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Mason Meomartini
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Posted: 08 August 2018 at 11:31am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

Even though DC's and Marvel's shared worlds started with mostly self-contained stories, after years and years of this, more connections started forming and they became more like one long story.  

It seems that longform, or "epic" length, or continuous stories might have become more popular than single isolated stories in television, movies, novels, and comics.  

I can't remember the title but there was a sociology book that came out about ten years ago that compared modern fiction in all these types of media along with video games to fiction from maybe the 40s to the 80s to show how stories in general have become more complicated.  Not always more intelligent, but in terms of plotting.  Don't remember if the length of stories was one aspect of that but it might be related.  Short stories in magazines or book collections aren't as popular as novels, which are not always part of a series but much longer and more complicated anyway, and trilogies have become very popular.  For both adults and young adult fiction.  All this makes me think that even if we did have a cycle of new generations of children starting to read super hero comics, maybe they would not prefer short, isolated stories with only loose or no connections like children were satisfied with in the 40s to 60s.  Especially with all the hyperlinked and interconnected online media even young children are exposed to.  Self contained short stories in comics might be too simple now for most readers.


Edited by Mason Meomartini on 08 August 2018 at 11:32am
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Olav Bakken
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Posted: 08 August 2018 at 12:09pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

Large, epic crossovers can be interesting now and then, but should never be the norm. I like to follow certain characters or teams in their isolated little corner of DC or Marvel, where the other heroes are usually absent.

The short story format is perfect for plots and ideas that would never work as a long novel. Just wish Hollywood would take the chance on more movies that consist of several shorter stories, like Twilight Zone: The Movie, or Creepshow.
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Mason Meomartini
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Posted: 08 August 2018 at 12:32pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Movies like that not being made are exactly what I mean.  Would they be popular today?  
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Mason Meomartini
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Posted: 08 August 2018 at 12:35pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Same with short story anthologies.  You might still see a few, but it's a small audience.  I know people who would never read them but will always read a novel or a long series of them.
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Olav Bakken
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Posted: 08 August 2018 at 12:49pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

I understand there is more prestige in novels than short stories, but if you don't read the latter you miss a lot, for instance the shorts by Cordwainer Smith or classic Victorian and Edwardian ghost stories.

They did an animated movie related to Matrix, consisting of several shorts in a similar way to Heavy Metal. But live action is more rare. Personally I think it could do well at the theatres, but it would probably have to be made by one of the smaller studios. The larger studios focus mostly on tent pole projects today.

The Twilight Zone movie did one thing that seems a bit risky today: they made short films of very different content. There was a cozy little Spielberg movie with children, a war drama, a mystery in the skies and an omnipotent boy. It would probably be a safer bet if they made different stories, but with a similar flavor. All could be horror, like Creepshow, or it could all be science fiction, or urban fantasy. Just my opinion.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 08 August 2018 at 1:27pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

The first time I ever swore in front of my father we were driving home from the drugstore, where I had just picked up FF 25. I was reading it as we traveled home. I got to the last page and felt as if something very large and very cold had just punched me in the gut. It was a continued story. Maybe Marvel's first.

Distribution in my part of Canada was so bad, I knew I would never see the second part. (I was close. "never" turned about to be about 15 years.)

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Mason Meomartini
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Posted: 08 August 2018 at 2:58pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

Wow, it's hard to imagine waiting that long these days for the continuation of a story with Marvel Masterworks, paperback reprints, and Marvel's digital archive.  

In those 15 years, did you eventually stop caring and then got into it again when you finally got the second part?  Or always thinking about it once in a while?  And how did you get it?


Edited by Mason Meomartini on 08 August 2018 at 3:23pm
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Eric Jansen
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Posted: 08 August 2018 at 3:07pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Self contained short stories in comics might be too simple now for most readers.
_____________

I think that might be the impression that the publishers have now, but that doesn't make it true.  Anthology series of short stories like BATMAN BLACK & WHITE, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, and Wonder Woman's SENSATION COMICS were/are hits.

I think it's just laziness on the part of the editors & writers.  It's easier--when they have these famed "planning sessions"--to come up with one storyline they can stretch out over two years than to come up with 24 ideas that haven't been done before.




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Phil Kreisel
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Posted: 08 August 2018 at 3:15pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

Mason, I'm sure JB is referring to his childhood.  As someone who is close to where he is in the lifespan, in those days none of what you have referred to existed.

I seem to recall getting FF 26 first (part 2 of the continued story), and then spending time looking around for FF 25 in used book stores, etc.

FF 25 was the 2nd epic battle of the Thing vs the Hulk.  The Avengers got involved in FF 26.  It was fantastic.  Still holds up, too.
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Rebecca Jansen
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Posted: 08 August 2018 at 3:17pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

I think the ideal balance is to have a story that is complete but also has subplots of a continuing narrative as well. Clifhangers worked better in TV, and if used sparingly (I guess at least every other Batman in the '60s had one). I remember feeling burned by some major cliffhangers in comics as well. You can have a milder type of one I think, like Iron Man has finally knocked The Hulk out but the last panel shows both of them not moving. The punch both concluded the story but also set up the next one.

I had FF25, never had 26 though. :^(


Edited by Rebecca Jansen on 08 August 2018 at 3:18pm
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Mason Meomartini
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Posted: 08 August 2018 at 7:42pm | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Yes, I meant a comparison between the '60s and how much access we have now.  
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John Byrne
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Posted: 09 August 2018 at 6:15am | IP Logged | 12 post reply

FF 25 was the 2nd epic battle of the Thing vs the Hulk. The Avengers got involved in FF 26. It was fantastic. Still holds up, too.

••

In large part because it was two parts! Imagine the same tale today, dragged out over a year....

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