Every comic book nerd has an origin story, and it starts with opening that first book.
There are so many titles with so much history, so it's natural for a new comic book reader to be intimidated by jumping into the fandom. When it comes to picking up comics with rich backgrounds, it can kind of feel like starting a movie half way through.
Mashable consulted with Sam Maggs, associate editor of The Mary Sue, to give her best advice for the newbies out there. "Try not to feel overwhelmed. There is so much fandom out there, and that’s beyond making your way through the entirety of the text," she said.
Maggs' best advice to the interested nerds out there is to start slow by dipping your toes into the community itself by following fan blogs, writers and artists. "From there you can start commenting, making friends and maybe contributing to the fan community with your own original works, too! But don’t worry if you can’t do it all at once -– the fans are going to be waiting for you when you’re ready."
Most importantly, Maggs encourages all fans to be themselves. "Don't pretend to be someone you’re not, to like things or people you don’t, in the hopes that the people around you will like you -– you’ll just make yourself miserable."
Luckily, there are plenty of titles that don't require a library's worth of prior knowledge that you can start reading while you're exploring the comic book world -- including some that Maggs recommends herself.
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