The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette examines the greatest of comic-book bugaboos, continuity, and finds it can be a little daunting. And arcane. Oh, and a bit nerdy:

DC Comics character Donna Troy has had so many incarnations that an entire miniseries was needed last year to untangle her history. But that’s an aberration. Typically, even the biggest changes are fit into the all-important continuity.

Even when characters die and are brought back — Superman, Hal Jordan, Jean Grey (twice!), Supergirl, Hawkeye, etc. — an effort is made to not just start anew, but to have these latest events attached to the past.

Maybe even more than the writers and editors do, comic-book fans obsess about continuity.

When Spider-Man publicly revealed his secret identity in the end of Marvel’s Civil War #2, fans hit the message boards with fury, discussing whether that move was fitting of Peter Parker’s personality, as built up over the decades.

When news spread that Grant Morrison’s run on Batman would feature “Batman’s son,” the fans came out again, trying to deduce when the great detective would’ve ever had time to procreate.

This stuff is important. Really.

The reporter also provides a handful of links for those who might be overwhelmed by comic-character history. Oh, Wikipedia, what did we do without you?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 15th, 2006 at 8:22 am and is filed under Comic Books, DC Comics, Fandom, Internet, Marvel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.