You're A Myspace Virgin? Oh, Myspace/Virgin!

MySpace and Virgin have teamed up to destroy the profession of comics scriptwriting.

Okay, not quite. Coalition Comix promises to let the readers vote on every plot twist, creating a story plotted by its readers... and hopefully redeemed by the writers' concepts, characters and dialogue, because MySpacers and comic book fans are not exactly known for their literary skills.



Putting in Mike Carey as writer... er, "story master"... is a good start. But I'm skeptical. Interactivity seems to work best when the interaction is limited to the truly arbitrary decisions (should we kick out Sanjaya this week?) instead of every plot twist, or when the stories are simple (Choose Your Own Adventure, Interplanetary Spy). Virgin doesn't do "simple," and neither does Carey. These stories seem like they can't help but be watered down: the setup forces the writer to give the audience what it wants right that second, not what is best for it. Remember how awkward and forced the writing was in the reader-determined battles in DC vs. Marvel? Even moreso than in the average superhero crossover, I mean?

But let's check back in a couple months and see how they've done once the hype cycle is over. That's a good rule for Zuda, too. Good rule for life.