Ringslinger76
07-07-2008, 07:47 PM
Ok... DC and Marvel both do them but lets look at DC and analyze what they do well, what they don't, and give DC a final grade.
My take is this:
Negatives:
DC loves space and time altering crossovers. As much as I love Crisis on the Infinite Earths for the most part these type of events don't allow some of DC's most beloved characters to do anything important. Think about what made some of Grant Morrison's early JLA arcs so fun. Batman saving everyone's ass against the white martians! Morrison actually did a great job giving most of the JLA a spotlight. However in these mega events Batman is usually regulated to the 4th Ghostbuster spot. He was worthless in Zero Hour, Final Night, Underworld Unleashed, Infinite Crisis, 52, and he is already off the table in Final Crisis. Marvel does a better job of giving their A listers important roles and face time in their big events. Civil War: Cap vs Iron Man and Spidey outs himself; Secret Invasion: Spider Woman is a Skrull, Everyone vs Everyone in the Savage Land, and Nick Fury Returns; World War Hulk: Hulk vs Everybody! The point is in those stories Marvel's big players are well.. big players. DC creates stories where only a Spectre or Hal/Parralax have enough power to make a difference.
DC uses mega events too often to "fix" continuity rather than tell a good story. In fact sometimes I get the feeling that the story comes after what editorial wants to accomplish. "Hey we need to get rid of Superboy and introduce a new Batwoman." "Well lets write us a mega event." "Hawkman is confusing and the JSA should be older." "We can fix that too."
DC also likes to use mega events to force character revamps on readers rather than making existing characters shine. People read comics because somewhere they have a favorite character. Superboy is someone's favorite, Batgirl is someone's favorite, and Blue Beetle is someone's favorite. No one wants to buy a mega event to see his/her favorite bite the bullet. Eventually everyone's favorite is dead (except for Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) and more people leave the hobby angry. Any character that lasts more than a decade is a good character; a character that lasts more than 5 (Ted Kord) is a classic and if he isn't selling its because of writing and editorial, not the character. A poor musician blames his/her instrument.
Positives:
No one does Sci Fi concepts better than DC. Time travel, parrallel dimensions, and interplanetary emergency is done best at DC.
DC always pays off big for long time fans. Komandi is getting face time in Final Crisis and we're getting a tale about 3 versions of the Legion of Superheroes.
DC does always fix something... maybe not everything.. but something. (Now if they'd quit breaking things we wouldn't need things fixed.)
Third tier characters do get a chance to shine every once and a while. Elongated Man in 52.. now that was cool. Who thought Booster would ever be important again?
Final Eval: C+
Best efforts: 52, Sinestro Corps, Crisis on the Infinite Earths
See me after class: Countdown, Amazons Attack, Zero Hour.
I'd love to hear other people's thoughts... unless its just to argue with me... I'm old and unlikely to change my mind, but I love to hear other opinions. Gail, I would be honored to hear what you think. I know you can't openly bash the work of others but any thoughts you may have would be fun.
Its summer and my wife won't talk comics with me. Help me people.
My take is this:
Negatives:
DC loves space and time altering crossovers. As much as I love Crisis on the Infinite Earths for the most part these type of events don't allow some of DC's most beloved characters to do anything important. Think about what made some of Grant Morrison's early JLA arcs so fun. Batman saving everyone's ass against the white martians! Morrison actually did a great job giving most of the JLA a spotlight. However in these mega events Batman is usually regulated to the 4th Ghostbuster spot. He was worthless in Zero Hour, Final Night, Underworld Unleashed, Infinite Crisis, 52, and he is already off the table in Final Crisis. Marvel does a better job of giving their A listers important roles and face time in their big events. Civil War: Cap vs Iron Man and Spidey outs himself; Secret Invasion: Spider Woman is a Skrull, Everyone vs Everyone in the Savage Land, and Nick Fury Returns; World War Hulk: Hulk vs Everybody! The point is in those stories Marvel's big players are well.. big players. DC creates stories where only a Spectre or Hal/Parralax have enough power to make a difference.
DC uses mega events too often to "fix" continuity rather than tell a good story. In fact sometimes I get the feeling that the story comes after what editorial wants to accomplish. "Hey we need to get rid of Superboy and introduce a new Batwoman." "Well lets write us a mega event." "Hawkman is confusing and the JSA should be older." "We can fix that too."
DC also likes to use mega events to force character revamps on readers rather than making existing characters shine. People read comics because somewhere they have a favorite character. Superboy is someone's favorite, Batgirl is someone's favorite, and Blue Beetle is someone's favorite. No one wants to buy a mega event to see his/her favorite bite the bullet. Eventually everyone's favorite is dead (except for Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) and more people leave the hobby angry. Any character that lasts more than a decade is a good character; a character that lasts more than 5 (Ted Kord) is a classic and if he isn't selling its because of writing and editorial, not the character. A poor musician blames his/her instrument.
Positives:
No one does Sci Fi concepts better than DC. Time travel, parrallel dimensions, and interplanetary emergency is done best at DC.
DC always pays off big for long time fans. Komandi is getting face time in Final Crisis and we're getting a tale about 3 versions of the Legion of Superheroes.
DC does always fix something... maybe not everything.. but something. (Now if they'd quit breaking things we wouldn't need things fixed.)
Third tier characters do get a chance to shine every once and a while. Elongated Man in 52.. now that was cool. Who thought Booster would ever be important again?
Final Eval: C+
Best efforts: 52, Sinestro Corps, Crisis on the Infinite Earths
See me after class: Countdown, Amazons Attack, Zero Hour.
I'd love to hear other people's thoughts... unless its just to argue with me... I'm old and unlikely to change my mind, but I love to hear other opinions. Gail, I would be honored to hear what you think. I know you can't openly bash the work of others but any thoughts you may have would be fun.
Its summer and my wife won't talk comics with me. Help me people.