4 ms·

I hate this opinion, but even accepting it at face value, it doesn't apply to comic strips. A TV show is a mishmash of dozens of visions from the start, so it's

I hate this opinion, but even accepting it at face value, it doesn't apply to comic strips. A TV show is a mishmash of dozens of visions from the start, so it's easy to let the Ship of Theseus continue on with new writers or sequels or spinoffs. An author-drawn comic is the work of one person. It doesn't have a cast, it's just them. Letting corporate greed machines get it removes the whole appeal by default.

Obscurity4340 3y ago
How would it not apply even moreso to comic strips? Comic strips are even less accounted for in terms of the general body or oeuvre of that series. Like who can name every single comic strip "episode" relative to who can do so for its syndicated or movie counterpart(s) and also does it even have `seasons`?
- 1123581321 3y ago
  Calvin & Hobbes fans know the published strips very well.
  - Obscurity4340 3y ago
    ALL of them, seriously? Never missed one or went on vacation and the paper got thrown out (assuming that was the predominant medium)? Can all of you populate a spreadsheet by heart and argue in good faith with due accuracy as to each one out of the likely 1,000s? Sorry but I doubt that. But even so, it still doesn't lend itself to your point. You're saying 1,000s are perfection but + one new strip would immediately or at least in some historically-tainting way destroy everything? Is everything really that fragile? Edit: 2 0s
    - Izkata 3y ago
      There are about 3150 Calvin and Hobbes strips. For comparison, there are about 900 Star Trek episodes (including the animated ones). I don't find it hard to believe someone can know all of them, because I am one of those people for Star Trek, and comic strips are so much shorter. I couldn't populate a spreadsheet from scratch, but name an episode and reference the plot somehow, I'm fairly sure I'll remember it and be able to fill in some details without looking it up. > Never missed one or went on vacation and the paper got thrown out (assuming that was the predominant medium)? Also they're all available at https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/ https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/ - I read through the whole thing a few years ago.
      - Obscurity4340 3y ago
        K thats my bad on the quantity, that was reckless but it doesn't change the nature of my conjecture and you avoided the primary question: does n + 1 = 0 with regard to an arbitrary number of "new" comics/works? What if there was a "vault" of undiscovered or arbitrarily retained C&H works? You're seriously gonna say "nah" to that? Edit: I edited my response, thanks for correcting me on that point. There really was no excuse for me to not pull that up real fast
      - Obscurity4340 3y ago
        []
    - 1123581321 3y ago
      Yes, all of them. They might’ve missed newspapers, but they read them in published collections and re-read them in the complete omnibus. I’m confident they’d recognize a fake strip. Your general point about comics might hold but C&H is something else. As for being displeased with continued low quality publishing, yes, that would be dismaying. If it continued on and was really good, obviously that wouldn’t be but Watterson’s point was that the odds of that working out well were low, even if he tried to retain creative control. I understand from your other posts that quality isn’t important to you once you’ve started following the characters; fans of C&H are not like you.
      - Obscurity4340 3y ago
        Can you give your thoughts on the notion of how hypothetical "lost episodes" or "vault" would be rejected consistent with your suggestion that the corpus of readers all feel exactly as strong as you on the matter even if it literally meant that there was a risk of rejecting precious canon material simply because you all consider C&H "done" and have no room for additional content? I realize this example is super contrived and I legitimately hope I'm not mischaracterizing your fundamental position but I don't know you've really given me a basis to understand how you or the typical fan would approach such a dilemma...and it seems relevant to the overall questions of at least authenticity, continuity, currency etc that are inherent to the broader discussion despite the fact its likely never gonna happen.
        Miraste 3y ago
        You are mischaracterizing the position. It's not "Calvin and Hobbes is done," it's "Calvin and Hobbes is Bill Waterson and he's done with it." If lost strips came out or he announced a continuation, fans would be excited. If some MBA pit got their claws on it and made their own continuation, fans would hate it. This is why Watterson's new book is at the front of every bookstore in the country, despite having nothing to do with C&H and being impossible to market. Despite the ongoing poison of franchises, people do still care about stories from authors they trust.
        3y ago
- Obscurity4340 3y ago
  I doubt even the creator could reliably and reproducibly do so
- Miraste 3y ago
  I don't understand what you're getting at. I'm talking about the number of people involved, not the length. I know a few comic strips that were handed off to new creators after the original died or retired, and they're very, very obviously different pieces, appealing to different audiences. It usually takes a single strip to notice.

Obscurity4340 3y ago

How would it not apply even moreso to comic strips? Comic strips are even less accounted for in terms of the general body or oeuvre of that series. Like who can name every single comic strip "episode" relative to who can do so for its syndicated or movie counterpart(s) and also does it even have `seasons`?

1123581321 3y ago
Calvin & Hobbes fans know the published strips very well.
- Obscurity4340 3y ago
  ALL of them, seriously? Never missed one or went on vacation and the paper got thrown out (assuming that was the predominant medium)? Can all of you populate a spreadsheet by heart and argue in good faith with due accuracy as to each one out of the likely 1,000s? Sorry but I doubt that. But even so, it still doesn't lend itself to your point. You're saying 1,000s are perfection but + one new strip would immediately or at least in some historically-tainting way destroy everything? Is everything really that fragile? Edit: 2 0s
  - Izkata 3y ago
    There are about 3150 Calvin and Hobbes strips. For comparison, there are about 900 Star Trek episodes (including the animated ones). I don't find it hard to believe someone can know all of them, because I am one of those people for Star Trek, and comic strips are so much shorter. I couldn't populate a spreadsheet from scratch, but name an episode and reference the plot somehow, I'm fairly sure I'll remember it and be able to fill in some details without looking it up. > Never missed one or went on vacation and the paper got thrown out (assuming that was the predominant medium)? Also they're all available at https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/ https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/ - I read through the whole thing a few years ago.
    - Obscurity4340 3y ago
      K thats my bad on the quantity, that was reckless but it doesn't change the nature of my conjecture and you avoided the primary question: does n + 1 = 0 with regard to an arbitrary number of "new" comics/works? What if there was a "vault" of undiscovered or arbitrarily retained C&H works? You're seriously gonna say "nah" to that? Edit: I edited my response, thanks for correcting me on that point. There really was no excuse for me to not pull that up real fast
    - Obscurity4340 3y ago
      []
  - 1123581321 3y ago
    Yes, all of them. They might’ve missed newspapers, but they read them in published collections and re-read them in the complete omnibus. I’m confident they’d recognize a fake strip. Your general point about comics might hold but C&H is something else. As for being displeased with continued low quality publishing, yes, that would be dismaying. If it continued on and was really good, obviously that wouldn’t be but Watterson’s point was that the odds of that working out well were low, even if he tried to retain creative control. I understand from your other posts that quality isn’t important to you once you’ve started following the characters; fans of C&H are not like you.
    - Obscurity4340 3y ago
      Can you give your thoughts on the notion of how hypothetical "lost episodes" or "vault" would be rejected consistent with your suggestion that the corpus of readers all feel exactly as strong as you on the matter even if it literally meant that there was a risk of rejecting precious canon material simply because you all consider C&H "done" and have no room for additional content? I realize this example is super contrived and I legitimately hope I'm not mischaracterizing your fundamental position but I don't know you've really given me a basis to understand how you or the typical fan would approach such a dilemma...and it seems relevant to the overall questions of at least authenticity, continuity, currency etc that are inherent to the broader discussion despite the fact its likely never gonna happen.
      - Miraste 3y ago
        You are mischaracterizing the position. It's not "Calvin and Hobbes is done," it's "Calvin and Hobbes is Bill Waterson and he's done with it." If lost strips came out or he announced a continuation, fans would be excited. If some MBA pit got their claws on it and made their own continuation, fans would hate it. This is why Watterson's new book is at the front of every bookstore in the country, despite having nothing to do with C&H and being impossible to market. Despite the ongoing poison of franchises, people do still care about stories from authors they trust.
        3y ago
Obscurity4340 3y ago
I doubt even the creator could reliably and reproducibly do so
Miraste 3y ago
I don't understand what you're getting at. I'm talking about the number of people involved, not the length. I know a few comic strips that were handed off to new creators after the original died or retired, and they're very, very obviously different pieces, appealing to different audiences. It usually takes a single strip to notice.