He (or she) who controls the origin controls the character. But some creators are more than willing to grab as much of that power as they can using flashbacks and prequels. Prequels have become the new sequel, or as James Harrigton calls it in his commentary, Prequelitis. As I wrote in the comments of that article, “On the one hand, hearing about the Clone Wars makes you curious as to what actually happened and what turned Anakin to the Dark Side. On the other, the answer was unsatisfying, and that’s the danger of a prequel.” As much as I liked the two cartoons set during the Clone Wars, it does come with a few problems, and that goes for other prequels. Especially ones like X-Men Origins: Wolverine that answered questions nobody asked, like where he got his jacket. That needed a backstory?
