Are we ever going back to “small self-contained” stories in media?

[mathew101281]

I’m trying to think of the last time I saw Marvel of DC publish a one shot comic.
The big Hollywood studios have essentially abandoned any kind of movie that isn’t a franchise.
Even TV, the medium that was essentially built on episodic stories, is now geared towards season long story arches and bing viewing.

Is the small self contained story essentially dead? Will it ever comeback?

[GOLGO 13]

I’m trying to think of the last time I saw Marvel of DC publish a one shot comic.
The big Hollywood studios have essentially abandoned any kind of movie that isn’t a franchise.
Even TV, the medium that was essentially built on episodic stories, is now geared towards season long story arches and bing viewing.

Is the small self contained story essentially dead? Will it ever comeback?

Negative. Trend is writing for the trade which I don't mind since I don't do floppies.

[MajorHoy]

Negative. Trend is writing for the trade which I don't mind since I don't do floppies.

But trades don't have to have a single five-or-six issue story; trades can easily have stories that are one-three issues long but contain a total of five-six issues worth of the comic book series.

[worstblogever]

I just watched Star Wars: Visions.

Seemed like that's what that was. All were incredible pieces of storytelling that I don't think we'll ever see follow up on with gorgeous visuals, for the record.

[Gray Lensman]

The current X-Men run is self contained stories, although there is a metaplot bubbling under the surface.

[MRP]

Eventually the paradigm will switch back to shorter self-contained stories, but its doubtful it will be anytime soon. The trend towards long form and short form storytelling as the preferred form has gone back and forth time and again over the centuries through various formats for storytelling. Some formats lend themselves better to longform, others to short-form, but neither has been the dominant form in perpetuity, and both had grown and faded in popularity at various points, so there's no reason to believe that the current trend towards longform storytelling is the death knell for short-form. There is a cycle between the two, and it may be some time before longform fades in popularity and short-form ascends again, but it will happen eventually. Audience tastes are fickle and the only constant is change.

-M