There is and always has been a trend in storytelling towards telling topical tales, those that rely on knowledge of a current event or element of our culture and in today in comics the most common example of this is the MMORPG. It only makes sense that this would be the case as there is of course a substantial crossover between those who write and read comics and those who play those games. So when they write a story set within a World of Warcraft clone they are in essence writing what they and their audience know; unfortunately though this is not enough, not on it’s own. The problem with this type of topical tale – whatever that topic might be – is that it’s appeal will be both temporary and exclusive, two severe limitations, and its drama will be over-derivative, a fatal flaw; so when I saw that Josh Gorfain’s Meatspace was going to deal with MMORPG’s I was instantly crestfallen, though as it turns out I had no real reason to be. It is the exception that proves the rule, it does relevant right by seemingly not doing it at all.
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