I don’t read Fan Fiction because I feel that if people are going to spend that much work and effort on a story they might as well make it their own. There’s nothing wrong with being inspired by other works of fiction and using that inspiration to guide your creativity, but at least try to create something new.

And yes sometimes you don’t want a good story to end, but all stories have an ending.

I agree with David to some extent. I have, however, read fanfiction that I enjoyed very much. My favorite was called "The Legend of Ometin" (I think). It was based on Card Captor Sakura and took place in another world.

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"The right to vote or equal civil rights may be good demands, but true emancipation begins neither at the polls nor in the courts. It begins in [the] soul." -Emma Goldman

Below is a very good reply from author Robin McKinley about fanfics of her works:

http://www.robinmckinley.com/FAQ/FAQ07.html

Interestingly enough, couldn't her final paragraph apply to superhero comics as a whole? Batman and the like are practically franchises, waiting to be grabbed by the next, best writer/artist eager to have their own "scuffles" with them.

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"The right to vote or equal civil rights may be good demands, but true emancipation begins neither at the polls nor in the courts. It begins in [the] soul." -Emma Goldman

Actually I think she's unintentionally referring to Work for Hire vs. Creator Owned. There's tons of books that are based on franchises, like Conan, Dune, Star Trek and Star Wars to name a few. So there's plenty of writers in comics and novels that work on other people's properties. She's talking from the viewpoint of never having worked on another person's property. And that's atypical from Superhero comics because most people would love to work on Superman or X-Men or what have you. I suppose people love to do that in Manga too, but the creators typically control their properties to a point and never give it to another creator to work on. Which in a way may explain some fan fiction because it's the only release valve that they have considering there's virtually no chance of them really working on Naruto. Personally though, if I knew for sure that I wouldn't be able to work on such a project, I'd devote my energies elsewhere. But then my view point is that of being a productive creator that eventually wants a career in comics and not a someone just doing it for simple fun and diversion. Of course now that I said there's no chance to do most manga, I just recalled that Devil's Due just got the rights for Vampire Hunter D and I would love to write for that property and it's in the realm of possible, just not very likely though. Something to work toward in the future.

For Superheroes, most of them of are Franchises, but books like Savage Dragon, Invincible, and Empowered show that you can still do creator owned superheroes. It's just that the field is very crowded and you'd have to really work to stand out not only from comics like Batman and Spider-Man but all the imitators as well.

Well, having been a fanfic writer for a very long time (probably longer than some of the people here have been alive) I can say I've read a lot of good and bad stuff. I really don't have a single favorite or a favorite from any particular genre.
Then again, one person's great fic is another's bad fic.

Quamp's discount manga/anime fan fiction
The Texas Conventions a Collection of artwork I've collected over various conventions.