CSBG Archive
Comic Dictionary – Nepotistic Continuity
This is when a writer uses strong continuity in his or her comics, but frequently when it is in reference to something (a work or a creation) that THAT writer did in the past.
Chuck Dixon was big on this, having minor characters from one of his four Bat-books show up constantly in his other Bat-books.
The funniest point of Dixon’s nepotistic continuity history is when he had the clone of Guy Gardner (that he had introduced during a very short run on Guy Gardner: Warrior) show up in Birds of Prey.
NOTE: I am not saying that this is a BAD thing.
6 Comments
moose n squirrel
May 28, 2006 at 1:23 pm
It should be said, though, that without Dixon’s nepotistic continuity, Oracle would probably never have caught on. After Ostrander’s Suicide Squad, she would likely have dropped off the radar if Chuck Dixon hadn’t become enamored of the character (and thus used her in every book he wrote). Thus, while John Ostrander may have rehabilitated the post-Killing Joke Barbara Gordon, Chuck Dixon and his nepotistic ways made her a major player in the DCU.
Brian Cronin
May 28, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Nepotistic continuity isn’t necessarily a negative thing!
Sorry if I gave off that impression!
King Cobra
July 26, 2006 at 2:50 pm
In a weird way, nepotistic continuity makes MORE sense if you take the “This is a large world, and weird things happen in a Six-Degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon kind of way.”
F’rinstance, why SHOULDN’T Guy Gardner’s clone show up in Birds of Prey? Dinah had extensive (though negative) interactions with Guy, and shares a lot of the same “friends & family”.
Even the best writers tend to return to the same characters (or character archetypes) repeatedly.
Jeff
June 17, 2010 at 11:03 am
2 words:
Englehart
Mantis
Terence
June 17, 2010 at 11:55 pm
Two more words.
Grant & Morrison
Adam Weissman
June 18, 2010 at 7:11 am
Starlin does a lot of this:
Hardcore Station, The Weird, Thanos,
Peter David did a bit of this between Incredible Hulk and Captain Marvel.