Comic Books and Constant Changes
Whatever happened to self-contained comic book stories? Today everything is about giant crossover events. The universe is always having a dramatic change and dozens of titles have to be created to tell it. I remember when comic books were easy to follow and you did not have to spend a lot of money to follow your favorite hero. With comic book prices where they are now ($2.99 and up) who can afford to follow universe changing crossovers one after another? Such as the green lantern titles, I love Green Lantern but I cannot afford to buy three titles plus any other title the story is weaved into. So I have only been buying a third of the story and do not know what is going on in the other titles. Nothing is making sense and I have to drop it.
In the nineties comic book companies did crossover stories when something really big was going to happen and it went back to the status quo. If it progresses the characters that’s fine, but when these events are used to shake things up and make more titles what is the point? The crossover idea used to be special, now it is a basic story idea. In the eighties a universe was crowded so there was a crisis, how many crisis have there been in the last ten years now? Do we really need to watch our beloved characters die every six months to be brought back so another crossover can be created? Can nobody stay dead? Even though Barry Allen was dead for twenty years he still popped up every now and then.
Through crossover stories we saw new Supermen, and a more violent Batman. Dick Grayson became his own man in Teen Titans. A robin died in the Batman title and a new one was introduced throughout all of them. Through the stories that have happened some of that has changed and some has stayed the same. A robin is no longer dead and superboy is still around but will be changed completely. There will be new guardians and new characters. Iconic costumes will be altered and numbers re-launched. Why does this have to happen again? Were characters not brought back months ago with a story that was supposed to have lasting affects? Continuity cannot be kept through all of these changing events. Is there anyone else who feels the same as I do?
I know it seems like I am picking on DC comics. I have been a long time reader of theirs but it has just become too much. With a three dollar comic why can’t we follow our hero’s adventures in one title? Does everything have to be bigger and more shocking? I for one am bored with the universe altering crossover story. When can the simple ideas come back?