Are comic books basically just published fanfiction these days?
 

Like outside of creator owned/published comic books like Stan Sakai with Usagi Yojimbo, any time a writer comes on board to write a comic for DC, Marvel or TMNT...isn't it just pretty much published fanfiction?

Let's imagine IDW TMNT for a minute even under Waltz run from issue #1-100. If you told anyone the main story beats that happened in IDW TMNT prior to the year 2011...wouldn't it just sound like published fanfiction? Like you can probably go to fanfiction.net and read old TMNT fanfics published between the years 1998-2005 or so where people did similar things bringing back original cartoon characters and mixing it with Mirage TMNT characters or whatever. Or go to deviantart and read old fan comics from the early 2000's.

Aside from comic books being officially licensed and published, isn't it all just someones very well done official fanfiction at this point?

All the big names definitely are

I've read a few fan comics that were miles better than most official TMNT stuff we're getting.

One of them being "Showdown" by Dmitry Grozov

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca88...-yN4SDPtdWszIU

Yes. And suddenly creating TMNT jambalaya was treated as this uniquely good thing, when it's anything but. It's just human centipeding 4th party waste and pretending it is fresh and something new.

Publishers and writers have also gotten away from solid narratives and more into the "shock moments". Relying on things like burning the lower half of Wolverine's body away down to the bone as the punchline for an entire issue rather than any narrative function.

I think it's a testimony to how shallow a generation of writers are nowadays that the best they can do are one panel character moments or identity-politics rather than any real examination of a character.

As far as mainstream comics go? Absolutely. You want quality, you go to smaller publishers, one-off "out of universe" tales, or creator-owned comics. Most of the stuff I read these days comes from Image.

The issues with IDW TMNT is the bloated cast. Who cares about Carmen or Bob? Why do you need Nova Posse involved The Armageddon Game arc when you already have Neutrinos? Lot of the random Archie comics stuff, but Waltz or Campbell hadn't found a way to bring any of them into the story.

For now, the four Turtles feel like the extras, not main characters. Worse, they've become lamest weakling ninja turtles ever.

Yeah I was never fond at how IDW always seemed to introduce 100 new characters every few issues (yes I know I'm exaggerating the number but you get the point). I actually forgot some characters existed before I looked over some older issues again, like I forgot that pet dinosaur Bebop/Rocksteady had was now a mutant (it was last seen in the battle of the bands arc), and hasn't been seen since.

There's also a lot of extra unnecessary characters like Natsu or whatever her name is, Karai's friend with all the tattoo's. Why is she even here? And as said the Nova Posse were kinda pointless since the Neutrinos serve the exact same role.

I mean isn’t anything that doesn’t have original creators input basically just gloried fanfiction?

Pretty much exactly what I thought too! Take all the franchises out there that have outlasted their original creator, Marvel, DC, Star Trek, and Doctor Who being examples. The current showrunners and headwriters in most cases that I know of were fans as children.

Difficult question to answer. Derivative works themselves are obviously nothing new but I'm not sure sure anyone would think of anything using public domain characters as fan fiction. Then of course we have works of fiction which use multiple authors from day one. I think the most useful way of defining fan fiction is in relation to copyright, basically we can define it depending on what the answer is to these questions:

1. Was it sanctioned by the copyright holder?
2. Is the original work in the public domain?

If the answer is yes to either of these questions, then it probably does not qualify as fan fiction. If it's not to both, then it does qualify as fan fiction.

Of course, I guess the heart of the original question as stated in the opening post is more like "Are comics prone to the same cringe worthy fanfic elements you associate with DeviantArt and Tumblr due to publishers hiring just about anyone to make them because of the constant need to pump out comics?". Which… Yes, have been for a long time unfortunately.

Star Trek is a good example Gene Roddenberry died during The Next Generation series, but Star Trek continued to go on over 30 years after his death. Would any of Star Trek be "his vision" after that?

Bill Finger created Batman. If he were still alive today, would he view what modern Batman is in either comics, movies or cartoons to be what he considered his creation back in 1930's-1940's? Probably not

It's a lot different than Japanese anime/manga, where a series is made by one creator and then it usually ends and doesn't go on with other writers (most of the time). We even saw when that happened with Dragon Ball GT in the 90's without Toriyama and that's why it bombed.

The idea that something needs to go on forever is a horrible one and especially bad in comics. I don't care much about marvel/dc anymore because those characters are never allowed to evolve, it's just the same stories over and over in slight remixes and or bad takes.

TMNT works better set in the 80s and 90s when it was created, the same as the cape superheroes worked better in the original setting they were created and adapting them to modern times creates issues and explanations and whatnot. we need new sh-t instead of trying to shove old properties that worked in the past. I think I'm not excited in general about the TMNT anymore since it's always going to be a remix of the stuff I've already seen, even "different" stuff like Rise of the TMNT is not that different from what TMNT is.

American comics are indeed glorified fan-fiction but it's such a small niche market so it doesn't bother me as much, they have no real influence. The Manga way is clearly superior which is why Manga overtook comics in the US and the rest of the world. New generations found media that actually kept up with the times in Manga.
I think there's a fine line. Look at the Boom! Power Rangers comics or most Star wars comics and books. Many if not most of them feel like fan fiction. Even the movies or new shows. But you can have other properties that were revived well even if radically different from the original vision. It also has nothing to do with whether a show is successful or not.

The Netflix Voltron? Fanfiction with Voltron character names
Neflix Death Note? Bad interpretation of the source material but still Death Note.

TMNT is a 40+ years old property by now. The younger generations of comic writers writing and drawing TMNT comics nowadays will, mot likely, have grown up as fans of the TMNT property. Therefore... sure.

Same goes for people working on any other old enough property or series nowadays. If you grew up, let's say, as a Family Guy fan, and get hired to write scripts for the next Family Guy season... you'll technically be writing fanfiction.

I see people using the "this sounds like glorified fanfiction" argument when a story is poorly written or something illogical or that feels forced happens, though.

I think you should never hire a writer because of his knowledge of a property, but because of his being good at writing. You need a good writer, not a good fan.

I'd say both. A good writer yes, but they should also either know the source material or at least read up on it before signing up to write a pre-established character or series.

Imagine writing the next mainline Batman run and randomly tossing Alfred in there without explanation because the new guy had no idea the character has been dead for years.

A good writer researches and studies the source material, he doesn't need to be a fan of it.

At this point I could care less what they do with the TMNT because they've already gotten their fair share of attention through the years! I feel more bad for the Mighty Mutanimals who barely get recognized! I would have loved it if IDW had made the Mutanimals be more like they were in the old Archie comics, but they ruined that opportunity by having the team formed and lead by Old Hob of all characters, and that will always rub me the wrong way! The 2012 show's version of the group had promise but for some reason they felt the team could only have 4 members to mirror the Turtles, which I always found kinda stupid. Seth Rogen's group almost got it right, but they altered certain characters way too much, especially Mondo Gecko!

I would also like see more of the mighty mutanimals. Its the reason why I created all of them as characters in Sora. To be able to play around with them.

eh... yes and no. Writing without passion shows in the work. It's easier to write Batman with passion if you at least cared about the character sometime in your life.