ComicMix Six: Lessons from the past two years
Two years ago today, on February 10, 2007, ComicMix went live to the world. In that short time, I’ve seen a lot, worked some very long hours, pulled many all-nighters, and would like to think I’ve come to some useful observations about the industry, which I now share with you.
1. The only think more disruptive to your regular work schedule and overall concentration than long-term hourly blogging would be posting the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 every 108 minutes to a website. But we keep at it.
2. There are more of you out there than you think. There are more of us out there than we thought. Finding them all has been the challenging part. There’s always somebody who hasn’t gotten the word. The number of times someone has come up to me at a convention and said "GrimJack is back? I had no idea!" is still astounding to me.
3. Research and development, in comics and in technical matters, is not predictable. If it was, it wouldn’t be research and development, would it? But we continue to try and improve the website every day, and we keep pushing at the boundraries of comics. Lots of it may be invisible to you until it suddenly appears– but that’s the way the best magic works.
4. There is an almost staggering amount of creative work going on out there, so much so that it’s in danger of overwhelming Sturgeon’s Law. And happily, it’s a mix of styles and content, appealing to every niche– and every (you’ll pardon the phrase) mix. You want a story of zombies vs. vampires, you got it. You want pretty young girls meddling with mad science? No problem. And so on.
5. You never do a massive undertaking like this alone. I started to write up a list of all the people who have helped us out over the last two years plus and easily topped two hundred people– to all of them, who’ve helped us out in good times and bad, thank you all.
6. The Internet is still a big scary place to a lot of companies– and that’s really a shame, because that’s where all of their readers are hanging out nowadays, and it’s a lot cheaper than pushing paper around at a loss. But that’s a subject for a much longer post.
Again, thanks to everyone who’s contributed to ComicMix— writing, drawing, commenting, reading, or just having fun. Here’s to the future. See you in 108 minutes or so.
Glad to be a part of it Glenn. I do my best to spread the good word!
Ditto. And now I need to look up "Sturgeon's Law."
Sturgeon's Law, coined by SF writer Theodore Sturgeon: "Ninety percent of everything is crud."
True. But nothing is always absolutely so.
Actually, that's "Sturgeon's Revelation" – "Sturgeon's Law" (according to a fanzine article by the man himself, is something else.(Robert) Bloch's Corollary to Sturgeon's Revelation (which he promulgated at an SF event in Atlanta when i was in the audience) is: "…and your agent gets the other ten percent."
You are right, Mike. Sturgeon's Law is actually: "Nothing is always absolutely so." I looked it up on Wikipedia.
And as we all know, Wikipedia is the best source for the truth.
Maybe not the best, but Wikipedia sure can be convenient! McDonald's doesn't make the best food. But that's not gonna stop me from getting Happy Meals from the Drive-Thru. Plus, Wikipedia appeals to my social anarchistic side. I like the idea of distilled chaos.
Damn straight Russ. Wikipedia is a comic fan's dream… it solves atleast 3 arguments a week for me and the Unshaven crew.