Greg Rucka is on vacation, which I think is curious. When I think about being a professional writer, I really can’t wrap my head around what “vacation” time would be. This is probably a failing on my part though - whenever I’ve gone on vacation lately, I’ve discovered that fact that I can’t enjoy myself unless I’m close to work. Don’t get me wrong, a break every now and then is nice, but anything longer than two or three days, and I really start to get itchy. I know that the shop is sitting there waiting for me with e-mails and orders and customers who are looking for recommendations and if I’m not there then who will do all these things. WHO??! The store owner? The highly capable part-time people? Well, sure, they’re certainly capable of all of these things, but I can’t shake that feeling, the one that sits in the back of my head that says (in a voice just louder than a whisper), “It’s all on fire. It’s burning to the ground. Everything is ruined, because you are not there.”

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…I’m sorry, what was I talking about? Oh right. Greg Rucka. And vacations. Like I was saying before the crazy parade, I can’t imagine what vacation time fora professional writer would feel like. Granted, in his blog post regarding this information, he says it means he is merely writing less, rather than not writing at all, which feels about right. As an aspiring writer, I know that there are times when a person is helpless against the never ending flow of words that cascade through your head, and there are definitely moments when something needs to be forced out, lest you be washed away with the tide. (I made that metaphor work, right? Who is the Tim Gunn of writing? I have need of him.) Anyway, today was one of those moments for Greg, as he took to the internet to take everyone to fun school.

In the post, he details his thoughts on the newest Captain America movie - mainly, how much fun it was. He goes on to talk about how a lot of media has made the mistake of equating “gritty” with “realistic”, and how “fun” seems to be taking the rap for some genuinely terrible movies. And he’s absolutely right. There seems to be this idea going around that if something is fun, it’s an invalid expression of art. It’s not a new idea - just take a look at the Oscars, and you can see just how deep that idea goes. How many comedy movies are in the running for awards each year. How about genre movies? The ratio of serious, dramatic representations of life in comparison to the medium’s more fun counter parts has always been disproportionate. Does this mean that comedy and genre movies are bad? Of course not. But it’s almost implied.

There’s nothing wrong with having fun - and there’s nothing wrong with enjoying things. Hell, this entire site has been built on a solid foundation of liking things. On any given day, that takes us to some strange places. We can be talking about how incredible an issue of Criminal was - how depressing and hard-won and immaculate it was… and then we’ll roll right over into an article about how iCarly is actually a pretty fantastic show. (No seriously, you guys really have to stop laughing at me.) And honestly? Life just feels better when you can sluff off the pretension and just enjoy stuff.

Anyway, you should do yourself a favour and read all of Greg’s post. He brings up quite a few good points about gritty story telling, and about the concept of “a time and a place”. Oh, and he also drops in an amusing anecdote about the time he asked Geoff Johns about all the decapitations he puts into his comics, which is worth it in and of itself. When you’re done, come back here and tell us about something you liked recently. Really, it can be anything. We won’t bite. Honest.