A technical note:

Conventional wisdom holds that blog posts shouldn't be too long; at a certain length, attention wanders and the writer loses the reader.

I'm thrilled with the far-reaching conversation that the Collected Editions readers and I are having about favorite Superman stories, trade buying, and DC: Legacies, after the Superman: Secret Origins review, a long post. Maybe the conventional wisdom is wrong after all.

Lately there have been a couple of long(er) posts here (not so long, really) -- on Secret Origin, and also on Superman/Batman: Big Noise. For those who prefer, next week's posts are back to the regular-sized (but no less detailed) fare, plus a special mid-week surprise.

Tomorrow, however, one more long post: the Collected Editions review of Grant Morrison's Batman: Time and the Batman. This is a complicated book, the strange middle child between The Return of Bruce Wayne and Batman and Robin: Batman Must Die, befitting I think a slightly longer look.

I hope you'll chime in and share your thoughts on that one tomorrow. Thanks as always for reading.

Comments ( 6 )

KelsonApril 20, 2011
I think the conventional wisdom is true to an extent for new readers: those who follow a link from some other site, or a search result. But it doesn't necessarily hold for regular readers, or those who have a strong interest in an article's subject. (And if there's one thing fans of any sort excel at, it's holding a strong interest in a specific subject!)

The trick (as always) is finding that sweet spot between the two.
Ken OApril 20, 2011
I enjoy the longer posts but don't always take the time to post or comment. I think that is another problem with blogs in general though. A number of people will comment to me in real life about something I've written, but they'll rarely take the time to actually post a comment on the blog.
HixApril 20, 2011
That Vext review should have been at least 3 times longer.
Robert YoungApril 20, 2011
But if you've got a lot to say about something, then go ahead and say it! I doubt you'll find much resistance from the public at large regarding this, and even less from the usual suspects. Throw down the gauntlet and let the discussions go where they might.
collectededitionsApril 21, 2011
The dimensional overlords in charges of the higher planes have been directing me to give this blog over just to Vext, all the time. So far I've resisted them. So far.

Nice to hear from some fellow bloggers on this one. I don't know that I was specifically concerned about the usual suspects, as Robert noted, so much as that every post could be someone's first (or second, or third) and it occurred to me someone just starting might think this is always how it is; I, for one, don't always have time to read longer blog posts myself, so I'm sympathetic. And sometimes it's interesting to look at the form behind the content -- the three reviews I mention are for entirely different series, but had in common some writerly mood at the time.

Anywho -- Kelson, I still owe you a guest post. Took all my notes for what I wanted to write, just haven't put it down on paper. Will do soon(ish). Thanks all.
D. Mark SimmsApril 25, 2011
This almost sounds like a metaphor of comics being easy for a new reader to hop on board vs catering to the long time fans. ;-)

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