Comic books are the literature equivalent of fast-food

>>92096109
Blah blah blah pretentious nobody blah blah blah adulthood is when you don't give a shit what other people think blah blah blah said person only reads books for being able to pretend their smart when they tell people they read the book.

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>>92096109
This is preposterous.
1. most writers will tell you that you should write at an 8-9th grade reading level. This is so your average person doesn't feel overwhelmed when reading your work.

2. While it is true that comics are considered lesser by laureates, you can look into the comic field and find many examples of writers who have went from novels, to comics, to tv. Books are great, but comics can be a more frequent source of income.

3. Comics have moved on from the cliche most would point to. Road to perdition, watchmen, black hole, Zot, beautiful darkness. All great graphic novels (comics) that are better than the last Stephanie Meyers, Laura k. Hamilton, or Anne Rice POS.

4 fuck the nay sayer read the stuff you want to read.

>>92096184
This

>>92096109
Something something Watchmen
Something something Sandman
Something something Dark Knight Returns
Something something Cerebus

>>92096109
Comics aren't literature. They are their own separate form of art.

I mean, how could it not be true?

The best comics are made by people who've learned the craft of literature, just as the best fast food is made by people who under at least a bit of real cuisine.

Furthermore, if you think about effort involved, it's a perfect comparison. Fast food is "fast" partially because it's easily accessible, easily consumable, easily prepared, and so on, where as real cuisine takes time to prepare, is usually eaten with a fork and knife and some care, and is usually one-of-a-kind, where the difference between chefs makes a huge difference.

While comics might not be as easily accessible in terms of physically getting them, they can literally be thought of as "stories with visual aids". In other words, they let the reader not have to use their imagination to fill in the gaps of what's happening visually.

>>92096359

I think you're conflating "fast food" with "absolutely terrible." McDonald's, Wendy's, In'n'Out, etc. are popular as fuck for a reason: sometimes a hint of quality and other times they're just cheap, easy to get into, and predictable, which might be exactly what you're looking for.

>>92096109
t is just another medium. Not inherently better nor inherently worse.

You can easily find "fast-food books" in every Wallmart. Does that mean that "books are the literature equivalent of fast-food"?

Idgi.

When I think of "fast food" I think of:

-Cheap food (I guess comics are kinda cheap? You'd need to adjust for how many pages of story you get per dollar--comics might be more expensive than a book if you do it that way)
-Fast (Comics are not fast they are slow)
-Usually there's also connotations of lower quality food, since it needs to get out the door so fast. This depends on the comic. Some comics are bad quality some are good.
-Usually there's connotations of being "comfort food". Tasty, fatty kind of food, lots of Calories. Like a burger or fried chicken etc. Served hot with a cold drink on the side. The kind of food someone driving home after a stressful day of work really starts to crave. Is this true of comics? Maybe. But I personally don't see individual issues of comics to be all that "filling". They are like a snack.

Overall I guess I'd disagree with his assessment. Also even if they WERE fast food literature, that's no reason to feel bad about it. The reason why people feel bad about fast food is they want to lose weight and they gave into temptation. But comics definitely isn't going to hurt your diet at all. Its just reading.

>>92096109
It's true about the industry in general but meaningless as far as the medium itself. It comes with being a business first type of product. Books and novels are also mostly "fast food".

>Green Lantern instead of Moby-Dick
You shouldn't. The only people who think literary-fiction is the end all be all are academics who are way too far up their own asses. Feel free to branch out though.

Butthurt novelists and essayists.

Comics are the perfect middle-ground for all storytelling.

>>92096109
It's 100% right and there's nothing wrong with that.

>>92096723
>they are slow
In making them, not so much reading them. By page count they're much, much quicker reads than a novel.

>>92096523

They are as much literature as novels, magazines, academic journals, textbooks, plays, films/television are.

The fact that comics are conceived and written makes them litterature

>>92096109
"Moby Dick" only gets interesting once Ahab appears, and by that point, most readers have abandoned the book already.

>>92096808
Yeah there is. We could be getting good content instead of cash-grabs, events, and constant streams of capeshit.

>>92096816
If you run through the pages, sure, but if you take your time to appreciate the art...

Tom King and Priest write 1200~ words per issue, that's good enough.

Also, never believe that manga has more content. Shonen mangas have barely 400~ per chapter.

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He's mad because he knows that words can't express the beauty of certain works of art, thus rendering his "medium" as an inferior method of story-telling depending on the story.

The notion that written art is the peak of storytelling is old-fashioned and stupid.

>>92096816

But making them is what matters for the whole "fast food" label. They don't call it "fast food" because its fast to eat. But because its fast to make. Comic books are not fast to make.

>>92096109
You should read Moby Dick because it's an amazing book you might actually really enjoy if you go into it with an open mind, not because it's "better" than Green Lantern like it's fucking broccoli or something

>>92096109

Not all comics. Just cape shit, and only most of the time.

As long as you occasionally read an actual book in your life, there's nothing wrong with reading comics if you simply read for leasure.

The medium is fine. There's some great comics of all sorts for all sorts of people.

Capeshit just gives it a bad rap. I've tried a few times to start reading superhero comics. Honestly, they are so bad it genuinely boggles my mind. I don't understand why some of you get so worked up about them. It's like no one who writes them has any idea what a human being even is. If you forced me to decide to spend an hour a day reading superhero comics or watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians I'm going with Kim no hesitation.

>>92099143
Nice try, fake poster

As if /tv/shitters weren't enough, now we have /lit/ards.

>>92098903

Call me Ismael.

>>92096109
Let that person sit down and read Eternaut and say that.

I think comics have literary potential. I've taught a class on comics as literature and it went over well. It's difficult to translate its literary qualities for an academic audience because comics is such a unique format in that it is both writing and a visual art. Some of comics greatest symbolism comes in its page layouts, panel-to-panel transition, color, etc.

>>92096184
I get your sentiments but I also hate this larger idea of equating anything intellectual with pretension. it's dismissive and reductive and favors the uneducated.

>Cheap fix
>Easily accessible, requires little palette or taste t enjoy
>Highly enjoyable by everyone, even snobs who will criticize it out loud to seem sophisticated
>Stays the same for years, a little change that annoys people, then it goes back to the status quo

Pretty apt analogy, but there are at least 3 graphic novels that should be included in the modern canon of literature, if only for cultural influence

>>92096723
there is fast food literature anon its called sci-fi and fantasy

>>92096946
word count =/= content amount

>>92099334
So comics are another category entirely? Comic books are literature

>>92099312
>I get your sentiments but I also hate this larger idea of equating anything intellectual with pretension
I get your sentiments but I fail to see how the statement "Comic books are the literature equivalent of fast-food" is anything other than pretentious. I for one don't think pretentiousness should be equated with intellectualism.

>>92099361
we could get into all kinds of theoretical studies on what constitutes literature, most would generally accept that as novels, poetry, and short-stories. Comics, like plays, are unique because they are visual formats as well. Rather than looking at it as a negative, think of comics not being literature as a positive, as its own unique art form

>>92099419
Actually a lot of modern academics would consider anything that's genre fiction to be lesser than literary fiction. I get why that is but I don't know if I really agree.

>>92099479
I don't read fantasy, but I teach two genre studies courses at a uni in detective and sci-fi separately myself.

I also shitpost here

>>92099549
O-ok.

>>92096109
I don't think comics should be compared to literature, they are different art forms. Comics are more similar to movies than they are to prose writing

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>>92096109
>fast food
>fast
>novels give us entire stories in one go
>comics take months or even years to get through a single story arc
>fast

Mugga.

>>92099877
You're not necessarily reading comics as they release. Also there are GNs released whole.

>>92099910
And novels that were originally serialized

>>92096109
>literature equivalent of fast-food
and it's a problem because...? you can enjoy more than one type of literature, you know.

>>92099963
Cause fast food is kinda shite and capes are kinda shite.

>>92100001
yes, and...? One can go to a 3 michelin-star restaurant one day and the other day go to a fast-food chain eating pizza, what's the problem?

>>92100046
But maybe you really fucking love burgers but all of the michelin star places just scoff at you and laugh with their snooty accents so you have to get all of your burgers from fast food.

>>92100046
>>92100137
By the way I KNOW we are better than food metaphors.

>>92100137
They're the retarded one m8. Just look at them at laught while you're eating your delicious burger.

>>92100143
but they're fun and I'm Italian: food is what we're the best at. Suck it up France.

Sometimes you're in the mood for fast food tho.

>>92100152
But you JUST said I had both. Why can't I have mediums I want on both sides of the fence? I mean burgers.

>>92100237
but you have. It's just not capeshit. now go and read Corto Maltese

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>>92096934

>>92100501
I own Corto Maltese. One at least.

>>92100543
Your gif's not moving for me. What ever it was I'm sure you made a good point.

If Comic books are fast food then what's James Patterson?

>>92096109
if comics are fast food, does that make stufff like fan fiction are home made meals?

>>92096109
I'd say it's correct only in the sense that I can read a comic book about ten times faster than a book, and I like that a lot about them.

>>92099143
>Capeshit just gives it a bad rap. I've tried a few times to start reading superhero comics. Honestly, they are so bad it genuinely boggles my mind. I don't understand why some of you get so worked up about them
They are mindless fun with some good moments here and there, but I agree with you that it's really stupid when people get so worked up about them.

>>92096109
Literature sucks and is gay and gets repetitive; at least comics are fun and pretty.

This may sound retarded but I've spent many years forming this opinion and condensing it down to this one single sentence.

If you think it holds no truth, compare how lighthearted this board is most of the time compared to /lit/.

>>92096109
Moby Dick is boring as fuck

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>>92096109
your shitty capeshit is stupid though

>>92096109
Yeah, but I enjoy fast food.

>>92099312
It's not that reading books makes you pretentious. Thinking your books make you better than anyobdy else makes you pretentious.

these people read partly because they want to feel superior to other forms of media.

The fact is that people can read both. I have a Stephen King book and a Drax comic in my bag right now.
I give comics to my gf, and she gives me books. It's a great mix.

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>Based Kupperman

>>92102034
Beautiful.

comics are literally just pictures in sequence, sometimes they don't even contain words

if you think movies can have some narrative or artistic significance, there is literally no reason why comics can't

>>92096109
literature itself has a lot of fast food though. But it's true, most comics are fast food with a few exceptions.

>>92102034
>>92102066
ya, Watchmen and V for Vendetta are just silly little comics!!! XD

>>92099404
>but I fail to see how the statement "Comic books are the literature equivalent of fast-food" is anything other than pretentious
But it's the damn truth. No matter how many examples you can give me of comics that won't fit that category ain't gonna change that. For every 1 example you give I can counter with 5 "fast food comics".

>>92102139
I have absolutely no idea what point are you trying to make, or imply, so I'm just going to call you a faggot and be done with it.

>>92102179
Everything genre fiction is fast food. 99% of stuff in every medium is genre fiction.

>>92102210
thanks for admitting you're a retard

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>if we call comic books literature, people will finally respect them!

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>>92096109
Its more the equivalent of a burger.
There are cheap ones, there are beautifull ones, there are complex ones and there are cullinary burgers.

>>92096109
>I can't remember exactly where, but I heard this phrase from a writer or something
Come back when your Alzheimer's is better or you stop pulling stuff out of your asshole

>>92096544
Conflating fast food?

I think the op's source was doing this friend. I agree with your points.

>>92102088
Dubs for truth
Checked em here

>>92096109
Moby-Dick is no worse than a superhero comic.

It's about a guy trying to get revenge on a whale that took his leg.

Literature can be fucking daft sometimes.

>>92104916
>It's about a guy trying to get revenge on a whale that took his leg.
The plot comes second in literature. Nobody reads it for the plot.

>>92102179
The thing about fast food is, most people don't choose a big mac over a real meal for the taste. They do it because it's cheap and easy, knowing full well they might feel sick afterward. It's not for fun, it's for convenience.

Comics aren't a convenience, they're a bad deal compared to the price of a book and the commonality of book stores compared to places that sell comics.

They are actually chosen because they're more entertaining than something "smarter". People would legit RATHER read genre fiction than Moby Dick and people would RATHER watch an action film than Citizen Kane.

So it's a bad analogy.