I recently came across a blog by Nassim Taleb Nicholas describing the “Uberization” of education, the proliferation, of bottom-up alternatives to education such as MOOCs and other means of training that are slowly catching up with the traditional paradigm of formal education. Nassim was making the point that decentralization and perhaps disruption is becoming the norm, allowing people a greater range of freedom by providing means to bypass rigid establishments (i.e. the University). This article was a timely find for me as I have been really obsessed and invested in all variants of decentralization and disruption both academically and by virtue of curiosity. The following is an example of some various forms of disruptive industry.

Upon some reflection I would  argue that fan-fiction could be considered an “uberized” response to traditional canon. Admittedly I am no expert on the phenomenon of fan-fiction, however I do know enough to recognize its mass and broadening appeal to people of many ages within various fandoms and tastes. Within the world of fan-fiction there truly appears to be something for everyone and this momentum doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Fan-fictional works span from the fan imagined continuation of cancelled series, fictional universe mashups/crossovers, to the practice of romantic “shipping”  that ranges from platonic to the outright erotic (slash/fiction). I find this absolutely fascinating. There is a degree of creative wish fulfillment going on here that is very alluring and seemingly all encompassing. Perhaps fan-fiction represents the “made-to-order” consumer-oriented advent with respect to canonized fictional works. A lot of people forget that 50 Shades of Grey technically started out as erotic Twilight Fan-Fiction. Not that I’ve ever indulged in that swill *spits on the ground*

I experienced my appreciation for fan-fiction first hand after reading Marvel‘s mega event Avengers vs X-Men. AvX arrived with much marketing and fanfare, the culmination of years of Marvel lore, and a controversial smackdown between two major franchises. AvX excited me in the run up to the event but afterwards in its aftermath I was ultimately underwhelmed by it. In sum AvX was just too big. Too many writers, too many tie-ins to dance between. Overall the event felt constrained perhaps by editorial restrictions and glaring continuity errors. At 10 issues long I felt the overarching goal was to just sell as many issues as possible rather than to focus on good storytelling. Ulitmately the resurgence of mutantkind should have been a monumental occurrence, AvX made it feel like a whimper. Additionally The Phoenix force a pillar of X-Men lore was relegated to a mere plot device. Likewise Hope Summers a Character Marvel spent years investing and developing was essentially a McGuffin for the story. In my judgement mega comic events tend to  become productions that are too-big, and collapse under their own weight. Large teams of writers or “Architects” are enlisted and eventually things become cacaphonic.

Soon after I stumbled upon a fanfic on a website called Archive of Our Own titled Firebirds which was billed as the story that AvX should have been. A “fix-it” story as labelled in one if its tags. This was no lie, the story was everything an X-Fan or Avengers fan could want from the AvX conflict with some unexpected edge. The story was gritty, dark, violent and punctuated with some very shocking deaths that kept you reading. Oh and did I mention the profanity? That was nice touch to be included. Above all else I really loved the creative twist that the author took with the AvX storyline, the readers were to introduced some broader plot elements/factions that fleshed out the continuity, and the characterization was razor sharp.  You could really tell that the author knew the characters and their history and showcased this wonderfully in their interactions. Firebirds was my first bonafide foray into fanfiction and it was a surreal experience because it was a non-canon story that I enjoyed more than its canonical counterpart!  I remember uploading every single chapter to my kindle and waiting impatiently for each new update on the story after finishing each installment.

This experience made me realize that perhaps Marvel’s house of ideas and arguably other publishers alone don’t hold a monopoly on creative story telling. If Marvel’s AXIS was any indication, Marvel itself seems to be waning in this regard. There is even some evidence that most of Marvels’ acclaimed architects are gravitating towards more creator-owned ventures. Kieron Gillen, and Matt Fraction are notable examples. The glaring and more recent example of this dearth of creativity would be Marvel’s AXIS event, which rehashed so much of the plot of AvX and past event story-lines it was unbearable to endure.

The popularity and enjoyment of fan-fiction is definitely something to watch for I would argue, as other forms of media are poised for their own encounters with “uberization.” I follow an artist on Tumblr who has put together several X-Men team concepts one of which “Endless Summers” I would definitely pay to read . The concept is essentially a Summers reunion of sorts planned with some very appropriate villians with contemporary and fitting plot elements. Though it is way too early to say whether fan-fiction can maintain enough momentum to become a viable alternative to traditional fictional media, I believe there is a case to made that if publishers are looking to inject fresh blood into their respective house of ideas they should start paying close attention to fan-fiction or perhaps consider hiring fan-fic writers. Shameless Plug Alert, although I am not currently looking for work in the comic industry, I did put together a fan-fic of my own called Aerie. Inspired by Firebirds and my love for all things Shi’ar I wanted to put forth a creative story that was hybrid of sorts of the Shi’ar and the HBO series Rome. Life and school got in the way and I was not able to continue the venture, but I am very proud of the first chapter and the opportunity to add my own imagination to the growing tapestry of fan-fiction. Have a look if your curiosity has been piqued!

What do you think? Is Fan-Fiction an idle waste of time? Or is here to stay? What are the legal ramifications of it? Who “owns” the characters? are respectful disclaimers enough? Do fans have the right to write creatively about the characters they love? I’d love to hear some thoughts in the comments section below!