Superheroes in other Comics???

Okay, confession time. Something I learnt a long time ago, because people don't tell you everything. This would be in my early teens...

Back then, when I got sick, or as a treat, my Granny would buy me comics. Usually newspaper comics like Nutty (oh, I had so many of those comics... all thrown out now). But also superhero comics. In particular, she got me Green Lantern. I think I got some issues around vol 2 #140 mark, as I definitely remember those, and also later around #160. My 'collection', as such, was spotty. But I was a big fan. This superhero, magic ring, but had to overcome weird foes who always managed to prey on the weakness of yellow, and all pushing Green Lantern to the limit...

I slowly collected issues of this series, enjoyed working out the order (okay, not hard, they were numbered), and wondering what happened in between, when all I had was 'in the next issue' or references to past events to go on.

And then, in a small second hand book store, I found Superman vol 2 #14:

This was part of the Millennium crossover event, and has since spurred my interest in getting all the issues related to this (because it was the first one I was aware of). And I have all but about two issues of the cross-over event, and only one or two issues of the spin off comic series The New Guardians. (Why don't comic companies put out volumes of cross over events that have all the comics related to each week of a cross-over? They could have done eight volumes here, one for each issue of Millennium and all the associated related issues. Plus a ninth for Guardians! And they could do this for Crisis and Zero Hour and all the others! The money possibilities!)

But that's not the important thing. The important point was after I got this, and tried to place it in the Green Lantern time line. I worked out which GL issues occurred at the same time, but... there was no mention of this adventure in those issues. What?

What I didn't realise then, and this is the thing: the superheroes can appear in other comics and have unrelated adventures.

Mind. Blown.

Fine, yes, you can take that cavalierly now, but you didn't always know this either. Someone told you, or you worked it out as well.

And it was at that point I knew I would never be able to get all the Green Lantern appearances, there were just too many. Sigh.

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