lads I finally figured out why the “Dante’s Inferno isn’t fanfic despite containing identifiable similarities such as self-insert because fanfic written in the context of modern capitalism and modern fandom is drastically different” argument irks me so much.

If we’re playing the “context means these aren’t comparable” game, then Dante’s Inferno is also arguably not “literature”. After all, being written in the 14th century when there were like, 10 popular books that weren’t the Bible (itself at least as pervasive then as Marvel is now, if we’re looking for comparisons) is drastically different than “literature” written in the context of the modern publishing industry. 

Comic books, newspaper comics, and webcomics are all “comics” because they’re all serially released works that communicate narrative through an image-heavy combination of illustration and text. The differences in publishing standards, medium, and creator culture doesn’t mean they aren’t all comics. Beowulf isn’t fantasy fiction in the modern sense, but denying the connection and similarities between it and your Eragons and Earthseas is disingenuous and can only impoverish your scholarship. A serialized work is a serialized work whether it’s released in the newspaper, on TV, or on AO3.

It doesn’t matter if they’re becoming besties with Captain Kirk or Virgil, a self-insert is a self-insert!