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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 10 September 2015 at 6:20am | IP Logged | 1
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For the first time ever, I read the first volume of the ROGUE TROOPER trade paperback. Rogue Trooper, who first appeared in 1981 in "2000 AD", is a genetically-modified infantryman who fights a never-ending war on a dystopian planet called Nu-Earth (which has a toxic atmosphere that only Trooper is immune to).
I read the entire volume in one sitting the other day. And it showed me that some things do lend themselves better to weekly waits/monthly waits.
It did get a bit "samey" after a while. My fault. In one sitting, the nihilism and dystopian aspects of the story dragged me down. It did seem repetitive with Rogue Trooper going from one battlezone to another, getting attacked, fighting back, blowing things up, etc. There was some variety, of course.
Had I paced myself, and just read one installment per day, I'd have probably felt differently.
I can binge watch/binge read. I have read dozens of issues of Spider-Man in a day. They all felt differently. However, some things do not lend themselves to being "devoured in one sitting". Courtroom dramas and some detective shows get very similar/repetitive for me if I attempt to binge watch.
In the case of ROGUE TROOPER, and a few others, it is the same story in many respects being told again and again. No-one would have felt it was repetitive if reading it weekly or monthly - but several dozen issues in one day dues feel interminable.
Any thoughts?
Edited by Robbie Parry on 10 September 2015 at 6:21am
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Matthew Wilkie
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 09 March 2011
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1139
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| Posted: 10 September 2015 at 6:40am | IP Logged | 2
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Does the pacing reflect how the writer knew the work would be read? I only say this because I have noticed how The Walking Dead, whilst published monthly, definitely feels geared towards the TPB collections where I suspect they make most of their sales.
I read the first few years of TWD in several sittings, before collecting the TPBs and then moving on to the monthlies and found the collected volumes much more satisfying. |
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 10 September 2015 at 7:30am | IP Logged | 3
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Too many stories these days are "written for the trade." A collection of the issues is assumed, and writers think not in terms of the monthly product, which is supposed to present a complete "entertainment experience" to the reader, but in terms of these segments as "chapters" of a greater whole. "Greater" in more than one sense, since so many writers look down on comics. (What a pity they have to dirty their hands by taking money for that work!!)The result is that the readers are cheated on a monthly basis. Instead of something that is part of a whole and yet complete unto itself to the greatest degree possible, they get JUST part of a whole. Like reading a chapter without the rest of the novel.
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 10 September 2015 at 7:36am | IP Logged | 4
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Indeed. Too much is dragged out.
I don't mind stuff lasting several issues. Or several TV episodes if there's a reason. I used THE A-TEAM as an example: the three-part "Court Martial" arc was needed as one 42-minute episode would not have been enough to deal with a capture, trial and escape. Other times, one episode sufficed.
I have read some modern arcs that did not need to be six issues long. In one case, an entire issue could well have been condensed into the opening 2-3 pages.
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Bill Collins
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 May 2005
Location: England
Posts: 11287
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| Posted: 10 September 2015 at 7:37am | IP Logged | 5
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Wasn`t Rogue Trooper and it`s weekly counterparts about 6 pages per issue? That would explain the pacing! Remember the Marvel reprint weeklies? They had a monthly U.S. issue divided into about 4 parts,which had really annoying pacing!
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marios ksidonas
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 March 2015
Location: Greece
Posts: 106
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| Posted: 11 September 2015 at 1:49pm | IP Logged | 6
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The situation in comics today about the storylines is at least tragic!
The decompression that is followed in recent years has ruined a lot
of the magic that comicbooks used to have!
A story that could easily been told in two-three issues is streached so
badly long in six and above that gets you tired to follow.
As it is said above they are already written for trade with an elongated plot
that old readers and new ones find really boring!
Having read old trades you can easily spot this difference!Combine this with
a non existing very hard to follow storytelling and you get the results that
we have nowdays!
You cant pay so much money for a book that you can read it in 30 minutes and is 120 pages long!You feel cheated!You expect there to be
content!Not only poses,empty words and panels that lead to....nowhere!
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 12 September 2015 at 7:52am | IP Logged | 7
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This won't refer to a specific story, but I'll hopefully make my point.
I remember many tales where superfluous stuff was skipped over, i.e. if Superman had to quickly travel to another galaxy, he'd simply arrive there (and a panel would describe that). Nowadays, I suspect an entire issue would show him TRAVELLING there.
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Philippe Negrin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 01 August 2007
Location: France
Posts: 2644
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| Posted: 12 September 2015 at 8:40am | IP Logged | 8
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Things change. Comics used to be cheap and could be found at gas stations and little corner supermarkets. Issues had to be isolated stories, fast-paced experiences because there was a random element in the ability to obtain an issue. You could miss one and still enjoy the next one.
Now the paper is good quality, the comic book is expensive and only sold at specialty comic bookstores. Teenagers with a few coins in their pockets can no longer afford them randomly. Writers and artists take more time to deliver than they used to. Fill in artists or issues are less acceptable now than they used to. Writers work on longer arcs now.
When so much has changed about the industry, to stick to the monthly format is pointless when the situation has so drastically changed. I don't get it. It shouldn't be "wait for the trade" but trade only publication. On the other hand I agree that reading 70's or 80's comics all at once in long runs was a less pleasant reading experience than having to wait for the next one. Again things have changed and I find it impossible today to be satisfied by reading a single comic in a long arc.
I'm not saying all these changes are for the best, I'm saying that when everything changes, adaptation is necessary.
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Jack Bohn
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 July 2013
Location: United States
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| Posted: 17 September 2015 at 9:11am | IP Logged | 9
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A few random thoughts:
Yes, I advocate taking a break where a break was designed, including collections of newspaper adventure strips. I don't always follow my preaching there, but I generally stop from turning a page; for daily strips that means four to six at a time, Sundays, two. That does make these collections books I don't sit down to read, but books I stand up to read (I tend to get up and pace a lot, anyway, dip into it as I go by).
Reading the Essential Thor I saw a great formula hit upon with the "Tales of Asgard". When it really gets going I come to the end of the main story halfway tempted to skip ahead to the next issue where it picks up again, until I remember the cliffhanger "Tales" had ended on. Then I come to the end of "Tales" halfway tempted to skip the main feature to get to the next one!
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Mike Bunge
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 10 June 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 1335
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| Posted: 17 September 2015 at 2:40pm | IP Logged | 10
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I only say this because I have noticed how The Walking Dead, whilst published monthly, definitely feels geared towards the TPB collections
I'd argue pretty much the opposite. TWD is very serialized with something happening and a cliffhanger ending in virtually every single issue. Kirkman definitely treats the individual comics as self-contained stories rather than "chapters" in a TPB.
But that's actually what makes it work so well in collected formats because the emphasis on the single issue stories results in more and higher quality content. It's like how the 9-panel-grid format is the unheralded hero of Watchmen because of the story density it provides.
Mike
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Greg Woronchak
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Joined: 04 September 2007
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 18 September 2015 at 7:48am | IP Logged | 11
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What shocked me recently was seeing a giant 'box set' of hardcovers for stories leading up to Secret Wars.
Ugh.
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Dave Phelps
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Location: United States
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| Posted: 18 September 2015 at 8:34am | IP Logged | 12
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Philippe Negrin wrote:
| It shouldn't be "wait for the trade" but trade only publication. |
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Doesn't really work for American comics yet. Single issues still outsell trades by a significant margin (for the Big Two, anyway) and the market is still built around "regular fixes."
Back to the original question, the trick to "comic binging" for me is a feeling of motion. If a run of stories feels like one story leads to the next leads to the next, then I can go right through them. If a run of stories is more about cycling through the formula repeatedly with a sense that the stories could've appeared in any order, then it's more of a slog.
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