Should ALL of DC's titles be stand alone, self contained stories?

[PsychoGamer8229]

You see, with what's going on after Convergence, it seems that DC is pushing for a looser continuity and and for more stand alone series that don't neccesarily connect with other books. However, what if they went all the way? What if they decide to have varying tones which each title they have to be more diverse?

Examples:
Dial H for Hero by Bill Walko - http://billwalko.deviantart.com/art/...vamp-258723878
Young Justice - http://schwarbage.tumblr.com/post/91...-titans-legacy
Doom Patrol Written by Scott Lobdell and Drawn by Ilias Kyriazis - http://iliaskyriazis.blogspot.gr/201...om-patrol.html
An All-Ages take on Superman by Rashad Doucet - http://kross29.deviantart.com/art/A-...Tale-196909554
The Daily Planet Files by Brittney Williams - http://anotherbrittneywilliams.tumblr.com/
Just to name a few.

[colonyofcells]

Almost all the titles are standalone already. JL and JLA are also standalone even though they are part of the half that still has some continuity or loose continuity. Dc did crossovers for the superman titles and batman titles probably to induce the old customers to buy more titles. This could've been achieved more easily with a batman weekly or superman weekly. So far, there are some crossovers in the weaker titles : Martian Manhunter fighting Superman, Deathstroke is meeting superman & wonder woman, Lobo is going after Sinestro, etc. Because of loose continuity, the wonder woman costume is now allowed to vary in all the titles where she is appearing. Some continuity also benefits the less popular heroes like Midnighter who needs more villains so Midnighter is fighting Firestorm villain Multiplex. Dc is still dumping cancelled heroes into other titles like the cancelled Kyle Rayner is in Omega Men. Right now, the GL titles are sort of standalone altho it is also possible to replace them with a GL weekly. JL is probably strong enough to be a weekly. It is possible to be standalone and still have loose continuity allowing for guest heroes and guest villains. Doing crossovers that induce customers to buy more titles tends to scare away new customers. Dc should avoid doing stories that jumps from title to title which scares away new customers who want to buy only 1 title. Instead of jumping from title to title, just do a limited series.

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

To answer your title, no, I don't think all the Post-Con titles should be self-contained. It makes sense if something like Dark U and Mystik U had crossovers, or if Black Canary had some references to Batgirl, or if Cyborg was part of a future major DCU crossover/event, etc.

You see, with what's going on after Convergence, it seems that DC is pushing for a looser continuity and and for more stand alone series that don't neccesarily connect with other books. However, what if they went all the way? What if they decide to have varying tones which each title they have to be more diverse?

The first what if, I'd be fine with. While I just said I don't think they should be stand alone, I'd be fine if they were. I just think it'd make sense and possibly be beneficial for them to not always be. As for the different tones, I'm fine w/ that too. Heck, I support it. The more diversity in tone, content, style, genre, etc, the better, imo.

[Lee Stone]

Kinda like a mainstream Vertigo.

I'd do...

Doom Patrol by Jeff Parker with art by Chris Bachalo and Bill Sienkiewicz
Shadowpact (featuring the JLDark team) by Roger Stern and P. Craig Russell
The Forgotten Heroes (Kyle Raynor, Donna Troy, Wally West, Stephanie Brown and Triumph) by Jeff Lemire and Dan Jurgens
JLI by Giffen, DeMatteis and Nicola Scott
Young Justice (the team from the cartoon, along with members of the Wolfman New Teen Titans and the New52 Teen Titans) by Brenden Fletcher and Todd Nauck
Agents of S.H.A.D.E. by Greg Pak and Howard Porter
Checkmate by Tom King and Howard Chaykin
Atlantis Chronicles by Geoff Johns and Joe Bennett
Hawkworld by Mike Grell and Stephen Sadowski
Human Target by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso
Night Force by Marv Wolfman and Stuart Immomen
Amethyst by Amanda Conner and Fiona Staples

[Sacred Knight]

I think what they're doing is a better idea. Don't go too far in the other direction, a shared continuity has its benefits. It just doesn't have to be so connected that it hampers creative efforts, that's all. Of course we have yet to see whether their plan is executed as planned, but the idea is solid.

[Deniz Camp]

I think that, historically, all the best stories have been.

That doesn't mean the past doesn't get referenced, or even that the present doesn't get referenced if it fits in easily and seamlessly. It doesn't mean that crossovers can't happen, but if they are done I think care should be taken such that the individual stories are comprehensible on their own. "Dial H" managed this, Frankenstein and OMAC managed this, Morrison and Moore's books have regularly managed this -- but they were given a lot of freedom and latitude to do so.

Generally, though, every time I new writer comes onto a book I think there needs to be wiggle room for that writer (and artist or artists; production means that they tend to be a less consistent voice/presence) to give their own take on that character, mythology, etc. That means that editors have to understand what is central and timeless and inviolate about the character, and what is malleable. In recent times, books like Morrison's Action and Batman/Batman Inc, Scott Snyder's/Capullo's Batman, Azzarello/Chang's Wonder Woman, and of course nearly all the Doyle titles can be characterized this way. Note that each of them 'tied into' or generally 'played with' others to different degrees; the Snyder/Capullo Batman run was central to a lot of other, satellite books, but still that book could be read without reading any others. On the other side of that, Azzarello/Chang's WW didn't seem to participate at all.

So 'self contained and stand alone' is a fairly wide breadth. It doesn't mean that places for synergy aren't identified and attempted. It just means that writers are encouraged to tell their stories themselves.

[t hedge coke]

Morrison and Moore's books have regularly managed this -- but they were given a lot of freedom and latitude to do so.

Moore and Morrison have done crossovers before. The funny thing, with the bat-crossover Morrison worked on, was how many fans of his run/take didn't pick it up or dismissed it immediately as superfluous by its nature as a crossover, and then it turned out to be fairly relevant, but in-story and thematically, to his overall run. And, Moore, as I recall, didn't finish out Fire From Heaven, for better or worse. Someone else stepped in and did.

I think there are good crossovers. There are great uses of shared characters or a shared locale. Red Daughter of Krypton, recently, was pretty cool. The I, Vampire and and JLD crossover from a couple years ago. And, Batman Inc borrowed Jason Todd to great effect. The bits Morrison added to Final Crisis to make it "play nicer" with other comics or to involve scenarios being invented for other books made FC a better comic for me. It opened it up a lot.

Over-editing, overly and strictly redirecting away from the talent can happen on a book that never crosses over with anything. Finch and Jenkins had a minefield of problems to dance through, on Dark Knight, all while singing a song and juggling plates, and readers suffered for it often, but that wasn't because of interoffice politics or inter-comics minutia. Just weirdly controlling editors who didn't want Batman to save lives or sit down and needed random panels redrawn for seemingly silly reasons.

And, crossovers and guest appearances can bring more of an audience, more attention to a lagging book. It's good advertising.

[FanboyStranger]

No, but each title should be allowed to develop on its own. That doesn't necessarily mean it stands on its own, but that it's allowed to develop on its own and all links to the greater universe are part of the story that the creators want to tell. It's kinda hard to tell a JLA story that doesn't include major characters, but that doesn't mean that the JLA story needs to interfere with the individual title's story. What I think most fans want-- what I certainly want-- is an interconnectivity that isn't in a lock-step with a universal direction. Moore and Morrison's books are a good reference, but so are Ostrander's Spectre crossover issues with Underworld Unleashed, Ennis and McCrea's Hitman with Final Night, or JF Moore and Guinan's Chronos with DC One Million. Those are books with their own voices allowed to play with the wider DC universe under their own terms.

That's what I hope "DC You" brings. And I hope people will actually buy them, which is the major sticking point for creative superhero comics these days.