Crisis on infinate continuity lines...

[Princess Ivy]

yes, the crisis happened a long time ago, it's done and dusted and now a big part of the DC multiverse, but it is still croping up and causing problems, even now. I take the point of view that i find the continuity line that i like, and stick to that version, for example, firsestorm, just to show i'm not entirely pre-crisis. I love the elemental version, i felt the books had a lot to offer and a sensitivity that was missing from earlier incarnations. i also love the 'thangarian' hawkworld as opposed to the slighly naff original sacred scarab version. however, i don't like a lot of the changes, such as losing supergirl (although i had heard that she'd been put back), and the changes to wonderwoman.
As a writer, i felt it was a well coreographed copout. We don't know what to do with our characters and storylines, so let's just ditch them and start fresh, rather than put in the painstaking work that it would have taken to develope the characters and change things the old fashioned way.
so i was wondering on other readers takes on the crisis, and how the changes to favorite characters have affected things for them.

 

[Perpetual Man]

The original Crisis happened a long time ago, and I think was more overshadowed by Marvel's SECRET WARS than anything else, which is a shame, becaue CRISIS actually changed things...

I can understand the need to change things over the course of time, I think it was about DC's 40th Anniversary that CRISIS happened, so that's 40 years of continuity built up and it was getting more and more tangled and something needed to be done. And the problem with comics is the different creative teams over the years. There is no single voice directing a single character. One writer can do one thing with another character, then another writercomes along and changes everything again, creating bigger and bigger knots that need to be sorted.

As a whole I thought CRISIS was neccesary and good. It was brave - killing off a major character (FLASH) and cutting variations down, so there was only one SUPERMAN and more importantly one Earth.

Following CRISIS DC had a period of incredible creativity, with some superb stories and comics being produced. Look at the early issues of FLASH, SUPERMAN, JLA. They might not have been to everyone's taste, but they were good...

But the problem came with the ease with which it worked. Since CRISIS the company has found that they can reset things a little too easily, and that each year has to have a 'special event' which weakens the over all integrity of the universe.

And of course the writers behind CRISIS all moved on, new writers took over and they wanted to write about the characters they loved, but found those versions were all pre-CRISIS and changes happened again...

DC have just finished another major revamp, changing everything on a scale not seen sins e teh original CRISIS. The new version INFINITE CRISIS has changed all major characters again, on a small scale - SUPERMAN to huge, once again there is a new FLASH and bringing back characters allegedly permenantly dead (JASON TODD and GREEN LANTERN).

As stand alone stories they are great, but does it damage continuity? Yes and in a bad way. I think the ultimate problem is the lack of aging in characters and the constant updating of time, if the characters aged in real time, then we would now be dealing with the children and grandchildren of the original superheroes and there would be a greater feeling of continuity and lesser need to change things, because time would mean that things had to change and stay fluid.

Hope that makes sense, and probably doesn't even re4motely answer the question!

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Well they do occassionally go down the "children and grandchildren" route but they never stick with it. This is more being a victim of their own success. Superman has sold for nearly 50 years. Batman likewise. Both have had their origin stories retold, amended and rewritten more than once. It comes of being trapped. You can't kill them off forever due to their huge fanbase but if a character can never die (at least not for long) what danger can you place them in? It becomes like a Flash Gordon serial where each weak you discover another way for the hero to escape. I think the issue of comic book death is a bit of a joke really. I can't believe they brought back Jason Todd. It renders A Death in the Family a bit redundant. I knew they'd find a way to restore Hal Jordan though.
The new Infinite Crisis which recently finished was quite interesting butnit did feel too manufactured (and let's see how long Ted Kord & Maxwell Lord stay dead).

 

[Brian G Turner]

Huh? They brought back Jason Todd??

 

[Perpetual Man]

Huh? They brought back Jason Todd??

They did indeed! In a story that parallels the return of Bucky in Captain America, Jason Todd returned just before INIFINTE CRISIS at DC.

Initially there wasa bit of mystery - was the masked character TODD or not, with BATMAN trying to get to the bottom of it - and discovering it was.

How he came back was a simple plot device - with the upheaval being caused by the forthcoming crisis reality warped and TODD dug himself out of his own grave... or something along those lines...

 

[Brian G Turner]

Hm, hope it read better than it sounds.

 

[Perpetual Man]

Hm, hope it read better than it sounds.

Unfortunately no, it was well written and drawn, it just felt that the real reason they brought him back was shock value.

 

[Princess Ivy]

or to sell more books?

 

[Trey Greyjoy]

Thats their goal!