Individual books have ceased to be their own entity in the event age.

[mathew101281]

Gone are the days were a book sunk or swam on its own ability to pull in fans. Now everything is part of a “line wide event”. And since most of those line wide events are about either Batman or Superman, It gives the impression that all the other books are just bit players in Batman or Superman’s story. This why established characters with mythos of their own seem stuck in a rut, and it’s nearly impossible for new franchises to gain fans.

[SJNeal]

Can't say I disagree, in most cases.

Back in the day, every issue of every series that I was reading felt special. It's why I can reference issue numbers from memory for most titles up until around mid-00's. Throw out a number and I could tell you approximately what was going on for any given series I was reading at the time.

Today, every issue is part of bigger story, rendering many comics inconsequential on their own. If you asked me what happened in last years Justice League #54 I'd just give you a blank stare.

[Lee Stone]

Can't say I disagree, in most cases.

Back in the day, every issue of every series that I was reading felt special. It's why I can reference issue numbers from memory for most titles up until around mid-00's. Throw out a number and I could tell you approximately what was going on for any given series I was reading at the time.

Today, every issue is part of bigger story, rendering many comics inconsequential on their own. If you asked me what happened in last years Justice League #54 I'd just give you a blank stare.

I agree.

The last JLDark series was so wrapped up in crossovers that you have to buy trades of the events to get all the parts.

The current JLDark series is doing better (I'm still two years behind, mind you), but I can already tell that some stories are too long.
Something else I think would help is if story a doesn't lead directly into story b.
Give it a rest and let it be a mysterious subplot for a while.
Having the first story with the Upsidedown Man getting freaked out by Wonder Woman go straight into Witching Hour made the two blend in and feel like one long story.
In the '80s, that would've been a perfect spot for a down-time issue where characters reflected on what happened and fight a minor villain or something to let the weight of the previous issues settle in. And maybe even give the writer an opportunity to introduce another subplot or two to lead into the stories after Witching Hour.

[Captain Nostalgia]

I don't entirely argree...though I know what your getting at.

I find titles still stand on their own, but I resent the intrusion of big events into individual titles.

As per example:

Hawkman was doing fine, and than the writer had to accommodate for the Joker's war with this stupid sky tyrant storyarche that went on forever.

This has been going on for decades though.

[j9ac9k]

While I agree the Events have taken up too much real estate, I don't think individuality in titles has ceased - the two Green Lantern titles (Hal and Jo) are good examples of creators being allowed to do their own thing.

[Robanker]

I don't think you'll find much opposition on these boards who think that event comics are healthy for the monthlies.

[jb681131]

Gone are the days were a book sunk or swam on its own ability to pull in fans. Now everything is part of a “line wide event”. And since most of those line wide events are about either Batman or Superman, It gives the impression that all the other books are just bit players in Batman or Superman’s story. This why established characters with mythos of their own seem stuck in a rut, and it’s nearly impossible for new franchises to gain fans.

Not true at all. You can read an individual hero without even caring about the "line wide events".
And it also not true that line-wide event are all about Batman or Superman. You missed out Flahs who plays a big part is some recent events.
As a reminder, Batman & Superman have always been prominent in DC from their creation.

WW is not stuck, Flash is not stuck, Green Lantern is not stuck, ... But reading Superman and Batman, they seem pretty stuck with over and over the same vilain popping back up with the same type of stories going on and on.
Even the Batmanm or Superman one-shot, elseworld use ideas already used multiple times.

The main thing is that Superman and Batman sell more, so DC push them more up front, so the other heroes get less front time, ... It's a vicious circle.
But DC evolved a bit by incoporating John Constantine, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Sandman, The Watchmen, ... to the main timeline.

[CaptCleghorn]

Not true at all. You can read an individual hero without even caring about the "line wide events".
And it also not true that line-wide event are all about Batman or Superman. You missed out Flahs who plays a big part is some recent events.
As a reminder, Batman & Superman have always been prominent in DC from their creation.

WW is not stuck, Flash is not stuck, Green Lantern is not stuck, ... But reading Superman and Batman, they seem pretty stuck with over and over the same vilain popping back up with the same type of stories going on and on.
Even the Batmanm or Superman one-shot, elseworld use ideas already used multiple times.

The main thing is that Superman and Batman sell more, so DC push them more up front, so the other heroes get less front time, ... It's a vicious circle.
But DC evolved a bit by incoporating John Constantine, Animal Man, Swamp Thing, Sandman, The Watchmen, ... to the main timeline.

While I will admit that individual titles still maintain some importance, saying the OP's statement is "not true at all" doesn't cover the situation either. I don't think there's much argument that since COIE, event books have gained importance and stories have gone from being series driven to universe driven. It's not total one way or the other though.

[Killerbee911]

The OP has over simplified the issue, They are too much events but individual books haven't cease to be their own things. We are stuck with events though it just makes too much money for them to stop doing it.