one and done (aka episodic) stories or short arcs (1-3 issues) allow you to reinforce success or walk away from what doesn't work without committing to months or years-long arcs that the fans may or may not find engaging.

It's not that I want one and done. I want the soap operatic formula where the single story is "complete" even though there's ongoing threads on the side. I like the "Aunt May gets a phone call" standard. Peter fights the Vulture in the issue and that battle is wrapped up within the 22 pages. Somewhere around page 10, Aunt May gets a shocking phone call and we don't learn what that's all about for several more issues.

The Dark Phoenix Saga, Watchmen, V for Vendetta etc were awesome. Bad writing is bad writing.

“Meet the new boss.. just the same as the old boss” I hate gatekeeping unless I am doing it!

I think you can do a primary plot as a one and done but need to pepper that with a subplot that hints at a bigger story. Something writers in the '70s and '80s were pretty deft at. Every culture has it's "toxic" members or sub-group. That's been true for almost as long as any fandom has existed. I'm almost positive there were people who claimed Shakespeare was out of good ideas after his first couple of plays or other's who stated that "real" Beethoven fans knew he sold out with his 5th symphony. Despite technological achievements, humanity hasn't changed much.

They use to be able to tell a complete story and still have an underlining ongoing threat. But you have to have talent to do that.

Its legit sad that modern writers dont know what set up conflict pay off is especially in an issue. The longer story doesnt matter if the individual issues are plodding and boring

It’s not as simple as you make it. There is something between “one and done” and “the never ending continuing story. You can see it all in the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The first season was more like one and done. The final season was a never ending continuation of one story. All the seasons in the middle were both. You could watch one episode and be satisfied you had seen a beginning, middle, and end. But they were also a continuing story. All self contained with the occasional two parter, but also one huge story. That is what comics need to be. That is the most successful comics of the past.

Hickman tried a one and done approach to the Krakoa era in the mainline X-book. He didn't actually seem to have a plan overall

"Solve" is a verb, "solution" is the noun. This tendency by some to nominalise the verb instead of employing the already-existing noun merely minimises the force of the argument.

A long run needs of a big planning before. Krakoa Era was so bad because the writers don't had long term planning, even Hickman in my opinion.

I'll say something bad about Krakoa era. It was a Neat change of pace but man I dreaded those Book moments , where it was just Beast and his Emails or Charlies making mental notes with Cerebo . But for what its worth it made the Splash pages alot more rewarding.

Why is Wolverine the only non-Summers family member on that X-Men Vol. 1 cover?

The reason for saying one and done might help is, there used to be lots of stories which seemed unattached to the rest of the continuity.

I write and publish done in one stories where the story begins and ends in one volume. It's all about the quality of the writing. If the storytelling is good a done in one will get readers whether or not it's a single story or a series. Problem with comics is the writers aren't very good at executing on concept and the editors don't have the seasoning, craft or experience to help them improve.

Both halves of the vid were very good takes. There are good, classic comics that did episodic monthlies for decades; and some bad ones; same for serials. And a great take on "toxic."

I think people confuse actual one and done (often seen in Marvel What if? Marvel Presents) with what they're looking for in their main titles - that being , ongoing plots with sub-plots that sometimes become main plots or remain backdrops of the world the title character inhabits. That's how story engines are meant to work and gives depth to what you're reading, while allowing for editors to pivot depending on the readership response to said plotlines.

The story should be as long as it needs but I wouldn’t mind a few shorter stories between runs

In general, I think the writers need to write a little tighter. Every story does not need to be an 8 issue epic. I think they should go back to 70s-80s style writing with the main story being 1 to 3 issues, along with subplots that lead into future stories.

Episodic issues aren't a silver bullet that can solve all the issues in the comic book industry. It is a tool in the toolbox that writers should use more often. The current era of the Boom Power Rangers comics is coming to a close. Looking back at this era it would have benefitted greatly from some episodic issues to let the story breathe and give much needed page time to some of the characters. So, like most things in life, there's a balance.

I think there is definitely a place for standalone short stories in comics. Most people seem to forget that most of the long running beloved characters started with a solid foundation of standalone adventures to establish their core defining traits while acting as easy jumping on points for new readers. In modern times I see to many writers who aren't willing to establish a strong foundation for who their new characters before they throw them into the deep end of drawn-out story arcs and crossover events. They aren't given readers a chance to understand the characters before they start doing "things will never be the same" storylines. The result is a ton of forgettable cookie cutter characters that pop in and out and are largely interchangeable. Personally, I would save longer story arcs for established characters and let new ones take their time to find themselves with easy to digest short stories. There is also the separate issue that a lot of trade-length story arcs could easily be solo issues if they cut back on the fluff and padding, but that's its own can of worms.

10:28 This behaviour is so odd to me, looking for their name and then using a second fake account is make yourself look good is just so strange.

On something unrelated. What's your feeling on the closing of the Arby' in Hollywood Los Angelas?

"Toxic" seems to mostly be shorthand for "something that makes me uncomfortable." Its vagueness allows conflation between subjective annoyances and objective moral issues. Something that is meaningfully, significantly toxic can always be described as a problem using other terms

So to your first part. No 1 and dones would not make the sitiation better. Like if Marvel hired the same writers and told them to produce 400(howevet many Krakoa issues there are) stand alone X-men stories that's going to ne better? You'd still have 400 issues of garbage, it would just give readrrs even LESS incentive to invest. As to your second point. Whenever someone uses the term "toxic fandon" it just sounds to me as. "I want ypu to stop caring about this thing so it can be destroyed by me or people I like."

If you think one and done is the answer, go read DC Silver Age comics where all the toys were back in the toy box every issue through some clever, but mostly contrived plot devices.

10:58 this sounds oddly specific

Comics got worse when we went from 1 issue stories with an a plot b plot c plot to these long 12 issue meandering boring pos. Even Claremont had mostly 1 and dones there was things in the background but one issue we are in magnetos lair then we are in the savage land then dooms lair claremont used the xmen ongoing story as a framing device for the current short story. Its like life weeks ahve different provlems day to day. Also you buying this month to month youd like some SET UP/MIDDLE/ PAYOFFF

Point at: 2:33

Don't the editors have to OK the story before the comic is produced? If an editor keeps approving crap comics, just fire him and replace him with someone better. If the writer decides to die on the hill of his crappy story, fire him and let the editor find a better writer.

why do read comics just to complain 😂??