JulianPerez
06-27-2006, 01:10 AM
If you can, check out AVENGERS/SQUADRON SUPREME ANNUAL '98 by Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco (yeah, like THEY need a plug! :D )
This fantastic, well-written story by one of comics greatest masters features the Avengers and Squadron Supreme teaming up to battle Imus Champion.
A running subplot in the Busiek AVENGERS series was that Justice and Firestar, the two rookies, had problems. Justice wanted to be in the Avengers, yet he made mistakes all the time, whereas Firestar, who has no interest in being on the team, doesn't make any mistakes at all, a dynamic that was a subplot in the book, and was ultimately resolved.
A big plot point of this subplot in AVENGERS/SQUADRON SUPREME was that Firestar figured out how to defeat Imus Champion - accomplishing a major victory. And this was a big part of a subplot in the standard AVENGERS series, which was resolved elsewhere!
This brings up a question: when is it acceptable to have major developments in the subplots (or main plots) of one book, take place in another?
I'm not talking about major developments about characters that have their own book, which are touched on in their team book. An example is Captain America's days as the Man Without a Country during the Englehart CAPTAIN AMERICA years, which was reflected in Cap's AVENGERS participation, or Thor's quest for the Norn Stones and his battle with Loki in Skornheim, which was mentioned in Avengers.
I'm talking about story arcs that are a subplot part of the book itself. Cap's journey across America for instance, was not a big plot point of Avengers, but something like Two-Gun Kid's rattled confidence subplot after the battle with Kang, however, IS what I'm talking about. I mean subplots that are a part of a book's events and furniture.
I woud say that, we readers read a book to find out what happens with the subplots, and occasionally, it is unfair to be asked to read another book entirely to make get another chapter of what is going on in THIS comic.
Even with a statement like that, there are some gray areas.
What stories are acceptable to spin off elsewhere, and what are not? That's the ethical question asked here.
Going back to the Busiek/Perez AVENGERS (a textbook example of subplot use) there's the example of Ms. Marvel's alcoholism subplot. It was introduced in AVENGERS, but was developed in the "Live Kree or Die" story arc, all of which featured multiple plot points that happened in other books, notably Carol hitting "rock bottom" with a passenger jet, which happened in IRON MAN.
Now, is siphoning out a major plot point in the story of one book, to another book, acceptable in this instance? I don't know about you, but I would argue that it is acceptable at least in the Ms. Marvel case, because the RESOLUTION to the Ms. Marvel alcoholism subplot occurred in AVENGERS. People pick up books to see how these stories turn out, and if you give that, you're set.
Things can tie into other things - in fact, this is encouraged. It makes the Marvel Unvierse feel all the more real if they call Tony Stark's house and he can't pick up, because he's drunk, or when Black Panther guest-stars in Avengers, he and Iron Man consult one another about the vibranium plague happening in CAPTAIN AMERICA.
But I would argue that there is something slightly unethical about any series where significant plot points are delivered in books other than the main book, for instance, the EVOLUTIONARY WAR crossover.
This fantastic, well-written story by one of comics greatest masters features the Avengers and Squadron Supreme teaming up to battle Imus Champion.
A running subplot in the Busiek AVENGERS series was that Justice and Firestar, the two rookies, had problems. Justice wanted to be in the Avengers, yet he made mistakes all the time, whereas Firestar, who has no interest in being on the team, doesn't make any mistakes at all, a dynamic that was a subplot in the book, and was ultimately resolved.
A big plot point of this subplot in AVENGERS/SQUADRON SUPREME was that Firestar figured out how to defeat Imus Champion - accomplishing a major victory. And this was a big part of a subplot in the standard AVENGERS series, which was resolved elsewhere!
This brings up a question: when is it acceptable to have major developments in the subplots (or main plots) of one book, take place in another?
I'm not talking about major developments about characters that have their own book, which are touched on in their team book. An example is Captain America's days as the Man Without a Country during the Englehart CAPTAIN AMERICA years, which was reflected in Cap's AVENGERS participation, or Thor's quest for the Norn Stones and his battle with Loki in Skornheim, which was mentioned in Avengers.
I'm talking about story arcs that are a subplot part of the book itself. Cap's journey across America for instance, was not a big plot point of Avengers, but something like Two-Gun Kid's rattled confidence subplot after the battle with Kang, however, IS what I'm talking about. I mean subplots that are a part of a book's events and furniture.
I woud say that, we readers read a book to find out what happens with the subplots, and occasionally, it is unfair to be asked to read another book entirely to make get another chapter of what is going on in THIS comic.
Even with a statement like that, there are some gray areas.
What stories are acceptable to spin off elsewhere, and what are not? That's the ethical question asked here.
Going back to the Busiek/Perez AVENGERS (a textbook example of subplot use) there's the example of Ms. Marvel's alcoholism subplot. It was introduced in AVENGERS, but was developed in the "Live Kree or Die" story arc, all of which featured multiple plot points that happened in other books, notably Carol hitting "rock bottom" with a passenger jet, which happened in IRON MAN.
Now, is siphoning out a major plot point in the story of one book, to another book, acceptable in this instance? I don't know about you, but I would argue that it is acceptable at least in the Ms. Marvel case, because the RESOLUTION to the Ms. Marvel alcoholism subplot occurred in AVENGERS. People pick up books to see how these stories turn out, and if you give that, you're set.
Things can tie into other things - in fact, this is encouraged. It makes the Marvel Unvierse feel all the more real if they call Tony Stark's house and he can't pick up, because he's drunk, or when Black Panther guest-stars in Avengers, he and Iron Man consult one another about the vibranium plague happening in CAPTAIN AMERICA.
But I would argue that there is something slightly unethical about any series where significant plot points are delivered in books other than the main book, for instance, the EVOLUTIONARY WAR crossover.