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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #44
06 April 1998
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
The Soap Opera Model
Comic books, it can be said, follow the soap opera model. Or maybe
it's vice versa. But since soap operas are still rather popular and comic
books are - well - not, mayhaps we should look at what we might be able to
learn from soap operas.
The first and most obvious comparison is the serialization. Soap
operas are serials and, as such, go on and on and on with the same
storylines. Stories have to be repeated and recapped almost on a daily
basis in order to keep less ardent viewers aware of all that is going on.
Comic books are getting back to this. It used to be included as a function
of good storytelling. Nowadays, comic writers are frustrated at wasting
pages recapping what went on last issue. So Marvel comes up with the
solution of introducing the characters and situations on the inside front
cover. If only they could do it without giving away any of the surprises
of the issue. That's still being worked on. And Marvel is still bankrupt.
Coincidence? Well, actually, yes.
Soap operas introduce characters, make you like them, and then follow
their trials and tribulations. The only problem with this is that it gets
to be a bit outrageous after a while. You can only see the same character
married, divorced, harassed, raped, nearly-killed, and kidnapped so many
times before it gets stupid. And to that end, soap operas do change up
characters occasionally. It happens slowly and often as a function of time
and careers rather than solid character planning. But change occurs.
Comic books have the "illusion of change." Superman turns blue, or
Spider-Man is cloned. And, just like in soap operas, you can only see
Batman lose his memory, get his back broken, get tossed off of buildings,
kidnapped, harassed, and heart-broken so many times before it gets silly.
Maybe it's time for real change in comics. Or maybe it doesn't matter
since there's such a turnover in comic book readership. Is there such a
one in soap operas? I don't know, but I know of many people who have been
watching soaps for a long time.
Usually, though, you get the foundation characters with the changing
support cast. How long, for example, has Dr. Harvey been on General
Hospital? And how many members of the supporting cast have come and gone
since then? Maybe that's a model a comic should look at: Keep some major
characters, feel free to move them into the background from time to time,
and have a rotating cast of supporting and even feature characters. Sounds
like Babylon 5 to me, too. =)
The thing soap operas don't have that comic books have is abrupt and
total change. Creators change, and with them take months or years of
continuity. Comics take complete left turns. JLA goes from serious to
humorous and back to serious, with wide arrays of artistic styles. With
each change, you've got to imagine the readership changes completely. Not
with soap operas -- that audience stays steady. Maybe because there are
less choices?
And why do soap operas turn profits? They're done cheaply and
quickly. Scripts are done every day. Actors - quite often not the cream
of the crop, either - memorize pages of lines every day. There's an hour
of show everyday. And with comic books? Well, they come out every 4 to 6
weeks. They have remarkable production values. They're clearly superior
products, but does their inherent lack of speed lose audience?
But would daily comic books, to use the extreme example, work? Well,
we have comic strips. They're the closest thing. But those have three
panels a day, in which the first recaps the previous strip, the second sets
up the day's point, and the third ends in a cliffhanger for the next day.
They're generally popular, but are considered free, too, as a side benefit
of the daily paper. But they move too slowly, too, for today's audiences.
You have to make the effort to read the paper everyday for a month at least
to get a story. This, of course, brings us back to the old argument of
whether the future of comics are in graphic novels and TPBs...
The soaps cultivate their audience, by including in just about every
show a teen plot. There are teenage character there alongside the seniors
and the adult characters. So soap operas have outlets for people of every
age group to enjoy. Do comics have this? Well, you have comics like
IMPULSE for the teenage set and the DC ADVENTURES for the younger set. And
you have separate comics for adults. But there isn't much in the way of
singular comics which appeal to everyone. Would that require an anthology
series? Is that all soaps are? Anthologies, with some minor plot mixing
on occasion? But comic anthologies rarely, if ever, work. Maybe there
should be a series which would allow for storylines featuring characters of
all three generations.
Soap operas have certain inherent advantages. They are on TV and thus
hit a wider audience possibility. They don't require your brain to work.
They're completely free. Comics make you read, cost you money, and can be
found in less and less places. Plus there are no mass-market publications
available everywhere like with SOAP OPERA DIGEST, for example.
I have to admit - I just read this over. A lot of it seems
absolutely stupid. Some of it make no sense. But it's on the table now,
so there. Discuss. Blow it up. Let's find some solutions to the problems
comics are suffering right now. Before we lose another Awesome or Acclaim.
-Augie
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