Towels said:
dastardly said:
And this is why limited series tend to produce better, more believable characters.
When you begin a story, or a character's run within that story, with reasonably-predictable timeline in mind, you can create story arcs that have an organic and interesting shape. You can aim for a single "grand climax," steering all events toward it, away from it, back toward it, and eventually BAM! You're there, and the rest is denouement.
But you can't create that shape unless you know both the beginning and the ending point. You need a finite space in which to work. And having that finite space allows you tell a far more interesting story, because it will have direction, and highs and lows that both matter. Most importantly, it will have closure.
[Snip]
But if you don't set a destination, you're only delaying the day where the "son" becomes the "father" again. Let heroes die. Let them retire. Above all, let some stories end.
Well Put. This is brings up another problem I have with most comic stories:
Comic stories and characters feel like they are economically dictated by their fans. Most characters that do have their stories end is because they were not popular enough to keep. But that's just the innate problem with having serials, I guess. When the concept of the story revolves almost entirely around the character, rather than the environment the character lives in, the story's lifetime is also determined by the popularity of the character.
Really, it's the reason comic books are often like Pokémon. Create a whole bunch of neat little characters, and then... Well, that's it. I don't know, spin them around in a whirlwind of nonsensical stories, with relatively uninteresting dialogue. The important thing is to keep selling the character. Show him using his powers, show him overcoming evil.
Seriously, have you ever wondered how people could such big fans of particular pokémon? It's not "what they stand for." It's not the stirring, inspirational speeches they deliver. It's not their epic story arcs. They like the look and feel of the character, and that's it. Unfortunately, comic characters often work the same way. People fall in love with the look and general "feel" of a character, and they just like seeing that concept in print.
And you're right--it's a money game. The fans are loyal to the character, and the writers make it their duty to keep the fans loyal to the character, and it's just a feedback loop that either spirals downward into madness, or goes nowhere. Instead, they could be
using that loyalty to challenge the reader with great stories that explore the character in deep and meaningful ways... but they don't, because the spice must flow.
It's like someone breaking into politics. They learn quickly that they've got to do some pandering to get elected, but they tell themselves that, once they're elected, they'll use that power to do some real good! Then they get elected, and they try to do too much at once... only to find that, whoops, they're going to need to do some pandering to
stay elected. And eventually, they completely give up on
any of the changes they were going to make.
