Welcome to Graphic Policy’s First Impressions where we take a look at a handful of comics in order to discern just how accessible they are for new readers, because every comic could be somebody’s first – and that’s the first question that’ll be answered with this feature. The second is whether you should  start there because sometimes a book could be accessible to new readers but the quality could be less than average, and so each comic will receive a score out of ten based upon Graphic Policy’s typical ten point scale.

Where possible we’ll also be providing  recap of sorts for the relevant story beats up until the issue in question in order to help you figure out if the series is something you’re interested in, assuming we’ve read any part of the story thus far. All comics were provided for review purposes unless otherwise noted.

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Black Bird #1 (Image)
Can you start here? Yes
Recap & Review: Urban magic, some gorgeous artwork and a really interesting story about self belief and personal worth. A really good book you should be checking out.
Score: 8.7

Detective Comics #990 (DC)
Can you start here? Yes
Recap & Review: The thing with most Batman comics where he’s solo is that, regardless of what has happened Batman is such an iconic figure you can usually figure out what has happened without too much trouble. Case in point this issue. I missed a few issue in this series, and still don’t feel behind any.
Score: 8.3

Cursed Comics Cavalcade #1 (DC)
Can you start here? Yes
Recap & Review: 80-odd pages of DC heroes meeting horror comics. I enjoyed it. 
Score: 8

Ben Reilly: Scarlet Spider #25 (Marvel)
Can you start here? Yes
Recap & Review: Ben Reilly is a reformed villain, and Kaine wants to kill him for the crimes he committed before he reformed. But Ben went through an ordeal to try and save a little girl (and now Kaine isn’t sure he wants to kill Ben), only to be tricked into letting her die because of Mephisto. Who also tricked Kaine and some others into wanting to kill Ben. And Ben’s not in a good place…
Score: 7.8

Fence #10 (Booml)
Can you start here? Eh…
Recap & Review: A really cool comic about fencing, and the struggles of boys in a boarding school trying to make a fencing team. The two in the match featured here aren’t exactly friends, but nor are they rivals as one doesn’t count the other as a worthy opponent. This is arguably the weakest entry in the series so far, but it’s still a comic well worth reading.
Score: 7.5