Honestly 1 of my favorite things about comics is that there are multiple places where to start reading from for every single character
Having multiple choices helps a lot
it's easier to jump into a story line now. don't know some lore? freaking google it and like 20 reddits will pop up with the deep lore on that story line, and the author, and the author's cousin's neighbor's chihuahua.
paco's lore runs deep.
I'm a lifelong X-Men fan, and as a kid, there was plenty I was 'confused' about, but I found that part of the appeal lol... comics these days are designed to be accessible, chasing new readership.
I remember reading the editors at marvel said that every issue should be written as though it were the the first a person might buy. That works for any long running serialized entertainment.
As for the “whole story” of a comic, that’s fools gold. Even on titles I’ve read regularly, I never read every issue. I knew Jack shit about the X-Men before Storm lost her powers (the era I started) until they started putting out X Men classics and even to this day I haven’t read every issue since Giant Sized X-Men until i quit the book and never read the original series.
It can seem confusing initially with so many eras and options. Comics I went with what I knew as an old. Arkham Game trades. Expanded into the DC classic trades. A lot are just one books. Something like Batman War/Nightfall is a series of trades. Then the part works Marvel/DC collections. They are hard copy books with editors intro and general timeline breakdown. Like a really Big Star Wars movie scrawl. The easy way to get self contained stories with condensed larger world information are the part works. For floppies I buy back issues sets to get a slice of the run and not single issues. The only single floppy issues I get are one shots.
Everything has an issue or volume number. So I can Mish mash digital, physical, trades, floppies and hard copy, for a complete run.
Best Budget start is DC Compacts and Marvel Premier Collection. Lots of bang for the bucks in those Compacts. Marvel Platinum Collection is good for mixed slices of a character's eras. The Marvel Epic Collection is probably the easy way to collect older comic stories. Any omnibus is always bang for the bucks. Sometimes they stick in an old comic or what if story at the end.
Lots of choices.
@rowdyruffian7980