Effect
07-21-2006, 12:07 PM
A thread over at Newsarama got my thinking. Basiclly what the thread was asking was if JMS was undercutting the Civil War due to how he presents events in Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-man. For example how ASM showed the events leading up to Peter standing on the stage addressing the media before it actually happen in Civil War. Or how, what was said, FF was leading up to the whole event in Civil War #3 before Civil War #3 covered it.
It prompted me to make this response, that I didn't think it did undercut the event but got me thinking about how CW presented things and how House of M did.
I think we have to remember that just because a person is reading the tie ins, which might be their regular monthly title, doesn't mean they are all going to read the Civil War main issues. I know I didn't even bother getting #3 mainly because until something major happens I have interest in, and I've never been interested in Thor, I can easily wait for the TPB and just get by on spoilers done on the forums.
What I am interested in is Spider-man. I think Amazing Spider-man and even Fantastic Four have to be done in such a way since they are regular titles that one should be able to read them and follow the actions of those titles characters without trouble. You get bits and pieces of the different characters and sides in the main Civil War book but not enough detail. That detail is left up to the normal titles.
See when I think about it this way, I feel that House of M was a far better title in its presentation. With House of M one only had to read the House of M title sto understand House of M. All of the House of M tie ins were "What ifs" and not the inner workings of the characters that appeared in House of M main. The focus with that event was the main mini-series as it should be.
Civil War on the other hand basicll forces you to a degree to not only get the main series (which is where the hype is) but also tie ins of the characters you want to know more about during said event. Spending more money then you'd normally spend.
As a result of this I think this is why House of M's pacing was the way it was cause it had to slow things down to cover certain things since there were no tie ins to do so. In that light, I don't have a problem with it.
Ideally one should be able to follow ASM and get the whole Civil War from Spider-mans point of view. Same for Fantastic Four, one should be able to get the CW from their point of view. With the main title covering the overall of the event (which can be optional or needed depending how you look at it).
I guess it's a matter of taste when ti comes to how you want your story presented to you in a big event. I'd like to get everything in one series if at all possible instead of having to go back and forth. Either in the main series (ala House of M) or just in the regular book of the character I'm most interested in (Amazing Spider-man at the moment). Presenting a lot of characters to readers is fine but there are times, like now where money is a factor and I really have no interest in a lot of other characters, at least not at this moment.
Now I might be a bit off in what I said, since it's been a while since I read House of M and I do remember that the tie ins did give a look into what House of M life was like but it I felt it really was more of "what if" since events in House of M proper happen differently.
Has anyone noticed the difference in the presentation between the two?
Which one do you actually perfer?
Do you think one is any better then the other or is it really up to personal taste based on what one really wants to read about in relation to the event itself?
Should one have to read the main series and normal titles or should it be presented that you can read either one depending what focus you care about (especailly if the title mentions the major events in some way)?
It prompted me to make this response, that I didn't think it did undercut the event but got me thinking about how CW presented things and how House of M did.
I think we have to remember that just because a person is reading the tie ins, which might be their regular monthly title, doesn't mean they are all going to read the Civil War main issues. I know I didn't even bother getting #3 mainly because until something major happens I have interest in, and I've never been interested in Thor, I can easily wait for the TPB and just get by on spoilers done on the forums.
What I am interested in is Spider-man. I think Amazing Spider-man and even Fantastic Four have to be done in such a way since they are regular titles that one should be able to read them and follow the actions of those titles characters without trouble. You get bits and pieces of the different characters and sides in the main Civil War book but not enough detail. That detail is left up to the normal titles.
See when I think about it this way, I feel that House of M was a far better title in its presentation. With House of M one only had to read the House of M title sto understand House of M. All of the House of M tie ins were "What ifs" and not the inner workings of the characters that appeared in House of M main. The focus with that event was the main mini-series as it should be.
Civil War on the other hand basicll forces you to a degree to not only get the main series (which is where the hype is) but also tie ins of the characters you want to know more about during said event. Spending more money then you'd normally spend.
As a result of this I think this is why House of M's pacing was the way it was cause it had to slow things down to cover certain things since there were no tie ins to do so. In that light, I don't have a problem with it.
Ideally one should be able to follow ASM and get the whole Civil War from Spider-mans point of view. Same for Fantastic Four, one should be able to get the CW from their point of view. With the main title covering the overall of the event (which can be optional or needed depending how you look at it).
I guess it's a matter of taste when ti comes to how you want your story presented to you in a big event. I'd like to get everything in one series if at all possible instead of having to go back and forth. Either in the main series (ala House of M) or just in the regular book of the character I'm most interested in (Amazing Spider-man at the moment). Presenting a lot of characters to readers is fine but there are times, like now where money is a factor and I really have no interest in a lot of other characters, at least not at this moment.
Now I might be a bit off in what I said, since it's been a while since I read House of M and I do remember that the tie ins did give a look into what House of M life was like but it I felt it really was more of "what if" since events in House of M proper happen differently.
Has anyone noticed the difference in the presentation between the two?
Which one do you actually perfer?
Do you think one is any better then the other or is it really up to personal taste based on what one really wants to read about in relation to the event itself?
Should one have to read the main series and normal titles or should it be presented that you can read either one depending what focus you care about (especailly if the title mentions the major events in some way)?