I stopped reading comics on a regular basis about eight years ago. About two years ago, I came across an Paradise X freebie in a Wizard magazine I happened to pick up. I’ve always been a fan of the Big Two’s alternate reality stories and now I have a little bit of disposable income, I’d like to pick up some back issues. Some of my choices: Elseworlds, What If…, The “X” series, Kingdom Come.
So, any suggestions of what to get and what to avoid? Complete Series or specific issues are welcome.
Thanks in advance - DESK
Earth X and its sequal Universe X (parts 1 and 2) are both in trade paperback now. Both are EXCELLENT stories. A bit of advice though: When you read them, do not stop in the middle of a chapter. I got all kinds of lost the first time I read Universe X.
You might want to try The Dark Knight Returns and its sequal as well for the other side of the big two. Kingdom Come and The Kingdom are also very good stories as well. I loved the future Superman in both stories.
There are various “What If…” and Elseworlds stories, but it all depends on what you enjoy to read.
If you can find Marvel’s “The Last Avengers Story” 2 parter, pick em up. Great story. And What If was hit or miss, and relied a lot on knowing the basis of the original story each issue was taken from. Until the last part of vol. 2 when they became more like Elsewhere stories and didn’t diverge from any particular point. One of my favorites involved Sabretooth running wild chasing Jubilee through the X-Mansion. Truly creepy.
I’m kind of fond of the Victorian-era “Batman” Elseworlds, personally. Like Gotham by Gaslight and The Devil’s Workshop.
As for Marvel’s “What if’s”…I haven’t read too many of them (yet), but here’s a decent directory of them, including cover shots. And I can personally recommend #64, “What if Iron Man sold out?” And say that #29 was pretty sucky.
And the “Spider-Girl” What if was spun off into it’s own series, which is still running, as far as I remember. That’s got to count for something.