Hi there. I'm new. Don't bite me, but I've always wondered, why are comic continuity all over the place? For example, how come in a Batman comic, it would tell its story, end, and then continue on from a Detective Comic instead of the next issue of the Batman comic? Also, what's the difference between Detective Comics and Batman's main ongoing comics? Like, why do we have two ongoing series for Batman, and both intertwine with each other (EG: Batman, continues in Detective Comics, goes back to Batman). Thanks.

Hello!!!! and welcome :)

Well it can be for a number of different reasons...

1. The more popular the character is, the more it's "universe expands." Batman, for instance, used to just be a character in Detective Comics (1939 DC) As he grew in popularity he gained his own title, but still retained his position where he started. Then characters within his own title gain popularity (Robin) and so we got "Robin" and "Batman and Robin" titles.... and so on.

2. Comic characters always end up having dozens of writers over the years. Each one has a slightly (or hugely) different take on the character. I think they kinda pitch their ideas, and then get their own running title.... For instance, Batman: Odyssey *cough total crap cough* was written by Neil Adams, but that storyline didn't fit in at all with Grant Morrison's stuff at the time. However, DC allowed them both to have their running titles at the same time...

3. Money... the more titles you have to buy to keep up with the story... the more profit.... it's pretty smart actually...

Hope this helps... of course I could be wrong about the whole thing lol, so don't just take my word for it!

@PlaystationFanboy said:

Like, why do we have two ongoing series for Batman, and both intertwine with each other (EG: Batman, continues in Detective Comics, goes back to Batman).

Marketing techniques

If u buy one comic series monthly and just that comic and they put a "it will continue in example #12" u have to buy that comic to read the complete the history :P

It's useful when a comic book have low sales, they hook it to a high sales comic and it's a way to u to know the comic and maybe buy it too

Currently Batman and Detective Comics doesn't cross over ever so I don't see the point of your question... but where done well it's because the story involves many characters so it spans various character series... The other reason is... well... imagine telling the story of like Knight Sage or No Man's Land in one book... Knight saga would still be going on today and NML would have begun for a lot longer ^.^

As far as the difference... it's supposed to be about...

Batman = More about Batman the character

Detective Comics = about Detective stories

Batman and Robin = about Batman and Robin the characters and their adventures

Batman: The Dark Knight = about Batman adventures that have to deal with magic.

That's not really how it's working right now, but that's what they are supposed to be...

Batman=everything(detective work,gadgetry,relationships,action etc) and so far it's doing just that.

Batman and Robin=Bruce's relationship with Damian and Dami's overall growth,development etc.So far it's doing the job just fine.

Detective comics=Rather obvious,but it kinda fails on what it's supposed to do,okay book.Not bad but not good,it might even be good if it were'nt for the former 2 batbooks i've already mentioned,but thanks to them i find it dismal.

The Dark Knight=Personal fantasy of David Finch and his lackey Paul Jenkins,DC wants to keep Finch on board as an artist so they gave him his own book.It's loaded with mischaracterizations,bad stories etc.It's just the creative teams own personal perception of the bat characters,no regard for continuity or characterizations.They've tried to justify it's existence by claiming that it's an alternate take on Batman's life(magic,supernatural stuff).It does'nt even have orignal stories,just recycled stuff from old stories or cartoons.Don't get it simple.

@Durakken said:

Currently Batman and Detective Comics doesn't cross over ever so I don't see the point of your question... but where done well it's because the story involves many characters so it spans various character series... The other reason is... well... imagine telling the story of like Knight Sage or No Man's Land in one book... Knight saga would still be going on today and NML would have begun for a lot longer ^.^

As far as the difference... it's supposed to be about...

Batman = More about Batman the character

Detective Comics = about Detective stories

Batman and Robin = about Batman and Robin the characters and their adventures

Batman: The Dark Knight = about Batman adventures that have to deal with magic.

That's not really how it's working right now, but that's what they are supposed to be...

They don't cross over ever, huh? What about Last Rites? DC 851 > Batman 684 > DC 852.

So, the main reason for a story arc to jump from Robin to DC to Batman to Nightwing is sales?

@PlaystationFanboy said:

@Durakken said:

Currently Batman and Detective Comics doesn't cross over ever so I don't see the point of your question... but where done well it's because the story involves many characters so it spans various character series... The other reason is... well... imagine telling the story of like Knight Sage or No Man's Land in one book... Knight saga would still be going on today and NML would have begun for a lot longer ^.^

As far as the difference... it's supposed to be about...

Batman = More about Batman the character

Detective Comics = about Detective stories

Batman and Robin = about Batman and Robin the characters and their adventures

Batman: The Dark Knight = about Batman adventures that have to deal with magic.

That's not really how it's working right now, but that's what they are supposed to be...

They don't cross over ever, huh? What about Last Rites? DC 851 > Batman 684 > DC 852.

So, the main reason for a story arc to jump from Robin to DC to Batman to Nightwing is sales?

He's talking about in the current Batman's comics