Anniversary vs. X-Men

So it just dawned on me while I was washing my hands that I technically started Comics Matter a little over a year ago. I did have a three-month hiatus pretty early on, so it hasn't been a full year of productively writing about comicbooks. But it has been a year of steadily obsessing about them, reading anything and everything I can on the topic, latching onto various news/criticism sites and podcasts and Twitter feeds and such so that my days are a fairly steady stream of comicbook chatter. It's been a year of total immersion, though admittedly my immersion began well before I launched the blog. Still, having this space in which to permanently put down some of my thoughts on the medium I so adore has definitely changed the way I interact with the comics I read. I see them more crticially now, even when I am trying to turn off that part of my brain and just enjoy myself. And every new title or even issue I come across holds the potential to be the topic of a column down the line, so I'm always on the lookout for inspiration there. The order in which I read things has changed, because my reading schedule tends to be influenced by my writing schedule now, as opposed to the other way around. So if I am not expecting to write about a series, no matter how excited I am to read it, it will get set aside indefinitely in favor of the comics I plan to discuss here.

I am still very much finding my footing and my voice as a comicbook blogger or critic or journalist or whatever term you prefer. I'm learning all the time how to write about things in new ways, to explore them more deeply and completely. In another year, I would like to think that anything I've written in these first twelve months would seem immature and/or overly simplistic to me. I want to evolve, to constantly and endlessly improve. I don't know if that's happening, but I strive for it, anyway, and with any luck I'll make even incremental steps upward as time presses on.

I've got to thank my parents, who support me tirelessly and read every single thing I post, regardless of their interest in or understanding of what I'm talking about. Also, my deepest gratitude to Alec and Joey over at The Chemical Box, who were awesome and kind and brave enough to give me a regular column on their site, one that I thoroughly enjoy writing and hope to still be putting out regularly this time next year. Another thanks is owed to Meredith Roberts, who wrote this awesome Wonder Woman piece for me that is currently one of the top 5 most viewed posts on the blog. And finally, a huge, as-loud-and-long-as-Ican-sustain-it THANK YOU to all y'all, anyone and everyone who has ever spent even a second reading anything I've written here. I would honestly be doing this even if I was just rambling about comics in a vacuum, but it's much nicer to know I'm not. I hope it has been worth your while, and will be even more worth even more of your while in the future.