Shared Universes: Helpful or Hurtful?

[Tomato Surprise]

Hey, guys!

So, I've done a lot of thinking lately about the nature of shared universes/continuity, particularly when writing for mainstream comics. I've always aspired to write anything that'd support me as a career. But, in terms of what I'd prefer to write, comics and animation have always been a pipe dream. Lately, though, I've been thinking about penning comics as a reality. As a job. Coming with that has been some introspection about the actual process of writing mainstream comics. Of course, the major pitfall for me is the fact that I don't want to invade other people's characters. I fear pulling a Rise of Arsenal, so to speak, even with characters who I consider myself to have a good handle on, such as Oracle, The Question, Phantom Stranger. and Metamorpho. Which made me think- do actual comic writers have the same phobia, and how does it affect the quality of their writing? If so, are shared universes a good idea? In the article above, I propose that they are, if writers have a genuine love for the character.

But, toonzone, I wanted your thoughts: from both a reader's and writer's perspective, do shared universes help or hinder the quality of writing in comics, and what causes them to do this?

Thoughts?
Tomato

 

[Anthonynotes]

Hey, guys!

So, I've done a lot of thinking lately about the nature of shared universes/continuity, particularly when writing for mainstream comics. I've always aspired to write anything that'd support me as a career. But, in terms of what I'd prefer to write, comics and animation have always been a pipe dream. Lately, though, I've been thinking about penning comics as a reality. As a job. Coming with that has been some introspection about the actual process of writing mainstream comics. Of course, the major pitfall for me is the fact that I don't want to invade other people's characters. I fear pulling a Rise of Arsenal, so to speak, even with characters who I consider myself to have a good handle on, such as Oracle, The Question, Phantom Stranger. and Metamorpho. Which made me think- do actual comic writers have the same phobia, and how does it affect the quality of their writing? If so, are shared universes a good idea? In the article above, I propose that they are, if writers have a genuine love for the character.

But, toonzone, I wanted your thoughts: from both a reader's and writer's perspective, do shared universes help or hinder the quality of writing in comics, and what causes them to do this?

Thoughts?
Tomato

Re: that blog about sand castles: yes, there's beaches in northwestern Indiana... as a former resident of northern Indiana myself. ;-)

"Rise of Arsenal" 's problems were apparently its writer either having zero social skills or contact with women and/or learning about how relationships work from watching Jerry Springer, *not* from being a shared universe or not.

Re: Shared Universes: I think they're a tool like anything else in writing fiction, and can be used for good ("cool, Flash showed up in Metropolis! And the Weather Wizard's fighting the Toyman!") or bad ("sorry, but to follow 'Return of the Shadow of the Legend of the Final Crisis of the Bat', you'll have to buy Batman, Action Comics, Wonder Woman, JLA, JSA, Tiny Titans, Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew, *and* Spider-Man!" ). Too bad out of cash-grab reasons they've been using the power of shared universes for the latter reason (and thus getting an undeserved bad rap for it), but that doesn't make it a bad storytelling concept.

-B.

 

[wonderfly]

Hey, guys!

So, I've done a lot of thinking lately about the nature of shared universes/continuity, particularly when writing for mainstream comics. I've always aspired to write anything that'd support me as a career. But, in terms of what I'd prefer to write, comics and animation have always been a pipe dream. Lately, though, I've been thinking about penning comics as a reality. As a job. Coming with that has been some introspection about the actual process of writing mainstream comics. Of course, the major pitfall for me is the fact that I don't want to invade other people's characters. I fear pulling a Rise of Arsenal, so to speak, even with characters who I consider myself to have a good handle on, such as Oracle, The Question, Phantom Stranger. and Metamorpho. Which made me think- do actual comic writers have the same phobia, and how does it affect the quality of their writing? If so, are shared universes a good idea? In the article above, I propose that they are, if writers have a genuine love for the character.

But, toonzone, I wanted your thoughts: from both a reader's and writer's perspective, do shared universes help or hinder the quality of writing in comics, and what causes them to do this?

Thoughts?
Tomato

You seem to be touching on two different things: Using characters that someone else created, and the pros and cons of a shared universe.

Several writers have mentioned intimidation when they write characters created by others (including the legendary characters by Stan and Jack), other writers are like "I've got the coolest storyline for Spider-Man ever!" and just go on writing it, even if Spider-Man is written completely contrary to how Steve Ditko would've done it in the early 60's...so it kind of depends on the writer/artist.

As for your other topic, shared universes can be a good thing: they provide chances for different types of characters to interact, and chronology can just be fun in and of itself: it's neat to try and piece together the order of storylines in different titles (which is why I belong to the Marvel Chronology Project.). But yes, as Brainatra said, chronology can be used for evil as well...

 

[Dantheman]

I don't know.


There is both good and bad. And the bad with shared continuity brings to mind that bit in Office Space where that guy named Micheal Bolton is asked why he doesn't change his name so he isn't confused with the singer, and he goes "Why should I change? He's the one that sucks". That's what bad writing in a shared universe must be like.