Most of the time, when someone tells you a story gets better later, it’s not true. Most stories will never be better than their first installment. But there are some happy exceptions, and we’ve invited Rhys back a third time to talk about them. We discuss TV shows that started off a mess but rose to greatness, novels that evolved over time, and a roleplaying podcast that listened to its fans. Plus, some behind the scenes dish for Star Trek: The Next Generation.
P.S. Our bills are paid by our wonderful patrons. Could you chip in?
One genre you didn’t cover was comics. Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series got a sort of choppy start on the first storyline, Preludes and Nocturnes. He really hit his stride after that, I think in part because he started to get a better feel for his mythos and built it out. Another was Fables. The first storyline was investigating the murder of a character you got the feeling no one really cared for one way or another. A much later storyline, Cubs in Toyland, just wrecked me. The author learned how to build up the emotional stakes by then.
Yeah that first issue of Sandman was rough. It also had some really out of place appearances by DC Superheros, something they thankfully dropped as the series went on.