Welcome to November

I realized that I really like welcoming you all to the site.

I don't really write columns for the site anymore, because I think that the EIC of the site filling the slot of a regular columnist seems to be a bit of a conflict of interests. I can't nail it down exactly, it's just a feeling. So getting to sort of "talk" to all of you in the intro to the site has been nice, these last few months.

The site is going really well. Our Ellis Profile was the most viewed thing at the site ever. I think by a factor of three. Gotta thank Chad Riden, our unsung webmaster/hero for putting together the coding on the majority of the articles. Chad is a total dude, and although you don't see his name on any of our articles, he puts in more work than any of us. Three cheers for Chad.

And we'd be remiss if we didn't thank our other contributors. First and foremost to Warren Ellis himself, for providing the work and inspiration for the Profile. Thanks to Lea Hernandez for turning in a fantastic looking story in POPPY, we can't wait for more. To Ed Matthews from the Slush Factory for coming through with a fun article in the last few days before we went live, and Jon Ellis for putting together a great interview with John Cassaday. And to our writers, Rick Beckley, Alex Bernstein, Brandon Blatcher, Brian J. Domingos, Arni Gunnarsson, Scott J. Grunewald, Paul Hanna, Brent A. Keane, Benjamin Russel, A.B. Schwartz, Matt Singer, Aaron Veenstra, and Alastair Watson, you came through in a very tight pinch and put together a truly impressive slate of reviews, the most comprehensive account of Warren's writing career anywhere on the net.

But, that was October. Now, it is November and we're on to bigger, and hopefully better things.

I'd like to direct you to Jon Ellis' ACTIVISM piece about donating comics to children this Christmas. PopImage was formed as a bridge between the outside world and comics, and though we've been a little comics-insular recently, this is a good thing for comics readers to get out and do; donate comics and toys to hospitals, charities, and toy drives this holiday season. Check out this article.

Continuing the activism trend over the next few weeks, we're going to be running articles on Dragonball, Dating, and Comics Gift Giving, and not necessarily in that order. We've been out of the field of Activism for too long, and when I started working with PI it was one of the things I wanted to address, through journalism and feature articles; changing the comics industry. Basically, holding the people who make the decisions in the industry responsible for those decisions, and making them accountable towards improving the quality, reach, and image of the work and the creators. You'll be seeing a lot of that in the coming weeks and months.

I do think it's important though, to take into consideration the feelings of our readers. What do you think is wrong with the industry? And not the general distribution woes stuff. I want specific examples of things that are pissing you off. Stuff we can fix. I'm a little sick of moaning about the ills of the industry. I've been on this real "Dive in head first and fix things…" kind of kick lately, and I think that we should turn all of our recent success towards trying to improve the industry. I mean, fuck, it's like us and Savant you know? 10,000 comic sites and no one is trying to fix things, they're either reporting on the state of things or moaning. I think we've all lost our way a little. It's depressing if you think about it really. Not to knock anyone out there, that's not the point. The point is we can and should be better, we should start our own revolutions.

There's still 6 weeks left in 2000 – the year of transition – and I challenge everyone out there to make the most of those weeks, and really promote comics. Whether it's by following Jon's Donation program, the ideas that the Savant guys are coming up with, or even flyering all of Boston with Channel Zero advertisements. It's all important, it all counts. If you want comics to succeed into the mainstream on your terms (and I make no apologies, I think the Ellis school of activism is the best…), then you're going to have to get out there and work for it.

And on that note, enjoy the issue.

- Christopher, New Apartment, November 2000.