I don't know how many of you read comic books, especially superhero comics, but from time-to-time Marvel and DC have these absolutely massive, line-wide crossover events. It's the sort of thing referenced in
Avengers: Infinity War and
Avengers: Endgame. But I'd argue that those movies represent a best-case scenario for an epic crossover. The comics are
rarely as coherent as those movies.
Most of the time, those mini or maxi-comics-series become a logistical mess as the plot takes over, and to raise the stakes, they keep throwing new angles on top of what we knew to the point of absurdity. In an effort to deal with the scale, they have too many characters in the mix, and so it's like reading plot by bullet-point, often with those crazy ideas comics often do so well now not offered up just one comic issue or so at a time - the ideas are just tossed at you, one after another, until nothing means anything. And character beats? They only happen if they're (a) advancing the overall plot somehow or (b) setting us up for some moment in a book that will debut after the cross-over.
It's pretty bad writing and never feels particularly fulfilling to read.
It may not be a mystery why comic book event crossovers are what I was pondering as I watched the back half of the fifth season of
Stranger Things.
Spoiler: If you love Stranger Things, and don't feel like fighting about how I don't get it, etc... - now is a good time to find another part of the internet to enjoy.
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