Both Marvel and DC are making big mistakes with their latest event comics, Heroes Reborn and Infinite Frontier. While the events promise exciting new stories from the two comic titans, both are symptomatic of a larger problem. Despite their name, event comics are becoming far too commonplace, and the world's greatest superheroes aren't the only ones suffering because of it.
Though Heroes Reborn and Infinite Frontier are wildly different events, the context surrounding them is more similar than first appearances would suggest. Both are universe reshaping events that are revitalizing their company's core cast of heroes. More importantly, both are landing after a year stuffed to bursting with events. Since 2020 began DC has done Joker War, Dark Knights: Death Metal, Endless Winter, Future State, and now Infinite Frontier. Meanwhile, in the same timeframe, Marvel has published, Outlawed, Empyre, X of Swords, King In Black, and soon readers will have both Heroes Reborn and Infinite Destinies to read. In the span of a little more than a year, both companies will have released five or more events, and that excess is affecting the events themselves.
Comic universes are already known for their complex relationship to time, with timelines kept deliberately ambiguous so that characters are always timeless. These event comics only make the issue worse by having events that overlap with each other. Marvel's Outlawed event started one year ago, and it's still ongoing. Empyre and King in Black have both started and concluded since Outlawed began. While delaying events like King in Black doesn't help this, not everything can be blamed on delays. DC's Endless Winter event was being published right alongside Dark Knights: Death Metal. This overlap confuses readers and constrains writers. Any character development experienced in one event has to be limited so that it doesn't conflict with any concurrent events. Marvel is set to exacerbate this issue by releasing the conclusion to Heroes Reborn on June 23rd, the same day they're starting Infinite Destinies.
The biggest disappointment with all of this though is that even great stories are suffering as a result. Empyre and King in Black have both seen a positive reception from fans, but their specialness is ruined by the fact that the two events are back to back. If cosmic level villains are threatening the world more than twice a year, it stops being a big deal. DC had several multiversal threats as antagonists for Dark Knights: Death Metal, and before Infinite Frontier even has time to breathe and establish its own identity, the event's 0 issue teases a new reality-warping foe.
Though all of this is far from a new trend, it has only become worse over time. Endless tie-in issues make events hard to follow, characters are killed for shock value, and even at the end there's always a tease for what's coming next. These event comics are proof that Marvel and DC have lost the ability to tell complete stories. Everything is set up now. Events exist to sell readers future events. Heroes Reborn and Infinite Frontier might only be symptoms of a larger problem, but all signs point to things getting worse long before they get better.