One of my passions - other than comics - is reading Speculative (refering to Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Supernatural Horror) short stories. I often muse at how few peeps enjoy both comics and short fiction. Okay, one has artwork and thought bubbles, but some of the same thrills can be found in both forms.
Here's a link to a short story. If you liked Doom Patrol, John Constantine (from Swamp Thing fame or that good movie starring that king of acting Keanu Reeves), or Angel/Buffy comic books...Read it. My good deed for the week.
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I'm surprised that you've found that few comic readers read short stories. I think they're a natural fit. I don't have the attention span for a novel! (Unless it's really good.) Plus, I think sci-fi lends itself very well to short stories.
ReplyDeleteSorry for taking so long to respond. Here's a bit of background info to clarify: I went from reader of superhero comics to SF short fiction and then both. In the fannish sense (and being familiar with the diverse contents of each medium), I've always expected the overlap between reader groups to be 80%, but in my experience it is not. I also find my own experience surprising, because you are right when you say they are natural fit.
ReplyDeleteSame here in terms of the attention span. In fact, I have a line in my seldomly used writer's bio that mentions that as a reason I have only attempted short fiction...Syncronicity? Maybe we should form our own super-team...Hey, some teams have banded together over less logical causes :)
As an aside, I recognize your username from your JUSTIFIED response to a remark I made about a cover involving Blue Beetle and Booster (over at another comics blog). Let me explain myself: I enjoyed Blue & Gold's hilarity very much, but part of my fanboy brain always thought that Blue Beetle didn't reach his heroic potential...So, sometimes, I pick on him. Okay, I'm taking comics too seriously now :)
Thanks for dropping by. Thought you were an LJer, though...hmm
Now it's my turn to apologize for taking a while to write back. I had forgotten to bookmark your blog...anywho...
ReplyDeletePerhaps the lack of overlap is because comics are a visual medium and prose is not? Also, it might have to do with the issue of resolution. When I first started reading actual monthly comics, not collected trades, I had a hard time adjusting to "things never ending." When you read a short story or a novel things are done at the end. Caput. Finito. Perhaps comic-readers want stories that keep going and fiction readers want comic stories to stop.
lol...yes, we can team up as the Short Attention Span OMG WAS THAT A SQUIRREL?!?! Brigade.
Ha ha...now, I don't even know to what blog post you are referring to about Team Blue and Gold. Apparently my memory is shot along with my attention span. Though I do agree that more could always be done with the Blue Beetle. One of my main complaints about comics lately is the lack of fun...or of characters who don't take themselves seriously. Though occasionally there are bright spots. (Wednesday Comcis, for one.)
LJer=LiveJournal, right? No, just Blogger, and I don't even have a comics blog...yet...working on that...