Hunting for the Whole Story
Earlier this month, Marvel Comics launched its latest company-wide crossover event, Blood Hunt. Spearheaded by Jed MacKay, Blood Hunt involves a vampire attack across the globe, which sees some heroes turning to the dark side.
In addition to the five main Blood Hunt issues written by MacKay, with art by Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia, there are multiple tie-in one-shots, miniseries, and issues of on-going series that complete the story. Most comic book readers will skip those issues entirely.
To fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, such a decision seems outrageous. How can you keep up with the story if you don’t follow every chapter? The short answer is that, with good crossover events, you can skip the tie-ins and still follow the story.
For example, the official Marvel checklist identifies nine official tie-in issues that take place between Blood Hunt #1 and Blood Hunt #2. And yet, Blood Hunt #2 only mentions events from one of those issues, Dracula: Blood Hunt. And even then, the dialogue and captions tell readers everything they need to know from that story.
To be clear, this wasn’t always the case. Crossover events such as Fatal Attractions or House of M required readers to buy all or most the tie ins to understand the story. In the 1980s and ’90s, X-Men and Spider-Man storylines often required readers to buy every issue of the character published that month, which sometimes meant four different Spidey or mutant comics each week.
It’s easy to see why comic book companies like crossovers, as it forces the reader to buy more and helps prop up failing books. But readers quickly grew tired of it and, when in the hands of a good writer like MacKay, they proved unnecessary. Even when a crossover or big storyline tries to demand more reading/buying, comic readers have learned a few tricks to keep enjoying their favorite medium without burning out or going broke, lessons that MCU fans should follow.