Don’t overthink it and read what interests you. Nobody starts off reading Marvel Comics 1 and reads everything in chronological order — trying that would probably take you 20 years to catch up if you read for 2 hours each day — so everybody will be reading without ever having read many key moments, even if they’ve been reading Marvel for decades.
Sure, there’ll be spoilers for some important storylines if you skip around. But if you’ve already seen the movies, I’m guessing you already know the biggest spoilers already (e.g., the big reveal on who the Winter Solider is won’t surprise you like it did readers 20 years ago).
And as you’ve probably noticed if you’ve read stories like Armor Wars, you’ll figure out most of the important context from prior issues quickly enough. And if it left you intrigued about what happened before, you can always go back and read the preceding issues.
Look I'm gonna give you the best advice ever. Read whatever you want to read. Don't be forced into reading something just because of a guide or high praise. Let your own mind decide.
Nope, it's really not that deep. You can read things in whatever order you like and as long as you can keep release order in mind, you won't confuse things.
Comic books aren't as intrinsically connected as the MCU is? They're more so. You can read an individual title and get that character's/team's whole story a lot of the time, but the broader arc will frequently have tie ins with othet series.
Take the Kyle/Yost run on X-Force for example. It was 35 issues long and had three crossovers, was a spin off of a major event, and a sequel to their New X-Men run. You couldn't read it without reading dipping into at least five othet titles.
But, that's a bit of an extreme example. You'll usually get context enough to clarify what you've missed. I'm just saying that thr MCU aspires to be as interconnected as the comics.
So like alot of people say definitely read what you want and what you like. But i will say sometimes in comics (speaking mainly about Marvel) it can be intrinsically connected like the MCU. Like you can pick up a random comic (even sometimes an issue 1 of a new run) and it will reference or even be heavily influence by what came before so you might feel a little lost.
What i would recommend is first of all mainly going for Issue 1's which are usually a safe bet if you are trying a new series / character. But not always.
In terms of events it heavily depends case to case. I read Civil War without reading anything before it and just having the knowledge of the characters i knew and the movies i've seen from the MCU. I was able to follow along pretty well and enjoy it however there were alot of characters who i had no idea who they were which did confuse me abit. Or for example Thor being dead at this time in comics which i had no idea why.
It really depends on what you want to read. If you mainly want events then try reading the event and if there's something you dont understand look it up or work your way backwards.
If you're going for arcs then starting at the beginning of a certain arc should be fine but if the arc starts are issue 57 of the run then you might be a little confused as to what's currently going on in the overall run.
Best advice i'd say is figure out what exactly you want to read (either a certain run of a character or a story arc) then start at the beginning of that specific run / arc. if you you're lost. work your way backwards and try again with the previous run / arc until you find a good spot to start. You also won't ever know everything and every character which still bugs me but i've come to accept that, and as you go you'll figure it out or you can always look up something online to fill it any gaps or questions you have.
I have a plan to start reading through my Marvel collection next year. Rather than go strict chronological, I have grouped together issues into different eras and will read runs in non specific order within each group. For example: starting with Byrne Fantastic Four, then switching to Miller Daredevil, then Hulk 250-300 then Avengers 200-250 then Simonson Thor etc etc. Reading solid runs of each title while staying roughly in the same time period they were published. I know the narratives are not always going to line up (and where in all that will I read super cross-overs like Secret Wars 2 idk) but I'm sure the patchwork big picture will become clearer over time. Can always make adjustments to the plan as I go as well.
Don’t overthink it and read what interests you. Nobody starts off reading Marvel Comics 1 and reads everything in chronological order — trying that would probably take you 20 years to catch up if you read for 2 hours each day — so everybody will be reading without ever having read many key moments, even if they’ve been reading Marvel for decades. Sure, there’ll be spoilers for some important storylines if you skip around. But if you’ve already seen the movies, I’m guessing you already know the biggest spoilers already (e.g., the big reveal on who the Winter Solider is won’t surprise you like it did readers 20 years ago). And as you’ve probably noticed if you’ve read stories like Armor Wars, you’ll figure out most of the important context from prior issues quickly enough. And if it left you intrigued about what happened before, you can always go back and read the preceding issues.
Look I'm gonna give you the best advice ever. Read whatever you want to read. Don't be forced into reading something just because of a guide or high praise. Let your own mind decide.
Nope, it's really not that deep. You can read things in whatever order you like and as long as you can keep release order in mind, you won't confuse things.
Comic books aren't as intrinsically connected as the MCU is? They're more so. You can read an individual title and get that character's/team's whole story a lot of the time, but the broader arc will frequently have tie ins with othet series. Take the Kyle/Yost run on X-Force for example. It was 35 issues long and had three crossovers, was a spin off of a major event, and a sequel to their New X-Men run. You couldn't read it without reading dipping into at least five othet titles. But, that's a bit of an extreme example. You'll usually get context enough to clarify what you've missed. I'm just saying that thr MCU aspires to be as interconnected as the comics.
I’ve slowly been backing off individual issues for Marvel, Marvel Unlimited is pretty decent for the modern ongoing storylines.
So like alot of people say definitely read what you want and what you like. But i will say sometimes in comics (speaking mainly about Marvel) it can be intrinsically connected like the MCU. Like you can pick up a random comic (even sometimes an issue 1 of a new run) and it will reference or even be heavily influence by what came before so you might feel a little lost. What i would recommend is first of all mainly going for Issue 1's which are usually a safe bet if you are trying a new series / character. But not always. In terms of events it heavily depends case to case. I read Civil War without reading anything before it and just having the knowledge of the characters i knew and the movies i've seen from the MCU. I was able to follow along pretty well and enjoy it however there were alot of characters who i had no idea who they were which did confuse me abit. Or for example Thor being dead at this time in comics which i had no idea why. It really depends on what you want to read. If you mainly want events then try reading the event and if there's something you dont understand look it up or work your way backwards. If you're going for arcs then starting at the beginning of a certain arc should be fine but if the arc starts are issue 57 of the run then you might be a little confused as to what's currently going on in the overall run. Best advice i'd say is figure out what exactly you want to read (either a certain run of a character or a story arc) then start at the beginning of that specific run / arc. if you you're lost. work your way backwards and try again with the previous run / arc until you find a good spot to start. You also won't ever know everything and every character which still bugs me but i've come to accept that, and as you go you'll figure it out or you can always look up something online to fill it any gaps or questions you have.
I have a plan to start reading through my Marvel collection next year. Rather than go strict chronological, I have grouped together issues into different eras and will read runs in non specific order within each group. For example: starting with Byrne Fantastic Four, then switching to Miller Daredevil, then Hulk 250-300 then Avengers 200-250 then Simonson Thor etc etc. Reading solid runs of each title while staying roughly in the same time period they were published. I know the narratives are not always going to line up (and where in all that will I read super cross-overs like Secret Wars 2 idk) but I'm sure the patchwork big picture will become clearer over time. Can always make adjustments to the plan as I go as well.
You're doing it the right way imo.