Multiverse Syndrome

Eric Burns and Wednesday White's Websnark is the premier comic commentary site (though currently in partial hiatus). Look there for extensive discussion of "Cerberus Syndrome" and "First and Ten Syndrome". The observation that many light comics suddenly change direction for the darker and more serious, after a while, is astute and not original with me. Events recently in Dominic Deegan, however, have inspired me to speak up on the topic…

My webcomic-reading friends and I are starting to agree that there needs to be another named "Syndrome" that is something slightly different that "Cerberus" or "First and Ten". Yes, DD has always been a mixed drama/comedy strip, just as e.g. Schlock Mercenary has always been a comedy/drama strip. But in both, we have the phenomenon where each successive climax is vastly more sweeping in scope and impact.

Maybe "Multiverse Syndrome" is the right term? I'm more than happy to have successive climaxes that threaten the lives and happiness of the lead characters, their immediate friends and family, etc, etc. But why, oh why, do comics with a local feel have to have successive climaxes that threaten the city, then the state, then the nation, then the continent, then the world, then the solar system, then the local group, then the galaxy, then the universe, then the multiverse / timescape / etc (or whatever equivalent hierarchy is supported by the strip's notion of magic)?

I personally hate "Multiverse Syndrome". I love the "local feel" of some of my favorite comics. I want the characters to be the center of the comic, but not the center of the universe. Schlock Mercenary is still a great comic, but what place does the title character have in it these days other than as occasional comic relief? He can't really affect the direction of situations; only the Galactic Superpowers, Technological Wonders, and Trans-Human Intellects in the room can do that. I still read Schlock Mercenary voraciously, but it disappoints me every time a simple mercenary mission turns into a Pan-Galactic Incident.

Comic creators, here's my plea. Next time you feel like you have to "kick it up a notch", please reconsider. The greatest print comic of all time, Peanuts, went some 50 years without changing the basic flow of its universe, yet there was plenty of drama and new interest to go around. Find drama (and comedy) in the small. Some of your readers will thank you for it.

At least, I will. (B)