History ContinuityPorn / ComicBooks

* ''ComicBook/DisneyComics'':

* ''Franchise/TheDCU'':
** One of the common criticisms of ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' was that it was continuity porn in both senses of the term. DC in general is perceived to engage in 'hard continuity' (i.e., inconsistencies are deliberately explained) versus Marvel's 'softer' kind (inconsistencies, especially [[DorkAge bad ones, are eventually just ignored]]).
** ''ComicBook/ZeroHour'' was explicitly supposed to clean up continuity problems caused by ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths''. Writer Creator/GeoffJohns' run on any book (''ComicBook/GreenLantern'', ''ComicBook/TheFlash'', ''[[ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA]]'', etc) will indulge on this at one point or another. As will Creator/GrantMorrison's.
*** ''Crisis on Infinite Earths'' may well be the UrExample. DC Comics explicitly hired a guy to read and take notes on ''every single comic book DC had ever published'' as a consultant for Marv Wolfman and George Perez.
** ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'' veers into the second variety of continuity porn, though that might depend on whom you ask. In its defence, though, it is hard to do a yearlong series touching on [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters every character in the DC Universe]] without getting a little esoteric sometimes.
*** This was even commented on by one of the writers (Creator/MarkWaid), who mentioned that ''"... no good fiction ever came out of worrying first and foremost whether its events fit into 'continuity'."''
** Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/LeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' is assuredly the ultimate embodiment of this trope, being continuity porn for '''all continuities ever'''. Many sequences and moments in the stories seem to have no purpose other than for Moore to reference as many fictional places and characters as possible. To the extent of explaining Hyde's slow transformation from human to monster, and having a very small date range for the actual events (1891-1894, during Sherlock Holmes' supposed death after falling off a cliff with Moriarty. It is actually considered one of the Holmes sub-works despite Holmes appearing only briefly in a flashback).
** Roy Thomas's ''ComicBook/AllStarSquadron'' is the best example, often going to great lengths to "solve" continuity problems that nobody but Thomas even knew existed.
** ''ComicBook/GothamCitySirens'' has two cases of continuity porn. When ComicBook/TheJoker attacks the three 'reformed' villains he uses the phrase "Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed," when powering up his super blimp in an obvious throwback to [[Series/Batman1966 the Adam West series]]. Later it turns out to be a fake Joker who was really Gaggy, a circus midget who was one of Joker's first sidekicks who first appeared in 1966! Talk about a throwback.
** ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
*** In Pre-ComicBook/{{Crisis|on Infinite Earths}} [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] comics, DC's guy in charge of Superman continuity was PromotedFanboy E. Nelson Bridwell. Bridwell adored the minutia of the Superman mythos, and whenever he personally penned a story, it was chock full of [[ContinuityNod Continuity Nods]], often to obscure [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] stuff. In stories ''focusing'' on the history of the character and his world (such as the original, pre-Crisis ''ComicBook/TheKryptonChronicles'' and ''World of Krypton'' miniseries), this worked very well, but in stories that were set in the present day, the constant references did sometimes feel intrusive.
*** Alan Moore manages to squeeze an astounding number of references into his Superman stories while still keeping it gripping and tense. For example, Superman's marriage to Lyla Lerrol in ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything'' is a reference to ''ComicBook/SupermansReturnToKrypton'', published twenty-five years before. In ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'', the source of [[https://themiddlespaces.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/cc-jm-ll-covers.jpg Jimmy and Lana's powers]] were two obscure 60's stories, whereas the Kryptonite Man had only appeared in some few ''ComicBook/{{Superboy}}'' stories and an [[ComicBook/WhoTookTheSuperOutOfSuperman adult Superman storyline]].
*** Sterling Gates' [[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Supergirl's run]] abounds with references to ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s lore like the Lyra Kam-Par character (daughter of a Kryptonian who made his sole appearance in ''ComicBook/SupermanFamily'' #207) and the numerous nods to her stint on the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes squeezed into the 2010 Annual: finding Myth/KingArthur's Excalibur, fighting the Positive Man... As writing the ''Series/Supergirl2015'' comic tie-in, Gates also included little easter eggs like [[ComicBook/DemonSpawn Supergirl fighting Nightflame]] and meeting [[ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton her Red Lantern incarnation]].
*** ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'': There's a mess of references to old Silver Age and Bronze Age stories, practically to ContinuityPorn levels. Morrison's seeming favorite is the scene where the Kandorians fly from Superman's outstretched hand, a clear visual reference to ''Superman'' #125, a boyhood favorite of Morrison where Superman gained the power to shoot a tiny version of himself from his hand.
*** ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' by definition has to indulge in this, but the mother of all examples appears at the end of ''New Super-Man'' #8: the reintroduction of Ching Lung, the first ever villain published by DC Comics, drawn precisely how he appeared on the front of ''ComicBook/DetectiveComics'' #1. Even the layout of the TEXT is the same as Detective Comics #1.
** ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]: Year One'' and ''JLA: Incarnations'' were both written to show how the Justice League's history "really" happened in the ComicBook/PostCrisis universe. It helped that both focused on the characters' personalities and interactions rather than harping on minutae, however.
** ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': Anytime an artist is directed to show a wide shot of the Batcave, this inevitably happens. Older versions of the Batmobile, artifacts from cases, etc. (Especially the eight-foot-high penny, the mechanical Tyrannosaurus, and the oversized Joker playing card hanging from the ceiling).
** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': For better or worse, Jimenez was very, very big on reviving anything and everything from older Franchise/WonderWoman stories, from the downright goofy (Villainy, Inc.) to the genuinely breathtaking (Themyscira II draws on resources from a half-dozen corners of the wider DC Universe).
** In ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' stories ''ComicBook/GreenLanternRebirth'' and ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', Geoff Johns shows off his continuity chops, tying together elements from across the franchise's history.
** James Robinson's ''ComicBook/{{Starman}}'' is perhaps the poster child for continuity nods in DC comic books. Notably, not only does Starman rely on the greater DC canon, but it has its own strong internal canon as demonstrated in the last few arcs, wherein every Checkhov's Gun is set off.
* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'':
** ''Wolverine: Origins'' exists to "fully" detail {{Wolverine}}'s mysterious past, has also been called continuity porn. Note that all of the hinted-at elements of Wolverine's past have already been revealed; ''Origins'' deals with this by making up an entirely new AncientConspiracy and trying to work it in around the edges. At this point, anything dealing with Wolverine's ExpansionPackPast is probably continuity porn by default.
** LampshadeHanging/parody in an issue of ''ComicBook/SheHulk'', which promised to fix almost all of Marvel's past and future continuity problems. And did, sort of: any appearances by a character you don't like are actually a tourist from another universe cosplaying as that character.
** Not to mention that the entire Dan Slott run of ''She-Hulk'' abounded with often obscure jokes about Marvel continuity -- to the point where they had the law firm with a COMIC BOOK COLLECTION and She-Hulk reads the first issue of... well, her.
** Creator/ChrisClaremont's quasi-trilogy ''Comicbook/XMen: The End'' pulled together tons of old storylines he either [[KudzuPlot left hanging]] or were quashed by [[ExecutiveMeddling editors]] / [[DependingOnTheWriter other writers]], along with a number of others, into a semi-BadFuture story that tried to reconcile the tangle that the X-Books had become.
** The infamous Continuity Xorn escapades. Just who was Xorn ''really'', and what were his actual motivations? Three different writers gave three different takes in order to clean it up but each just got more and more convoluted and complicated until really the best thing to do was just throw it all into the sun.
** Creator/KurtBusiek is fond of continuity, and has proven quite capable of weaving disparate continuity threads into a cohesive (and entertaining) whole.
*** ''ComicBook/AvengersForever'' is probably Busiek's most Continuity Pornastic piece of writing. Among other things, it explains how almost every major event in the history of the Avengers -- and the histories of the Avengers in every parallel universe -- was either caused by Immortus or cleaned up by him afterwards [[ThePlan to save the human race from the Time Keepers]]. It also spent an entire issue detailing the history of sometime BigBad Kang the Conqueror. However, because time travel is an important part of the series, and because the story is generally good, it usually manages to get away with it.
*** His ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' run as a whole also counts. In addition to featuring LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters from across the franchise's history, he also set out to resolve some old [[LeftHanging dangling plot threads]] and {{Aborted Arc}}s from previous writers, such as ''finally'' clearing up what the hell was up with Madame Masque.
*** An earlier example of Creator/KurtBusiek was ''ComicBook/{{Marvels}}'', a four-issue mini-series that managed to encapsulate the entire early history of Marvel Comics (from World War II to the Death of Gwen Stacy) and present it from a street-level point of view, showing how an average man sees the Marvel Universe.
** Creator/{{Christopher Priest|Comics}}'s ''Comicbook/BlackPanther'' run was basically a celebration of the character's entire published history up to that point, with Priest making sure to incorporate something from pretty much every previous take on the character, even the stuff that wasn't well regarded (such as Creator/JackKirby's run). Priest has said that in hindsight, this was probably part of the reason why [[AcclaimedFlop it didn't sell very well despite being critically acclaimed]].
** Marvel pulled one of these with ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''. Character derailment, you say? ''Alien mole!'' [[WolverinePublicity Too many of one guy]] to make sense in universe? ''Alien double!'' Character death of your favorite minor character, even though it was a powerful move and strongly affected the rest of the characters? ''Alien doppelganger!''
** ComicBook/SpiderMan' ''Brand New Day'', ''Maximum Clonage'', and a lot of JMS's writing went into heavy continuity nods and switches. And usually by the end a lot was left hanging.
*** And still left hanging. ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay''/''Brand New Day'' seems to be going out of their way to avoid continuity porn and ignore the continuity problems that have been created because of the situation.
*** Eventually they wrote ''One Moment in Time'', or OMIT, that explained exactly how continuity changed because of OMD. The Wedding Annual, MJ's pregnancy, and, ironically, One More Day itself are the only things in which anything beyond Spidey's marital status was changed.
** ''ComicBook/EarthX'' and its two sequel series Universe X and Paradise X are intentional works of pure continuity porn. Set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (from the year 1999), the story explains, combines, and wraps up every continuity snarl, dangling plot-thread, and unexplained coincidence the writers could lay their hands on, including characters, dimensions, and devices no one's written about for decades. Fortunately, each series also features InteractiveNarrator characters to keep the readers on top of what they absolutely need to know for the plot, but it's still very likely you'll to spend more time reading Wiki/ThisVeryWiki or Wiki/TheOtherWiki than the books themselves.
** Everything Creator/AlEwing ever touched at Marvel, as he seems to be the living embodiment of the Marvel Wiki. ''Comicbook/MightyAvengers''? Reverenced everything up to freaking ''Comicbook/NextWave''. ''Comicbook/LokiAgentOfAsgard''? It literally caps all the continuity surrounding Loki, but not above referencing stuff as early as Walter Simonson or Avengers #1 from the silver age. etc. It's a testament to his talent that his series are generally perfectly readable without knowing this but be assured he doesn't forget continuity ''ever''.