So suppose I want to get back into reading comics after a ten year absence...

[Flexor the Mighty!]

...where can I go to find out just what has happened in the continuity of Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, Daredevil, & Thor?

 

[your father is]

I'm sure there are some good sites out there, but as someone who just recently jumped back in, I'd say you could pick up any of these books today and not have too much difficulty getting oriented. Thor just started a new arc with a new creative team (80/582). Daredevil has been better than it's ever been since the Miller blip in the 80s -- start with v2 #1 (by Kevin Smith & Joe Quesada) and then head on in to the Bendis run. These days trades are made collecting most stories, so you should be able to catch up fairly cheap. The FF has become brilliant again under Mark Waid, plus there's Marvel Knight's 4 (a mini, I think) and Ultimate FF, which just started and probably has a trade now or out soon. There's also a Spider-Man Marvel Knights book by Mark Millar that just started (issue 4 out soon) that is similar in tone to a lot of the 80s stuff I grew up with -- I love this book. JMS, creator of Babylon 5 has been on Amazing Spider-Man for a few years, and his run is pretty good and high profile, so it should still be able to get your hands on the trades.

 

[Stormfalcon]

...where can I go to find out just what has happened in the continuity of Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, Daredevil, & Thor?

Get a Costco-sized jar of aspirin and resign yourself to throwing continuity out the window, especially if you pick up one of the "Ultimate" titles...

 

[Datt]

Is the "Ultimate" titles the one where

Spoiler

Spider-Mans dead parents are really alive

?

Not sure if that need spoiler tags or not but I thought better safe than sorry.

 

[Staffan]

Is the "Ultimate" titles the one where

Spoiler

Spider-Mans dead parents are really alive

?

Not sure if that need spoiler tags or not but I thought better safe than sorry.

Not that I know of, but I haven't been following USpidey religiously.

Rather, the Ultimaverse is a reboot of the old Marvelverse - it has many of the same elements and characters, but with new takes on some of them, and a generally more modern outlook. Many of the stories are retellings of old classics, but with a more modern mindset.

 

[JoeGKushner]

This is where the chain book stores come in very handy. I've read many a book and title there and determined based on that reading if I want to buy it to read it again.

With your length of abscece, it sounds like you may want to try some other titles than the standard super hero ones. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen for example, is a damn good story with a lot of familiar faces to it.

 

[WayneLigon]

This is where the chain book stores come in very handy. I've read many a book and title there and determined based on that reading if I want to buy it to read it again.

I second that advice. A Books-A-Million will likely have the largest comics collection, followed by a Barnes and Nobles. Those being the two I'm most familiar with; Borders has a good selection I think but I haven't been in one in a couple years and didn't look at comics the last time I was in one.

Thanks to the movies, there are a lot of Spider-Man collections out now, and you can see what's happened. Fantastic Four has two excellent collections out that really return the Four to their explorer/family roots. Daredevil also has most of the recent storylines collected into TPB's. I'm not too familiar with Thor or what's going on there these days. The Vikings collection is a recent storyline, I think.

 

[blackshirt5]

I say skip the continuity and go for the Ultimates.

Also, I'd suggest looking into The Authority and Sandman; both great titles, available in TPB.