View Poll Results: How much should it matter?

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  • A lot

    0 0%
  • it's an important element

    1 8.33%
  • not much

    3 25.00%
  • eehhhh it depends

    8 66.67%
Results 1 to 4 of 4
  1. #1
    duke's casettetape lemonpeace's Avatar
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    Default How much should meta reading matter?

    simple enough, I've noticed that there is a dissonance between how fans read comics nowadays more so than other mediums. Fans seem to place a higher premium on the meta of the stories, what are the motives, politics, or "agenda" going into the story beats and how it affirms or does a disservice to the conventions of comic book storytelling. my question is how much should that stuff matter, and why?
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  2. #2
    Boisterously Confused
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    Sometimes, you just want to see a good guy punch a bad guy. Sometimes, it can be really engaging to see you a story go beyond that. It depends (for me, at least) on how well it's done.

  3. #3
    Extraordinary Member Restingvoice's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lemonpeace View Post
    simple enough, I've noticed that there is a dissonance between how fans read comics nowadays more so than other mediums. Fans seem to place a higher premium on the meta of the stories, what are the motives, politics, or "agenda" going into the story beats and how it affirms or does a disservice to the conventions of comic book storytelling. my question is how much should that stuff matter, and why?
    Well... it matters more in comics today because of what happens in meta directly affects the story inside. Just from what happened recently, there's Mxy fixing New 52 Superman and Lois to be classic Superman and Lois, the whole Doomsday Clock, or any attempt they make to fix the story within the story. Right now it's already built in the narrative.

    I don't like it when they use it to fix the story. I want the fixing to happen outside the story, not inside, because one, it took me out of the story, and two, it confirms that they have no intention to change and will write whatever they want with no concern of continuity, consistency, logic or empathy towards readers because they can always call Mxy or Greek Gods to fix it.

    Jokes are fine.

    It's also cool when they use it to speak about the medium, like how in Morrison's Action Comics, Superman thinks of their world as a paper while there's an enemy in a higher dimension stabbing the paper with a fork. That's a cool shout out to the medium, but the enemy's also still inside the story. Most importantly they don't use this story to cover their mistakes.

    Oh, wait you're asking about reading. It matters to me only if I know what you're doing with this story and I see what you're trying to say is affecting the way the story is told, good or bad. If there's no reason for it then I won't read it as meta.
    Last edited by Restingvoice; 06-01-2020 at 06:02 PM.

  4. #4
    see beauty in all things. charliehustle415's Avatar
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    I think it is an important element because audiences nowadays are trained to see the metatextual meaning within art.

    Because comics have become part of the dominant culture it matters even more-so as it frames a lot of the cultural values that are espoused by society.

    Back in the day it did not matter as much because comics spoke to only a small minority of people and as time went on the meta began to matter because the stories were no longer relevant to the growing diverse reading population.

    This is why comics that only focus on superhero daring-do are mostly seen as pedestrian or juvenile because that's an outmoded way to look at superhero comics.

    That's not to say that comics should only focus on the meta there needs to be a fine balance. For example, Civil War came out in the shadows of 9/11 and the argument over security vs freedom; which at the time really spoke to the ethos that the country was feeling and it was a massive hit. You can read it as a superhero fisticuffs or a story about the growing unease Americans felt with government overreach. Then you other examples that veer off too much like the ill-fated New Warriors which only focused on the meta.

    Now DC has a really bad habit on using meta to address their editorial issues and reboots and at this point it is hackneyed and trite.

    Snyder tried bringing back DC's flagships to their superhero ethos but he ends up falling flat because it is completely devoid of metatextual meaning. Think about the myriad of "epic" arcs that New 52 Batman had that didn't really matter or his Justice League or Metal event; they feel childish.

    Writer's need a deft hand at incorporating or not incorporating meta into their stories for DC I think John's Green Lantern is probably the best example, but his Doomsday Clock not so much.

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