Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1257201-20161227233458/@comment-1257201-20161231201340

Stoop Davy Dave wrote: 4a/ Both stories in this issue of ASC are standalone stories.

The two stories in ASC #3 aren't connected to each other. But the first story leads directly into the first story in ASC #4. Essentially, it's a two-part Justice Society story.

This is actually extremely common in multi-story comics. For example, in the early 1980s, the lead story in Detective featured Batman, and these stories were usually connected to the previous or next Batman story (typically in Batman, since the two comics were treated almost like a single twice-monthly comic at the time). Meanwhile, the backup story featured Green Arrow, and these backup stories were typically two or three part stories.

Just one example: Batman confronts Man-Bat in the lead story of, which continues in. Meanwhile, the Green Arrow story in continues in 528 and concludes in 529.

I think there's a huge difference between identifying two-part and multi-part stories -- which 99% of the time is clear and unambiguous -- and determining whether Batman's appearance in this story is before or after his appearance in an unrelated Justice League story published in the same month. Two-part and multi-part stories are a fundamental tradition of comics, going all the way back to. For eighty years, kids have purchased comics and then wondered "where can I find part one of this story?" If this site won't help them answer that question, then its entire utility is compromised.

The English stylist in me is delighted by the in-universe TBC links that Stoop Davy Dave has inserted. Compare the old version [here http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/New_Fun_Comics_Vol_1_2#Synopsis_for_Wing_Brady:_.22The_Bedouins.2C_Part_2.22] to the new version [here hhttp://dc.wikia.com/wiki/New_Fun_Comics_Vol_1_2#Synopsis_for_Wing_Brady:_.22The_Bedouins.2C_Part_2.22]. Instead of telling the reader that the story has been continued, an in-universe sentence now has a link.

However, I'm not sure that a casual reader of our site will understand that this means a story is being continued. Even if they study it enough to realize that the "rope has begun to fray" link leads to a later story in which the rope breaks, this doesn't actually specify that this later story is the very next story.

Even dramatic television shows that lack a narrator allow a voice-over or on-screen text at the end of an episode to proclaim, "To be continued". Why can't we do the same?