The party, by the way, went reasonably well. Ton of leftovers though. Especially beer for some reason (they're getting old and drinking more wine now).
Two weeks ago, I posted about Sluggy Freelance, and I probably wouldn't have said anything if it wasn't for a blog post from another webcomic reviewer. Tangents did a pair of posts regarding the end of 4U City, and didn't like it. That's fair, he can have his opinion on the story and the comic as a whole. My problem is that he didn't let the end of the story play out before deciding what the best path for the comic was and then bitching when it didn't happen that way.
I've seen this before. Not in webcomics, but television, specifically Battlestar Galactica. I really liked the whole series, but the internet seems to have had an odd effect on the fanbase. Every episode was dissected, examined and judged within hours of showing. People began speculating on things, throwing around theories and ideas of where the show was going and how it was going to get there.
And then when it gets there, they bitched that it didn't go the way THEY wanted.
Now for a bunch of chuckleheads on the net to do this is one thing, for a reviewer to jump the gun like this is another thing all together. It was VERY obvious the story was nearly over, and if Tangents had waited another week, he could have had a piece that was complete and wouldn't have had to speculate. It doesn't help that he didn't really like his own idea of where the story was going (I think, it's a little weird near the end), but obviously he hated the way it actually went even more.
I think a lot of fans do this as well. I like to guess where stories are going, and I'm often completely wrong. Perhaps the fact that I am wrong so often allows me to easily take the ego hit on being wrong. I think a lot of fans, typically the vocal ones, convince themselves that they are right about how the story should go and bitch and moan when it doesn't. And they get really MEAN about it.
This saddens me because I like to see where the author/artist is taking the story. If I'm right, I feel really smart, if I'm not, oh well, no biggy. As long as the story works out in a satisfying way, I'm happy with it. Then I read comments on forums or whatever and the screeching and bitching and wonder why do they even bother reading/watching it if they don't like it. I wonder if it's an attempt to sound critical without knowing how to be critical.
I guess the internet breeds this kind of idea, and normally Tangents is very good about his commentary and reviews. The Sluggy thing is an off thing, and maybe something more personal to him (much like my dislike of Penny Arcade), so I'll let it go. The fans, though, are something harder to deal with, and I don't think there's anyway to handle them without alienating them.
Anyway, that's enough on that. I don't want to be critical of other critics, but this one just seemed really off to me. Until next time kiddies.
Two weeks ago, I posted about Sluggy Freelance, and I probably wouldn't have said anything if it wasn't for a blog post from another webcomic reviewer. Tangents did a pair of posts regarding the end of 4U City, and didn't like it. That's fair, he can have his opinion on the story and the comic as a whole. My problem is that he didn't let the end of the story play out before deciding what the best path for the comic was and then bitching when it didn't happen that way.
I've seen this before. Not in webcomics, but television, specifically Battlestar Galactica. I really liked the whole series, but the internet seems to have had an odd effect on the fanbase. Every episode was dissected, examined and judged within hours of showing. People began speculating on things, throwing around theories and ideas of where the show was going and how it was going to get there.
And then when it gets there, they bitched that it didn't go the way THEY wanted.
Now for a bunch of chuckleheads on the net to do this is one thing, for a reviewer to jump the gun like this is another thing all together. It was VERY obvious the story was nearly over, and if Tangents had waited another week, he could have had a piece that was complete and wouldn't have had to speculate. It doesn't help that he didn't really like his own idea of where the story was going (I think, it's a little weird near the end), but obviously he hated the way it actually went even more.
I think a lot of fans do this as well. I like to guess where stories are going, and I'm often completely wrong. Perhaps the fact that I am wrong so often allows me to easily take the ego hit on being wrong. I think a lot of fans, typically the vocal ones, convince themselves that they are right about how the story should go and bitch and moan when it doesn't. And they get really MEAN about it.
This saddens me because I like to see where the author/artist is taking the story. If I'm right, I feel really smart, if I'm not, oh well, no biggy. As long as the story works out in a satisfying way, I'm happy with it. Then I read comments on forums or whatever and the screeching and bitching and wonder why do they even bother reading/watching it if they don't like it. I wonder if it's an attempt to sound critical without knowing how to be critical.
I guess the internet breeds this kind of idea, and normally Tangents is very good about his commentary and reviews. The Sluggy thing is an off thing, and maybe something more personal to him (much like my dislike of Penny Arcade), so I'll let it go. The fans, though, are something harder to deal with, and I don't think there's anyway to handle them without alienating them.
Anyway, that's enough on that. I don't want to be critical of other critics, but this one just seemed really off to me. Until next time kiddies.
No comments:
Post a Comment