Opening Narration / Comic Books

• Marvel Comics does the written version of this trope in the first page of its books:
  • The main example: "And there came a day when Earth's mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, The Avengers were born - to fight the foes no single super-hero could withstand!"
  • These days usually combined with a Previously on….
  • A familiar example from the Bronze Age: "Cyclops. Storm. Banshee. Nightcrawler. Wolverine. Colossus. Children of the atom, students of Charles Xavier, MUTANTS — feared and hated by the world they have sworn to protect. These are the STRANGEST heroes of all! Stan Lee presents: THE UNCANNY X-MEN!"
• Around the Turn of the Millennium DC Comics did this too, usually with a stylized caption on the title page of each story.
  • "I made a vow on my parents' graves to rid this city of the evil that took their lives. By day, I am Bruce Wayne, billionaire philanthropist. By night, criminals, a superstitious and cowardly lot, call me... Batman."
  • "Rocketed to Earth from the doomed planet Krypyon, the baby Kal-El was found and raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent in Smallville, Kansas. Now an adult, Clark Kent fights for Truth Justice and the American Way as SUPERMAN."
    • Parodied in one issue as "Created out of the thin air by the magically empowered Joker (don't ask), this misunderstood backwards version of Superman came to Earth in a mysterious manner. (Yes, you find out in a few pages). Now fights for the knuckleheaded way as BIZARRO".
  • The Joe Kelly run on Action Comics used bullet points: "Doomed Planet Krypton. The rocket. A child. Journey across cold space. Earth. Smallville. Crashlanding. The Kents. Learns TRUTH, JUSTICE and THE AMERICAN WAY. Faster than a speeding bullet. Stronger than a locomotive. A man can fly. Believe."
    • There was also a Krypto variant in one issue: "Idyllic Planet Krypton. The visitor. Journey between dimensions. Earth. Fortress. Kelex. Learns LOYALTY, OBEDIENCE and RESPECT FOR PUBLIC PROPERTY. Faster than a streaking cat. Stronger than a comet. A dog can fly. Woof."
• Books featuring superhero teams will often include a "team lineup" at the start of every issue. It usually involves headshots of each member, along with their name and a brief description of their powers. See Intro Dump for a related version of this.
• Asterix: "The year is 50BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely... one small village of the indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders. And life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium..." Underwent severe Memetic Mutation in France, where the opening narration is sufficiently recognisable to be used for Stock Shout-Outs, and is printed in full on a plaque on the old headquarters of Pilote magazine.
• Legends of the Dead Earth: Most (but not all) annuals begin as follows: "Earth is dead. Those who once might have called it home are long scattered to the endless stars. But in that scattering, on a thousand different worlds, by a thousand different ways... Earth's greatest legends live on."
• Star Trek: Early Voyages: The opening narration is a slight variation on that of Star Trek: The Original Series: "Space... the final frontier. Before James T. Kirk, before Jean-Luc Picard, there was Christopher Pike. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before..."
• Star Wars: Legacy: The first issue begins with a page-long monologue from Darth Krayt which lays out the status quo of the series. It's a hundred years after the events of New Jedi Order, The Empire and the Sith have both returned, the Galactic Alliance has fallen, and the Jedi are about to be wiped out once again.

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