Episode 371


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Having thought about the Buffy portion of this podcast for awhile, I will express three things.

First I agree that the issue was not new reader friendly. Secondly I could not disagree more on the comparison between Astonishing X-Men and Buffy being an example of Joss not understanding his own characters. I will admit however that my knowledge of canonical Buffy is large, while my knowledge of X-Men is not. So perhaps I'm simply the other side of the coin in terms of the vantage point Michael is coming from. Lastly, as entertained as I am by First Issue Special's particular paradigm, I generally don't think that any first issue of these large serialized stories or mythologies are reader friendly. Just to cite an example, while I intend to read Brubaker's Captain America run at some point, I'm not a knowledgeable Cap fan. As of right now, I couldn't tell you anything about Bucky other then him being Cap's sidekick in WW2 whom somehow is in the modern day now, currently being Captain America. That's all I know. However instead of trying to jump into the title, expecting it to answer these questions for me, I will at the appropriate time look it up before I begin. I don't think a little research and context is too much to ask of readers whom are becoming more and more likely to have internet access at some point of their day. Within that paradigm however, I would direct you to my first point, that it is not new reader friendly.

Other then that, thanks for the show.

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Thanks for the comment. But don't you think that at least the first issue of a comic, run, whatever, should be solely enjoyable on its own without research?

I read an issue of Greek Street lately and was fucking befuddled as to what I was trying to read. I went to the internet and it told me it was a modern rendition of a Greek tragedy. Thanks for that internet but it means nothing if the story itself cannot back it up. The very idea of monthly issues is that each one has to be fulfilling on its own or it has failed.

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Thanks for the comment. But don't you think that at least the first issue of a comic, run, whatever, should be solely enjoyable on its own without research?

It wasn't really the first issue though. It was a special one issue extra for the ongoing series. Just as a Marvel Annual issue probably won't be immediately followable to the uninitiated, this issue was designed to be a culmination of a lot of stuff that was hinted at prior in the series. I don't want to be all "fuck new readers" but I've no idea what they'd be doing reading this issue.

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Sorry, I never realized what issue we were referring to. Yeah, I guess you're right. But there was still no marker given to let us know what was going on. Essential for any single issue regardless of where it falls.

I do think however that a lot of new readers would have picked it up simply because of the oneshot factor. So I stand by my comment if at a slightly less concentrated level.

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