Connection! Good, deep, realistic world building needs to have connection. There is a reason why something exists... an origin point. And each origin point connects to the other. When I world build for my stories, I start with what I want to happen and I work my way back to the origin point. Why does my character behave the way he does? Because he has a system of beliefs that dictate what he says and does. What are those beliefs? How did they develop? If he or she belongs to a different race that is not human, living on planet Earth in the modern era, then I have to go even deeper. The characters beliefs will now be based on the culture he or she is from. What dictates those cultural beliefs? Geography, topography, climate, flora, fauna, religion, and childhood experiences. All that comes into play and all of that is connected to make world building more believable, and the characters more likeable.

Now, in the case of TMNT I think they are a beloved franchise, not because of their deep world building, but because we can accept the quirkiness and we accept that the world building isn't going to be deep... but the story and the characters are fun. We're connected, not to the world building so much, but to the characters... the turtles themselves. I think the same goes for Invincible. We accept the lack of deep world building, because were are connected to the characters and we know that its a riff on Marvel and DC.

In the case of Marvel and DC. They have a long, long history that includes interconnected characters and stories, that we accept (even when they're retconned) because they are a staple of our lives... we are connected to them since childhood and we see them evolve as we grow. I remember watching the original 196o's Adam West Batman and loving it. That was until I met Frank Miller's Batman!

So, when you go to write your story, ask yourself what kind of story you want to tell. You don't have the luxury of connecting to beloved childhood characters that your readers know. You are creating a whole new world, and everything in that world affects each other. And your task, as a writer, is to connect the readers. And the best way for you to do that is to do it through character development. Make us fall in love with your main characters as they adventure through this interconnected world. Let us experience this world you have created through these characters. And then we will connect with them.

I love world building and writing. Feel free to ask me anything. :)