Over at Occasional Superheroine is an interesting post about waiting to review a comic until an arc is completed. And on the surface, I kind of agree with her. Some stories are difficult to judge and describe based on a single issue, even when they’re good. Waiting for completion sounds reasonable in some cases. But, ultimately I must side with her commentors and most of the followup over at Comics Worth Reading.
- Comics are serial storytelling, and each piece should have something worthwhile. Can’t adequately tell a story serially? Then monthly comics may not be for you.
- If it’s a stinker early on, it’ll probably be a stinker at the end, too. Early reviews are a nice heads-up to spend my dollars with a bit more wisdom.
- Conversely, an early good review gets me on a well-told story before it’s sold out. A win for me. A win for the creators.
I understand the desire to delay judgment, but episodic storytelling needs the criticism to combat the wait-for-the-trade lazy storytelling.
And, to the issue of Batman R.I.P. specifically, the problem isn’t that Grant Morrison’s stories work better when they aren’t broken up. The problem is that sometimes Grant Morrison expects the reader to not only read the comic but also pay close attention to Morrison’s brain. Sorry, Grant, my local comic shop only sells periodicals, not Grant’s Olde Tyme Skull Nuggets. You’ll need to restrict the story to the printed page.