Post by NexusOfLight on Dec 16, 2010 13:00:19 GMT -5
Hey guys, let's talk about somethin' worth somethin'.
A while ago, someone pointed out to me that I, as a comic reader, am solely fixated on the text of a comic and nothing more. Text being the physical product produced by the comic industry. That person went on to say that because of that, I'm actually more happy than someone who is fixated on the metatext, or text exchanged about the work through reviews, author comments, blogs, or general news and politicking, of the industry.
The reason I chose to bring this up is because recently I found a very interesting (very funny if you choose to look at it that way) little (quite big actually) heated debate (argument) on Live Journal about Dan Slott tellin' some dude to eff off for insulting him. The post that started it all. The whole thing was insanely crazy as I'm sure some of you can imagine, and if you want to see the whole thing explode for yourself, just scroll down to the end of the post and click the links to it, but for now let's put that to the side and get back to my point.
From what I observe I can't help but think that living life completely caught up in the antics of everything surrounding the comic book is a horrible, horrible way to spend your free time. Day in an' day out, responding to one heated fan after another over a very heated opinion over something that's really not worth it in the long run because about a year later, something else'll be there to argue and flame about.
Now I'm no stranger to debating, flaming, or even trolling. I know how addictive they can be, and I know how worked up everyone can get when going through it. It's pretty easy to do, too. All it really takes is someone who thinks differently from the general populous *cough*likemelikingOMD*cough* and someone else arguing against it.
What concerns my about it is how similar this meta-text thing is to what I don't like about general politics. Everyone becoming so wrapped up and concerned with everything but what really matters, and in this case it's enjoying a good comic book.
Now I'm not saying that those who do focus on metatext aren't enjoying comics every once in a while, because I'm sure they are. I hope they are, anyway, but based on what they're circulating throughout the web, it sure is hard to tell.
What I'm trying to wrap my head around is how people can let the politics seriously effect their enjoyment of the actual book they're trying to read. Take a look at this quote right quick and tell me what you think about it.
Going back to that Dan Slott fiasco up top, does reading through that quote cause you to think less of the guy? Does it put a damper on how you think Big Time is going? Will it?
Better yet, riddle me this. Has there ever been a time when you read through something, thought it was the best thing in the world, then went online to read a review of it and came back to the same story and found it just as atrocious as the reviewer made it out to be? Are you better off knowing how "bad" it is now, or would you have rather kept knowing about how good you enjoyed it? Yes, I know, opinions change over time anyway, but is it really better if they change because of someone else?
So how is this problem fixed? Should it really be considered a problem to begin with? People will always be talking about something, and everything that's said will in some way, shape, or form affect you. Is it best to completely shut off the internet? Never read over another forum, blog, or article post again? Let's get real here, not even I can do that.
I do know that every so often I keep promising myself that I'm gonna quit forums altogether simply because it's a huge waste of time. I can think of a thousand things I could be doing to be productive, yet here I am typing up this post for you guys to either quickly skim over, thoroughly read, respond to, or ignore. I've actually had this in mind for a good little while, but never got around to doing it. Might post it on Comic Vine to see what they say about it, too. I guess I'm done.
So yeah, what are your thoughts on this, or anything regarding it? I hope I was clear enough to get whatever message I was trying to throw out there across. Do you think the blogs an' junk is worth it? Is it just merely part of the community, or should it be ignored? From your experience, are comics better or worse when talking about them to other people?
The thread that got me to thinking about this. It's really a nice read if you got the time. See if you can pick out who I am. Think the sig gives it away, though. Dan Slott waging what I'm hereby dubbing the Live Journal Wars. Be warned, it's not for the feint of heart. And as someone else pointed out to me:
A while ago, someone pointed out to me that I, as a comic reader, am solely fixated on the text of a comic and nothing more. Text being the physical product produced by the comic industry. That person went on to say that because of that, I'm actually more happy than someone who is fixated on the metatext, or text exchanged about the work through reviews, author comments, blogs, or general news and politicking, of the industry.
The reason I chose to bring this up is because recently I found a very interesting (very funny if you choose to look at it that way) little (quite big actually) heated debate (argument) on Live Journal about Dan Slott tellin' some dude to eff off for insulting him. The post that started it all. The whole thing was insanely crazy as I'm sure some of you can imagine, and if you want to see the whole thing explode for yourself, just scroll down to the end of the post and click the links to it, but for now let's put that to the side and get back to my point.
From what I observe I can't help but think that living life completely caught up in the antics of everything surrounding the comic book is a horrible, horrible way to spend your free time. Day in an' day out, responding to one heated fan after another over a very heated opinion over something that's really not worth it in the long run because about a year later, something else'll be there to argue and flame about.
Now I'm no stranger to debating, flaming, or even trolling. I know how addictive they can be, and I know how worked up everyone can get when going through it. It's pretty easy to do, too. All it really takes is someone who thinks differently from the general populous *cough*likemelikingOMD*cough* and someone else arguing against it.
What concerns my about it is how similar this meta-text thing is to what I don't like about general politics. Everyone becoming so wrapped up and concerned with everything but what really matters, and in this case it's enjoying a good comic book.
Now I'm not saying that those who do focus on metatext aren't enjoying comics every once in a while, because I'm sure they are. I hope they are, anyway, but based on what they're circulating throughout the web, it sure is hard to tell.
What I'm trying to wrap my head around is how people can let the politics seriously effect their enjoyment of the actual book they're trying to read. Take a look at this quote right quick and tell me what you think about it.
I think part of the reason why I have a growing apathy/dislike for what's coming out now is because I am interested in the Men (and Women) Behind the Curtain. And of course by "interested" I mean "pay too damn much attention to". This of course doesn't get people off the hook for my emotions, because a bad (subjective) story is a bad (subjective) story. But what it does is damper my ability to enjoy future stories by them.
Going back to that Dan Slott fiasco up top, does reading through that quote cause you to think less of the guy? Does it put a damper on how you think Big Time is going? Will it?
Better yet, riddle me this. Has there ever been a time when you read through something, thought it was the best thing in the world, then went online to read a review of it and came back to the same story and found it just as atrocious as the reviewer made it out to be? Are you better off knowing how "bad" it is now, or would you have rather kept knowing about how good you enjoyed it? Yes, I know, opinions change over time anyway, but is it really better if they change because of someone else?
So how is this problem fixed? Should it really be considered a problem to begin with? People will always be talking about something, and everything that's said will in some way, shape, or form affect you. Is it best to completely shut off the internet? Never read over another forum, blog, or article post again? Let's get real here, not even I can do that.
I do know that every so often I keep promising myself that I'm gonna quit forums altogether simply because it's a huge waste of time. I can think of a thousand things I could be doing to be productive, yet here I am typing up this post for you guys to either quickly skim over, thoroughly read, respond to, or ignore. I've actually had this in mind for a good little while, but never got around to doing it. Might post it on Comic Vine to see what they say about it, too. I guess I'm done.
So yeah, what are your thoughts on this, or anything regarding it? I hope I was clear enough to get whatever message I was trying to throw out there across. Do you think the blogs an' junk is worth it? Is it just merely part of the community, or should it be ignored? From your experience, are comics better or worse when talking about them to other people?
The thread that got me to thinking about this. It's really a nice read if you got the time. See if you can pick out who I am. Think the sig gives it away, though. Dan Slott waging what I'm hereby dubbing the Live Journal Wars. Be warned, it's not for the feint of heart. And as someone else pointed out to me:
CBR and Scans Daily are involved. That automatically makes everyone involved a complete fucking moron.
