American comic book tropes
[citation needed] In 1985, cross-universe continuity took on new levels of depth and (intended) consistency at the two main comics companies: DC and Marvel.
[citation needed] With hundreds of characters and dozens of writers, over the years uniform and consistent continuity is difficult to maintain, and most comics companies periodically address the erosion of internal consistency with big "events" designed to explain and simplify (although at times they do neither) discrepancies, and maintain continuity.
[citation needed] For example, DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths addressed continuity and consistency errors over almost 50 years of comics publication, and retrofitted events and characters into the history of the DCU as if they had always been there (for example, the JSA went from being JLA-contemporaries from a parallel world to being their earlier, historical counterparts some years previously).
The Post-Crisis DC Universe removed many stories from "official canon", explaining them as Imaginary Tales or ignoring them completely.
[citation needed] Retcon or "ret-con" is a portmanteau shorthand phrase for "retroactive continuity", and is the descriptive term used to explain continuity- and canon-affecting stories.
This can lead to intense confusion, as compounded events can cause even the most knowledgeable fan to falter over what is currently the accepted canon.
[citation needed] Labels referring to DC Universe continuity and canon, with the separator being the 1985 retcon event Crisis on Infinite Earths.
[citation needed] The Post-Crisis DCU is that which was formed in the pages of the CoIE maxiseries, and is (or was intended to be) far more internally consistent and interlinked.
Writer-artist John Byrne's Superman: The Man of Steel miniseries, for example, provided the Post-Crisis origin of Kal-El, while Crisis-architects Marv Wolfman and George Pérez produced the two-issue History of the DC Universe to briefly detail a broad overview of the Post-Crisis DCU, showing the sequence of events as well as the revised origins of many characters (later to be fleshed out in their own series).
[citation needed] All these terms refer to specific and general "non-canonical stories", often – but not exclusively – featuring alternate versions of established heroes, events, or both.
For many years, some DC comics would feature stories labelled as "Imaginary Tales", signifying that the events which occurred therein did not have an active effect on continuity, and therefore that anything could happen, even the bizarre and contradictory.
[citation needed] A character's "origin" is the fictional story which describes (almost always solely for superheroes) how they came to be; gained their powers; arrived on Earth; were bitten by a radioactive spider, etc.
Disney's Uncle Scrooge and associated titles take place inside the Duck universe, a fan appellation.
At their most basic level, a crossover can refer simply to a character making a guest appearance in a different comic (e.g.
Daredevil "crossing over" into an issue of a Spider-Man comic), but typically a "crossover" implies more than a simple appearance and denotes a cohesive storyline spanning more than one title, often as part of an event.
[5] Peter Coogan identifies influences to comic book superheroes in the form of super-strong comic strip characters, pulp heroes, masked vigilantes dubbed "mystery men", and precursors, who lack specific elements of modern superhero convention.
[6] Coogan defines the superhero as "a heroic character with a selfless, pro-social mission" who has powers, a codename, colorful costume, and usually a secret identity.
