What If Comics Could No Longer Reboot?

Teague · 10-23-2013, 10:55 AM

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?

Cage · 10-23-2013, 11:14 AM

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.

risingstar · 10-23-2013, 11:26 AM

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.

Marvelito · 10-23-2013, 11:33 AM

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.

Marvelito · 10-23-2013, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by risingstar

Comics have generally thrived as well as felt trapped by one thing: continuity.

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?"

Underdog07 · 10-23-2013, 12:39 PM

Comics need robots

risingstar · 10-23-2013, 01:36 PM

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?"

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.

Marvelito · 10-23-2013, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by risingstar

I suspect they would become Archie comics.

That's probably what would happen. It hasn't seemed to hurt Archie after all these years. Avengers Double Digest anyone?

ReplicantSavior · 10-23-2013, 10:12 PM

It would force writers to make better stories and think about timelines and other stuff more. I'm all for it.

ratchet · 10-23-2013, 10:24 PM

The recent reboot to Hulk didn't start his origin over - it was built on what was already there - and it still helped sales