Last week, we began talking about the idea of continuity, and the different “ages” of comic books. So, let’s move away from the history lesson and talk about continuity getting in the way of new folks reading comics, and why it’s not hard to overcome. By this, I mean the idea that a person had to have read all 649 issues of Amazing Spider-Man to be able to enjoy issue #650. This week, we’re going to talk about why that idea isn’t true.

As we discussed by going over the different “Ages” of comic books, characters that have been around for a long time need to be refreshed and revamped every now and again to keep them up to date with the changing times. A great example of this comes with DC’s changing of The Flash and Green Lantern at the start of the Silver Age.

Editor Julius “Julie” Schwartz took The Flash, who had gotten somewhat stale through the Golden Age, and created a new Flash, Barry Allen. Gone were the winged boots and helmet, instead replaced by a slick costume, and new science-based origin. He did the same thing with the Green Lantern. Through the Golden Age, the Green Lantern’s powers had been rooted in magic. Schwartz took the concept and applied it to a science-fiction background, turning Green Lantern into a space cop, and creating the Green Lantern Corps.

It’s changes like these that illustrate how characters evolve over time, and why the idea of an over-arching continuity that spans a character’s entire existence is false. You absolutely do not need to have read all 899 issues of Action Comics to understand what’s happening in #900.

In modern comics, there are many jumping-on points to get into stories and characters without having to fill in huge gaps of continuity. One of these points is called a “crossover” or “event” story. Generally speaking, these stories are centered around a character or set of characters, but the stories are big enough, they can affect the way the entire universe operates. The outcome of these stories is usually one of two things: an adjustment to the status quo, or a re-set of continuity. As a result, these stories are perfect watermarks in the overall series for people to jump on and off as they please.

Another great jumping-on point in comics is quite simply, with issue #1. Often following an event or the changing of a creative team, a comic book series will come out with a brand new #1 issue. Last year, after the “Siege” event, Marvel re-started their Avengers line with all-new #1 issues. Avengers, New Avengers and Secret Avengers all had new #1 issues that were great jumping-on points for new readers. We can look at these new #1’s as simply the start of a new volume of issues in the series itself. It’s the same characters that you know and love, taken in a new direction with new stories.

Of course, we also can’t forget the stand-alone graphic novel. These are often originally published as mini-series, and then collected into graphic novels. Sometimes the events of these books might be referenced in ongoing stories, but for the most part these are books that feature characters you love, that have only the one volume to them. This is great because it means that the creators can go anywhere they want with them. The first one that pops to mind is Mark Millar and Steve McNiven’s “Old Man Logan.” The book is set in the future, and tells the tale of what it’s like to Wolverine in a world after the heroes fell. It’s a terrific book, and while it was originally published in the ongoing “Wolverine” title, the graphic novel stands alone and doesn’t affect the ongoing story at the time.

The great part about comic book continuity is that you don’t have to read everything. You don’t need to read every issue of Batman to understand what’s going on. Instead you can pick and choose based on the type of story, or the creators and characters involved.

The best way to look at comic book continuity is like that of a TV series. You can catch a new episode every month in the single-issue comic book format, or you can wait for the collected edition the same way you would wait for a DVD box set of your favourite show. While a little shorter than TV tends to be, if you look at each story arc in comics as a “season” then you start to get the idea.

Another great thing that TV does that comics have also adopted is the recap. At the beginning of a serial TV show, there is usually a short recap of what’s been happening in the show so far. They do this both to remind regular viewers, and to give new viewer an idea of what they’ve missed. Comic books tend to do this too, with recap pages at the beginning of the book and often short notes from editors throughout. That way if something happens, or is referenced the reader can be reminded when it happened or at the very least told which books or stories they can read to flush it out.

The bottom line, and the most important thing to remember when struggling with a fear of continuity is this: They’re just comics. They aren’t so involved that you can’t figure out what’s going on. As long as you understand Batman is really Bruce Wayne, and Spider-Man is Peter Parker, you’ll be fine.

We’ll touch on some of this stuff more next week in Chapter 4: Evolution.

Jeff Moss is the General Manager of The 4th Wall in Pointe-Claire, PQ. He is also the writer of No Reason Comics, and Assistant Editor of Gutters. For more news and discussion, list to Jeff and Donnie Coulter on The Watchtower Podcast.