New way is better

Most modern practices are tremendously worse than pre-1970 practices. Here’s an exception.

In the past, big-name fictional characters spawned versions in every possible medium. Dick Tracy started as a comic strip and spawned radio, movie and TV versions. Ellery Queen started in books and spawned the same three branches. Boston Blackie started in movies and spawned radio and TV. Fibber started in radio and spawned movies and TV.

Each different rendition was an ENTIRELY different character, sharing nothing but the name with the original version.

This name-only branching effect went away in recent decades. Now we have book characters and videogame characters spawning cartoons and movies and TV shows. The character remains constant.

It appears that modern authors and publishers are stricter. They won’t just sit back and receive royalties for the name itself; they insist on character quality control.

The modern style is better. Customers expect the product to be consistent across containers. Canned or bottled Michelob should taste the same. Whole-bean or ground Folgers should taste the same. Movied or radioed Fibber should taste the same.