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Roger Ash
by Roger Ash
Over the past few years, a number of people have bemoaned the seeming loss of “done-in-one” comics; comics that feature a beginning, middle, and end in one issue. While I don’t recall a certain instance of this, I’m in that camp myself. While I still think “done-in-one” stories shouldn’t be abandoned as they make a great jumping on point for new readers, I’ve begun to question if it’s what readers really want. allow me to explain.
The other night, I was enjoying the new episode of how I met Your Mother. I thought it was a good episode, but realized that a lot of it was built around storylines that had been developing over the season. If I saw this show at random, while there a lot of certainly would have been some laughs, there would have been a lot of it that wouldn’t have made any sense. compare this to what lots of consider to be one of the best sitcoms ever, The Dick Van Dyke Show. For that series, nearly every episode was self-contained (there were a few two-parters) and you can enjoy any of them at random and get a complete story and know who the characters are. Yes, you do get to know the characters better the a lot more you enjoy and there is a depth that pertains to them and their relationships by doing that, but it’s not necessary. For this particular episode of how I met Your Mother, I think past knowledge of the show played a big part in my enjoyment of it. and the continuity of this show is nothing compared to sitcoms like The Office, Parks and Recreation, and 30 Rock.
Game of Thrones
And the continuity of these sitcoms is minimal compared to shows like game of Thrones, Justified, or Lost. Can you imagine seeing a random episode of Lost? I don’t think it would make much sense at all. You could tune in to star trek every week in the late 60s and get a full story in an episode, but not so much with Babylon 5, the new Battlestar Galactica, or falling Skies. Sure, you may get a option to a issue that is presented in that episode, but the episode itself is part of a larger storyline.
The Dark Tower
And it’s not just TV shows. I was talking with a friend recently and she asked me about the books in the song of Ice and fire series by George R.R. Martin considering that she really likes the TV series game of Thrones. She commented (and this is a paraphrase) that she didn’t like starting a novel unless she knew it was part of a series because one book wasn’t enough. She wanted to know as much about a character, or characters, as possible. and when you look at the success of that series, and series such as Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and The Dark Tower, it’s easy to see that she’s not alone in her feelings.
Marvel’s Avengers Prelude
Films are slowly beginning to follow suit but the time and cost it takes to make a series of films requires a commitment that not all actors and studios are ready to make. but that is beginning to change with series like the Harry Potter films and The Lord of the Rings where actors were ready to literally give years of their lives to a single project. and the way marvel was able to set up The Avengers film with a series of other films and mostly keep the same actors is really quite remarkable.
Looking at it this way, having longer storylines in comics makes them fall in line with how much of the rest of pop culture is presented today. So why the change from self-contained stories to longer serials? While I’m not entirely certain, there are a couple possibilities that seem likely. First, it could simply be a change in taste. things change over time as tastes change. What is considered popular music now is different than it was 50 years ago. reading a golden Age comic is different than reading a Silver Age or Bronze Age comic. tastes change and pop culture changes to reflect those tastes.
Secondly, in the case of TV, technology has hugely changed the face of how things are done. Going back to an earlier example, when The Dick Van Dyke show was on, you had a chance to see it when it was originally broadcast, during summer reruns, or hope to catch it in syndication. fast forward to today with DVRs, DVDs, networks putting shows online, as well as lots of other options, and you can enjoy an episode of a TV show whenever you want! In fact, lots of people I know don’t even enjoy live TV anymore, aside from sporting events.
Origins of marvel Comics, an early comic collection
Compare that to how distribution for comics has changed over the years. It used to be that you’d scour all your regular haunts to find comics. often you’d find them, often not. It wasn’t that odd to miss an issue here or there. Sure, you could subscribe to the comics but speaking from experience, not even that was foolproof as issues were occasionally lost in the mail. having self-contained stories (or maybe two or three issue stories)worked well then with how distribution worked at the time. Also, when I was growing up in the 70s, trade collections of stories were a rarity. We had Origins of marvel Comics and a couple follow-ups but not much else. So if you missed an issue you were pretty much out of luck unless you had a friend who had it and let you read their copy or you ran across it at a flea market or rummage sale. then came the development of the direct Market, comic shops, and mail buy merchants like Westfield. Now, getting consecutive issues of comics is relatively easy and collections of comics are a staple of the industry. things have changed so that telling longer stories is now a functional thing to do.
Usagi Yojimbo #134, a “done-in-one” issue
There may be other reasons for telling longer stories but those are two that spring immediately to mind. However, I don’t think this indicates that “done-in-one” comics must completely go away. It’s crucial to take a break every once in a while to give new readers an easy spot to jump on. even continuity tight TV shows will have episodes that are not hugely crucial to the continuity but are great for new customers to give them a try. and lost would occasionally have recap shows to catch customers up on what had been happening. There has to be a good entry point for new readers, and the “done-in-one” book is best for that. A great example of what I’m talking about is Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo. Throughout the run of the book, Sakai has mixed longer stories and shorter stories in a way that has satisfied long-time readers and kept the series easily accessible to new readers. marvel has attended to this issue with their “Point One” comics as these were created specifically as jumping on points for new readers.
However, just because stories are longer doesn’t indicate that I want “filler” issues. I have read a number of superhero comics within the past couple years where nothing happens. You know the kind I’m talking about; where the heroes sit around talking for 16 pages and there are only two pages that actually development the story. No. That’s dull. Comics are a visual medium and ignoring that removes an element that makes comics what they are. Every issue in a storyline must have conflict; it must be compelling; it must development the story; and it must give you a reason to get the next issue. To put it succinctly, extended stories must not be an excuse for bad storytelling.
I think “filler” issues often happen when a writer tries to make a story a certain length instead of letting the story dictate how long it needs to be. In other words, if you have a four issue story, don’t stretch it to six; write a great four issue story. common knowledge these days seems to be that collections of comics need to be six issues. but why does that indicate it has to be one story? Couldn’t it be two or three stories?
Amazing Spider-Man #679.1
When checking out extended storylines in comics, that seems to be what people want in their pop culture now as we see in trends from books, TV shows, and movies. “Done-in-one” comics aren’t what people tend to look for in their enjoyment today. However, that does not indicate they must be completely abandoned as they are crucial in getting new readers. how longer stories are juxtaposed with shorter ones is an crucial element to consider in comics so both long-time and new readers alike get maximum enjoyment from a series. At least that’s my opinion. What do you think?
Now, go read a comic!
Thanks to KC Carlson for his help with this article.
Origins of marvel Comics cover is from the Grand Comics Database.