COMICS PORTAL: I Love Imaginary Stories!

I have always loved stories that explored “the roads not traveled.”

I am entertained with the reaction of some to DC established an alternate, “absolute” universe that will exist right alongside their “regular” stories.

See, as a long-time comics reader, I grew up and have spent much of my adult life also reading stories outside of regular continuity. In the old days, DC used to call them “imaginary stories” so people wouldn’t confuse them with what was going on in their monthly titles.

I have previously waxed eloquently on the tales I enjoyed most, like the Superman-Red, Superman-Blue story in which things actually worked out well for everyone involved.

Of course, DC wasn’t the only one to do that! Marvel had their What If? series of comics that looked at things like, what if a hero made a left turn instead of a right turn? The thing I never liked about those books is that things ALWAYS were worse if the characters didn’t do what was seen in the monthly comics. Let me emphasize that—ALWAYS! Whatever was done in the monthly titles was supposedly the best way anything could have ever turned out. Well, I never did buy that, so I wasn’t as engaged in those stories as a result.

The thing is, I like checking out what “might have been” in comics stories. As one person put it, they are ALL imaginary stories, aren’t they? So why not turn left instead of right sometimes? Hey, I would love to be able to do that in my real life!

Marvel has made some good money with their “Ultimate” line—apparently so much that they recently revived it. The fact that some of the recently released books got lost on the way to some stores didn’t hurt their collectability, now did they? As long as I get good stories and excellent reading from it, I just don’t care who did it first, okay? Marvel introduced Miles Morales in the “Ultimate” line, then moved him to “our” universe, right?

So, DC follows suit, and Scott Snyder and company develop their own “Absolute” line of comics stories noticeably different than their regular titles. Batman is big and bulky, and Superman is younger and not quite as developed as “our” Man of Steel, among others. Hey, if one of the new takes catches on, well, it might be time to transpose those characters! They previously did that with Superman during the New 52, right?

Some fans are quite irate about all this, scolding DC for actually copying something that seems to be working for Marvel. It’s always intriguing to me that Marvel (or other companies) can copy DC or other successful moves by others, no problem! But someone do something the House of Ideas (not always good ideas, though) already did, and you get yelled at online and in some comics shops! Sheesh!

If it sells more comics, I say go for it! Again, I don’t care who did it first!

I still regard the DC event where they were going to marry Batman and Catwoman off as a missed opportunity. I’ve seen the Dark Knight on his own or surrounded by “sidekicks” for years now. But married? Not read that yet, except for a few Earth-2 stories that ended up with Batman dying rather unspectacularly.

So, Batman being married like Superman has been? THAT I was primed for and ready to read!

Now, if DC wants to tell stories where Bruce Wayne did indeed marry Selina Kyle instead of diving off into the darkness away from each other, hey, I’d like to read that!

The thing that haunts me is the fact that there have been (and will always be) a great many different universes no matter what the recent animated Crisis on Infinite Earths films say. To me, the Batman: The Animated Series lives on, and will always be there for me to dive back into and enjoy. Then, too, I’m always enjoying the new Batman: Caped Crusader cartoon, so I can enjoy different takes on different heroes.

Not only that, but I can read comics like the current Batman comic books in which he seems to be flung back into the sci-fi era of the early 1950s for some reason. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

To my mind, whenever we get a new creative team on Batman or other characters, it’s a new universe we’ve entered. Yes, they may cross over with other DC books and all, but it’s a different take, so I accept it as such. The current Batman books are certainly different from the books the team of Snyder and Capullo gave us not that long ago. But I don’t mind seeing these “other” views on a character.

We can see how things might have been if Batman had lived a different life. And I ask, why not?

Of course, I haven’t found every variation as enjoyable as others. I still love Batman: The Dark Knight from Frank Miller and all as one of the very best, but I hope creators will do their best to match or even excel the quality of storytelling we’ve enjoyed previously.

I have spoken with many Bat-fans, and I have rarely found two who agreed on the versions they thought were the best. Some preferred Snyder/Capullo’s run, others liked Bob Kane’s first days on the character, and still others think the best has not yet happened.

I think there are still terrific Bat-stories ahead of us, but I don’t know who will be telling them. I just want to enjoy and read the books as they hit the stands. If there is a tale I like, I will be sure to tell people about it. The same is true of the other direction—if something doesn’t hold up to previous stories, I’ll share my opinion.

Please do remember that art and storytelling are often subjective things. I’ve studied storytelling and read many Bat-stories over the years, so I have some idea what works best and what doesn’t.

There’s some reason that Batman just got his very own star on Hollywood Blvd. He’s been at the center of many great tales over 85 years he’s been around. Have they all been great? I wish! But we’ve had a ton of books, cartoons, movies, and other forms of storytelling that warranted this excellent recognition!

So, I would also be happy if or when Spider-Man gets his star on the “Walk of Fame.” Anything that calls attention to the comics and hopefully attracts more new fans to the industry is fine by me!

What do you think? Which Batman story/tales/creative team has worked most for you? What other comics characters do you feel deserve this kind of recognition? Are you looking forward to the return of Scott Snyder to writing the Dark Knight? Whatever your opinion, feel free to share it in the space below!

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