A Word About Comics

The Best of Wolverine, Vol. 1. (Collection, various authors and illustrators). Marvel Comics, 2004. ISBN 978-0785113706

There is a current movie craze featuring famous comic book characters from Marvel and DC Comics (and others) that has revived an interest in them across society. I distinctly remember going to see the first Spiderman movie, and I happened to be sitting next to a devoted comic reader. As he narrated background information to me about the characters, I realized that I had walked into a movie thinking I was going to see some flick about a "silly comic book character" but I ended up walking away with a deep appreciation for the complex plot twists, character development and the deep mythological appeal of the heroes.

However, when I approached the comic book section of my local library, I was definitely overwhelmed. Where to start? How many stories were in a series? How many series branched off from other series? Where did it all begin?

I soon realized that a newbie like me needed to turn to the experts in order to familiarize myself with the genre. And then it further occurred to me: this idea may be beneficial to tweens, as well. The above title is a collection of what experts and publishers deem to be the "best" Wolverine stories. Tweens who enjoyed the Wolverine Origins movie as well as the X-Men films may find themselves wanting to learn more about these interesting, complex, mutants. What better place to start than a collection of the best stories?

There are many more titles like the above collection. Superman, Spiderman, Batman, and the Incredible Hulk, to name a few, all have enough stories to their name to be bound into a handy "best of" introductory title. If a tween finds that he or she is enjoying the stories, what better way to engage in further reading then to learn to love a character, and then have thousands of hours of further reading available beyond the first volume?