While we asked previously about the length of seasons and whether they’re too short or too long, we wanted to look at it from a different angle as well. While there are some very good short run series, there are also some very long running properties out there, and not just in anime and manga form. While we have shows like Naruto that’s up to 270 episodes, Bleach at 361 and One Piece at 536 episodes that are available to Western fans, there’s a lot of other very long running properties out there as well. With comic series that have decades of history (even with reboots!), TV series that sprawl for six or seven seasons and novel series that dwarf some of the bigger ones of years past like Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, do properties of a certain length have a barrier to entry?
Natural jumping on points are typically more common in the US comics world, especially where series restart and they do recaps and the like to make it much more accessible to new readers, not that they always get or retain them. But there’s something to be said about getting into a character that has fifty or more years of history to draw on even if it’s been put out to pasture due to changes in the world itself and storytelling. What we’ve also seen is that as the comics characters make their huge debuts on the silver screen, it almost never really translates into new customers for the comics for a variety of reasons. The one that did that though was Batman back in 1989 as there was a plethora of merchandise (and easy access with many mall comic stores). But since then? There’s no real bump in sales for them. It’s the trades that do it and even then it’s more the rarities like Watchmen or Walking Dead that pull it off. And it’s partially because there’s just so much material for the other characters that it’s spread out too much for a potential new fan to do.
Do these shows and books with this kind of history put you off? From personal experience, I grew up and got into comics in the early 80’s so I “only” had twenty years of back story to deal with when it came to the Marvel Comics series that I got into. But I found it a thrill to just pick up books randomly in their run, see if it was interesting from there, and if it was to start working my way backwards. Part of that was a collectors mentality. And that carried into other areas over the years as well as I got into novels that dealt with larger shared worlds or expansive stories that were told over multiple book series like the works of Raymond E. Feist. Even reading out of order was fun because of trying to put it together. And when it comes to TV series, some keep me away because of their length (hello, Dr. Who), but others I can be behind and just pick up from the start. I recently started in on the first season of Fringe that I got on Blu-ray a couple of years ago. Knowing I have three more seasons ahead is daunting just because of time, but it also means I have a lot more to look forward. to.
So, do these types of properties scare you away? Or are they just a huge lure that draws you in all the more? Drop in to our forum for the subject and let us know. No registration is required for that particular section, though you can certainly register and you can connect via Facebook as well to post.
Questioning Fandom appears every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with different topics where we want to know where the fans stand on them. Check the forum for past topics and join in the conversation. You can also suggest topics in there as well!