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Continuity counts in my book
I think "Continuity" is one of the things that keeps me reading comics. What's continuity? It's the concept that everything that has been previously published in a character, and universe's, history counts. This means that Daredevil should recognize Doctor Doom, even if they only met once 10 publishing years ago.Here are some thoughts I have on the subject and whether creators should "stick with it" or not:
- I like to see new writers attempt to work their stories into the lore. Sometimes you can really add an interesting and clever twist to story by utilizing "what happened before."
- I don't mind the way the current timeline works in DC Universe, in that they do the "this happened 4 years ago" schtick, even if it was published 20 years ago.
- When I read a story with dated references, I might snicker, but it doesn't bother me. I'm not even sure why people are annoyed by this.
- When I read a story where the character is somehow tied to a specific event (such as the Vietnam War), I just gloss over it. Again, no big deal. Sometimes I think they should just ret-con it to a more recent event. (The Punisher could easily be ret-conned to the Gulf War for example.)
- In my opinion Ret-conning is acceptable as long as it retains the key concepts of a character or story. Changing the Punisher from a U.S. war veteran to a former member of the Evironmental Liberation Front would be bad. Changing him from a Vietnam to a Gulf War vet isn't too horrible.
- Continuity seems the best way to keep people buying comics, especially since there are so few comics written for a younger audience.
- I'm still surprised that Marvel didn't use the Ultimate line to restart their universe. I don't mind when a company does this, as long as they really do start from scratch or provide good patches to old continuity problems.
- Letting characters age is a wonderful concept, but seems to encounter a lot of obstacles: commercial issues, writers and artists might prefer a particular version/time period and the fan base might not accept the changes. This is the only real issue with Continuity for me. Spider-Man is obviously an experienced crimefighter with hundreds of battles under his belt, but he's just a guy in his teens/20s. It just doesn't work unless you through aging/contintuity out the window
Posted by Comics on the Brain at 7/12/2004 9:32 PM 
Categories: Comics:Retrieved from CaptainComics.us
Categories: Comics:Retrieved from CaptainComics.us
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