okay so every new reader of superhero comics faces a defining question Marvel or DC two vast story universes two enormous casts of heroes and villains to hyper passionate fandoms one choice you can read both of course as I'm sure some of you have but it's not all that common and I think there are three reasons for that one DC and Marvel have a long-standing rivalry which carries over to readers it's fun to belong to a team two the continuities of each Universe are so bafflingly complex that a person only has enough brain space for one
and three for adolescents getting into Comics the third reason is often the big one it was for me I came to comics in the early 2000s via Smallville the TV show about an adolescent Clark Kent so I chose DC at that time DC ran four monthly super Superman titles each two dollars and 25 cents per issue now that's perfectly affordable on a part-time staple salary but I rapidly added more titles to the list and costs climbed but it wasn't my fault I was just following the story see a vital component of shared universes is the
crossover a storyline that begins in one comic and ends in another crossovers bring shared universes to life they weave distinct Heroes with distinct backstories into an all-encompassing tapestry enabling complex narrative and emotional payoffs this deep interconnectivity is what makes superhero comics so fun and unique it's also an ingenious device for comic book publishers to make more cash the highest expression of this device is the crossover event a universe-wide story that gets everyone involved here is where you feel the interconnectivity most intensely here also is where you spend ton in the years I was buying superhero
comics DC leaned heavily on crossover events the earliest I can remember is our Worlds at War from 2001 which comprised 43 issues across a variety of titles in 2004 they published identity crisis which led to Infinite Crisis which led to 52 which led to countdown to final crisis which led predictably to final crisis meanwhile Marvel was doing its own crossover events just as huge just as pricey and the costs weren't only monetary crossover events are a time and mental investment as well there's a ton to read a ton to remember a ton to keep track
of I was fully plugged into DC comics's continuity for a decade I had a blast reading those stories but eventually the costs became too great and I stepped off the train for me the greatest strength of the shared Universe its interconnectivity became its fatal flaw superhero star storytelling forces you to constantly raise the stakes a drug tolerance sets in villains need to get stronger threats bigger a building is on the line than a neighborhood than a city then the world the Galaxy the universe the Multiverse ultimately threat levels Peak and to feed the stakes Beast
you have to draw on interconnectivity bring in More Heroes have them form a team maybe kill off a major character this arms race has an inevitable result Reliance on interconnectivity grows crossover events occur with increasing frequency Standalone stories become rarer continuity gets convoluted and more and more comics require a college course of background knowledge to be understood in the end the only option left is a clearing of the board a refresh or a reboot now full continuity reboots are very rare but partial or soft reboots happen all the time in comics things get simplified histories
erased characters are brought back from the dead this is circle of life in superhero comics and it's the circle that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally entered the MCU is the most successful franchise in movie history because it achieved the interconnectivity that we love about comics in its first three phases comprising 23 mostly good movies Marvel introduced Heroes and Standalone films crossed over minor characters then brought the heroes together for crossover events gradually tying the phases together with Cosmic mcguffins and a big Baddie who threatened half the population of the universe it was awesome as
a kid I never thought I'd see movies achieve something like this with Thanos defeated and the universe saved Marvel has to up the stakes even further so it created the Multiverse and tightened the web of interconnectivity with a slate of TV series a pattern familiar to comic book readers is playing out the costs for casual fans are are steadily increasing and a run of lackluster projects isn't helping the situation in a tightly woven shared Universe bad movies break a cardinal rule never force people to watch something that's crappy in order to understand an upcoming project
once you do that entertainment becomes homework now I don't blame Marvel for breaking the Rule movies are hard Studio batting averages are comparable to actual batting averages two or three great films out of 10 is the most you can usually hope for for a decade Marvel well exceeded that average a dazzling Hollywood Triumph but the odds get everyone in the end bad and mediocre movies are just unavoidable and so is the life cycle of superhero storytelling despite some online pessimism the MCU is still doing great financially but sooner or later a refresh is gonna happen
it's the way of things the consolation as all comic book fans know is that it's going to be one hell of a crossover event hey everybody if you want to read more of my thoughts on superheroes specifically on what makes a great Superman story check out my book of essays Escape into meaning which is available in paperback now this episode was brought to you by Squarespace if you don't know Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online whether you're just starting out or managing a growing brand Squarespace makes it
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