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ShannonA
05-28-2007, 09:35 PM
I was considering my favorite genres today, and came to the realization that it differs widely by medium.

In comic books (which got me thinking), my favorite books tend to be the modern fantasies like Lucifer, Sandman, Books of Magic, and Fables. The science-fiction comics all tend to be near futures, cyberpunk or post-apocalypse, and thus while I've read books like DMZ and Tranmetropolitan, they don't enthuse me as much as more far-reaching science-fiction would.

I'm surprised by the number of space dramas that are on TV like Battlestar, Stargate Atlantis, and (to a lesser extent) Stargate SG-1, and they're among my favorites. The modern science-fiction/fantasy shows are what really tend to control the airways, though, and with exceptions like Lost and Heroes I find most of them to be junk.

I suspect a lot of my differing interest has to do with the things that each medium has decided not to publish. I don't know, for example, why there aren't more comic book space dramas or real fantasies, but the mainstream companies have relatively steadfastly ignored them.

When given my choice in books, which cover most subgenres unlike more limited comics & TV, I tend to go with space science fiction and modern fantasy, only hitting other genres when a book is particularly good.

So any thoughts on why the different mediums vary their genres so much, and any one else who's genre tastes diverge by medium?

Chiaroscuro
11-16-2007, 07:20 PM
I've had the same experience, in particular with film: I like horror movies a lot, but have not traditionally read horror comics or novels. I think that's because horror movies are more likely to be good while containing fantastic elements than actual fantasy movies are. I also tend to only like space-y sci-fi in books, but like you I suspect that's just a limitation on who's decided to publish what.