Comments on: Wednesday Comics issue 1: comics just got big again….

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 08:39:06 +0000

Doc, I’d have to disagree with you when you say short stories as a form are dead. both in comics and in science fiction short stories are continuing – in comics we’ve plenty of short tales told via webcomics and some seriously good anthologies like Mome, Kramer’s Ergot, Popgun, Solipsistic Pop etc. In prose collections of short stories continue to be strong sellers from one offs (recent zombie tales anthology) to established annual works like Best New Horror etc, while journals like Weird Tales, Black Static and Interzone continue to showcase established and new talents with some cracking short stories, often introducing readers to new writers and works and at the same time allowing the creators to sharpen their skills for that novel-length tale to come.

By: Doc Thompson

Doc Thompson — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 02:30:54 +0000

But that’s the point: too many of the strips completely miss the point of the single page storyline. Instead of telling a micro story on each page, they read just like the first two pages of a normal 22 page comic.
Actually,they would need to serialize each comic like Prince Valiant.The reason the short story format is practacully dead,is often bad writers create shadow worlds,that might be suitable for a short story,but do little help better characters and create world building.Writers now would rather,if they are smart write a long novel lenth story or a series.Short stories are a format left in the past.Even comics now need to serialize their material to fit larger story arches.Wendnedays might need to re-think this format.