The Daily Rios 10.05.12: Feedback Friday

3 thoughts on “The Daily Rios 10.05.12: Feedback Friday”

1. Another great episode and some thoughts on it:

   Your thoughts on comics criticism are always appreciated (and I cringe a little as I think back to my “Introduction to Mark MIllar” posts, but what are you gonna do?). I also found your remarks on history providing us the best answers for what works of art become benchmarks within any given medium/genre spot on. As you say, it isn’t whether you like the work on a subjective level, but whether it’s stood the test of time, particularly with regard to its critical response. This is probably why the story of artists who died penniless but are now seen as masters is so prevalent.

   To your query regarding flash forwards in television series. My favorite science fiction show of all time, Babylon 5, utilized these a number of times, both early and later in its five year run. It was also one of the early shows to create and embrace longer, more serialized stories (in the American market). Of course, B5 benefited from having a singular vision from J. Michael Straczynski who wrote over 80% of the 120+ episodes (and I believe that percentage is actually shooting a bit low).

   Your comments about creators utilizing the monthly format well, and specifically tailoring their storytelling to the “pamphlet” were, again, thoughtful and well made. Regarding Watchmen – I’ve long argued that it is a single story and should be considered more a graphic novel rather than a comic series. That said, I agree wholeheartedly with what you had to say in this episode and you have me rethinking that stance. Moore & Gibbons tailored the chapters to fit within the parameters of the monthly comic book. And Moore most definitely would have crafted the chapters far differently had he been creating it as a graphic novel. This was one of the things he appreciated about, and wanted to tackle as a creator, with From Hell. Serializing it in Taboo, he could make each chapter as long or as short as it needed to be, like a proper novel. And From Hell, though serialized (for financial reasons), was Moore’s attempt to create a graphic novel that was more like a proper novel – the varying chapter lengths being the most obvious manifestation of that.

   And, finally, regarding that same “monthly format” piece of the podcast – my favorite series, as far as utilizing the “pamphlet,” is David Lapham’s Stray Bullets. Every single issue, regardless of whether it tied into a longer story arc, was a one and done story, if I am remembering correctly. And each issue tied into the bigger story Lapham was telling. It was really quite brilliant in that regard. I hope he gets a chance to return to it someday. I know how it ends (as that was his first issue), but I still don’t know how all the characters end up where they do (or even where some of those characters actually end up).

   Anyway. Long winded again. Have a great weekend, and I look forward to the next episode.

   chris

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2. Good one Peter!! This podcast keeps getting better. The Watchman conversation was on the money. On the bigger discussion of shorter or longer podcasts I personally think that your format of a shorter podcast is better as I am left wanting to hear more instead of being worn out by a 3 hour marathon and missing out on some stuff. Great balance..great show.

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3. Chris Be – I responded to this comment on Feedback Friday for 10.19.12

   Chris Ba – Jon from QPAW/The Hat Decides made a good point in a part of an email I didn’t read about how some 2nd/3rd generation comics podcasts often tried to imitate what came before without finding their own groove. Which meant long shows, either because of too many segments right out of the gate, or because ensemble shows to them mean everyone having to have their say. Rather than just letting things be a discussion. The trend felt like it needed to go back to smaller doses – much like how Comic Book Noise does it. Or Bruce R’s On the Fly. Angela’s Girls Don’t Read Comics. And others. For me, old school podcasting – treating episodes like small audio blog bites – felt like the way to go.

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