A Brief Argument for Continuity

I have heard from several comic creators and enthusiasts that continuity should be done away with and that, instead, the comic companies should focus on telling good stories.

I think that is a mistake.

You see, continuity allows something special to happen to characters. That something is necessary for good story. It allows the character to change and grow.

Without continuity then what happens in a story doesn't matter. Without continuity, the audience has no reason to keep reading.

Some may argue that what happens in a story only matters within that story. Well, that's not true, for it is earlier stories that allow for authors to reference events as a cause for the story they are telling. There would be no Nightwing without Robin.

When it comes to the audience having a reason to keep reading, well, as we all know from our own lives, what we do determines what happens next. The events of our lives are predicated by the choices we made earlier. The audience won't keep reading a story just because it has a character they no in it, and no amount of X books will convince me of that. People keep reading about these characters because the author(s) have given them a reason to stay interested. If everything is just a unconnected mess, no matter what the quality, people won't read it.

Also, by creating a place where only a single story at a time is focused upon would create an environment in which lesser known authors would suffer. People won't want to take the risk, especially since comics will be going up, on someone they do not know. Continuity allows for larger authors to set the stage for lesser known authors and gives those lesser knowns a (hopefully) good place to start telling stories.

Heck, most of the problems in continuity are caused by one thing, authors who ignore continuity.

So, to the comic companies out there, be more strict about continuity, and force your authors, no matter how big, to pay attention, and I swear to you, your books will only get better.