Ready Acceptance of Shtick

I think, for comic book writers, that one of the funner aspects of an ongoing series is how quickly the readers accept shtick.

For instance, look at how we have all bought into the basic concept of Mr. Mxyzptlk.

He comes by every 90 days to screw around with Superman, and Superman must defeat him by making him say his name backwards (or whatever other gimmick the writer wants to try, like when Byrne made it so Superman had to get Mxyzptlk to paint his own face blue).

And we, the readers, totally buy into the concept.

More recently, Christopher Priest's "Pulp Fiction"-esque chronological leaps...totally bought into.

That must be so freeing...to know that the readers are set to buy into whatever you try.