Sure, some of them are done well, and do stories that are affected by the crossover, but don't make you have to pick up the crossover issues to understand what is going on. Examples of good summer event issues of the past include the Robin issue during Final Night, and the Resurrection Man issue during Genesis. Both of these books tied in to their respective major events, but they were all self-contained stories within the titles. There wasn't an awkward change in direction that shoves us out of place with our favorite comics. These awkward changes have finally had me cutting titles off of my reserve box from what was once the company I bought EVERYTHING from. In recent Green Lantern issues, we saw Donna Troy get a phone call about her recently killed ex-husband and child. But in the NEXT issue, we're thrown into Genesis, where almost the whole story is spent in flashback, as Green Lantern had been captured by DeSaad. A title that I had been reading since I was 5, it completely threw me off course, and caused me to drop what was once my favorite title there could ever be. I also had been picking up many other DC titles, but the editorially driven Genesis completely stopped me in my tracks, and had me deciding to save money instead of spending tons and tons of cash on the extra DC books, like DC had me doing when Bloodlines, their group of annuals for the year, came out. Believe it or not, EVERY SINGLE ISSUE of Bloodlines was tied together, and they were annuals, too, so DC had all of the prices set high so as to get more money. Back when Zero Hour came out, it seemed a reader had to buy every single title out from DC just to make sense of everything going on. The summer crossovers are zany, annoying, and absolutely out of control.

But I can complain all I want, and that wouldn't mean a thing. I could propose a solution, however. I say that we delete the summer crossovers, and come up with a better way to get new readers. Either that, or do the crossovers in a fashion where I'm not FORCED to jump onto other titles. What DC does in the coming years is not my choice, but their own, and I expect they will keep churning out the same thing, every year. Why? Money. Just like Marvel does, the more glut out on the racks, the more buyers will buy. I can't change what DC does, but a group can. The majority of the people may not share my opinion, but as a longtime DC fan who's finding himself leaning more and more towards only getting alternative, manga, and independent comics, I'm concerned with the direction of the companies, away from writing, and more towards greed. All I ask of you is that the next time you see a book from a comic company out, ask yourself: "What compels me to buy this title? Is it the story? Is the story good, and fun to follow? Or am I just buying the issue to keep up with continuity?"

Thanks for listening to me rant.