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10-23-2013, 10:55 AM
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#1
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Iron Man
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 15,178
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What If Comics Could No Longer Reboot?
The recent Marvel NOW and New DC stuff made me wonder...if you took away the reboot option from a comic property (as in: you can never re-tell the Superman origin, you can't retcon anything, you can't mess with the past by bringing the old X-men into the present day), what would happen?
Another way to ask this is: is retconning and rebooting inherent in the medium? Or would not being able to rely on these narrative options actually make the medium stronger?
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10-23-2013, 11:14 AM
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#2
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Statueforum Consiglieri
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cambridge, MA
Posts: 2,268
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I would think it would make the writing stronger and would demand greater effort and creativity from witers. It may even bring more writers into the fold. I don't know how it would do for sales but as a reader I would have liked it.
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10-23-2013, 11:26 AM
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#3
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Jedi Order
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Habs Nation
Posts: 28,111
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Comics have generally thrived as well as felt trapped by one thing: continuity.
I'm not sure how to get around that without losing "meaning" to stories.
The reality is that certain veins get old after a while. Updates are necessary.
However, the problem with company-wide retconning or whatever is that not all books need it at the same time.
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10-23-2013, 11:33 AM
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#4
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Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: SoCal-L.A.
Posts: 8,717
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I think the comics industry would collapse under its own weight. Right or wrong, good or bad, some of these things are what allow these stories to continue for decades. I have always maintained that none of these series were ever meant to last 60 to 70+ years uninterrupted. The fact that they have, and are still very successful to some extent is because these changes, retcons, reboots etc. have happened.
There have been very unpopular changes over the years made to characters that would have just gone away without the ability to retcon those decisions, for example Superman becoming an energy being back in the 90's. What do you think would have happened to the character if that decision was never reversed? I think that to some degree these things are a necessary evil that is unfortunately abused to a large degree.
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10-23-2013, 11:36 AM
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#5
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Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: SoCal-L.A.
Posts: 8,717
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Quote:
Originally Posted by risingstar
Comics have generally thrived as well as felt trapped by one thing: continuity.
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Exactly. This is the best and worst thing to happen to comics.
I think the more interesting question would be "what would happen to comics if continuity were no longer allowed?"
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10-23-2013, 12:39 PM
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#6
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Hercules
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: By a Lake in NC
Posts: 14,926
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Comics need robots
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10-23-2013, 01:36 PM
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#7
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Jedi Order
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Habs Nation
Posts: 28,111
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvelito
Exactly. This is the best and worst thing to happen to comics.
I think the more interesting question would be "what would happen to comics if continuity were no longer allowed?"
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I suspect they would become Archie comics.
Golden age comics are barely enjoyable because of that reason. The stories have no tie to one another and hence, no meaning or emotional stake.
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10-23-2013, 02:21 PM
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#8
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Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: SoCal-L.A.
Posts: 8,717
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Quote:
Originally Posted by risingstar
I suspect they would become Archie comics.
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That's probably what would happen. It hasn't seemed to hurt Archie after all these years. Avengers Double Digest anyone?
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10-23-2013, 10:12 PM
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#9
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Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: The Electronic World
Posts: 7,007
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It would force writers to make better stories and think about timelines and other stuff more. I'm all for it.
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10-23-2013, 10:24 PM
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#10
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Mandarin
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: My House
Posts: 16,731
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The recent reboot to Hulk didn't start his origin over - it was built on what was already there - and it still helped sales
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