Isn’t that what Marvel has been doing non-stop since at least Civil War?
Civil War led to the Initiative which led to Secret Invasion which led to Dark Reign which led to that attack Asgard thing which led to The Heroic Age which led to Fear Itself which leads to Shattered Heroes which will lead to that War of the Worlds thingy that was teased in Avengers

Dc gets attacked for having a bunch of events, but the longest connected series was probably the Infinite Crises Minis through the Crisis and then though 52.

I miss the days when the only “events” were when the story was continued in an annual.

These continuous universe spanning storylines are why I only buy 3 books between DC and Marvel.

The thing is that with events they try to make the tie-in important so that you “think” you need to read it. That goes for Flashpoint & Fear Itself. Flashpoint is mainly about Barry Allen trying to undo what Reverse-Flash did. But what Reverse-Flash did is create a world where Atlantis & Themiscayra are at War. The want you to think the tie-ins that explore the “Flashpoint” are important. It’s just world building.
Fear Itself is about Thor, Cap & Avengers fighting Skadi & Serpent. They have these 7 other “Worthy” to sell tie-ins. The tie-ins is mainly side battles. If you’re already reading those ongoing books then you’re fine. If not don’t jump in during an event.

Tie-ins should just be about following characters you like or writers you like (if that’s your bag)

Events sell. Businesses need to make money to stay afloat. Now that wasn’t hard was it?

Events were the 2nd reason I quit buying comics. The 1st time I quit in the 80s was due to a lack of time and money. The 3rd and last time I quit a general lack of interest (i.e., a huge pile of unread comics following Identity Crisis, including those by writers I liked while increased interest in SF novels) and the realization that even for series I liked they could be changed in a heartbeat by TPTB over and above an individual series writer–often due to some upcoming event.

The 2nd time I quit, I remember vividly was just after the massive Age of Apocalypse and I saw the ad in Previews magalog for the upcoming 22-part Phalanx cross-over event. I was galled, appalled and balked at it. Also the realization that as an advertised “jumping-on” point that those doubled as “jumping-off” point, which is what I did.

– Ken from Chicago

P.S. Not I lost interest in superheroes (as witness my perusal of this website and responding). I love the various animated series (BATMAN:TAS, SUPERMAN:TAS, BATMAN BEYOND, JUSTICE LEAGUE even THE BATMAN and BATMAN: BRAVE & THE BOLD–and of course can’t get enough of YOUNG JUSTICE which is pure concentrated awesomeness) and the Marvel movies (Spider-Man, Iron-Man, Hulk, X-Men, especially First Class, the Avengers tie-in movies, most especially Captain America, something about those period pieces add something), and even the Green Lantern movie was okay.

P.P.S. I was tempted by the return of my favorite childhood superhero, Barry Allen. I was there at the City Newstand at Six Corners, with the comic, THE FLASH #1, in hand, ready to break my years-long break from comics–if, and only if the 1st issue was single-issue story, which would be a display of confidence and trust in the reader. Of course, it was not, but it ended with a “to be continued”–of what I would find out later at home was a six-part story, designed for Trade.

P.P.P.S. The digital comics would solve problems of finding and travelling to a local comic book store, but the gall of charging the same–if not higher–price than printed version, again underscored the interest of TPTB in more than the story or the interest of the customer, but exploiting the customer. There’s no way on the planet a digital comic costs close to expense of printing, publishing, distributing, storing printed comics. That’s just pure and simply insulting. Yeah, it may be designed to protect businesses that sell printed comics, but I’m not spending several dollars per individual song to keep record store shops in business either. That’s a business model based on a particular medium, a particular technology. Technology changes. I’m sure horseshoe makers would prefer the days before automobiles, but those days are long gone.

Btw, whom do contact to notify Newsarama about the typo in Newsarama’s “X-Men: Regen[e]sis” section?

Well, if DC really is sticking with what they’ve claimed, in that they aren’t strictly writing for the trade any more, and, I hope, events will be on hiatus in light of having a whole new relaunch, then it gives people the choice.

That’s been the problem the last few years… Those of us (like me) who ar completely burnt out on events didn’t have a choice between the Big Two. They were both on overload. Granted, 52 was almost a breather (it didn’t become a crossover until very near the end). Countdown as well, although it was such garbage it just embitters me to even mention it.

But if you can choose between the two for different things, that’s good. Maybe it’ll help DC, maybe it won’t.

And yes, of course, there’s not just DC and Marvel out there. But for what they do, which is shared universe superheroes with such long, storied histories and legacies, they’re the only real two in that category.

Between Marvel’s pricing, their very decompressed storytelling (in the Avengers titles, which I originally liked), and their event focus in every book, AND their tendency to give every character a 2nd, 3rd or 4th title… I’ve gotten burned out on their stuff. Right now, it’s been New Mutants and X-Factor for me, and even NM has been getting majorly hit by events, so it’s throwing me off what would normally be a great comic. With DC, I buy the main title of an event, but I’ve learned to ignore most (if not all) of the satellite titles from it. And I’ve been put off of event-leading books, like the Flash or Green Lantern titles, because that’s all they feel like any more. No character building, no intimate storytelling… Just, “this is leading to something universe-shattering.” And I’ve frankly had my universes shattered enough of late, thank you.

I understand that events are the biggest sellers when they come out, but like anything, if you have it all the time, it loses all meaning and value. And things can only get so big, characters can die and return only so many times before no one cares. I do think there’s a correlation between events happening non-stop and sales for the entire industry drying up. Most of them end without even ending, they just lead into the next one. If I was reading them in trades, I’d be annoyed, spending $20 on a collection of comics that don’t even follow simple storytelling of beginning-middle-end, but instead push me into side stories and next events. I know comics are, at their heart, serials, but that’s because the characters can continue, not because the stories themselves can’t have an ending.

But that’s me. Like anyone, I vote with my dollar. Complaining in places like this usually just get one based, sometimes by the EiCs themselves. So, what can you do?