Open Thread: Oracle Hotline
So I've been thinking this week about authorial voice in comics. I've been reading Sheenan Pugh's "Fanfiction: The Democratic Genre," and she mentions television and movie fandoms are easier to write because the authorial voice is less distinctive than--her examples--Discworld or Jane Austen. A book-based fandom with a distinctive "voice" is a lot more limiting, although the results can be impressive.
Comics, of course, are a sort of halfway point between a visual fandom and a book fandom. And most of the time, the authorial voice is fairly...transparent, for lack of a better term. That is, I'd be hard-pressed to distinguish between Busiek, Wolfman and Johns in writing style, although I'm sure there are subtle differences (and if it's about how awesome Hal Jordan is I'll lay good odds it's Johns).
There are distinctive "voices" in comic book writing, like Jack Kirby or Frank Miller, but mostly people don't try to echo them (one fun exception that springs to mind: damos 's Darkseid/Galactus, which aims to capture Kirby's cadences with awesome results). snake_easing 's All the Stars Look Down dabbles in Miller's voice at times, but it's not a place once can stay long, I don't think. I'm sure I'm missing other cool examples, but mostly comics use a pretty transparent voice, which makes them (like Harry Potter, also a fairly unmarked authorial voice) rather easy to base fic off of, for a written fandom.
Have you ever tried to capture the "feel" of a particular comic author? Or what sets them apart in your mind?
(Can you tell my Yuletide assignment is in a book fandom with a very distinctive voice--think Austen or Shakespeare--and it's kind of freaking me out? *grin* I never realized how freeing it is to have source material with...really no canon "voice" to go on. How's the week been for you guys as the holiday season starts to kick in in earnest?)
Comics, of course, are a sort of halfway point between a visual fandom and a book fandom. And most of the time, the authorial voice is fairly...transparent, for lack of a better term. That is, I'd be hard-pressed to distinguish between Busiek, Wolfman and Johns in writing style, although I'm sure there are subtle differences (and if it's about how awesome Hal Jordan is I'll lay good odds it's Johns).
There are distinctive "voices" in comic book writing, like Jack Kirby or Frank Miller, but mostly people don't try to echo them (one fun exception that springs to mind: damos 's Darkseid/Galactus, which aims to capture Kirby's cadences with awesome results). snake_easing 's All the Stars Look Down dabbles in Miller's voice at times, but it's not a place once can stay long, I don't think. I'm sure I'm missing other cool examples, but mostly comics use a pretty transparent voice, which makes them (like Harry Potter, also a fairly unmarked authorial voice) rather easy to base fic off of, for a written fandom.
Have you ever tried to capture the "feel" of a particular comic author? Or what sets them apart in your mind?
(Can you tell my Yuletide assignment is in a book fandom with a very distinctive voice--think Austen or Shakespeare--and it's kind of freaking me out? *grin* I never realized how freeing it is to have source material with...really no canon "voice" to go on. How's the week been for you guys as the holiday season starts to kick in in earnest?)