I have recently got back into reading comics after a very long hiatus (wow, has it really been almost 20 years?), and after venturing back into a comic book store again to pick up some of my old favorites, I realized that I have been out of the loop for way too long.   I used to read Batman, X-Men, Wolverine, and Spiderman and seeing what's available out there now, well to say the least, it's overwhelming.
 
There are just so many books now-a-days, I can imagine how hard it is to keep up.  Just for example, I remember when there were just the 2 Batman books; Batman and Detective Comics.  Of course there were the odd mini-series or one-shot, but still... Now there seems to be a McBatman franchise where there are, well lets just count them...  Batman, Detective Comics, Batman Inc., Batman Confidential, Batman Streets of Gotham, Batman and Robin, Red Robin, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Batman Beyond, Superman/Batman, Batman The Brave and the Bold, Azrael, am I forgetting any?  Oh yeah, the upcoming Batman Europa? So thats 14 books if you want to keep track of the whole "Bat-Family"?  From what I have read so far, it does seem that more than half of those are in the same timeline and have crossover stories, etc...  After having this conversation with the the guys that run the local comic store here, it seems that the consensus is that a bunch of people have moved on to just reading the TPBs that have self contained storylines.  I may just do this as well.
 
I can definitely see how a newcomer, or even more-so, somebody like myself that's getting back into these books can get lost.  I see that Wolverine and Deadpool have their own little family of books now as well.  When did Spiderman become an X-man? and Wolverine an Avenger?  How do these characters get back and forth across the US to participate in some of these team's adventures while supposedly having their own solo adventures in their own cities?  I guess I need to read more on them, but I am guessing the writers are just pushing the bounds of plausibility here.  I mean why should I question this stuff, right?   They are comics.  Next month a main character somewhere will die again too boost sales and be revived again 6 months later and everybody will accept it, because it's just what happens.  I am waiting for Johnny Storm and Nightcrawler to be resurrected any month now...