Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2019 14:18:25 GMT -5
Look away now if you have zero interest in US wrestling... 
There's this show called Raw, produced by WWE. It started in 1993 as Monday Night Raw and was one hour long. Years later, it became a two-hour show. Since 2012, it's been three hours long. While that no doubt brings in a lot of revenue for WWE, from a creative perspective, some are displeased with it. As a wrestling fan, I don't watch it. Three hours of Raw each week is overkill. WWE's people can criticise the fans - as they did in a recent video - but less is more. With work, family, friends, food and so much else, who really wants to devote three hours to a weekly show? Three hours every week is too much.
So, what about comics?
Recently, a friend of mine complained that two Superman comics didn't seem enough. I said something to him like, "But isn't that better? Doesn't that give you more to look forward to?"
I felt that they overdid it years ago. Remember the days of Action Comics, Superman, The Adventures of Superman, Superman: The Man of Steel, and Superman: The Man of Tomorrow. Putting aside the fact that arcs like "The Death of Superman" required you to follow all the titles, it was too much. Did the "skip week" really need a Superman book? Did any fans lobby for it? I didn't.
Although I did my best to buy most of those comics - certain characters can be addictive - it became a chore. I was, "What, another Superman issue out?"
And I feel that way about WWE now, hence why I watch less of it. Three hours every week? No thanks!
Ultimately, it's about money. I get that. But money and creativity/fan satisfaction can be mutually exclusive. Some of the time, anyway. I know so many WWE fans, many of whom have spoken about this on YouTube, that are practically begging WWE to reduce Raw to two hours. Some have said they switch off as the third hour starts, anyway. Many feel that there isn't enough content to fill three hours. And many, like almost all of us, have other things we want to do. If I had a choice between doing other things (e.g. calling a family member) and watching a third hour of Raw, I know what I'll choose.
I feel the same about comics. Back in the day, I loved reading The Incredible Hulk because the guy only had one title. There were guest appearances, of course. However, I had little desire to keep abreast of Spidey, Punisher, X-Men, etc. I love those guys, but I didn't want to keep up with it all. Maybe I might have if they'd have featured standalone tales, but with so many interconnected storylines, I didn't hang around to keep abreast of it all.
I do wish that creativity and fan satisfaction could be put first some of the time. As far as has been reported, WWE has been profitable for many years. Did they really need to add a third hour to a two-hour show? And although comics don't appear to sell as many copies as they used to, so cannot necessarily be compared to a profitable wrestling company, I do wish creativity and fan satisfaction could be paramount.
Fact is, most of us, except the most hardcore, have no inclination to keep up with so much. My favourite TV series is Arrow, but if every episode was three hours long, and ran for 52 weeks of the year, I'd say, "Get lost!" Same with anything, really. I'd have no desire for Stephen King to put out several books a year. I am a Punisher fan, but one book is enough for me. I wouldn't want two Star Wars movies a year. We have a limited amount of time to follow what we like and I feel over-saturation is an "invention of the Devil"!
To return to the point of this topic, I come across so many WWE fans who are burnt out by the amount of content, especially those who feel a compulsion to watch all programming (how on Earth do they do it?). And there can be comic fans who are burnt out, too. Someone I know drifted away from the X-Men books at a point when there were so many. So while short-term profits no doubt mean a lot to WWE/comic publishers, if they are driving fans away, you'll reach a point where fewer fans are tuning in/buying comics. And how would that benefit WWE/publishers?
Yes, a profitable wrestling company (TV deals alone probably give them a lot of satisfaction on their balance sheet) and the US comic industry are different. It is akin to comparing apples and oranges. Long-term, though, I see one parallel: a niche product becomes even more niche. Fewer people tune in/buy comics. An audience shrinks. Long-term - very long-term - it doesn't appear positive.
Less is more. The less we have of particular content, the better I think it is for everyone. Feel free to disagree, though.
There's this show called Raw, produced by WWE. It started in 1993 as Monday Night Raw and was one hour long. Years later, it became a two-hour show. Since 2012, it's been three hours long. While that no doubt brings in a lot of revenue for WWE, from a creative perspective, some are displeased with it. As a wrestling fan, I don't watch it. Three hours of Raw each week is overkill. WWE's people can criticise the fans - as they did in a recent video - but less is more. With work, family, friends, food and so much else, who really wants to devote three hours to a weekly show? Three hours every week is too much.
So, what about comics?
Recently, a friend of mine complained that two Superman comics didn't seem enough. I said something to him like, "But isn't that better? Doesn't that give you more to look forward to?"
I felt that they overdid it years ago. Remember the days of Action Comics, Superman, The Adventures of Superman, Superman: The Man of Steel, and Superman: The Man of Tomorrow. Putting aside the fact that arcs like "The Death of Superman" required you to follow all the titles, it was too much. Did the "skip week" really need a Superman book? Did any fans lobby for it? I didn't.
Although I did my best to buy most of those comics - certain characters can be addictive - it became a chore. I was, "What, another Superman issue out?"
And I feel that way about WWE now, hence why I watch less of it. Three hours every week? No thanks!
Ultimately, it's about money. I get that. But money and creativity/fan satisfaction can be mutually exclusive. Some of the time, anyway. I know so many WWE fans, many of whom have spoken about this on YouTube, that are practically begging WWE to reduce Raw to two hours. Some have said they switch off as the third hour starts, anyway. Many feel that there isn't enough content to fill three hours. And many, like almost all of us, have other things we want to do. If I had a choice between doing other things (e.g. calling a family member) and watching a third hour of Raw, I know what I'll choose.
I feel the same about comics. Back in the day, I loved reading The Incredible Hulk because the guy only had one title. There were guest appearances, of course. However, I had little desire to keep abreast of Spidey, Punisher, X-Men, etc. I love those guys, but I didn't want to keep up with it all. Maybe I might have if they'd have featured standalone tales, but with so many interconnected storylines, I didn't hang around to keep abreast of it all.
I do wish that creativity and fan satisfaction could be put first some of the time. As far as has been reported, WWE has been profitable for many years. Did they really need to add a third hour to a two-hour show? And although comics don't appear to sell as many copies as they used to, so cannot necessarily be compared to a profitable wrestling company, I do wish creativity and fan satisfaction could be paramount.
Fact is, most of us, except the most hardcore, have no inclination to keep up with so much. My favourite TV series is Arrow, but if every episode was three hours long, and ran for 52 weeks of the year, I'd say, "Get lost!" Same with anything, really. I'd have no desire for Stephen King to put out several books a year. I am a Punisher fan, but one book is enough for me. I wouldn't want two Star Wars movies a year. We have a limited amount of time to follow what we like and I feel over-saturation is an "invention of the Devil"!
To return to the point of this topic, I come across so many WWE fans who are burnt out by the amount of content, especially those who feel a compulsion to watch all programming (how on Earth do they do it?). And there can be comic fans who are burnt out, too. Someone I know drifted away from the X-Men books at a point when there were so many. So while short-term profits no doubt mean a lot to WWE/comic publishers, if they are driving fans away, you'll reach a point where fewer fans are tuning in/buying comics. And how would that benefit WWE/publishers?
Yes, a profitable wrestling company (TV deals alone probably give them a lot of satisfaction on their balance sheet) and the US comic industry are different. It is akin to comparing apples and oranges. Long-term, though, I see one parallel: a niche product becomes even more niche. Fewer people tune in/buy comics. An audience shrinks. Long-term - very long-term - it doesn't appear positive.
Less is more. The less we have of particular content, the better I think it is for everyone. Feel free to disagree, though.
