Don’t look for this to be a review of Secret Invasion because I haven’t read it yet. Usually, I wait for a long story arc or a series to end and then I pick it up. There is a huge benefit to this: I can read OTHER people’s blogs first to discover if it was any good or not. After having wasted a few bucks on House of M, Civil War, and virtually every book DC published in 2007 before realizing they were headed no where, I hang back a little bit.

Yes, super duper hullabaloo storyarcs can be a lot of fun to read when they are special and organic. The Death of Superman, Knight Fall, Planet Hulk, and Infinite Crisis all come to mind as great, shake the world story arcs. But, just because you want something to be a shake up the universe storyarc does not mean it will automatically mean it will be any good. A long time ago Marvel released a boring as hell mega storyarc called Secret Wars. Other than laying the foundation to the creation of Venom, Secret Wars was a dud. Then, there was the godawful, convoluted, and incomprehensible Clone Saga of the 1990’s. Had there ever been a storyarc more negatively received than that?

I know big shake the world storylines sell. I also think they are necessary because the industry needs interesting storylines to survive. I remember a time when 3 part storylines were incredibly rare. Today, you need 6 part storylines because without complex narratives, all you are left with a villain of the month and a fight scene.

However, creating a complex, lengthy storyline that isn’t engaging is not going to be well received. That was the problem with Civil War. It just had nothing special to offer. The same could be said of the thoroughly dull Countdown from DC Comics.

Storyarcs need to be motivated folks. If not, they are a transparent marketing scheme. The fans won’t be fooled.