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From: boyajian@akov68.DEC (Jerry Boyajian)
Newsgroups: net.comics
Subject: Assorted subjects
Message-ID: <154@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 15-May-84 06:00:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.154
Posted: Tue May 15 06:00:04 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 16-May-84 04:04:25 EDT
Organization: DEC Engineering Network
Lines: 63

Marvel Continuity:

	Well, of course, making more money by getting readers to buy more of the
titles is one reason for cross-book continuity, but so what? Is it really more
dishonest than advertising?
	The reason that I like some of the cross-book continuity is that it
makes all of the titles part of one big happy universe. Things that happen in
one book *should* affect others (if it's a major enough event). In something
like what's coming up, all that's really crossing over is the effects of the use
of the Casket of Ancient Winters, it's not as if Thor, the Avengers, and the
X-Men are going to be teaming up to fight an alliance of Malekith and the Dire
Wraiths.
	Let's look at something that's about 10 years old. Back when Englehart
was writing CAPTAIN AMERICA, in the "Secret Empire" storyline, he had a sequence
in which Cap was accused of murder. At the beginning of this sequence, in a con-
current issue of THE AVENGERS, Cap showed up, explained the situation he was in,
and said, "Until I can clear myself of this charge, I can't (and shouldn't) be a
part of any Avengers missions." The rest of the Avengers agreed, and so Cap did
not appear in THE AVENGERS until the resolution of his predicament.
	Now, at about the same time, Len Wein wrote a sequence for DETECTIVE
COMICS in which Ras al Ghul and Talia frame Batman for murder. This "Batmurder-
er" storyline ran about 5-6 issues, but in concurrent issues of JLA, there was
no mention of that storyline (except to say "This story takes place before/after
the current storyline in...), and Batman takes part in JLA missions as always.
It's my opinion that DC wimped out by not wanting to sacrifice Batman's presence
in JLA for the sake of half-a-year's worth of DETECTIVE COMICS.
	I still prefer Marvel's method. And I don't feel that seeing, say a Dire
Wraith story in THE AVENGERS means having to buy umpteen issues of ROM, any more
than having, oh, say Nightmare show up in HULK making one have to buy umpteen
issues of DR. STRANGE.

ALPHA FLIGHT #13:

	Actually, I felt rather cheated by this issue. I really expected that
Heather would have given Logan a call when Jamie had died (especially since they
were in New York), considering that Jamie and Heather were probably Logan's best
friends. Having Wolverine show up in AF to slice Gamma Flight up into Steak-ums
was a natural, and I felt ripped off to see Wolverine on the cover, and have him
show up in the story only in a dream sequence.

IRON MAN and DAREDEVIL:

	Gee, to be honest, I've really been disappointed in the way Denny O'Neil
has been handling these books. I thought his "Dark Wind" story circa DD #200 was
relly good, but his stuff since then has been pretty lackluster. As for IRON MAN
I thought he dragged on the alcoholic bit a little too long, and to this day, I
still can't figure out how Stane managed to screw Stark out of his money, let
alone his company. I figure that I'll stick with this one until Stark and Rhodey
have their fight for the armor, and then I'll probably drop it. I'll probably
drop DD, too, one of these days.

Frank Miller and RONIN:

	I suspect that Miller changed his art style for RONIN just to try some-
thing different. I admire him for this at the same time that I despair that it's
not to my taste.

				  --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC Maynard, MA)

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