Why are Comics Terrible?

Comics are not magic. It's just a story with pictures. If you have a good writer, then they hire an artist: bam, you get a good comic. 

In Reality, every comic, including manga, relies entirely on cheap tricks and pandering. 

That is one powerful selection effect. How do they prevent a good story from appearing in comic form, even by accident? 

I especially like the "cliffhanger" technique. How to tell a ""good"" story: interrupt your own story and let all the tension fade away while you tell me a different story I don't currently care about. Thanks. When I finally get wrapped up in this second story, stop that one too. Awesome. 

Such suspense. Many pageturner. Wow. 

Then get cancelled or sick so nobody gets to see the endings.

Then finally get better and it turns out the ending was prosaic and forgettable - no wonder you wanted to hide it. No wonder manga has to run the status quo in circles for 200 chapters. The resolution is, "Eat your vegetables, kids. Big Brother is never wrong." Sublime. 

Oh, and the 'grownup' stories do the same thing, but are more boring. Hidden dragon has no, you know, dragons in it. Just people. That makes it 'serious.' I can go outside if I want to see people.

I think it's Faustianism. I can't trace the underlying circuit, but it's clearly a cultural effect. The folk who produce comics want to conform, which means producing shitty, childish stories. Apparently nobody thinks of going beyond the culture anymore. (Except me of course.) All straining beyond the summit is fake, as intended.

It's the same in video games. What made golden age games so special is not secret. It's widely known. (Proven by mega man 9.) Self-publishing is not exactly outlawed - it's easier than ever. Why doesn't anyone make an awesome golden era game with modern QoL sensibilities? Billions of English speakers, a guy who tried to re-create legend of zelda in 3D (getting C&D'd while Cadence of Hyrule exists), and that's it? Answer: Faustian culture. Have to be like the VG devs who came before. They only break the rules by accident, when they're too dumb to follow the rules.

I can't get over how corporate art is a horrible environment that's nowhere near good enough...and yet indies somehow manage to be universally worse. WTF. 

Like Pixel is seriously impressive and all but Cave Story is and old-school game with old-school QoL. And there's one (1) Pixel, who isn't even English. 

P.S. Reminder that the great promise of video games is to go and live a life that's impractical to live IRL. Books can lie about interaction in a way video games can't. You want a game that simulates that other life as closely as possible, so it feels as rich and lifelike as possible. As much depth and detail as you can afford. You're not just playing with some simplistic toy, but genuinely exploring a distant possibility. 

Cave Story doesn't make you feel like you're a robot exploring a cave connected to a ruined civilization. It makes you feel like you're playing an arcade game with arbitrary powerups and unintuitive spatial relations.