The book that hooked you

What was the first comic to really draw you in, to set you on a life time of loving the medium? Obviously we're on Holla Forums, so list the first western book that caught your eye, but feel free to mention mangas that got you into comics if that was your first exposure (though keep that really light). Also talk about WHY it was so impactful for you.

For me it was issue 230 of Iron Man. This was close to the end of the Armor Wars, a story where Tony is pretty much on a rampage due to realizing his tech has been stolen and has been used by numerous super criminals. Eventually his actions lead to the government unleashing an armored prototype named Firepower against him, a battle the climaxes in Iron Man being hit by a small nuclear weapon, raining the mangled remains of Iron Man's armor across the area. With a final image of Iron Man's helmet, shattered and dripping with blood, I HAD to know what happened next. Decades of love for comics sprang from that one issue.

My nigger Hellboy got me into comics. Just something unique about the styles and the stories comics told that got me invested into finding out more about them and exploring other comics.

That's a damn good place to start off, user.

Thanks. To this day, the first issue of Hellboy remains as one of my favorite comics ever, especially because of the unique style that does all those crazy lighting effects over characters and scenery.

Too bad we don't get any comics like these anymore tbh fam. :^(

They'll be more. Enough people love Hellboy that some will make their own books with a similar feel, and we just have to keep an eye out for them. Even if the industry waxes and wanes, fans will keep the important stuff alive.

I started in the deep end of the pool.

Did you pick it up by chance, or was it part of a class?

I came across Asterix, European Donald Duck comics, Tytus Romek i Atomek, and a pile of old Polish comic magazine Relax at the same time, when I was about 10 years old.
I could never get into American capes, aside from few standalone titles.


Mignola said that he done with Hellboy for now. He will probably be back, either because he wants to or Dark Horse will beg him to write something for them. Besides, there is also BPRD and other spinoffs, Joe Golem, and Baltimore.

I have… problems.

My gateway into comics was Superhero cartoons -> wikipedia articles -> comic book forums -> buying TPBs.

I figured the Question would be an interesting entry point because I remembered the character from JLU, but didn't go out of my way to know too much about what was going on with him in comics (unlike the Batman-related wikipedia articles, which I read enough about to spoil a lot of). I figure I made a good decision.

W.I.T.C.H . and my sister even made fun of me for it. fuck her though, plot was the tightest shit
i also liked the first 60 or so issues of deadpool

It took me a surprisingly long time to actually sit down and read a comic. I think the first thing I read was Batman: Year One, when I was like 17.

Were you disappointed afterwards when you found out that other comics are not written exclusively by madmen? Isn't there a part when he's telling Robin a story… while telling the reader a story? So he's telling the story of the time he told Robin a story about a thing that happened and then he talks about how amazing electric cars are… I don't know.

He wanted Frank Miller to script it for him. I'm trying to decide whether this would have made it worse or better

Hmmm, those were pretty good years for crazy Frank, so it would have been interesting. How is the old guy, these days? Did he finally decide to stop dying so much?

He grew some beard so he's probably out of chemo

I'd taken a few dips into comics before but then got distracted by manga
What truly got them into them was pic related.
It wasn't Hulk in a city smashing things then he calms down to fight the bad guy.
It was The Hulk, powered down and fighting to survive in alien gladiator matches and shit

I was what, three? I picked up my dad trade paperback cover and opened it.

Twenty years later and I'm still a Batfag.

Though I loves Frank Miller Daredevil's more especially The Man without Fear

But the thing that clenched it? Amazing Spider-man vs Superman because of how I found it; after my dad's death, we were moving and I found it.

It was a slightly thick book but I read the entire thing on the top step of my staircase.

It was nice.

man, the movie version of that was shit
hulk vs thor was so much better

By chance. I was looking for something to read and I had heard good things about it. I had been exposed to comics before, but this is the one that made me really appreciate them.

Sounds like an interesting way to get hooked on comics.

This whole thread shows a lot of the variety of where we all started from. Yet eventually, we all end up here…

Oh, they are, it's just a different kind of madness.

I got it as part of a bundle at a school book sale when I was seven. I was not prepared.

Mine was Robin Volume III

Had Mike Weringo and Chuck Dixon. Was before 19 and after 15. Damn good comic. The art was mesmerizing and beautiful and the story was compelling. Then after an issue or two and seeing a cliffhanger page with Ariana Dzerchenko in Tim's bed (I was around the same age as the characters) I was hooked. I had to find out what happened.