@oldnightcrawler: It doesn't have to be about one big story as you mentioned. Continuity is about flow and progression but you cant have that if you dont know where things started and what's happened previously. Writers shouldn't be able just to do what they want without respect to the basis and development of a particular character or story over the years. There should be at least some heed paid to the history of the character, especially if you call yourself writing within the parameters of the existing universe or continuity.
I think there is anyway, though, even with all the screwing around with incongruous continuity that has always gone on. If a story is good, it shouldn't matter if it's in continuity or not, or even if it goes against continuity. If it's good it's good, regardless of if or how it fits into some imagined continuity with other stories. And if it is good and supposed to be in continuity (sometimes even if it's not supposed to be), continuity will adapt to it anyway.
And if it's not good, it's not good, also regardless of continuity.
.. that's what writers get paid to do and what any writer who cares about integrity is taught to do, otherwise what's to separate it from fanfiction? As I said before, in most writing you can follow a progression but in comics it feels like integrity is being sacrificed just because so-and-so wants to tell a story.
I'd like to bring up two points here. Firstly, that I don't think there's any medium or genre outside of superhero comics that this applies to. How many characters outside of that are made by hundreds of creators working over the span of decades, in a continuous serialized form? In any other literary format, stories have a beginning, middle, and end; but with popular superheroes, almost no one starts at the beginning and there sort of is no end.
And, I think sort of because of this, I think any writing about characters one doesn't create themselves is really fan-fiction. So, most superhero comics are fan-fiction. And I don't think that's a bad thing.
. Look for example at AOU, the writer did whatever he wanted and now there is confusion and even you have chosen to disregard what happened there. What about this Trail of Jean Grey, is that not ridiculous? It's already been done.
okay, I didn't say I disregard Age of Ulton; I said I had chosen to not read it because I'd decided I generally dislike/am not interested in most event books. I get what you're saying about some books having an uninteresting premise, but/because you've done so using examples of two stories I haven't read because they don't interest me.
Like I say, if a story's bad, it's bad regardless of continuity.
Or how did you like the retcon of the Dark Phoenix Saga with Jean Grey
okay, yeah, that was stupid.
But mostly because bringing her back just seems so pointless in retrospect. And everyone just accepts it now, so..eh?
.. or explain the Xorn-Magneto retcon or whatever it was. Along with all the X23 and O5 Cyclops being together, seems like someone is just trying to make people mad by taking a dump on a franchise
see? if a story's unpopular enough, it get written out. They back-track on stuff all the time, that's why no one stays dead. Remember when it was revealed that Spider-man had been a clone of himself for the past 20 years? Turns out, that was not actually the case.
Take Whedon and Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men; that wasn't even meant to be in-continuity when it started, but it fit so well, and was so good, that it became cannon. God Loves, Man Kills doesn't need to be read as though it's in continuity, it wasn't part of the regular series at the time, but everyone accepts it as cannon because it fits and it's good.
Some stories may need an established continuity as part of their premise, but honestly, I think most don't.
For me and I emphasize FOR Me personally i will say that I dont think the current writers are doing the franchise justice and I dont agree with or like alot of the stories that we are getting nor the direction that some of things are going. Fans shouldn't have to psych themselves out by making up little stories in their heads that because there's some new writer or story arc that there's some new universe, in order to read and enjoy the books. Some people will defend whatever comes out as if they actually work for the company, but i find it hard to believe that everyone is enjoying everything so much, that no criticism is deserved. I think we are in one of the weakest and worst periods for xmen fans. As all the Avengers books seem to be superior and getting the proper attention at the moment compared to what i feel is the black sheep status the Xmen have been regulated to.
If you aren't into what the current creators are doing with the characters, then you aren't, and I'm not going to try to convince you that you should be.
I totally agree with you that for many X-men fans stuff like All-new X-men might just be a waste of time; at the same time, I think most of the other books do have something new to offer even to longtime fans.
That said, having read almost every X-men comic ever right from the beginning, I can assure you that even if this isn't the best time for X-men comics (and, hey, I like it), it's still far from the worst.
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