As You Know / Comic Books

• This was literally a mandate at Marvel Comics from the late 1970s onward. Then-current Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter wanted writers to write "as if every issue is someone's first." Thus, scores of comics would have characters recapping events from the previous issues to someone who was right there when it all happened. Even after Shooter was fired, several writers continued this trend. This would ease up in the late-90s with Marvel simply printing "Previously on..." recaps.
• X-Men: Lampshaded in Uncanny X-Men #496:
  Cyclops: This isn't good, Emma. Warren isn't answering and I can't even tell if my calls are going through.
  Emma Frost: You needn't narrate, dearest. I'm sitting right here.
• Fables:
  • Lampshaded and subverted: Beast begins an As You Know introduction of Hansel to Prince Charming, but Charming protests he really has no idea who Hansel is.
  • Since Fables primarily focuses on a small community, the members of whom have lived together for centuries, early issues in particular are prone to this trope, as the author tries to catch the reader up without benefit of a Naïve Newcomer. This gets lampshaded in the very first issue; Bigby Wolf is talking to Snow White about Rose Red, and refers to her as "your sister, Rose Red" and Snow promptly tells him that she does in fact know who her sister is.
• Lampshaded in Justice League International with General Glory, an old Golden Age superhero. The Leaguers are all shocked by his "comic booky" dialogue and wonder aloud how he can possibly cram so much pointless exposition into his sentences.
• Star Wars: The comic-book adaptation of The Thrawn Trilogy features Lando Calrissian telling Chewbacca about the adventures they just had off-screen (on-screen in the novels). For all we know, Chewbacca is reprimanding him for being Mr. Exposition; we'll never know.
• In Blaze of Glory, Clay Harder spends a panel talking about his past lives as Matt Hawk and the Two-Gun Kid, and how he buried them both so he could live a normal life. This is for the reader's sake, as Marcel is quick to point out he was there when it happened.
• The Sensational She-Hulk:
  • Mocked in issue #3. Louise, who had been the 1940s heroine the Blonde Phantom is the only other person besides Jennifer who grasps she's in a comic book and talks to the readers. Before her secret is revealed, she goes to District Attorney Tower to hand some papers over.
    Tower: But...these are just about Stilt-Man's recent escape? You showed these to me this morning.
    Louise: Yes, but the readers weren't here for that. It's foreshadowing for the next issue. Have a nice night!
    (walks off as Tower just stares in utter confusion)
  • Mocked again in issue #35 when She-Hulk complains about the Black Talon doing a repeat of the expository speech he made in the previous issue. For context, the Black Talon has resurrected four previously dead X-Men:
    She-Hulk: I mean, I know it's good to do a recap so new readers can catch up, but it sure makes for choppy reading when these stories get put together in a trade paperback.
  • In the same issue as the above, two aliens from Dimension Z are discussing how their people are in need of atomic power and the various ways in which they have tried to obtain it. One of the aliens points out how the other is just repeating information that they already know.
• Used all the time in Disney Ducks Comic Universe comics, usually clumsily as anything. It gets lampshaded in Don Rosa's "The Last Lord of Eldorado", where Donald Duck sums up the events of a previous story that happens to be relevant to the plot, and an annoyed Uncle Scrooge replies "I know all that! What are you, a recap caption in some silly comic book?"
• ElfQuest largely avoids this, but some examples still stands out:
  • One is the story of Madcoil told around a campfire, which allows the main character's love interest to find out about his Backstory (through eavesdropping). It's told because of tradition, and because the children present haven't heard it yet.
  • A far more jarring example is found in the Discovery books (written by the same original author, but a good three decades later) in which the characters... well, talk like this.
  • Another jarring example occurs in the first issue of Siege at Blue Mountain, the second print series which began after a 2-year hiatus. In lieu of a synopsis, the Wolfriders explain the whys and wherefores of the story so far to each other, ostensibly as part of their decision-making process. Later series got a lot better at integrating the Backstory into the dialogue.
• In an early Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 comic, Willow is visiting Buffy and Xander, and asks about their love life. Xander replies jokingly that all women desire him, a statement which Willow appears to take seriously, as she gratuitously adds that she herself had once been attracted to him. Given that the only people in the room were both there at the time of Willow's infatuation (in Seasons 1-3), the only reason for this line to be included was to remind the audience that Willow wasn't always a lesbian.
• Sam & Max: Freelance Police frequently uses this as a simple ploy to avoid having to show them travelling: one panel in an early comic has Sam saying "We're off to the Philippines!" In the next panel they're standing in front of a bunch of weird buildings:
  Sam: Well, here we are in the Philippines.
  Max: Drawn without reference material, apparently.
• The first issue of Mega Man (Archie Comics) is especially guilty of this, having Light explain to Wily that he lost his credentials years ago, and to Mega Man and Roll about their origins.
• Turned into a Running Gag by Asterix: As it is stated in every book (and, in many editions, explained on the presentation page), Obelix isn't allowed any of Getafix's magic potion because he fell into a cauldron full of the stuff when he was little. Obelix himself remarks in one story "We'll never hear the end of it!" A few times they skip the story, with Obelix grumbling "Of course, I don't get any because grumble grumble..."
• In Deadpool: Wade Wilson's War, Deadpool explains the context of a military operation, and the senator cuts him off, saying that he knows. The brilliance is that every time, what Deadpool explained is true in the real world (America's implication in Soviet/Afghan war...), but readers may not know this stuff as a senator does.
• In the Doctor Who comic "The Forgotten", Turlough goes to the effort of explaining the rules of cricket to Tegan, who already knows them since she's Australian.
• The Simpsons:
  • One comic has Bart telling Lisa what had happened as exposition for the reader. When Lisa asks why he's telling her what she already knows, Bart says he's filling in the readers, which confuses Lisa until he further explains he's filling in their new neighbors, whose last name is Reader, on the situation.
  • Spoofed, in another instance, when a Radioactive Man villain stops going over her plan, and announces "I have a sudden, irrelevant desire to recount my origin!" Cue her henchmen groaning and complaining about how she did this at breakfast.
  • In a Radioactive Man story, a creature is expositing his plans, only to stop and angrily announce "Why am I doing this? I know what my plan is!"
• It's something of a Running Gag in the fandom of Fleetway's Sonic the Comic that, whenever Shortfuse the Cybernik shows up, he'll reiterate his origin as a once-normal squirrel who was unwillingly converted into his current form by Dr. Robotnik, against whom he has sworn vengeance.
• Supergirl:
  • The Untold Story of Argo City: Zor-El's explanation of the Zygor's origins to his daughter starts with the history of Argo City, which he knows Supergirl obviously knows:
    Zor-El: As you know, when our native planet, Krypton, exploded, a large chunk of it, containing Argo City, was hurled away.
  • In The Strange Revenge of Lena Luthor, Lena and Lex have an argument where the former retells the lab accident which granted her powers, which she knows Lex is aware of, since he was present. It works as a recap for readers who had not read The Girl with the X-Ray Mind, which was a twenty-year-old story by that point.
  • Supergirl's Greatest Challenge: When Supergirl arrives, Saturn Girls tells they need her help to deal with a new threat because "You have many superpowers while we have only one power each". Two facts they know their old friend and teammate is obviously aware of.
  • "The Super-Steed of Steel": At the start of the third issue, Comet tells Supergirl his origin and true identity...which he revealed to her in detail in the previous issue.
  • Supergirl Adventures Girl Of Steel: During a space battle, Supergirl and Ice explain Rocket Red because the League is fighting Darkseid at the edge of the universe...something Rocket Red already knows, since he has just asked them to repeat him what they previously told him.
• Superman:
  • Done in Silver Age comic books. Sometimes the villains would explain their plan to each other after they had carried it out. As often as not, the heroes would overhear this conversation and swoop down to capture them, having had no clue prior to this what had been going on.
  • In Krypton No More, Protector spends one whole page explaining to his partner Radion how Radion gained powers, how his powers work and how they first met.
    Protector: I know how you found yourself alive after the explosion which destroyed all your co-workers... I know how you climbed from the rubble... and found your body altered!
  • The Death of Lightning Lad: When Colossal Boy mentions the Legion of Super-Heroes was rewarded by defeating Zaryan's mooks, Matter-Eater Lad says "I'm Matter-Eater Lad, a new member! Who is "Zaryan the Conqueror"??" in order to: inform new readers who is the newest Legionnaire; and give the characters one excuse to explain who is the newest villain.
  • DC Retroactive Superman: In the first issue, Van-Zee shows Superman footage of his latest case (in order to illustrate his point about Superman running on empty), and Superman impatiently reminds him that he is aware of how it went down because he was there.
• Star Trek: Untold Voyages:
  • In "Worlds Collide", Spock finds it necessary to remind Saavik of her life story, how they met and everything that has happened to her in the meantime.
  • In "Past Imperfect", Admiral Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy remind each other of everything that happened to them on Miri's planet in "Miri".
• Issue 20 of the Invader Zim (Oni) comics opens with Zim expositing on his newest plan, much to the confusion of the Computer.
  Computer: I know all this already. Who are you saying this again for?
• In the Evoluzione comic Ma'Ari, two adults who've supposedly been friends since childhood remind each other of their sexuality:
  Janaan: As if you'd ever have a reason to be naked in my room.
  Simone: You don't need to remind me, my dear asexual friend!
• Vigilante: J.J. Davis likes to explain things to Theresa that she is already well aware of, but which the audience does not know.
• Spider-Man: In Spider-Men II, while following the remains of a giant robot, Peter Parker and Miles Morales arrive at the location where, in the first miniseries, there was a portal between the Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Marvel universe... a universe that ceased to exist in Secret Wars (2015). Peter provides the full exposition about the significance of the place.
• Guardians of the Galaxy:
  • The first issue of vol. 1 has Starhawk standing there explaining the team's history to Martinex. All thirty years of it. Then Marty points out he knows this, because he was there for all of it. In fairness, this was the 90s, so Stakar's explaining for readers who might not have known, and wouldn't necessarily have access to means of checking (especially when the Guardians' story was spread across a lot of titles over those thirty years).
  • In Vol 2., Moondragon cuts off the Matriarch of the Universal Church of Truth mid-sentence to state she knows what the woman's talking about, and then recaps in full detail what she's doing (namely, kidnapping Moondragon because she's got an Eldritch Abomination in her the Church want to worship).
• Batman '66: The "Lost Episode" one-shot written by Len Wein and adapted from an unproduced episode treatment for the original show by Harlan Ellison has Batman remind Robin of Two-Face's origin for the reader's benefit.