The death of the self contained one shot.

[Iron Maiden]

Ok how have I been here so long and missed that you are part of this forum? I read the comics but dont pay much attention to the user names at times.

Can I just nerd out for a second and say I really loved jsa/Avengers and Untold Tales of Spiderman! Issue 13 Without Warning where he fought the Black Knight. Well duh of course you know that. It was one of my first Spiderman Stories and it blew me away

You should check out the Ask Kurt Busiek thread on the Marvel forums. He keeps up with that pretty regularly when questions are asked.

[kjn]

The shift towards higher serialisation of American comics have been going on for a long while, arguably coinciding with the rise of the specialty comics stores. I agree with Revolutionary_Jack that editorial and marketing demands are the reason here, not changes in the writers. Now, different writers have different preferences in story length, so some writers can fit better in today's landscape than they could in the one of yesterday, but that largely comes down to recruitment and adaptation.

That said, I think there is a large difference between the short 8–12 page stories in a special anthology issue and the regular publishing of single-issue stories (of 22–30 pages) in a regular ongoing title. But the skills to write short stories haven't been lost, they are more unused.

I'm not sure I agree that this is a media-wide trend. The multi-part epic was a huge trend within printed fantasy and science fiction, but that one peaked twenty years ago. You still have lots of series, but the individual novels tend to be a lot more independent of each other, connected more by characters and their relationships than by plot. There is also a huge wave of short fiction being published electronically as independent pieces nowadays.

[babyblob]

You should check out the Ask Kurt Busiek thread on the Marvel forums. He keeps up with that pretty regularly when questions are asked.

I will thank you

[Zelena]

The short stories I read in comics and novels were often humoristic, parodic, ironic…

I find there are less and less light-hearted stories that tackle things with a certain distance. A lot of authors take themselves too seriously.

[CaptCleghorn]

The shift towards higher serialisation of American comics have been going on for a long while, arguably coinciding with the rise of the specialty comics stores. I agree with Revolutionary_Jack that editorial and marketing demands are the reason here, not changes in the writers. Now, different writers have different preferences in story length, so some writers can fit better in today's landscape than they could in the one of yesterday, but that largely comes down to recruitment and adaptation.

That said, I think there is a large difference between the short 8–12 page stories in a special anthology issue and the regular publishing of single-issue stories (of 22–30 pages) in a regular ongoing title. But the skills to write short stories haven't been lost, they are more unused.

I'm not sure I agree that this is a media-wide trend. The multi-part epic was a huge trend within printed fantasy and science fiction, but that one peaked twenty years ago. You still have lots of series, but the individual novels tend to be a lot more independent of each other, connected more by characters and their relationships than by plot. There is also a huge wave of short fiction being published electronically as independent pieces nowadays.

You are correct about the shift. However, this is far from a comics only phenomenon. TV shows have also shifted more to a season format where a weekly procedural has been replaced with season long arcs with smaller arcs and subplots adding to the content.

[DrNewGod]

To address a part of the OP's question, I don't think "incapable" is accurate. Today's writer probably could capably write one-and-dones, but I could see it being harder for them than it was for the Garner Foxes or Stan Lees of ages past. I imagine like any other skill, you're better at it if you practice it regularly, and - as others have said - the industry discourages such practice.

[Iron Maiden]

To address a part of the OP's question, I don't think "incapable" is accurate. Today's writer probably could capably write one-and-dones, but I could see it being harder for them than it was for the Garner Foxes or Stan Lees of ages past. I imagine like any other skill, you're better at it if you practice it regularly, and - as others have said - the industry discourages such practice.

I think you are right. That was the way it was done back in the 40s and 50s. Very few comics had plots that extended for more than one issue. They felt comics were very disposable and needed to bring the reader a new story every issue.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

As a side-note let's talk about favorite single issues and one-parters of the last 2 decades (2000 is the cut-off point). Or great single issues. Big two superheroes as well as independents.

If we take Alan Moore one thing I've noticed about his recent stuff is that he essentially curates a bunch of single issues that eventually tie-in to a larger story but essentially function as self-contained works. In fact stuff like PROVIDENCE which is a World-of-Lovecraft tour is a lot better in individual issues than it is as a whole. So PROVIDENCE #5-6 is essentially a two-part horror story that's creepy, disgusting and disturbing. Then PROVIDENCE#7 is a disturbing but wacky and fun issue. But the issues after that go to the end of the 12-part series and the denouement is a lot less fun. I feel the same way about Moore's CINEMA PURGATORIO where individual issues have amazing ideas and images as a tour of the movie history but the overall story isn't fun.

You look at Jonathan Hickman. Originally he was a hypercharged super-serialized writer in his FF, Avengers, Secret Wars' runs. Then in Hickman's 2019-2021 X-Men run, he's basically written a suite of standalone issues. Some of them like X-Men #4 (aka the X-Men go to Davos in a plot to out-neoliberal the neoliberals) and X-Men #7 are among the best X-Men stories of all time but it's essentially single issues. Injustice Gods Among Us tie-in comic, Year Four Annual has maybe the most awesome and fun version of Plastic Man in ages. Also a single issue. Then Jason Aaron's Thor God of Thunder #12, set right after the God Butcher/Godbomb story, is a cool single issue. It has that great moment where Thor meets an inmate in death row and counsels him. Chip Zdarsky's Spectacular Spider-Man run is great because of two great issues, and several good issues. The two great issues are "My Dinner with Jonah"#6 and Spectacular Spider-Man #310 ("Finale").

[DrNewGod]

As a side-note let's talk about favorite single issues and one-parters of the last 2 decades (2000 is the cut-off point). Or great single issues. Big two superheroes as well as independents...

One of the things that I most miss about Busiek's Astro City was the way it was loaded with one-and-dones. True, some of my favorites were arcs, like the the resolution of Quarrel and Crackerjack's story, or either of the Steeljack sagas, but there were tons of single issue stories. If we keep it to Jack's last 20 years window, I'd cite AC 22 (3rd series), "Heroes Reward," or 43, which revealed the secret of The Gentleman (that last sent me ripping through every previous issue featuring the character to see if I could find the narrator anywhere in the background).

[CSTowle]

If we're giving Astro City love one of my favorite stories (Astro City or otherwise) was the Samaritan Special which tells the story of how Samaritan spends one day a year having dinner with a "supervillain". They talk, and try to convince one another that their way of looking at the world/universe is the correct one. One of those issues if I see it at a Con for a buck or two I'll pick it up to give to someone else, it's a great standalone and a great story.

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[kjn]

You are correct about the shift. However, this is far from a comics only phenomenon. TV shows have also shifted more to a season format where a weekly procedural has been replaced with season long arcs with smaller arcs and subplots adding to the content.

TV is complicated. You could see the rise of the seasonal arcs already in the 90s with Babylon 5 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but right now the trend in TV is the "binge" format, where a season's worth of material is released all at once, like with Good Omens and Sense8.

[DrNewGod]

TV is complicated. You could see the rise of the seasonal arcs already in the 90s with Babylon 5 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but right now the trend in TV is the "binge" format, where a season's worth of material is released all at once, like with Good Omens and Sense8.

I'd say it goes at least as far back as Hill Street Blues.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

TV is complicated. You could see the rise of the seasonal arcs already in the 90s with Babylon 5 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but right now the trend in TV is the "binge" format, where a season's worth of material is released all at once, like with Good Omens and Sense8.

It's definitely the case that serialization is the order of the day across many media. Movie franchises these days, in their attempt to chase that sweet MCU money have tried to become more serialized often to their detriment. Since everything is made to be milked, remaked, franchised and so on.

Today a film-maker or writer going around Hollywood pitching an individual film and not a TV series or a potential franchise probably has fewer takers than they used to.

Like when the Netflix show The Queen's Gambit aired and got notices, people were talking sequels and so on, when the Netflix thing was a miniseries based on a novel that was just the one novel. There's literally no Part 2. But now even stuff that wasn't serialized is going to be treated as serializable. About a decade back, nobody would have entertained the idea of serializing the book. You look at adult-animation -- The Simpsons is anti-serialized and has negative continuity, and is basically the only show of its kind that has that. Adult Animation shows after that, including Groening's follow-ups -- Futurama and Disenchantment -- are far more serialized and continuity-heavy. So is The Venture Bros., Rick and Morty and Bojack Horseman.

The original 1987 DuckTales, a children's cartoon, wasn't serialized. The 2017 DuckTales was serialized (even if in my opinion, the show was way more fun with one-and-done episodes than the season-arcs...with the exception of the Second Season).

[CaptCleghorn]

I'd say it goes at least as far back as Hill Street Blues.

Hill Street Blues was serialized with arcs starting and finishing with varying lengths. I'm not sure a show like that is a good comparison to the "write for the trade" or season long arcs as those are just longer stories with beginnings and endings. I'd suggest Murder One as a better fit for the comparison because of its one season, one case format.

[kjn]

There are even several different forms of serialisation, that not all are alike.

One of the earliest to arrive was the very long novels of the 19th century, that were sold in a subscription format. They were usually written opportunistically, with direct input from editors on what they (and the readers) wanted in various ways, and AIUI with relatively little planning on future arcs. Then we have the fixup stories, pioneered eg by Isaac Asimov and other sf writers in the 40s. Short stories of various lengths that were given some minor connecting tissue and edits, and sold as a compleat novel.

The classic soap operas (that started in radio) is another example, where the main connecting element is the characters and their relations, and plots are picked up and dropped rather freely. These also tended to use teams of writers.

The modern pre-planned plot-centric super-long story is a relatively recent innovation. Super-long stories aren't new in any way, but the installments today tend to be much longer, and with a greater focus on a single creator or writer.