I'm kind of curious what everyone is thinking about the way the DCnU seems set to handle a lot of their crossovers, (with the same scene happening from slightly different perspectives in multiple comics). They used this idea a couple of months ago with Omac and Frankenstein and then this week with Batman and Nightwing. It would seem to be a trend.
This seems like a pretty new way of doing things, (for DC), and I'm kind of on the fence about it. In one way, I think it's kind of a cool idea to see the same scene being perceived very differently by different characters. On the other hand, it can feel like you're paying for the same thing twice.
Personally, being a regular Omac reader, buying Frankenstein felt like a waste of money to me, but perhaps that's because I'm not invested in those characters. Meanwhile, I regularly buy both Batman and Nightwing and felt this example worked a lot better. Was it just better done?
Also, since we're seeing the same thing... sort of, does it matter what order you read the comics in? I felt glad I read Nightwing first, as the first part of the comic built to the joint scenes. On the other hand, I wish I had read Frankenstein first, as I felt the end of the joint scene in Omac indicated that the Shade people were deceived. Could a different reading order have made the crossover feel more satisfying?
Anyone care to weigh in?
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I haven't seen that kind of thing recently. I recall seeing it years ago back when John Byrne was drawing The Avengers and writing and drawing Fantastic Four, and one issue of each, both out during the same month, showed the same scene with nearly identical dialogue (I recall one statement by a character in the one title had an exclamation point while it didn't in the other title). I thought it was odd, but not untoward.
Then he did it again in Avengers Annual # 14 (1985) and Fantastic Four Annual #19 (1985). The Avengers part of the story was the culmination of a multi-issue tale in which Captain Marvel has been kidnapped and is stranded in space; the Fantastic Four part of the story was complete in one issue. The two teams, on separate missions -- The Avengers, to find Captain Marvel, and the Fantastic Four, who were chasing after some Skrulls -- encounter each other in the middle of each books' story. I thought it was way cool, getting the payoff of the Avengers story and getting a team-up with the Fantastic Four -- and then seeing the battle from the Fantastic Four's side.
I think it's an interesting style. I only read the issue of Frankenstein not OMAC, I knew it was a crossover and I thought I'd be confused having not read OMAC but I wasn't. I didn't care for the story but at least I wasn't lost.
I liked the way it was handled in Batman and Nightwing though. I read Batman first because I didn't know that they tied in so tightly. However, I think if you're just following one of these titles you wouldn't have been lost. If you're following both it's a nice payoff. The Court of the Owls story arc has been an interesting and fun ride. The creative teams of both Batman and Nightwing worked together on this. I saw or read an interview with Scott Snyder and the editor of the bat books where they basically said they had the idea for the Court of the Owls and that the other books could play along if they wanted to. Basically all the creative teams saw what their were planning and could work their arcs into it as well, but still keep it contained to where the readers didn't have to buy an issue of a book they weren't already following. That's the case so far with Nightwing and Batman. Things that happened to Nightwing in Batman series were mentioned in Nightwing. The next phase of the Court of the Owls looks like it's going to be a blast. And now that we know Nightwing's ties the court, I'm looking forward to reading both titles now. What I mean is that I love both books but with the majority of the Bat books dealing with the court of the owls starting next month I wasn't looking as forward to the Nightwing issues because I thought it was going to feel forced and not connected. Well after reading the last issue I'm looking forward to the resolution.
I'm in favor of it. I remember the technique being used to good effect by John Byrne, same as CK does. Like Jason, I read only half of the OMAC/Frankenstein crossover, but unlike him, I read it from OMAC's POV. He didn't have any problem following his side of the story by itself, nor did I mine. Readers aren't "forced" to buy a title they wouldn't normally read, yet if one read both titles regularly, they would complement each other nicely. I'm not saying all crossovers should be handled this way, but it works for me.