Hurstwic

February 11, 2013 2:28 pm I swear comics fans are some of the whiniest people on Earth. The only recent DC crossover I know of that functions the way you say is Throne of Atlantis. Most of them (Death of the Family, Court of Owls, and H'el on Earth, for example) don't: the reader can read a single book and get most of the story, particularly the parts that affect that specific character. I LOVE the H'el on Earth series. Originally, I only read Supergirl, but since I was interested in how Superman lost his Fortress of Solitude and how the Justice League got involved, I decided to pick up the entire H'el series. I'm glad I did too, because I really enjoyed the Superboy annual by Tom DeFalco, and just yesterday picked up the first Superboy trade so I get caught up on his story. That's the way crossovers are supposed to work. There will always be some marketing gimmickry to crossovers, but if the characters involved are well-written, then it will compel readers to read more of the character in question. I was actually getting bored with Supergirl prior to H'el on Earth, and I think this gave her a shot of character development that she needed and it helped differentiate Superboy/man/girl from one another in some very distinct ways. The Gail Simone thing was a bit weird, for sure, but she's still writing Batgirl so oh well.