Continuing Drama versus The Dreaded Third Act | A. Lee Martinez

There’s more, and it’s worth reading.

I actually think this is why I’m wary of trying to get into some of the longer-running comics series. I mean, when I read something, I’m almost invariably reading it for the characters; I want to see who they are, what they struggle with, how they deal with those struggles, and how their story turns out. I want good, solid character arcs! And the thing about arcs is that they have to have a beginning and an end–otherwise they just loop back around and… become circles. (I think. My grasp of geometry is a bit fuzzy.) And circular characterization is just not something I’m interested in.

(I mean, seriously, Bruce Wayne is never going to get a happy ending, unless it’s in an animated/movie ‘verse or some kind of Elseworlds ‘verse. For that matter, he’s never going to get a sad ending. It just isn’t gonna happen, because DC will never let his story end. Sure, he can have character development arcs within his ongoing series, but… well, we can’t have too much of that either, because heaven forbid he ever move too far away from his broodiness and angst-ridden-ness! No, any “character development” he gets will a) make him even darker and grimmer–and eventually you have to wonder just how much more grimness this guy can take before he goes completely bonkers [I will not turn this into a rant about Damian’s death, I will not turn this into a rant about Damian’s death…]–or b) it will eventually be overturned in favor of the more profitable and comfortable status quo. This is why I have next to no desire to pick up any of the mainline Batman titles, past or present, even though I love the Batfamily.)

This is pretty much why I gave up on the old comic series too. I like to pretend that X-men ended with the Dark Phoenix storyline.

(via jadagul)

this is exactly why i like comic books. as far as i know, most fiction has beginnings and endings, but long running comic books are one of the big exceptions when it comes to endings (the others that come to mind are i guess finnegan’s wake and dhalgren). the characters get explored endlessly, their past isn’t set in stone, everything reflects society, stuff like that. there’s of course lots of bad comic book arcs out there but the good ones are really good, seamlessly tying together things from disparate parts of a character’s decades of history. but it’s interesting to me how the entire character’s history can change as the plot moves forward (i.e. through retcons). i get why people don’t like retroactive continuity but i think it happens all the time in both myth/folklore and in reality (i.e. our interpretation of history is updated).

but i also get why people don’t like this aspect of it. the idea of fiction that lasts for decades and decades is amazing to me tho

(via eelfoe)

So I definitely don’t mind the length, or the retro continuity. What bugs me about the comic stories is that they don’t have endings they’re heading towards.

Like, I’m happy to read four million words on one subject. (My favorite fiction is the Wheel of Time). But I’d like the sense that there’s an ending, that people will get to a conclusion, that they’ll be allowed to be happy.

Honestly, my biggest problem is with the continual regression. I want to read stories about adults behaving in an adult manner; about good people making good decisions. I’m potentially willing to read stories that start out with characters who don’t make good decisions, but only as a road up to emotionally stable people being good. And comic books never get there because they keep doing the same character arc over and over again.

(via jadagul)

This is why I love fanfiction. It’s the best of both worlds – writers can explore every possible variation of characterization, plot and genre, readers can enjoy some more of what attracted them to the original story, and characters don’t have to be artificially stunted or stuck in an endless loop of reversible development.

(via molibdenita)

Interesting idea: Alternate timelines/universes- similar to the non-canon-ness of fanfics- allows the same effect of endless stories that comics want (i.e. repeatedly producing content for and making money off the same title), while allowing stuff to wrap up. An example that comes to mind is the Fate series, which produced at least 6 different conclusions in the very first installment, but has produced like 10 different series since then- although I think those are mostly prequels and side stories, only one or two alternate continuities. Still, the idea could work: keep adding branches to the VN, telling different possible outcomes. This would also allow new fans to get into it without committing to 4 million words, while still having plenty of content for dedicated fans.

I suppose the constant reboots that TV adaptations of comics keep doing is essentially a way of doing this, although they don’t tend to actually use it for concluding their stories, nor for systematically exploring different ways things could have gone.

(via alexanderrm)

Yeah, endless branching or rebooting every ten years lets you keep the characters while still having conclusions - but is it profitable?