10 Crazy Facts You Just Have To Accept To Enjoy Marvel‏ Comics

2. Crossovers Are The Best, More Please

Characters have crossed over into each others books since the inception of Marvel Comics, but it was with Secret Wars that the standard for all future crossovers was set: huge "events" that pull in every character, and every title, being published at the time, meaning months of comics are committed solely to one huge storyline. Sometimes it results in big changes, sometimes it results in genuinely good stories, but what it almost always does is ensure good sales. That's cynical, but it's true: crossovers create the need for readers to buy a whole mess of comics to get the full story, which means sales go up. And commerce has been the motivation from Secret Wars onwards, but accepting the capitalistic origins would spoil the fun. You still get to see superheroes fighting, Civil Wars breaking out, and now The Watcher murdered. Who cares why? It's comics! Yay!