First, a confession. I’ve written fanfiction. Like, a lot of fanfic. In my spare time, I still write fic! (I’m currently writing a couple of fics for Interview With the Vampire and Trigun! It’s going ...

Data isn’t always the most interesting way to analyze popular culture, but it can illustrate some compelling social trends. Take fanfiction, a popular but often misunderstood activity within fandom.

For this article, Connie Chang read over 150 fan-fiction stories. For the illustrations, Chris Retsina imagined scenes inspired by some of those stories. This article includes spoilers for “Daredevil: ...