There is a specific type of television suffering that only BBC Two can deliver. Six episodes, broadcast across three months, with a four-week gap in the middle because of snooker coverage. You invest everything. You care deeply. And then the finale airs on a Tuesday at 9pm and resolves absolutely nothing, because they’ve already greenlit a second series that won’t arrive until sometime in 2027. It is, I’d argue, a uniquely British form of narrative punishment. And I say this as someone who sat through all of The Salisbury Poisonings and still has feelings about it.
Now. Marvel and DC have been doing exactly the same thing to comic book readers for decades. The longest comic book story arcs in UK comic shop history are not so much stories as they are commitments. Life decisions. The kind of thing you mention at a party and people back away slowly. So, in the spirit of public service, here is a lovingly sarcastic scheduling announcement from a fictional BBC commissioning editor, applied to some of the most gloriously bloated story arcs the big two have ever produced.
Welcome from our fictional BBC Two commissioning editor
“We at BBC Two are thrilled to announce our upcoming drama slate, inspired by the finest traditions of serialised storytelling. Each production has been carefully paced so that very little happens for four episodes, one extraordinary thing happens in episode five, and episode six ends on a freeze frame. Series two is in development. We cannot confirm a broadcast date at this time.”
Right. Let’s get into it.
House of M (Marvel, 2005), Series one of an indefinite run
BBC Two scheduling note: Seven episodes. Airs across four months. Episode three replaced by coverage of the Cambridge Folk Festival. Available on iPlayer for thirty days before being archived forever.
Scarlet Witch says “No more mutants” and reality itself bends. It’s a genuinely great hook. The problem is that understanding why she says it requires reading roughly nine years of previous storylines, including Avengers Disassembled, several issues of New Avengers, and at least two trades that are perpetually out of print. I’ve tried to explain House of M to non-comics friends and I have never, not once, successfully completed the backstory before they’ve drifted to their phones.
As a BBC Two drama it would actually work beautifully. Episode one: a woman is very sad and powerful. Episodes two through five: people argue in rooms. Episode six: the world is different now. Credits roll over a Sufjan Stevens track. Absolutely nobody explains what just happened. Brilliant television.
Infinite Crisis (DC, 2005-2006), A prestige co-production with Channel 4 that somehow ended up on BBC Two anyway
Infinite Crisis had seven main issues. It also had around twenty companion mini-series, four Countdown tie-ins, and a Road to Infinite Crisis arc that itself required familiarity with the original 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths. Reading it in sequence is like arriving at a dinner party where everyone else went to school together and they keep referencing an incident from 1987 that you weren’t there for.
The pacing, in BBC Two terms, is exemplary. Our fictional commissioning editor would absolutely commission this. Six episodes. Episode one introduces thirty-seven characters. Episode four kills half of them. Episode six suggests that perhaps the real Infinite Crisis was the friends we made along the way. Second series announced. Set five years earlier. Explores the Crisis on Infinite Earths from the perspective of a minor character who dies in issue two of the original.
Secret Wars (Marvel, 2015), The one that actually delayed itself
The longest comic book story arcs tend to feel long because they’re written for the trade paperback collection. Secret Wars was different. It was long because it genuinely, physically took forever to publish. Jonathan Hickman’s 2015 Secret Wars was solicited as an eight-issue series. It ended up being nine issues, shipped out of order, and took about nine months longer than planned to complete. Other Marvel series had to invent reasons why their storylines existed in a publishing vacuum during this time. Some writers have described this period with words I can’t publish here.
For BBC Two scheduling purposes, this is absolutely standard practice. You commission a six-parter. It becomes a seven-parter. Episode four is delayed by three weeks because of a Proms special. The cast have aged visibly between filming episode two and episode six. One of the lead characters is recast and nobody mentions it. The finale airs on 23 December when half the country is at their nan’s. Perfectly normal British television production.
If you want the full picture on comic book storylines that make your head hurt trying to map them onto any logical timeline, I wrote about comic book story arcs so convoluted even a Martin Lewis deep-dive couldn’t untangle them, and Secret Wars features prominently, for obvious reasons.
The Clone Saga (Marvel, 1994-1996), A cautionary tale in three BBC Two seasons
Originally planned as a three-month Spider-Man storyline. Ran for two years. Introduced, killed, resurrected and re-killed Ben Reilly. Revealed that the real Peter Parker might be a clone. Then revealed that wasn’t true. Then suggested it might be. I have read academic papers shorter than the Clone Saga and with significantly clearer conclusions.
BBC Two scheduling announcement: The Clone Saga. Series one: six episodes. Series two: five episodes, airing the following autumn. Series three: four episodes, broadcast in a Sunday evening slot usually reserved for wildlife documentaries. A special episode resolving the main cliffhanger airs eighteen months after series three, on a bank holiday Monday at 10:15pm. Viewing figures: modest but passionate. BAFTA nomination: Best Sound Design.
I genuinely believe the Clone Saga would win a BAFTA for Best Sound Design. Nobody would be able to explain the plot in the acceptance speech but the ambient sound of Peter Parker’s existential confusion would be outstanding.
DC’s New 52 continuity, The entire experiment as a limited series that forgot to be limited
DC rebooted its entire continuity in September 2011 with the New 52. Fifty-two new series, fresh starts, clean slates. By 2016 it had been partially walked back, then replaced by DC Rebirth, which itself referenced pre-New-52 continuity that the New 52 had supposedly replaced. The BBC arts desk would have a field day covering this as a cultural phenomenon and then quietly never follow it up.
As a BBC Two commission this would run as follows: a prestige pilot, well-received, several new characters introduced. Then a second series that quietly contradicts several things the first series established. Then a third series that brings back beloved elements from a previous show that this show had replaced. Then a Very Special Episode that tries to reconcile all of it. Then a podcast. The podcast would be quite good, actually.
What the longest comic book story arcs actually tell us
Here’s the thing, and I say this with genuine affection: the reason these arcs go so long is the same reason BBC Two dramas string things out across multiple series. People care. If nobody cared, nobody would keep reading, keep watching, keep posting increasingly unhinged fan theories on Reddit threads at 2am. The longest comic book story arcs in history exist because someone, somewhere, is deeply invested in finding out what happens next.
That is, objectively, a lovely thing. Even if what happens next takes forty-seven issues and three crossover events to deliver.
The dark comic book storylines I covered in an earlier piece on comic book storylines that would fit perfectly into a BBC One Sunday night drama tend to be the tighter, grimmer ones. The sprawling universe-altering epics are a different beast entirely. They are not tragic. They are operatic. BBC Two, with its noble tradition of commissioning things that slightly more people should watch, is the perfect home for them.
And if you think I’ve been too harsh: the scheduling announcement for Hickman’s Avengers and New Avengers run leading into Secret Wars would simply read “Begins in 2012. You will understand it in 2016. We are sorry about the gaps. Please watch our nature documentary about Highland cattle in the meantime.”
Genuinely cannot think of a more British way to consume a multiverse-collapsing epic. Bring biscuits. You’ll be here a while.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the longest comic book story arcs ever published?
Marvel’s Clone Saga (1994-1996) ran for roughly two years across multiple Spider-Man titles, making it one of the longest single continuous arcs. DC’s New 52 initiative technically ran from 2011 to 2016 before being replaced, which is hard to beat for sheer sustained commitment to a chaotic idea.
Do I need to read every issue to understand big Marvel or DC crossover events?
In theory, no. In practice, the answer is a gentle but firm yes, especially for events like Infinite Crisis or Secret Wars, which assume familiarity with years of preceding storylines. Most local comic shops in the UK stock collected trade paperbacks that group the essential tie-ins together, which helps considerably.
Why do comic book story arcs get so long and decompressed?
Much of it comes down to writing for the trade paperback collection rather than the monthly issue. Six issues collected into one volume is a marketable product, so writers structure stories across six chapters rather than resolving things quickly. It also keeps readers subscribed monthly, which publishers understandably like.
Which Marvel crossover event is the best starting point for UK readers new to comics?
Civil War (2006-2007) is the most accessible big crossover because its central conflict, Iron Man versus Captain America on a political issue, is easy to grasp without much prior knowledge. It’s widely available in UK bookshops and Waterstones usually stocks the collected edition.
Are decompressed comic book storylines actually bad, or is that just a criticism?
It’s a genuine creative debate. Slower pacing allows for richer character development and works brilliantly in collected form. The frustration tends to hit monthly readers who pay per issue and feel shortchanged when a single conversation takes three issues to complete. Both positions are reasonable, frankly.