1601

New Krypton I guess, since it takes place after this story arc.
That or you could read All-Star Superman (not in continuity but a great read non-the-less)

1602

Is anybody reading Flash: Rebirth? I have literally no knowledge of anything Flash, but I thought it’d be a good jump-on point. So far I’m a little confused, but I’m enjoying it.

I can’t believe I’m saying this. I’m no Batman fan, but Frank Quitely’s artwork is so ridiculous, I’m thinking about picking that up whenever it comes out.

1603

To get a better understanding of Flash: Rebirth you might need to read Crisis on Infinite Earth.

1604

Okay, literally was a poor choice of words there. I have a basic understanding of what happened to Barry in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

1605

Any comic that can’t be understood without first reading the most convoluted crisis crossover in history is a comic not worth reading.

1606

Wouldn’t Infinite Crisis (the second most convoluted crisis crossover in history) be a requirement as well?

Yeah, you shouldn’t ever need a prerequisite reading list before picking up a comic. DC’s been going in the opposite direction with all these crossovers and 52’s and stuff - they just keep stacking more and more continuity homework on us at a ridiculous pace for no reason.

1607

I just find it incredibly disheartening that their sales seems to justify their strategy. It’s like more and more comics fans these days are fans of continuity than they are of, y’know, good stories. Damn continuity pornographers. Should all be taken out back and shot. In the nutsack, so they can’t procreate and leave the earth with more of their filthy lot.

1608

I love the flash and I got Rebirth #1 and had no idea what was going on.

I’ve always thought continuity should just be abolished for a year just to see what stories would come about. A whole year of what if stories where creators could do whatever they wanted for entire arcs.

It would be like a year of old man logan.

1609

all you need to know before reading flash rebirth, and Lo3Wm is that geoff johns is a great writer. anyone who disagrees is a heathen that needs to be killed on sight

1610

I would welcome being killed by you… if you got the stones to do it, bub. Let’s go, SF IV money match for comics pride. (You get a handicap and I have a 1 round lead to start.)

1611

no xbl til at least july. hopefully sooner

1612

This man speaks the truth.

Actually I was just quoting what somebody at another forum said about Flash: Rebirth #2 and how CoIE makes F:R ‘make sense’.

1613

When I said I was confused by Rebirth, I wasn’t really referring to the whole Barry returning from the dead thing, these are comics for christ’s sake. I’m more confused by Wally’s super-powered children, Black Flash, and just Kid Flash in general. I’ve only read a couple of silver age Flash issues, I know Barry Allen, Iris West and a couple of his rogues. I’m not a huge fan of time-traveling shit. Hopefully, Barry will kill off every other character that can run fast and maybe I’ll be able to catch up somehow.

1614

Like…as if you were racing? LOL, PUN.

That’s my sentiment as well - like Barry Allen dying in the first Crisis, fine, whatever. That came out so long ago that it’s okay to assume that readers know the basic points of that story.

It’s all this other stuff - the kids, Black Flash, who Kid Flash is - no one has any idea about what’s going on.

That’s always been the case and it will also always be the case - there’s a large contingent (perhaps the majority, even?) of fans that enjoy comics for the purposes of continuity more than good stories.

Fans who’d rather just read a quick Wikipedia recap of a character’s history than the actual stories issues that those events spanned…and that’s okay. I’m not going to tell someone how to enjoy their hobbies or their interests, if that’s what you’re into comics for, then go ahead and enjoy.

It’s just when it gets to the point where everyone’s forced to become continuity experts to enjoy a story…that’s the point where it’s too much.

Continuity and character backstory and whatnot - that should be a tool to tell a great story with, to provide context. It shouldn’t be the crux of a story. All the worst comics are when you have a story that’s just purely for the sake of reconning or explaining something…they’re stupid, they add nothing in terms of telling a good story. All they do is add another line or two to a character’s Wikipedia page, and what’s the point of reading and buying a comic for that?

You should never feel forced to buy a comic just so that you can keep up with what’s going on. Theoretically, you should only need to buy comics that you enjoy reading from month to month. Back when I was buying like 12 titles a month and I had to cut back…my only criteria was that if I wasn’t excited to see an issue 30 days after the last one - if I showed up at the store and I was like “Oh, X-Men came out this week? Oh yeah.” - then it wasn’t worth keeping on my pull list. The only issues I continually buy now are the ones where I’m waiting for to come out every week, and I’m disappointed when they don’t - and that’s how it should be.

And the sad thing is that I cut down to like four titles a month, and I don’t miss the other ones at all. That’s just how things are now.

1615

Heh, there was a joke in the Big Bang Theory comic book episode where Penny picked up a comic and asked if that was something a kid would enjoy. The answer she got from Sheldon was something like, “To understand that comic you have to have intimate knowledge of Identity Crisis, Infinity Crisis, 52, Countdown, Final Crisis and understand everything that’s going on in the Multiverse.” :lol: And she said “What’s a Multiverse?” Sheldon walked away from her as if she was hopeless. :rofl:

1616

I think it’s too much when people constantly purchase the stuff they know they don’t like… but they do anyway because they wanna have a complete, unbroken run of a series, or because they feel that they have to “own” the continuity. Stories where the creators expect you to be a continuity expert just to enjoy it - that’s just lazy writing. I don’t really blame writers for being lazy asses. They are just doing their jobs. They gotta pay rent, child support, etc. (Half the time, I’m sure it’s just the editorialship mucking with their work in some misguided attempt to wield their own power. For example, see McDuffie’s comments on his current JLofA run.) I blame the people who support those shitty comics with their wallets.

Yes, I am still full of bitterness from the summers of '04 and '05… Otherwise known in my household as the Worst Summers of All Time. Wildcats Version 3.0 AND Human Target AND The Intimates canceled… I don’t think I’ve ever fully recovered from those. I still hold you personally responsible, Clinty, for buying Judd Winick’s Batman when you could have bought more Casey/Milligan comics.

1617

Secret Six #9 & REBELS #4 was awesome reads.

1618

I was buying Judd Winick’s Batman even though I knew I didn’t like it, but I did it anyway because I wanted to maintain a complete, unbroken run of Batman.

Actually, that one issue where he fought a ghetto Amazo robot with Nightwing was pretty good - I like Doug Mahnke a lot. No regrets.

1619

Oh yeah, and I’m still bitter about The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist and Solo being canceled. Two Eisner-award winning anthology series cut down in the prime of their lives… in favor of Chuck Austen’s X-Men and Judd Winick’s Batman.

1620

Under Vertigo, Mike Carey’s Unwritten #1 came out this week. Tried it out since it only cost a dollar. Don’t know if I’ll be back to read it next month but the story was a lot of fun.

In a nutshell it was about a man whose father wrote him into a series of Harry Potter type books. Turns out he might have really lived through the adventures in those books or something close to that since a wizard from the book was after him. Anyway it was a pretty cool reality meets fantasy tale. For only a dollar. :smile: