Happy Landings and Happy Endings, by Elayne Riggs

Elayne Riggs

Elayne Riggs is the creator of the popular blog Pen-Elayne on the Web. She was a founding member of Friends of Lulu, an organization dedicated to increasing the involvement of girls and women in comics, as readers and creators. She is married to inker Robin Riggs, with whom she shares two cats, and has odd love/hate relationship with Hillary Clinton.

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5 Responses

  1. Russ Rogers says:

    Greg Kinear was the thinking MAN's love interest in "As Good as It Gets!"Elayne, yours is a unique perspective on comics and column writing. Your column was the most web savy, the most heavily peppered with cool links around the Internets. You also have an outsider/insider view on comics, the perspective of a fan-writer with the insights of being married to a full time comics professional and having done some comics yourself.You say this is the last week for ComicMix Columnists. What is the future of ComicMix? Will ComicMix continue to publish new and reprint comics? Will ComicMix continue to provide comics news and increasingly pop culture news of movies, tv and books?This is strange. I wrote a letter to some of the ComicMix Staff last week titled, "The Future of ComicMix." I mentioned how ComicMix had subtly shifted over the last few months, but nothing has been reported on the changes. I haven't received any direect response. I think I sent it to too many people. I also rambled and asked a lot of vague questions like, "What's the deal?" and "What's going on?" It's hard to respond to that.But, over the last week there have been some MONUMENTAL shifts on ComicMix. ComicMix is now offering print versions of their comics for sale! You can pay through PayPal! Yeah! ComicMix is canceling all their columninst? Ouch! Will Mike Gold and Martha Thomases still have a column? There are so many questions.I have to believe that this is somehow directly connected to the current credit crisis. The model for web business start ups is that they generally run in the red for the first several years, until somebody bigger and stronger, with more leverage, buys them up, hopefully at a ridiculous profit for the creators and initial investors. But, if ComicMix hasn't found their White Knight and paper is as tight as they say…Ah, heck! I'm just hunching and guessing and intuiting all over the map. I don't KNOW anything and yet I blather on and on.Elayne, you will be missed. Most especially by me. There's little doubt that I am one of ComicMix's biggest fan-boys. Sometimes I feel like Billy from The Incredibles. "But I'm your biggest fan!" "I said, 'GO HOME, BILLY'!"I know that I have been pesky and pesty at times. I annoy some. Some have grown to tolerate me. Some here even like me. Elayne, I've come to think of you as one of my better friends at ComicMix. You've gone out of your way to show your support. Thank you. I am sorry to see you leave the ComicMix staff. I'm glad that I have Pen-Elayne already bookmarked. I will continue to check in on you there. Yours virtually, Russ Rogers

  2. Kathy Pearlman says:

    Well, your column ws the only real reason I had Comic Mix bookmarked. Byt the way, you should talk to the people at the National – they have you down as a guest twice and Robin's name is spelled Robyn…. I'm becoming less interested in comics lately. Is it just me, or have all my heroes (DC, for the most part) just cracked up? I feel so bad for some of them. Lois Lane, especially, since she seems to be less of a priority than ever for Superman. Bless her little heart – I remember the weird times when she was a shrew chasing Superman and finally matured in to a Pulitzer-prize winning reporter/writer. So what happend to that Lois? Seems like the good writers of comics are gainfully employed elsewhere – writing novels or maybe even being reporters or columnists , or , dare I say it – editors? Wherever you are, come back and revive my heroes again! And editors – let them in the door again, please….Thanks, Elayne!

  3. Rick Taylor says:

    I love happy endings.And you sound…happy!

  4. Lauren says:

    Elayne,your column will be missed. I have enjoyed your unique perspective on comics as Kathy mentioned earlier. Some weeks your column was my favorite over those "other guys."Thanks for the 88 columns of interesting ideas and Good Luck in all your future endeavors.

  5. Neil Ottenstein says:

    I'll miss you here, but I still have Pen-Elayne bookmarked in any case. I'm glad that your current main employer is keeping you busy.