posted
I know you were being a bit facetious, FC, or at least it looks that way ... but, well, y'know me, I have to fan the sparks someone starts, anyway. Or at least a little bit.
Writing is an inductive effort, marshalling one's spirit and one's past reading and experiences. It's not built on deduction or axioms ... or, at least, it shouldn't be.
You can pull general habits or frequent tactics from comics storylines. Your first item above, I'd say, is the closest to a general truth, in superheroic stories generally, not just the LSH. Yet I don't see anyone following principles, really.
The closest approach to generating them is when a writer spends enough years on a title to shape every corner of its universe. And someone is unlikely to devote such attention to the task unless he or she operates from some principles, even if they're rarely admitted.
Shooter and Levitz managed it for the LSH. DnA are approaching their longevity and scope. Anyone else has been more fleeting, plugged into an on-going enterprise. Or, like the Bierbaums, has caused so much strife and controversy that any impact ends up being diluted.
[ July 27, 2003, 06:18 AM: Message edited by: Greybird ]
From: Starhaven Consulate, City of Angels | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Greybird: I know you were being a bit facetious, FC, or at least it looks that way ... but, well, y'know me, I have to fan the sparks someone starts, anyway. Or at least a little bit.
A bit facetious? That's kind! Actually, I was amazed I didn't get laughed out of Dodge with my axioms of consciousness, which was serious but just thrown out as a brain-storming thread. And if I were you, I'd be very careful about mentioning "fanning" on a board frequented by MLLash....
I'm not saying DnA or other Legion writers are writing to a rule book, or a formula (as I've heard Harlequin romances are done: such and such happens by page 5, etc.). Yet I do feel that there are a limited number of plots in superhero comics and we see variations of these come up again and again, throughout DC and Marvel. There may be a limited number of plots in life itself....
I first started to think of the "Rules of Comics" when we were discussing Garth's death (and possible return) on the old DCMBs and, while I haven't sat down to work them out, I suspect there are a number of rules or themes which are fairly consistent throughout superhero comics - as there are in any body of literature. Maybe not consciously applied - as they would have been with the Comics Code - but underlying the stories nonetheless.
That being said, and at great length, this was meant as more of a joke thread (hence the "axioms"). And get those sparks flying all you will.
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