Quote:
Originally Posted by RHWright
Shared universe can be real fun---as already noted, Wild Cards, Thieves' World. Also have a couple volumes of the Liavek series. Need to find a few of the volumes, just haven't bothered to check online. Getting them with just a few clicks seem anticlimactic compared to hunting them down myself in a used bookstore.
As to licensed properties---like FR---I was never much into any of the TSR-related stuff. Star Trek, it depended on the author. Haven't picked up any in years. Star Wars usually disappointed. Making my way through the Virgin Doctor Who, which are a mixed bag, but I'm a big DW fan, so... Babylon 5 had a few good ones, but mostly pretty lame. Best tie-in still has to be Steven Brust's Firefly novel, My Own Kind of Freedom. Technically, it's "fan fiction," but from a professional and talented fan.
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When it comes to "Babylon 5" (B5) one nice thing they established is that anything with the official B5 logo is officially in canon regardless of the form. As an example, the story of how Sinclair and Garibaldi first met is in one of the issues of the official B5 comic book published by DC Comics.
I'm a comic book reader (mostly DC Comics), so shared universes is a normal part of reading for me since few series (if any) are actually stand alone. However, I don't read all of the issues a company releases. Instead, I just choose the series that interest me.
Unfortunately, what has caused me to lose some interest is the continuing series of continuity changes that keep occurring that make it difficult to follow any series. DC Comics has had the following events that caused widespread alternations of their continuity: Crisis On Infinite Earths, Zero Hour - Crisis In Time, Infinite Crisis, 52, Final Crisis, and Flashpoint (which led to the current "New 52" which is a soft reboot of the entire DC Universe).
Returning to the question of shared universe, I think that they are worth reading because it allows stories to develop that would be unlikely to happen if it is just one series or only involved one creative team. An example of this is the "The Blackest Night" event in DC Comics.
In the story, beginning in the "Green Lantern" titles, an army of Black Lanterns has arisen (essentially zombies animated by black power rings) that are seeking out emotions to charge their rings. Originally, it was going to be contained only within the Green Lantern titles, but other creative teams got involved and it ended up with the entire DC Universe being involved due to the heroes and villains being targeted by Black Lanterns of their friends and family. It led to some very emotional stories for many of the heroes and some surprising revelations (such as Aquaman's wife, Mera, originally being an assassin sent to kill him but she fell in love with him instead).