Pick & choose

[Franny6422]

May I ask a question as curious how others approach this issue. We're all invested in the DCU as this forum demonstrates. My question is this; How do you choose to what to have in your library. Sounds daft, but what I mean is' take for example, the latest rumblings about 'Heroes in Crisis.' It seems the majority have 'issues' with it, but do they not want it in their library as like it or not, it's a major development in the DCU which will surely be referenced moving forward. It's in continuity whether you like it or not. It's happened, so can you enjoy the rest of continuity with Is links to it? Doesn't't ignoring leave a void in the DCU? It was a pretty big development. Difficult to put into words what I'm asking. Hope folk get where I am coming from?

[qwertyuiop1998]

I guess we can't Ignoring or Denying it, Pretending it never happened
But as a reader we have rights not accepting it.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

You can ignore anything if you want. I completely ignored Ma & Pa Kent letting Clark be a high school quarterback despite being vastly stronger and tougher than his fellow classmates for several years, despite it being referenced on multiple occasions. I've also ignored Leslie Thompkins killing Stephanie Brown. I also ignored Wonder Woman not being a founder of the JLA for a couple decades, even though major stories I enjoyed had it as a plot point. I similarly ignore the idea that Barry Allen created the Speed Force.

In the end, these are imaginary stories and continuity, no matter how official, is also a completely imaginary set of rules. It's like the Matrix. Once you understand and accept that it isn't real, you can bend those rules however you'd like.

The DCU is a beautiful patchwork of thousands of wildly different stories produced by dozens of creators for very different audiences. They aren't meant to all fit together perfectly. They are meant to be a giant sprawling buffet of ideas from which you can pick and choose whatever you want to create your own personalized DCU that works best for you.

If you need an in-universe explanation for any inconsistencies, the Anti-Monitor, Time Trapper, Parallax, Superboy-Prime, and Dr. Manhattan have given you plenty of excuses to explain away anything you don't like.

[Jekyll]

My library consists of characters and runs that I really enjoy. However, if there is a particular writer on a series and I don't care for what they are doing then I am not afraid to have holes in my collection. I love the Flash but I haven't really enjoyed the series much since the new 52 so I don't really have a lot of current issues.

As far as events go, I only read them or purchase them if characters that I love are involved. For example: If the event is Superman focused, I'm probably not going to purchase it because I am not invested in that character.

That is how I go about deciding what I keep in my collection or not.

[RBerman]

Continuity is overrated. Collecting all of continuity or even the "big events" doesn't enter my mind. I buy the work of creators who have created something interesting. A good creator on a "second string" character is usually better than what's happening with the marquee characters, titles, and events.

[OBrianTallent]

I follow the characters I like and have put up with a lot of stupid along the way such as Jodi Picoult or James Robinson's run on Wonder Woman. I did buy the first three issues of HiC but dropped it from there. Nightwing is my second favorite comics character (behind Wonder Woman)and I just dropped his title for the first time. If I choose I will find the back issues for less than cover.