So I only read two comics. Spiderman, and Batman.
The problem I’ve run into is with Spiderman, the comic has been running since the 1940s or whatever, as one continuous comic. I’m the type of person who gets obsessive over one thing, instead of casual about 10 things. So my natural instinct is to start reading at issue 1, and then go until current. Let’s see, how many issues are there? Ohhhh…oh that’s a lot of issues…
So obviously I’m not going to read them all, and not even in order. Even though that’s what my brain is telling me I should do. At some point I have to let the logical side of me take the wheel and say NO! You’re not going to go reading hundreds if not thousands of comics, just so you can stay current with monthly releases!
So my other option is Batman.
And Batman releases little arcs I guess you could call them. I’m currently reading a little 5 comic mini-series, which is like the perfect size for me. A nice complete comic I can read once per day, for 10 minutes, and at the end of the week I have a complete story. But the problem is, each complete story doesn’t carry over to the next. Batman assumes you know a few core things about Batman. He’s Bruce Wayne, his parents were murdered when he was a kid. He’s constantly fighting crime to deal with his own mental illness of not being able to cope with the concept of crime. You know…the basics.
But the individual stories don’t carry over. Batman could kill Catwoman in a story. Murders her completely dead. And that will carry over the following issues. Until they reboot the whole damn thing, and then Catwoman is back. Never murdered. That’s no longer canon. It mattered to the story you already read…but that’s done now. We’ve moved on.
So I guess the thing I don’t understand is, why can’t comic books find the balance between “Neverending story that’s literally lasted since before your grandpa was born, but somehow is still going today with the same people”, and “Basic characters and themes stay the same, but individual stories will eventually mean absolutely nothing for having had them happen”? Why can’t we get comics that can be 5-10 issue complete stories, but if a future story wants to mention it’s past, then this character died. And no bringing them back. No making a replacement. I still haven’t gotten in the comics how Miles Morales exists. I heard of him through the video game…no clue how he comes to be though, or why he replaces spiderman.
I guess I’m just having difficulty finding points in comics where I’ll say “I start here”. Because I would like end dates. The open ended date of spiderman is intimidating. Even though Batman offers conclusions to the story, it’s also disheartening to know that eventually what you’re reading won’t matter.
Sooo… it’s complicated…
First, you’re talking about 2 different companies and each has their own methodology.
Batman is from D.C. comics and first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in 1939. He became so popular that they added a second comic simply called “Batman” the next year in 1940.
Same deal with Superman in Action Comics #1 in 1938 and then Superman #1 in 1939.
In the 1950s, superhero comics became less popular, and comics in general were being attacked by a fraudulent psychologist named Frederick Werthham. There were congressional hearings, the whole 9 yards.
To avoid government regulation, comics had to self-regulate, and so the Comics Code Authority was created.
D.C. took this opportunity to re-invent itself and re-launched a new version of the Flash in Showcase #4 in 1956.
That, officially, ended the Golden Age of comics and started the Silver Age of comics.
But, D.C. started getting questions. Didn’t they already have a Flash? And a Green Lantern? Who are these new characters? What’s going on? How can Superman and Batman have been around 20 years and still be the same age?
To explain this, D.C. introduced “The Flash of Two Worlds” in The Flash #123 in 1961.
All the previous Golden Age stories actually happened… on Earth 2. The PRESENT day stories are happening on Earth 1.
Once they set that precedent, they then began crossing over characters from Earth 1 and Earth 2 in Justice League starting in Justice League of America #21 and 22 in 1963.
As D.C. gained other comics properties or introduced other variations, they would simply explain it away as happening on a different Earth. So when they aquired the Fawcett characters (Captain Marvel, better known as Shazam!) that became Earth S and so on.
20 some odd years later, in the 1980s, they decided this was entirely too convoluted and decided to simplify things with the “Crisis on Infinite Earths”.
They outright destroyed multiple continuities and boiled it all down to 5 “Earths”, merged them down into one, and started re-telling the stories from scratch.
This proved SOOOO massively successful, that D.C. has kept doing it. There’s an index of all the “Crisis” stories and each one serves as a new jumping on point for new readers. The most recent one being “Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths”.
https://www.cbr.com/every-dc-crisis-event-comic-reading-guide/
So, realistically, if you want to read something like Batman, you don’t have to read EVERYTHING since 1939, that Batman doesn’t REALLY exist anymore. Just follow it from the last Crisis or the most recent #1 issue indicating the book has been re-booted.
MARVEL on the other hand, does NOT do this.
Spider-Man first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962. It’s the same Spider-Man that has ever been. No reboots.
I am NOT getting into One More Day. DO NOT GO THERE.
As new creatives have come on board, new Spider-Man titles have launched, so Amazing Spider-Man #1 was the first following Amazing Fantasy #15, that was 1963, Marvel Team-Up #1 in 1972, Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man in 1976, Web of Spider-Man #1 in 1985, and the Todd McFarlane just plain “Spider-Man” in 1990.
What Marvel figured out is that they don’t need some industry wide “Crisis” to reboot a book. They do it ALL THE TIME. Generally when a new creative team wants on board. They just did it with all the X-Men books.
The old continuity is still there, but you don’t have to know it, just jump on with the new #1 and enjoy the ride.
Just don’t get TOO attached, because Marvel will reboot AGAIN AND AGAIN for any reason at all or no reason in particular.
So you get Amazing Spider-Man #1, 1963
Amazing Spider-Man #1, 1998
Amazing Spider-Man #1, 2014
Amazing Spider-Man #1, 2015
Amazing Spider-Man #789, 2017
Amazing Spider-Man #1, 2022
I wish I was making this up. The current series will have the present series # as well as a legacy number, as though the original title never ended.
The good news is, to keep up, you really only have to go as far back as the most recent #1. In this case, 66 issues since 2022.
I LOVE your enthusiasm. I don’t fully understand everything you said, but that’s ok. I just love it when people are excited for stuff.