The Writer Will Take Your Questions Now (#88) -- Story Arcs

How long should a 'typical' comic book story arc be? I ask for various reasons but the main one is that it used to take an issue or two to tell an origin story and I think DCnU is on issue 6's and not sure if they've finished any origin story arcs yet.

For starters, I don't believe that anymore there is such a thing as a typical comic book arc. The days of the single issue story are most likely long behind us. The marketing opportunities that have come with the trade collection and the graphic novel (which are not the same thing) have perhaps forever changed the playing field.

However, I don't believe that should change the nature of both a story arc and an individual issue having a solid beginning, middle and end. I'm still a big fan of good stories, regardless of them being eight pages, ten pages, three issues, four issues or six, just as long as they clearly pace themselves in a way that keeps me reading and give me a solid sense of beginning, middle and end.