‘It ain’t braggin’ if it’s true’

‘It ain’t braggin’ if it’s true’

… a wise man once said — Google The Great and Powerful tells me it was Will Rogers .. or Dizzy Dean … or Muhammed Ali … or … and then somebody said if it IS true, of course it’s bragging. That is to say, if it’s NOT true, it’s just plain lying, and if it IS true, it’s bragging.

Whatever.

Following up on yesterday’s thought about Marvel Comics’ “World’s Greatest Comic Magazine,” there’s something to be said about setting a high standard for yourself.

By proclaiming their book was the greatest, the creators of the Fantastic Four threw down a measurable standard: You’re about to have the most fun you’ve ever had reading a comic book. For a while there in the mid-sixties, they lived up to the standard they’d set for themselves, month after month.

TV, movie and comics creator Joss Whedon put it this way: “I have a contract with my audience — that I will do better, that I will give them a reason to come in again that is more than the reason we gave them last time.”

In that sense declaring your product “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” ain’t bragging — it’s a contract with your audience, and if you breach that contract, they’re not coming in again. If you’ve told the audience to expect your best, you’ve given yourself an incentive to deliver.

Published by WarrenBluhm

Wordsmith and podcaster, Warren is a reporter, editor and storyteller who lives near the shores of Green Bay with his wife, two golden retrievers, Dejah and Summer, and Blackberry, an insistent cat. Author of It's Going to Be All Right, Echoes of Freedom Past, Full, Refuse to be Afraid, Gladness is Infectious, 24 flashes, How to Play a Blue Guitar, Myke Phoenix: The Complete Novelettes, A Bridge at Crossroads, The Imaginary Bomb, A Scream of Consciousness, and The Imaginary Revolution.

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