The Kat&#39;s Journal

As I understood it, it's only going to run for another year or two (if that's still the plan) so I figure that at this point I might as well see how it ends.

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I don't know if that is still the plan or not. All I know is somewhere I stopped caring. I mean, I love Francine and Katchoo but it's just too much. I can grab them as TPBs after it is over.

And it isn't actually that bad. I have 15 titles I buy regularly. It's all of the extra miniseries things that are killing me right now.

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Yeah it does seem about time to wrap things up, doesn't it. The third time they faked out the final final fight I stopped caring.

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Exactly. I'm done with it. Just done. Bleh.

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They keep cancelling all of my favorite titles though so I keep buying this so I have something to read ;)

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*laughs* Well, I don't have that problem, fortunately.

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Yeah the bat titles should be pretty safe :)

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Bat titles, Wonder Woman, JLA... Most of my stuff is pretty safe. You pick up Sperman/Batman yet?

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Yes I did.

I tend to like a lot of the quirkier titles (e.g. HERO) so there's always a danger of them either getting cancelled or getting completely changed.

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Yah. I stopped buying it a while ago because I just couldn't care anymore. I don't remember exactly where it was that I threw my hands up and said, "Get over it," but... the last iteration of The Big Fight, yeah. I haven't bought any of 'em since before David's story, anyway. I've been standing around in the comic shop reading them since then, but it's sort of a clinical interest at this point. I'd like to see how the story ends, but I don't *care* very much anymore. Which is really too bad, y'know?

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Exactly. While I /do/ want to see how things end up and I /do/ want Katchoo and Francine to be happy, I just cannot get into reading it again and again and again. They really just need to be in love and go with themselves somewhere or something.

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I'd much rather be left wanting more than left not caring; that's part of my problem with the X titles. There's too much, and I don't care about any of the characters very much anymore. There's no resolution; it always keeps looping back around to the same doomed relationships and the same world-saving problems and very little is ever *finished*.

This is why, as a writer and a storyteller, I have a certain obsession with closed loops. I think stories should have *endings*, preferably long before you've made the audience stop caring. Very, very few people in any sort of media get this idea (look, for example, at X-Files), and I insanely wish they would. Endings are *good*. Resolution is *good*. Wash, rinse, repeat, is not so good. Not after the zillionth time. :P

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I understand. I think that's why I've been slowly killing off my X-titles because it is mostly all the same drama again and again. I'd love them to have more contained plots that actually matter. The relationship drama is more than enough. I've been talking, some, with writers on boards about things and it is why I'll be picking up the Rogue series. I want to see what is done with her.

I understand. Endings are good. Resolutions are excellent. Not all endings are /happy/ either. It is one of those things that always bugs me. Sure, there is room for things to continue but you have to make sure that it is worth the time (yours and the audience's) to tell that story.

I have stories in my head, I'm just no good at getting them out of my head.

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Endings are good. Resolutions are excellent. Not all endings are /happy/ either. It is one of those things that always bugs me. Sure, there is room for things to continue but you have to make sure that it is worth the time (yours and the audience's) to tell that story.

Yes yes yes, exactly, exactly!

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I understand that money has a lot to do with things as well. I do. If something will make money it is a push to make things happen. There is a line though. Will this make enough money so it doesn't matter if people hate the brandname? The answer to that should likely be no in almost every case.

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It's very hard to kill off something that's still popular though. When you have fans constantly asking what you're going to do with it next, the temptation is there.

I wish it were easier to write about a relationship that doesn't have to constantly be either just starting or messed up through a complication so it can get back to just starting.

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Yah. I've never been in that situation, killing off something that's popular. I'd sort of like to be, though. :) And then, of course, you know, I have to hope I don't cave and keep telling stories. I mean, they do mutate and it's often easy to see how you could keep going, but I like endings, darn it...

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Well right now I'm annoyed by that concept because my favorite band is calling it quits at a time where I think they're hitting new peaks, but I understand the importance of quitting before you hate it.

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archeon.livejournal.com

I just went through this... dropped four titles on Monday... I'd like to keep it down to 15 or less, but damn there's so much good stuff, its hard to choose... this wasn't so much a problem when Marvel was just putting out crap, but that Marvel Knights line has some really good stuff... they are good about releasing the collected volumes though, so that does help somewhat.

as for SiP... I dropped that over a year ago and haven't missed it. It was so great at first, but I felt it had really run its course. I think he should have let those two characters go and continued the book with a new set of characters. Like every 50 issues or something, go to a different relationship/storyline with new cast of characters or something.

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I realized that I'm at 15 right now (with dropping SIP) and I think I'm okay with it. It's just all of the other stuff that I'm reading right now (Identity Crisis, Secret War...) that makes it seem like it is more than that. And some of those are twice monthly, so it seems more there as well.

I agree. I completely agree on SIP. He writes relationships well but... It's just crazy.

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archeon.livejournal.com

I think there's a limited amount you can do with that kind of storyline before it runs out of steam... if you look at any similar work, after a certain point, you're just re-covering old grounds...

my favorite example is Dawson's Creek, which is really great that first season, its they same old story, boy meets girl, but its told in such a new and refreshing way that it really gives the audience something to connect with. Once you get to season three, the approach is no longer new and the whole thing just becomes played out, at this point the writers just start giving you crap twists and surprises to keep you watching... eventually everyone just gets tired of this because they realize the show is no longer anything close to what first drew them to the program.

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