As stories go on it's only natural that they build up a history. New milestones will come, a persons path changes course, new things will always come about. As years go by and a character's story continues it can become difficult to keep everything straight. This problem can become even more difficult in comics when we have characters that are handled by different writers.
Its hard to find a final answer when it comes to things like continuity and how it should be handled. DC comics has found ways to undo or rearrange the very universe every few years. The 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' allowed them to reorder all of reality so that things were easier to handle. The can also re-write a characters personal history like in 'Superman: Secret Origins' which is currently updating and making minor changes in Superman's past so it all makes more sense for readers today.
On the other hand Marvel Comics has stood by whatever happens in their universe. This can lead to some difficult questions after a enough time, such as the Punisher. He's a Vietnam war veteran eventually they are going to have to deal with his age or face him fighting organized crime with a walker. You also encounter some very bizarre explanations such as how Nick Fury hasn't aged in decades because he drank the Infinity Serum. No joke. What Marvel seems to be worse at is just hoping the fans forget about things instead of resetting them. To the best of my knowledge there should still be a ship worth of alien refugees that came back with Dr. Banner at the end of 'World War Hulk'.
In these situation the burden truly falls on the shoulders of the writers and editorial staff. Those taking the responsibility for telling the story have an obligation to keep the facts straight and even try to work around the difficult bits of history. In the beginning of Garth Ennis' run on the Punisher he addressed that Frank Castle had been offered a chance to become a Angel. He quickly dealt with it and moved past it so he could tell the story he wanted.
What should really matter is the quality of the storytelling. If the story is entertaining it shouldn't matter that Poison Ivy had mentioned she likes lilies more than violets 40 years ago. Just try to keep it straight that she's a killer plant lady.
Comments
tfoss1983 Sun, May 16th, 2010 at 10:13 PM Marvel stands by everything, except the things they quietly rewrite. DC goes with the big sweeping event-comic rewrites, but Marvel does it a little more quietly. For instance, Reed and Ben first met in WWII, but after awhile they made it Korea, then Vietnam, then stopped mentioning it altogether. Same with Tony Stark, who was a POW in Vietnam, then the Gulf War, then Afghanistan or something. It's mostly little things, like not referring to Reed's desire to beat the Commies into space, or changing which war two characters met in.
EGarneau Tue, May 18th, 2010 at 3:30 PM
Hey TJ, kind of unrelated to the matter at hand but would you want a comic blog (or to co-host your own blog) on this site?
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