I am so late jumping on the Iron Man wagon. I only saw the movie a few weeks ago and I absolutely loved it. Between that and other super hero movies I have seen recently I decided I want to read some comic books. I have been a kind of passive lover of anime and manga for years, but no super hero books yet.

My question is: Where should I jump into Iron Man? There are so many of them and I just don't know a good place to start.

What other comics are a good place to start for a comic newbie? I snagged a few Marvel comics from my library but they were just random picks. How important is it to read them in order?

Good luck. i read comics back in highschool, stopped during college and then never got back in because so much had changed that I felt like I was starting all over, with characters I felt I SHOULD have known :-)

the graphic novel collections are a great way to go to get complete storylines. That is what I do with Superman stuff if I find out about a really nifty plot.

If you are really hardcore into Iron Man, I think Marvel has setup some sort of pay thingy where you can read all the back issues of a certain hero in digital format. at least I remember hearing about a year or so ago.

You could start out with a new series Invincible Iron Man.  It was made for people like you who liked the movie but were not into the comics before.  It would be a great jumping on point.  There are three trades so far:

Invincible Iron Man, Vol 1: The Five Nightmares

Invincible Iron Man, Vol 2: Worlds Most Wanted Part 1

Invincible Iron Man, Vol 3: Worlds Most Wanted Book 2

Invincible Iron Man, Vol 4: Stark Disassembled releasing 8/11/10

Or you could go back to the old time stuff:

Essential Iron Man Vol 1

There are several in the essential series.  I think they are copies of the old comics probably in b&w.  When I read the first one I found it a little dated but that was just me.

Good luck!

Shannon

The Marvel Essentials line is a good way to get really early issues cheaply, but as someone said, the issues are pretty dated and they are printed cheaply in black and white, which isn't for everyone..  

You'll definitely want to check out Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle, which is available as a trade paperback -- eventually that storyline is going to play into the Iron Man films (I'm not sure if it will be in Iron Man 2, or the already Planned Iron Man 3).  

Go to your local comic shop and ask for recommendations as well, with the new movie opening soon I'm sure they will have a large display of Iron Man titles.  Marvel will be pushing a bunch of easily accessable Iron Man books to get people reading the comics who have only learned of the character from the movies.  I know there is also a motion comic featuring Iron Man that can be read over on Marvel.com.  

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