Welcome back! Your humble blogger had to take a week off to get some personal affairs attended to, but I'm back and ready to unload with two new posts this week.
First...as a discussion point last week was absolutely absurd with the amount of comics that came out. "Batman", "Batgirl", "Superior Spider-man", "Nightwing", "All-New X-men", the finale of the initial "Sons of Anarchy" arch, and many, many more. It's great for comics, great for a comic store, but not so good for the old pocketbook. I digress though....
Onto the main topic.....
While slamming through the new season of "House of Cards" on Netflix it occurs to me that comic companies, the big two specifically, could learn something from the way that Netflix presents "House of Cards" and it's other original program. If you are not familiar with the show, basically it is a political thriller. The unique thing about it is that the entire new season is released at one time. The showrunners made the choice to have each new episode end abruptly and poignantly. They do not build to false climaxes to entice viewers to return the following week because they don't have to. It is a more natural form of long form storytelling. It also makes the payoff at the end of the season more meaningful because we do not have 22/12/13 mini-cliffhangers each week.
So how would this translate to comics? We have seen one-time trade releases in the past. "Superman Earth-One" parts I and II were one day releases as well as "Batman Earth-One". These were self contained stories with a structured beginning-middle-end with no false climaxes getting in the way of telling the complete story. Marvel is about to release "X-men: No More Humans" which spins out of the "Battle of the Atom" epic. Once again this is a one-shot deal.
Too often in our modern climate publishers rely on cheap tricks, marketing, and other chicanery to move books rather than relying on good old storytelling. I would argue that while the business still will and should lean heavily upon monthly releases it would be in the best interest of publishers to release books like "Damien: Son of Batman" as a one-shot deal instead of spreading it out over several months. In the monthly books that in between events the publishers publish one or two self contained stories a month. One comic with a beginning-middle-end not tied to another comic, and not reliant on a false climax to get the reader to buy the next issue.
Just suggestions, but something has to change. With Scott Snyder's "Batman" being the ONLY title to surpass 100K in January with no other title cracking 90k that is a concern...
Now look over your shoulder because it's CONSPIRACY THEORY time...close the blinds...put the dogs outside...and don't breathe a word......
For the purposes of this discussion please open a new tab, go to YouTube, and watch the first trailer for "Captain America: The Winter Soldier". Pay specific attention to the dialogue of Robert Redford's character. He says something to the effect of "Sometimes to create a new world you have to build on top of the old one". That sounds awful Reich-like does it not???
The cosmic cube (tesseract) in the comics has the ability to not only transport a person, but also has the ability to transport a consciousness. Could our favorite crimson cranium be occupying space in Robert Redford's noggin'? Most of us know who the "Winter Soldier" is, but I won't spoil it for my readers that don't. We know that something is afoul at SHIELD from the first two trailers, and my money would not be on Mutha Fukkkin Sammy Jackson's Nick Fury being behind it.
For now it's just a theory nothing more, but it could be much, much more.......stay tuned.....
The "Guardians of the Galaxy" trailer has not dropped as of yet, but I will post it over on our Facebook Community page when it does.
I have not caved in to go see the new movie referred to as "Robocop" yet, because of my pledge to see #noremakesin2014...
Thanks for reading! See you next time at The Comic Shop.
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