Recently I’ve been expanding into a new nerd arena. Specifically, I have begun to collect comic books.

A few years ago DC Comics did a big reset of all of their comic titles with an event called the New 52. Every character was set back to square one. Most of the familiar elements, relationships, and villains have been retained, but you can start at issue #1 and know what’s going on, rather than buying issue #438 and feeling like you’re coming aboard in the middle of a story.

So that’s great for me, since I was looking for a “jumping-on point”. It meant that I had a little bit of backlog to catch up with, but not so much that it would be too overwhelming (or expensive).

I picked two titles to start with, The Flash (my favourite superhero) and Batman (because he’s Batman). I’m collecting them as the trade paperbacks come out, because it’s cheaper than getting them one issue at a time, and they’re easier to store on a shelf. So far I have the first three volumes of The Flash and the first two volumes of Batman.

I’m considering branching out into a third title, but I’m not sure what to choose. The options I’m considering are:

• Justice League (big team-ups are exciting),
• Action Comics (Superman is another favourite of mine), or
• Aquaman (well reviewed, a character I’m less familiar with).

I’m leaning towards Action Comics, because I read the first issue and liked it, but we’ll see.

At a recent garage sale I also grabbed half a dozen younger-audience Batman comics to share with Calvin and Victor as they grow up, so that could be fun!