Category: Reddit Archive

I think part of it is that DC periodically buys other comic companies

I think part of it is that DC periodically buys other comic companies or their characters and wants to integrate them into their main line. Fawcett, Charlton, WildStorm, Milestone, etc.

Another part is that most of DC’s big characters go back, in some form, to the late 1930s or early 1940s. Marvel as we know it today essentially started in the Silver Age with Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Hulk, etc. The biggest Golden-Age character for Marvel is Captain America, who was frozen in ice until the Silver Age. So effectively, Marvel has fewer years of stories to keep in continuity.

On Reddit

I wouldn’t say I’m considering getting a tablet for the DC relaunch

I wouldn’t say I’m considering getting a tablet for the DC relaunch, but I have added it to my list of other reasons I’m considering a tablet.

As much as I like print comics, I have to admit that I don’t re-read most of them, and I have a lot of long boxes. The idea of buying digital monthlies and then printed collections of the books I want to reread has a strong appeal.

On Reddit

I never bagged and boarded them to preserve resale value.

Yes. I never bagged and boarded them to preserve resale value. I bag and board them to keep them from getting creased, bent or torn for the next time I read them. The comics that are in good condition stay in good condition, but it’s almost more important for the old ones that are falling apart – it keeps them from getting worse when I look through the boxes and pull things out.

I think it depends on what you consider to be a multiverse.

I think it depends on what you consider to be a multiverse. Does it only refer to a rigid structure like the modern 52-universe DC multiverse, or does it include more fluid concepts like Hypertime or Michael Moorcock’s body of work?

I think as fans we tend to overanalyze and categorize things, and the industry is essentially run by fans these days. So there are people out there for whom it matters that Young Justice takes place on “Earth-16” and not simply in the Young Justice continuity. And fans overwhelmingly rejected Hypertime, which was designed not to impose a structure on the DC Multiverse but to describe how it actually works.

I do think there’s value in, as you say, being able to open the door between worlds. One of the oldest tropes of the super-hero story is the crossover. Whether it’s Superman and Batman teaming up, or two versions of the Flash, or Batman and Captain America, it’s a trope with tons of story potential.

If you have a chance, I’d recommend the trade paperback “Planetary: Crossing Worlds” by Warren Ellis. It includes a Batman story in which the team ends up jumping through the multiverse, meeting different variations on Batman (including both the Adam West and Frank Miller versions).

Reply to “DAE think that the multiverse explanation of variations on the same story unnecessary?” On Reddit

Least Favorite Retcon

Barry Allen being the source of the Speed Force.

It just feels like a cheap gimmick to make him more important than all the other Flashes, not just for now (like Wally discovering new ways to use the Speed Force or Bart absorbing it), but forever. No one can ever be better than him, no one can ever surpass him, no one can really succeed him without being second-rate, because hey, being a Flash is all about Barry Allen!

It’s like two kids trying to one-up each other in a bidding war, and one pulls out, “well, I bid infinity!” When it’s a kid, you laugh at that sort of thing. When it’s the Chief Creative Officer of the company, it’s canon.

On Reddit

Crazy ideas aren’t the problem.

Crazy ideas aren’t the problem. Comics have always been about crazy ideas. It all comes down to the execution.

“Get this: a farm boy discovers that his long-lost dad was a space wizard, and he goes to rescue this princess from a space station run by this evil space wizard…and they BLOW UP A PLANET!” When you put it that way, Star Wars doesn’t sound so great, does it?

On Reddit

Pleasantly surprised by a fun adventure story with great art.

I’m enjoying it [The Flash] a lot. I really wasn’t expecting to – I’m a Wally West fan myself, so Barry Allen’s return felt forced and unnecessary. Yes, the series was broken post-Infinite Crisis, but in the words of another Geoff Johns story, just because something’s broken doesn’t mean you throw it away.

Worse, Flash: Rebirth really annoyed me on a lot of levels. I was at the point where I figured if the new series was going to be like Rebirth, I wasn’t interested in reading it. Fortunately I gave it a chance, and was pleasantly surprised by a fun adventure story with great art.

On Reddit

After they defeated the Adversary, I completely lost interest in Fables.

Responding to a thread about which long-running comics you’ve stopped reading.

After they defeated the Adversary, I completely lost interest in Fables. I tried to keep going. I think I read another four issues or so, about to the point where someone released the Sealed Evil In A Can, and kept buying them for a few months after that. Once I realized I wasn’t reading it anymore, I dropped it entirely.

Continuity

I had a longer comment, but I think it all boils down to this:

  1. Long-term fans like to be reminded of the stories that got us hooked (our own personal “golden age.”)
  2. A lot of the writers, artists, and editors making comics started out as fans, especially since the 1980s.
  3. The industry does not want to lose readers. (Maybe they don’t know how to replace them with new readers, or don’t want to chance it, or maybe they’ve just prioritized keeping the current readership over bringing in new people.)

That said, some stories are a lot more accessible than others – even with the same character and the same writer. Geoff Johns’ Flash: Rebirth miniseries was steeped in 60 years of Flash mythology. His first story arc on the new ongoing pared it down and made a point of establishing everything you needed to know for that story as if it were just being introduced for the first time.