QOTD 4
    Question Of The Day

    Major Spoilers Question of the Day: Too Many Characters Edition

    Matthew PetersonBy 2 Comments1 Min Read

    After reading a couple of issues of Civil War II, I’m already confused about the who, what and where of it all.  Ironically, it took a tie-in issue to explain the central conceit of things clearly, but the sheer number of characters in play (heck, the sheer number of AVENGERS in play) is daunting, even for someone whose favorite superhero movie features 200 heroes in total.  I’m really worried that Marvel’s story is going to be less effective, simply because it features too many characters at one time…  ‘Course, I once felt the same way about early issues of ‘Crisis On Infinite Earths’, which I still hold to be the gold standard for intercompany crossover shmageggis, leading us to today’s numerous query…

    The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) started reading Legion of Super-Heroes when the team had 19 active members, so I don’t say “too many” lightly, asking: What stories or series just have too many characters for you?

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    Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.

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    2 Comments

    1. Malone_hasco on

      Crisis On Infinite Earths was close of having too many. Good thing is that I read it when internet was already around and I could check things out. On the other hand, original Secret Wars was one of my first Marvel comics in 1987 and I had no clue who half of the villains were but it didn’t matter at all, only made me curious.

    2. Slappy on

      Kingdom Come
      I love the story and there was some fun in the game of “How is that character related to someone else? Looking up the Who’s Who in Wizard back in the day was cool, but there were too many young characters I didn’t give a damn about let alone care why they chose to join Batman.