic books you might be interested in. You don’t actually need to read all the tie-in comic books, but a lot of them are great. Convergence tie-in was the first comic book we saw our beloved Wally West after New 52.The Definitive Convergence Reading Order (x-post /r/dccomics) • /r/comicbooksMap of the Multiversity is different after Convergence, pretty much everything outside the Multiverse is the same, only now there are infinite Multiverses not 52.This is the DC Creation. There are also Lucifer’s Multiverse and Silver City which exist outside the creation.
If I were to start reading comic books, where would be a good place to start? I ran into an op-ed going on about how comic books are a whole culture, separate from regular books. I want to try this culture out.
The simplest answer is: don't start with comics. Many of the best stories within comics are collected in what are somewhat inaccurately referred to as graphic novels. I would suggest starting with some or all of the following list. If that whets your appetite, go to a comic shop - preferably an independent one - tell the proprietor what you liked, and ask ”What next?"I am not going to recommend jumping straight into the main Marvel and DC continuities, because that is expensive and you can waste a lot of time and money before you find what you want.Probably the best way to start is by reading some of the best authors and expanding out from there. Here are some of the best, and their best known works. I've skewed towards work outside the mainstream, but referenced a few definitive examples with well-known charactersAlan Moore - Watchmen, Miracleman, V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Frank Miller - The Dark Knight Returns, Elektra: Assassin, Sin CityNeil Gaiman: Black Orchid, Sandman, Miracleman Grant Morrison: start with Arkham AsylumWarren Ellis: start with TransmetropolitanGarth Ennis: Preacher, his run on The Punisher (Jason Aaron's run, which followed it, is also very good)Ed Brubaker: Sleeper, Fatale, his run on Captain America Bill Willingham: FablesMike Carey: Lucifer (a spin off from Sandman), The Unwritten Brian K Vaughan: Y The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways Robert Kirkman: The Walking Dead, Invincible It's also worth looking at a couple of long-running series that a lot of authors have worked on as it's a good way to pick up different styles. Hellblazer, about a morally ambiguous magician, has featured several of the authors above and many more. Likewise Crossed / Crossed: Badlands / Crossed Plus 100 (though it's very gory and, for my money, not a patch on The Walking Dead).
What is the difference between a comic book and a graphic novel?
In the strictest terms, the difference is in how the pages are bound in the printed versions. But story length is also a defining factor in how the two phrases are commonly used.A comic book is stapled ("saddle stitched" in printing terms). Most comic books are between 20-40 pages. The pages can go way higher than that (for example, the "giant" comics Marvel and DC used to publish), but they normally don't for financial reasons.Graphic novels are typically perfect bound (like paperback novels). A graphic novel tends to be a single complete work of 60 pages or more. Technically speaking, something that was previously published as single issues (Dog Man #5-9) would be called a trade paperback when the issues are collected and republished in a perfect bound book (Dog Man vol. 2).Watchmen, for example, was a 12 issue comic book series that was later collected into a trade paperback. People call it a graphic novel and for common purposes, sure, you can call it that.But traditionally a graphic novel is a longer work that was meant to be published only in its full form. Craig Thompson's Blankets, for example.Then there's something like Maus, which was serialized as chapters in a comics anthology and then collected into a graphic novel... or is it a trade paperback? I don't know! Haha.With digital comics becoming a bigger part of the end goal for creators, I think the definitions between comic books and graphic novels are becoming more difficult to apply. Truth be told, comic books and graphic novels both fall under the classification of "comics" regardless of everything else.Comics is the overarching medium, while comic books and graphic novels are just two formats of comics.