I'm going to start writing my column again for The Comics Journal, I mean, tcj.com - so I need to practice writing regularly - in public. Writing this for the few of my fans who are still following along.
Do you think there is a new era of the internet happening now? I can't stop thinking about it when I think about doing my column again. I feel like the conversation in comics moved from blogs and message boards to facebook and twitter - away from "long form" posts to the bulletin board style flyering of tumblr today. I know, I know, just like everything else, right? I'm still a fan of "long form" comics essays - even if I never read them anymore. I bookmark them and look at them later. I might even read the whole thing. I scroll down to the comments. There aren't any usually or it's just people reblogging it or hearting it. I think I'm nostalgic for an older era of the internet and I know that's bad - like people talking passionately about compuserve boards or something - but I can't help it.
So, I'm writing this to get these ideas out of my system. I always set up these black and white arguments in my mind: "Do this" - "Don't do this". I want to write short posts about comics I've read recently or write about "color in comics" for my comicsworkbook tumblr, but I think, I know, that they'll just get lost, that they'll just disappear. On tumblr, if you miss something on the first go round, and no one reblogs it - then you miss it. The post is just gone. I don't ever look at someone's tumblr like looking at someone's blog or website. Do I ever look at blogs or websites anymore?
I like writing for tcj because it is searchable. I think that's a valuable part of the platform. I like writing a weekly column however it feels like I'm more tuned into the daily bite size bulletin board approach of tumblr. I know I can do both - this is where I set up the black and white argument in my mind - but I keep getting snagged on this "new era of the internet" idea.
I miss ComicsComics. I feel like the end of ComicsComics coincided with the move to facebook and tumblr. So I have this weird sealed off, preserved in amber memory of that time. That blog was all Tim Hodler's idea. We had already been doing the print version- and Tim set up the blog and suggested that we could use the blog to promote the magazine. I remember thinking that it was a waste of time, that we should concentrate on the print version. That was a "new era of the internet" idea.
Forgive my mess. Just riffing. More soon.
