Tie-in comics don't work
Comic Reviews for week ending 10/23/2022
Good morning, my friend,
The Big 2 have adopted a strategy of flooding comic shelves with tie-in after tie-in to their significant events to bolster the main story as well as entice readers away from the core titles if they’re not picking up the event.
Unfortunately, tie-ins don’t work… If they don’t follow a few simple but critical and mandatory rules.
Don’t Fill Gaps
First, the tie-in must be additive to the main event as an enhancement but should not contain key information that clarifies a plot point that doesn’t make sense in the event.
In the recent DC vs. Vampires event, DC Comics released several tie-in books to place the survivors in one or more situations against the vampires in little spinoff stories. Unfortunately, too much emphasis was placed on using the tie-ins to correct continuity errors in the main event or fill in the gaps for event points such as the consistent “Why would Hal Jordan do that?” trope.
Here’s an excellent video from Casually Comics to explain in detail
Different Tones = Noise
An event, if written by the same team from start to finish, will have a tone to the story that fits the plot and pace. Is the event an end-of-the-world horror scenario? Is the story told from a single character’s point of view, colored with that character’s perceptions and emotions? Is the event wild and crazy or grim and desperate?
Regardless of what tone the event projects, if a tie-in book has a tone that doesn’t match, the tie-in doesn’t feel like it’s part of the same event. It’s not enough to have the same or connected characters and references to the same plot points. The tie-in must convey a similar sense of energy and emotion with (again) the goal of enhancing the event with more texture and nuance.
DazzlingKate22 goes into the topic in more detail with her review of Dark Crisis: Young Justice #5 and its bizarre mismatch in tone (and practically everything else) to DC Comic’s currently running Dark Crisis (on Infinite Earths) event.
Last but not least, tie-ins are not restricted to a currently running event. When a tie-in takes the form of a spinoff, the same rules apply. Including the final rule…
Add Substance To The Event
Demonstrating that these rules don’t apply only to comics, the currently running Andor series on Disney+ is receiving its fair share of rating struggles for not only breaking the third rule but breaking all three.
A tie-in (or a spinoff, in the case of Andor) only makes sense when it adds to the story with which it’s associated. The main character, Cassian Andor, is shown in his earlier days before the events of Rogue One (2016) when he first joined the Rebellion of Star Wars film fame. Andor is a well-crafted show about a supporting character who appeared in a single film. Unfortunately, Andor’s story (so far) does nothing to add substance to the films or even the film in which he first appeared, leading to the obvious retort: “What’s the point of this show?”
Robot Head gives an excellent breakdown of Andor’s troubles and exactly why the show isn’t resonating with Star Wars fans.
Andor’s troubles could be summed in how it violates the three basic rules of tie-ins or spinoffs:
Andor uses the main character’s adventure to fill the explanatory gap as to how the war between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance began. That’s not a gap that needed filling.
Andor is a gritty, grounded sci-fi drama. Star Wars, as a whole, is sci-fantasy. Without the “magic,” Andor feels like well-crafted sci-fi but not Star Wars, so the tones are mismatched.
If the Star Wars films are the main event, Andor (so far) does nothing to add texture or substance to those films. Andor’s story is so far removed from the plot of A New Hope or Rogue One, Andor’s plot does nothing to make those stories better or add richness to the stories we already know.
Tie-ins (and spinoffs) can work but only if they follow the basic rules:
Don’t try to explain gaps in the main event
Maintain a consistent tone to the main event
Add substance that makes the main event richer/better
What do you think about tie-ins in comics? Are they necessary? What are the best tie-ins you can recall? The worst? Add your recollections to the comments below, and we’ll feature them in the next newsletter.
Now, let’s review the week in reviews.
THE TIGER’S TONGUE #4 – Review
WALK: TOTAL DESTRUCTION (ONE-SHOT) – Advance Review
AUGUST: PURGATORY UNDERGROUND #3 – Review
IMMORTAL RED SONJA #7 – Review
VAMPIRELLA STRIKES #6 – Review
PROMETHEE 13:13 #4 – Review
HYPER AWARE (ONE-SHOT) – Review
TUFF STUFF (ONE-SHOT) – Review
HEAVEN’S REJECTS #2 – Review
LIMITS (ONE-SHOT) – Indie Review
THE DEVIL’S LEFT HAND – Indie Review
Dead Kingdom #2 (Red 5 Comics)
Potions Inc. #5 (Mad Cave Studios)
Bloodshot: Unleashed #2 (Valiant Entertainment)
Grimm Spotlight: Cinderella vs. The Tooth Fairy (Zenescope Entertainment)
Grimm Fairy Tales #65 (Zenesceope Entertainment)
Grimm Universe Presents Quarterly: 2022 Halloween Special (Zenescope Entertainment)
A. Guardian #1 (Source Point Press)
Caffeinated Hearts (One-Shot) (Source Point Press)
Doctor Rigby: Where Dwells Ghostly Baron (One-Shot) (Source Point Press)
N.O.A. #3 (Source Point Press)
The Argus #1 (Source Point Press)
Boogyman #2 (Ablaze Publishing)
Lovecraft: Unknown Kadath #2 (Ablaze Publishing)
Army of Darkness vs Reanimator: Necronomicon Rising #4 (Dynamite Comics)
Samurai Sonja #5 (Dynamite Comics)
Bad Natures #2 (Indie Submission)
Plainer Jane #6 (Indie Submission)
That’s the shortlist for now. We’ll add more titles and adjust as time and resources allow.
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