So true

[yendi]

". . . comics evolved by directing creative effort away from any moments of quality and toward large-scale creative bankruptcy. This leads to cognitive dissonance among fans, who are attached to the mythology but eventually realize they’ve been tricked, as well as among the writers themselves, who generally don’t like thinking that their work actually requires them to avoid artistic merit."

From David Auerbach's The Cosmology of Serialized Television, one of the best articles I've read this weekend. Comics are a digression here, but the piece is a must-read for anyone who enjoys serialized TV of any sort (from soaps to Lost to HBO to Mad Men).