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Hello, Hello! I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello... Welcome to the new issue of PopImage. Some of you may remember me from my days as an editor at Slush Factory. Chris Butcher certainly did. Chris is a very smart guy and I am a man of my word. Let me explain. Back in September of 2000, Warren Ellis came to a land far away from his own called New York. His followers came to give tribute and he rewarded them with by inscribing his mark upon their hallowed texts. For a lucky few, he spun tales in front of the camera and 30 fans and journalists. I was one such journalist (and I still have the audio tapes). Flash forward to the next leg of Warren Ellis' tour, where a man from Canada would travel to Ohio to conduct the interview that would have him asking me for photos from the NYC stop. “Hi, my name is Chris Butcher. Can I use the photos you took? Oh, and would you be interested in writing a review for us?” So I agreed to both things and I reviewed Warren Ellis. Not his work, but how he could entrance a crowd with charisma and wit and more than a touch of spunkiness, but I digress. During this time, and over the ensuing months, a certain editor would keep asking me “so when are you coming to PopImage?” And I told him the truth at the time: as long as Slush Factory was running, that was where I intended to be. “Ok, but if you ever leave Slush Factory, promise me you'll come to PopImage.” So I promised him. It seemed like a pretty safe promise to make at the time, sort of like promising not to get my boyfriend pregnant. Well, I don't think I need to tell you that April was a bad month for comic book websites. And I was just about ready to call it quits and just do the other things I do (like teach college courses in Political Science), but then my e-mail box was getting hit with requests. Other sites were asking me to jump on board left and right. Pleased as I was to see that people cared, I wasn't quite ready to say yes to any of them. Then Chris asked me “So, now that Slush Factory is gone, I guess you'll be coming to PopImage, eh?” D'oh! So I told him fine, but on one condition: we do daily news. Thus, I came to PopImage as Assistant Editor and Mr. News Guy (something I love doing, folks. Always do something you love.) and there was much rejoicing. So after some time passes, Chris, for reasons his own, kept asking me about how I would run the site. I told him that I love the indy stuff he has been exposing me to, but it's not enough to expose someone who is already going to be an easy sale. There has to be a mixture of content and then people will read about things on the site other than their initial reason for visiting. Bait them with Marvel and DC, and then expose them to Oni and Alternative Press, just to cite an example. I shared other ideas, too. Then Chris let me in on a little secret: he needed a break. Thus began a series of events that led me here to the Editor in Chief spot. Basically, I intend to give Chris Butcher a break, because I wouldn't have taken on the top position if he left PopImage completely, nor was I under the impression that what I am about to embark upon will be permanent. I fully expect him to be back in the top spot, which may be quixotic thinking on my part but I rather enjoy tilting at windmills. The editors at this site are incredible, as are the writers. Any Editor in Chief would be happy to have this kind of support. I want to make sure that that support is given back, too. I'm not the boss--- I work for you. By you, I mean the staff writers, every contributor, all the editors and everyone who visits the site.  I will make mistakes. Please point them out to me. Constructive criticism is always welcome and I will try my best to correct the errors if I can. I'll try to have us cover news in the world of sequential art as fairly and as accurately as possible. Occasionally, we'll run press releases, but we'd much rather run hard news. When the news is tainted with opinion, it will be clearly labeled as “News Analysis.” If this policy is good enough for the New York Times, it had better start getting good enough for comic book web site coverage. I take this industry seriously, so I treat it seriously when it comes to the news. It can't all be hype-bits of pre-programmed marketing, although some sites are quite successful using that formula. We want to cover more indy creators and books and if you think we're not doing our part, you're welcomed to come and contribute to the site. We can't exclude the big companies like Image, DC, and Marvel just because that is our focus, however. Some of it is even of high quality! Sturgeon's Law, folks. 90% of everything is crap. It's our job to help inform you of the 10% that we believe is pure bliss. Thank you all for granting me the benefit of the doubt that we're going to try. Sincerely, Ed Mathews Editor in Chief PopImage
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