DC's New 52, a look back at a year of rumors and reality.

Well, it's been almost one year since DC Comics decided to completely revamp their line of comics and release everything starting back with a brand new #1 on the cover so I figured it was time to post something on The Thought Corner about what has become the DC Comics “New 52”.

When this was officially announced by DC Comics last Summer there seemed to be a mix of emotions among the comic book community. Many were irate with DC that the universe they've been reading for decades was going to be changed and set back to an earlier time, while others (me included) applauded DC for making this move to clean up the past and reshape the future. For me, this was what I've wanted DC Comics to do ever since 2004 or so when they started to adopt the monthly mega-even crossover style of doing business that Marvel had begun doing. You know what I'm talking about here, month in and month out of universe spanning mega-crossovers spanning the entire line of books, sometimes multiple events going on at the same time causing readers to scramble and get lost in the shuffle. It makes me sick. Having one mega event every few years makes more sense and make the ramifications of such events much more rememberable and meaningful in my opinion, and because of this kind of marketing I've all but shunned Marvel Comics and will probably never do business with them again. DC was getting a similar treatment from me and aside from purchasing Batman every month and keeping up with Superman, I was all but done with them as well. But then I heard about the reboot/relaunch of the DCU (now the DCnU) and I heard Jim Lee do a radio interview where he said they would only do universe spanning events when they felt the stories called for it. I starting thinking to myself that maybe this would be worth checking out and maybe it would be a great introductory into DC aside from the 2 books I was semi keeping up with and the slew of DC books I was buying in the 80's and 90's.

I decided to be a part of this huge reboot/relaunch and for the last Wednesday of August 2011 all the way until week 4 of September my local comic book shop held early opening events for the event and drew hundreds and hundreds of fans to the store. Sales were going through the roof for the “New 52” and for the most part the core books within the DCnU have maintained the high sales figures almost a year later. New fans and old fans alike were scrambling into comic book stores to pick up all the new titles DC was launching and suddenly for the first time in a long time DC Comics was the #1 publisher in the industry. That lasted until recently when Marvel began their Avengers vs X-men storyline, another mega-event spanning a majority of their titles (Yaawwwwwwn). Sadly, idiotic Marvel fans were duped into stores to pick up these issues and Marvel, for the time being anyway, had recaptured it's spot as the #1 publisher in comic books. Still, DC manages to hold 7/10 of the top 10 spots and for a number of months held all 10 positions in the Diamond charts with their New 52 books, that's no small feat and many of their comics have garnered a larger reader base than they did pre-reboot thanks to all the attention the relaunch received by the media.

As for my own experiences with the New 52, I'd have to say that it's been mostly positive and the first month of release I managed to grab a whopping 20 #1's of various titles released. I liked about 16 of them quite a bit and stuck with as many as I could until I had to begin picking and choosing which books I'd follow due to financial reasons and the fact that I heavily support independent comic book publishers such as Atlas (not anymore), Dynamite Entertainment, BOOM Studios (not anymore), and now Valiant Comics. So, I started out with 20 #1's within the DCnU, I liked about 16 of them and stuck with those books until the #6 issues came out and the cut down the list to 11 where it stands today. Before the relaunch/reboot I was only buying 2 monthly DC books (Batman, Superman), and even at that it was only when I thought of doing so or had the extra cash to spend on them. So, I'd say that since I'm now buying 9 more total monthly books than before that DC has done a wonderful job in keeping my interest in this line, and remember that 5 of those books I trimmed down were strictly for financial reasons and not because I didn't find them entertaining. As of right now I'm currently reading Superman, Action Comics, Batman, Detective Comics, Justice League, Legion of Super-Heroes, Legion Lost, The Ravagers, Green Lantern, The Savage Hawkman, and Aquaman. I wanted to keep up with The Flash, Blue Beetle, Batman: The Dark Knight, and Teen Titans but unfortunately the wallet can only produce so much money, especially when I'm still buying a good amount of indy books being produced today.

I'll tell you one thing that surprises me about the whole relaunch/reboot is that I'm reading DC books that I NEVER would have thought I'd be reading in a million years. If you would have told me that I'd be avidly enjoying Aquaman, Legion of Super-Heroes, Legion Lost, The Ravagers, Teen Titans, or Blue Beetle, I would have called you nuts. But no, these books have all turned out to be tremendous and really fun monthly reads for me. I'm especially loving Legion of Super-Heroes and it's diverse cast of regulars who really have been drawing me in with their personal lives as well as the stories of them saving the world and whatnot, it's been absolutely fantastic. And of course books such as Batman, Detective Comics, Superman, Green Lantern, Action Comics, and Hawkman have all delivered with amazing art and wonderful tales of these classic heroes in their younger years. I've gone into EVERY DCnU book as if it's never seen print previous to the release of the New 52 and it's worked out wonderfully. I'm basically picturing that these heroes and villains are brand new to the market and that DC is basically a brand new publisher, sounds odd I know but let me tell you this: It's been years since I've felt this way about mainstream comic book characters and I have the New 52 and my own imagination to thank for it.

I've been asked by many people over the course of the past year if I thought the relaunch/reboot by DC was a good idea and I still stand by the answer I gave on many web forums the day it was officially announced. My answer is yes. DC has managed to shake up the comic book industry, get more books in more hands, clean up some continuity hiccups, and make some extra money while getting as many heads to turn their way as possible and I think the industry really needed it. Now it looks as if Marvel Comics may be doing something similar in the upcoming months in a way to steal some of DC's thunder and really ensure their place at the top of the perch, but as of this writing it's not completely known what may be in store for their books and if it's going to be just a handful of books or their entire line (thought I'm sure they'll all be $3.99). Regardless, it just shows that Marvel is afraid of DC and their new found readership and will do anything it takes to steal back it's fans by copying them and retooling their own universe, which I find quite sad and it makes me hate Marvel all that much more. DC's characters just grip me more than Marvel's do anyway so I prefer to stick close to what feels like “home” when it comes to comic books if you catch my drift.

So the long/short of it all is that if you've still yet to give any of the New 52 books a try yet than I suggest you use the upcoming 1 year anniversary to do so, I promise that you wont be disappointed and I really do think that most of the characters that have been rebooted have really shined quite a bit now that they're free of older continuity. Check out the #0 issues that will be hitting shelves soon which serve as origin stories for the New 52 books and will more than likely made a good lead in to the #1's that were launched last Fall. When you're done, let me know what you thought!

As always I want to take the time to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated. Also, you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and CBR, feel free to say “hi”.

Take care,

Manga4life

©2012 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC

Manga4life's "Guin Saga" anime review!

It's been a while since I've sat down and written a review for an anime series, so I figured that today would be as good a day as any to write a review for a series that really grabbed me from the first episode and carried me on the edge of my seat to the very end. That anime would be Guin Saga, which was an absolute delight!

First off let me just say that I love stories such as this, you know.... palaces, swords, armies, medieval times with arrows, armor, long journeys and.....well, you get the idea. It has a feel to it that would appeal to the Lord of the Ring's fan in you. If you've ever been into the realm of fantasy than you should be right at home with Guin Saga, a story that puts you right in the middle of a fantasy world filled with dastardly villains and heroic saviors who find themselves engaged into a deadly battle to kill a pair of white haired twins (Rinda & Remus) and to conquer the land in which they become heir to. It sounds like a typical medieval story until you get to know the main character Guin, who wakes up out of a deep sleep with a leopard mask fuzed to his head and absolutely no idea who he is or what he's doing. He decided to take the two kids under his arm and protect them from their captors and they decide to travel to another city to find shelter. Instead they end up fighting in epic battles along the way and make friends with a tribe of monkey-like creatures and a few other people along their journey, and everyone assembles to take on the massive army hellbent on finding and killing the twins. One of the people Guin befriends named Ishtivan, was one of my favorite characters in this entire show. His story was very entertaining and the result of his battles within this series were really fun, he could have used a sub-series all his own. The action in this series is really quite awesome and a lot of the fight scenes are really complex and interesting, this isn't just another hack and slash anime where people are just fighting for no reason whatsoever. One fight in this show has Guin becoming the ruler of a small group of barbarian's, while another has a guy trying to prove himself to the woman he loves, Lady Amnelas, so that he could impress her and get a higher rank within her army. Whenever there is high stakes involved in a battle it always makes it more interesting, or at least I think so anyway.

One thing that really made Guin Saga stand out was the remarkable music, without the strong music many of the epic scenes would have not had the effect that they did. Everything from the awesome opening theme to the sweet ending theme and everything in between was just perfect, I loved how most episodes would end with a cliffhanger that would have this one amazing track playing that just pumped you up for the next episode. When the music in an anime is spot on than you know you're in for a treat. The animation side of things was fine, I wouldn't say this was one of the most beautiful anime's I've ever seen but it certainly wasn't bad or anything like that. It just had your standard run of the mill animation and it worked for what they were trying to do, you won't be raving about it when it's all said and done but you won't be shaking your head either. I'd say it's as good as any major anime production out there. All in all the overall production on Guin Saga is pretty darn good and shows no major faults, it's certainly a series that's story driven and very character based and I highly recommend it to people who really love fantasy style storytelling. Along with Tears to Tiara, I'd say that Guin Saga is one of the better fantasy anime's of the past several years, everything from the music to the storyline was pure genius and some of the characters will just reach out and grab you without letting you go. My only complaint is that it's only a 24 episode series and not a long running anime like a Naruto or One Piece. At the end of the day if your only major complaint is that the anime you're reviewing is shorter than you would have liked than I guess you don't really have much to complain about to begin with, so I guess it's time for some ratings....

Art/Animation – 8.0

Music and Sound Effects – 9.5

Story and Writing – 9.5

Fun – 9.0

Overall – 9.0

As always I want to take the time to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated. Also, you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and CBR, feel free to say “hi”.

Take care,
Manga4life

©2012 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC

Toonami Faithful: A Call to Arms!

Well Toonami faithful, we did it! We got Deadman Wonderland and Casshern Sins to the top of the Twitter trend chart on 5/26/12 when Toonami took over the airwaves, and we also managed to get FMA and Cowboy Bebop trending as well. Great job! Now the next part of support needs to be put into place. Make sure to e-mail Cartoon Network and Adult Swim with your thoughts on what you saw when Toonami returned to television and get vocal on Facebook and Twitter about the programming you want on the block. Even Steve Blum (TOM) said that the block needs all the support it can get and as many viewers as humanly possible to bring us “a better cartoon show”, so it's up to us as a unit to make sure we do what we can to help out by spreading the good word. Let people know Toonami's back, spam the social media, send off e-mails and hashtags like your life depended on it, and most importantly: Watch Toonami. If we band together and remain vocal than who knows what kinds of things we'll be treated to, the power of voice is a mighty one and so far we know we're being heard, we just got to turn that voice into a scream and keep it rolling.

Luckily for us we've already been treated to two new shows with Deaman Wonderland and Casshern Sins, both of which are getting amazing praise from the Toonami faithful. We've been enjoying TOM bumpers, Toonami-esq music, nice “coming up” cards, classic idents, and even a video game review for an XboX 360 game called “I Am Alive”. And that's just on the first night! Imagine what could be coming down the road if we support the block the best we can and try to boost it's ratings as high as they can go, that's what Toonami really needs. Ratings = advertising, and advertising = money for Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and ultimately......Toonami. It's amazing what we were all able to accomplish using the power of the internet and the power of word of mouth, once in a while huge victories come out of passion and we've all used our passion to ensure that Toonami was given life once again. Keep up the good work everyone, we've done a bang up job so far and it can only get better from here.

Stay gold.

Bang.

©2012 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC

Dynamite Entertainment's Pulp Harvest.

Before the day's of Spider-Man, The Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The X-Men, The Avengers, and even Superman, there was a day when heroes appeared in a thick paperback form known as “pulp” comics. Pulp was actually the style of paper in which these books were printed on, but somehow the name seemed to have followed these characters as if it was a style of hero. For instance, Superman and Spider-Man are known as “superheroes” while characters such as The Spider and The Shadow are known as “pulp heroes”. Even though a “pulp hero” is someone who starred in graphic novel format printed on pulp paper back in the 20's, 30's, 40's, and 50's, people associate the word “pulp” as a brand of hero, which is just hilarious. Anyway.....I'm rambling, my apologies.

Today I wanted to discuss some pulp heroes who are making a comeback thanks to a comic book publisher known as Dynamite Entertainment, a company who has licensed a number of these classic heroes of yesterday and brought them back out of obscurity for comic book fans of today to enjoy. Characters such as The Shadow, The Spider, The Green Hornet, Tarzan, Zorro, Flash Gordon, and more are enjoying success in the comic book market thanks to Dynamite, who's really put a push on getting these classic characters in the hands of readers in a day and age where many have forgotten who they even were. Sure, some other companies have come along throughout the years and have published comics based on some of these characters but their readership was so small that the average comic book reader had no idea that these characters were even being published. With Dynamite, these characters have been promoted throughout the comic book industry and many fans who have never purchased a comic book before are buying these books because they happen to be fans of these properties thanks to other media such as radio, television, and the silver screen.

I personally wanted to bring some awareness to some of these books because I actually read them and find them to be much more entertaining than anything Marvel Comics is currently printing, and most of DC and Image. Books such as The Spider and The Shadow feature a main hero who isn't all about “Trust, Justice, and the American way”, they'd just assume shoot you in the face for your crimes on the public than see you locked away for the rest of your life. It's almost refreshing to see because that's how I feel when I see on the news that a little girl was hurt by some sick monster, or that some whack job killed 10 people because of some silly reason. I'd love to just pick up a revolver and shoot them in the face rather than see them alive and well inside of a cell. It's violent, I know, but it's in our nature to want to see someone who deserved it to suffer. Instead of actually going out and doing something like that I can open up a copy of The Spider and watch the hero kill someone because they took their crime too far, it's nice really. And then you have books like The Green Hornet which features a more traditional style superhero within a pulp environment. The book is fun, witty, entertaining, well written, and drawn beautifully, anyone can pick this title up and enjoy it's rich story while feeling like their enjoying a story with a nice mixture of pulp and superhero. Hey, there I go lumping “pulp” into a category of hero.......well, sue me.

It isn't like these books are short on top tier talent either, many huge industry players have either worked on these books or are currently working on them as I write this. Guys like Garth Ennis, Kevin Smith, Alex Ross, novelist David Liss, John Cassaday, Jae Lee, Jonathan Lau, and many more are working hard to make these books the very best they possibly can be, so give them a peek and tell me what you think. Look. How many more of you are going to get duped into spending all kinds of money on Marvel titles just so you can complete yet another massive universe spanning event? Seriously, stop it. It's getting downright silly and embarrassing. Try sinking your teeth into one of these great titles by Dynamite Entertainment and start actually enjoying your comics again for a change, after reading some of this top line stuff you'll end up thanking me.

Trust me.

As always I want to take the time to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and CBR.

Take care,
Manga4life

©2012 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC

The return of Toonami.

 Well, the day has finally come ladies and gentlemen. Today, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim has announced that the legendary action adventure block known to millions as "Toonami" will finally be making it's return on 5/26/12. This is a day that up until 4/1/12 I thought would never come, I honestly thought that Toonami was dead in the water and that there would never be a day where we could turn on our televisions and witness the revolution once again. But I was wrong and April Fool's Day 2012 was the genesis of what would ultimately become the return of Toonami to U.S airwaves and believe me, I couldn't be happier. Now it's just a matter of the programming, I mean, it wouldn't make ANY sense to bring back the block with updated packaging just to place it around the already existing anime programming that the network already airs. So what's coming in terms of programming to the block? I guess time will tell and the long and short of it is that we will all just have to be patient and see what the people behind the scenes have planned. But I will tell you this, we've waited almost 4 years for this so I suppose waiting another couple of weeks to see what the producers have up their sleeves shouldn't be too hard to do....

 Yeah, right.

 Welcome back Toonami, it's been a long 4 years without you. You've always supplied us with the best action/adventure programming on television and now that you're back I have no reason to believe you won't do the same for us now that you did back then. I guess a big "thanks" should be given to those who blew up Facebook, Twitter, internet forums, and wrote personal letters to those in Atlanta trying to get the block back, without the fan support Toonami wouldn't have lasted 11 years on the air nevermind a huge comeback years after it's cancellation. Give yourselves a pat on the back because you're the ones that made this happen.

 #Toonami

 Take care, Manga4life

 ©2011 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC

Dynamite Entertainment: Putting a little fun back into the comic book game.

 Comic Books. It's an industry where the publishers are often greedy and the fans are often blinded, but despite those flaws it has it's bright spots. One bright spot that I would like to highlight today would be a young publisher known as Dynamite Entertainment, a smaller press company that has really shined over the course of the past 4+ years. When I first caught wind of Dynamite it was when I fell deeply in love with a line of books under their Project Superpowers banner, it was a project where they brought many golden age heroes and villains out of obscurity and back into the limelight. Many of these heroes have been lost to father time and have fallen into the public domain where basically anyone could publish them however they wanted, but Dynamite Entertainment and the legendary Alex Ross had a plan and brought them back in a huge way alongside great success. Through these books I saw some advertisements for other characters that have been around for ages but have been used inconsistently in recent years, Dynamite was planning to publish stories based on classic characters such as The Phantom and Green Hornet. Now, these two characters I've never cared about in the least despite being a comic book reader for the better part of 20 years, but I felt compelled to try them out because I trusted Dynamite after seeing what they could do with classic heroes from the golden age of comics. And gosh, I was surprised at just how good these books really were. The Green Hornet dragged me in with intense art by Jonathan Lau and a deep script by Kevin Smith that was clever, fun, and truly remarkable as the son of Britt Reid donned the Green Hornet mask and set out to protect Century City from scum and villainy. I loved Dynamite's take on the Phantom also, he too was the son of the original Phantom and took up the mantle after his family was slaughtered deep within the jungle in which they lived. The Phantom was targeted by a rich weapons dealer from the United States and was able to overcome adversity to find some self closure over the loss of his family, it was a fun read and a truly epic tale.

 

 But I really want to focus for a moment on something that many publishers have forgotten about throughout the years, and that's the fact that comics are meant to be fun. There is something about Dynamite Entertainment that reminds me of a time when comic books carried a special feeling, you know, when going to the comic book store to purchase a comic was something special. Along with The Green Hornet and The Phantom, Dynamite has introduced me to characters that have been around for decades that I never would have thought to give a moment of my time, but yet I did. Books such as Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist, Lord of the Jungle (Tarzan), Warlord of Mars (John Carter), The Bionic Man, and Vampirella, have all become titles in which I can't wait to read each and every month. It's funny too because 5 years ago if you would have told me I was going to faithfully read a comic book based on Tarzan, Flash Gordon, or the 6 Million Dollar Man I would've no doubt laughed at you can called you silly, but man.....these books are just downright fantastic. Let's take Lord of the Jungle for starters, in this book they strip Tarzan down to his bare essentials and bring him back to his savage ways as he rips through insane wildlife while finding ways to sexually harass Jane. It's a hoot. Flash Gordon is another book that offers an epic where he is engaged in warfare with Ming The Merciless in space and a Nazi army on Earth, the action scenes in this book shine with fabulous art that has made for a must read book month in and month out. Warlord of Mars is an epic tale in itself, it's about the legendary John Carter character and how he ended up on Mars fighting alongside and against Tars Tarkis as well as his romantic feelings toward the sultry Dejah Thoris. This books is a sci-fi space epic that loves being a sci-fi space epic, I love the spin-off's that have come out of this book as well (Dejah Thoris, Warriors of Mars, Fall of Barsoom, Dejah and the White Apes) and would recommend them to anyone looking for a great story starring classic characters that have been in existence for almost 100 years now.


 

Even with all of the amazing comic books I've mentioned so far, by far and away my favorite comics on store shelves these days has been the Kirby: Genesis line of comics that Dynamite has been producing. The core title, Kirby: Genesis is written by the Legendary Kurt Busiek and illustrated by Jack Herbert and Alex Ross, it's been one hell of a ride that has spun off three solo books to date. Those spin-off books happen to be Silver Star, Captain Victory, and Dragonsbane, and all three books have been highly enjoyable and help to flesh out the universe and establish the characters within their own time line that happens before the events in the core Genesis book. What Dynamite and it's creators have set out to do is to bring some of Jack Kirby's legendary characters and place them into their own universe to build upon the richness of the legendary creators ideas, they're using both characters that have been used prior alongside characters that have never seen life past the cutting room floor to do this. And let me tell you something......it's been one hell of a ride! Apparently the Genesis line of books will be coming to an end soon and according to Dynamite's president the universe will be relaunched again in 2013 with a whole new outline as well as new titles in a “rebirth”style event, so fans of those books as well as new fans have something neat to look forward to. Both the rebirth of the Genesis titles and Chapter 3 of Project Superpowers in 2013 should prove to be a huge year for Dynamite Entertainment and it's superhero books, I can't wait to see the day where I walk into a comic book shop to see Kirby's greatest creations sitting on the new arrivals shelf next to the greatest heroes of the golden age with Project Superpowers. It will be quite the experience. More fun stuff on the way from this amazing publisher would fall within the Pulp realm with The Spider hitting in about a months time from this writing, it will be great to see Green Hornet, The Shadow, and The Spider ruling the roost in the world of Pulp heroes under the Dynamite banner. I know the president of the company, Nick Barrucci, recently made mention to a possible crossover in 2013 between many of the Pulp characters they publish, and everyone already knows that Ron Marz has signed on to write a crossover between many of the female characters Dynamite publishes in an even called, The Prophecy. So that should be fun.

At the end of the day comic books are supposed to be fun, characters are supposed to be enjoyable, and stories are supposed to be easy to engage, and luckily this is something that Dynamite Entertainment has been able to do in spades. I urge those who haven't given these books a chance yet to do so, you are really missing out on something fresh and something fun, why let Marvel drain you of your money so you can read the same old crap year in and year out, give something new a try for a change and I promise you that you won't walk away from DE empty handed. Of all the great books they publish there has got to be something in the mix that draws you in, whether it's Voltron, A Game of Thrones, Eye of the Storm, Red Sonja, Jennifer Blood, or any of the other 20+ books offered from this amazing publisher I'm sure you will have fun flipping through the pages and discovering new comics. I know I did.

As always I want to thank those who took the time to read my blog, it's much appreciated and you can always check me out at www.twitter.com/manga4life as well as TZ and CBR.

Take care,

Manga4life

©2011 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC

Manga4life interviewed by avid blog reader and web-spider, Ron Paradue.

Ron Paradue – “Hello Manga4life, as well as the number of readers who may find themselves on Manga4life's “Thought Corner” blog. Today I've asked Manga4life if he would be open to answer some questions about both himself and his personal piece of the internet that he's created known by many as “Thought Corner”. In my experience with “Thought Corner”, the author posts articles about various anime programs he's watched, comic books he's read, video games he's played, as well as personal experiences with products and media that shed some light on certain aspects of pop culture and everything in between. I personally came across his blog back around November of last year when I was doing a search for reviews of an anime series called Claymore and I found Manga4life's review that he posted some month previous to my discovery of his blog. I read it, then I followed through and read a number of his other entry's and found that I really was enjoying what I was reading, finally after about 4 months of no new articles I decided to approach Manga4life about why he's been so quiet. I thought I'd begin with a pretty simple question, and that question would be.....why? Why did you move forward with the creation of “Thought Corner”, and what did you hope to accomplish from running a blog?”

Manga4life – “Before I answer the question, allow me to thank you for checking out The Thought Corner and thank you to all who may be reading this interview via the blog itself. You always wondering who's reading when you see that you've gained a large number of readers, aside from the core “group” from the Twitter-space I had no idea that people who I've never associated with previously were checking out the site. But to answer your question, I think a huge reason as to why I created The Thought Corner was because I wanted a place where I could talk about things in depth without having my post become just another sea of words in a thread on some messageboard out there. I wanted to write about the things I enjoy, and in some cases hate, and I wanted to write the kind of blogs that I enjoy reading. See, so many people write for the masses and think that they're proving some kind of point or that they've gained some kind of fan base or something that they forget to have fun writing their piece and enjoy themselves. I write the kind of things that I enjoy so later on when I go back and read an entry again I can relive the emotion of whatever it was that I had written about, whether it be bad or good. I've never claimed to be a “writer”, I certainly am not the best blogger on the internet and I'm certainly not trying to become something I'm not. I write for me. I write for people who enjoy accessible content that can be read and enjoyed, I want people to smile when they're done reading one of my entries not because it was a well written piece worthy of an award, but instead because they can feel what I was feeling when those thoughts came out. It's simple, I write for me.”

Ron Paradue - “So you write editorials based on personal experience and taste? Or do you write blogs as a way to promote something?”

Manga4life - “I have nothing to promote, so I write as a way to archive my thoughts on something, I just toss it up on the blog for others to see. When I did have something to promote it all fell apart, I lost touch with a great creative talent and I lost interest in a project I was working on and trying to get up off the ground. You know why that happened? It's because I was trying to sell others on idea's I had instead of kicking back with a beer and getting my thoughts down about a certain subject.”

Ron Paradue - “Fair enough, fair enough. So, “Thought Corner” is entering into it's 2nd year on the internet and has garnered some attention by comic book companies, can you tell us about that?”

Manga4life - “Sure. I did a blog a year or so back about some new comics that were coming out from a publisher called BOOM Studios, it was a partnership between them and Stan Lee that revolved around a trio of comics that were on their way to retail. I wrote the piece and dropped a link to it on my Twitter page, that link was forwarded by BOOM Studios and made available to everyone who followed them on Twitter and on Facebook and before long the blog enjoyed over 3,000 visitors in a 72 hour period. It was pretty surreal. The second instance was very similar, I wrote a piece about comic book publishers who deserved more readers and this time a publisher called Dynamite Entertainment did the same thing BOOM did. The blog post ended up on their Twitter and someone e-mailed me and told me a portion of it ended up in the letter column of one of their comics, I personally haven't seen it but the blog enjoyed a few thousand more views over a pretty short period of time. I also gained about 30 or 40 new followers on Twitter, most of which I don't think follow me anymore, haha.”

Ron Paradue – “That's pretty interesting how a simple blog post could reach so many readers thanks to a simple re-tweet, or a mention on a social media website. That must have been nice to see publishers who you were supporting turn around and support you in exchange. How did it feel, personally?”

Manga4life - “Like I said before, I don't care that thousands of people were reading the entries unless they left the blog with the feeling that they've enjoyed what they read.”

Ron Paradue - “Okay, so, you're obviously one of many blogs on the internet based around things such as animation, comics, gaming, media, and other aspects, but I have to know something. Do you consider other blog sites competition, at all? Like say there is another blog site out there that posts reviews, editorials, and other things based around similar topics, do you read those sites or do you think of them as competition and a threat to your readership? Also, what are some of the “other” blogs out there that handle similar stories?”

Manga4life - “It's like this: We are all blogging, writing, creating, and discussing topics that we love and enjoy. I personally see the other blogs out there as helping to get the word out that great content is out there and it's up to us, the consumer, to go and enjoy it. It could be a video game, or a television show, or a movie, or something in print, it doesn't really matter what it is because we're all bringing the information to a broader audience and I think we just want to write stories that we believe in and get the word out there that good media is available to those who want to use it. Do I see them as competition to my blog, not at all because most of us are just writing to write, not to outdo each other or to destroy the credibility of our respective blogs. Writing is an art, expression is an art, you don't have to be completely good at it more so than you have to spill out what it is your thinking about and hope someone else feels it too. If they don't, no big deal. As for other blogs on the internet-space that I associate myself with and/or read on a weekly basis? Well, The Real Scratch Pad comes to mind, as does a blog called Thoughtnami by a guy named Jeff, those are both great sites that offer content that is fun and enjoyable to read.”

Ron Paradue - “I'm familiar with one (TRSP), not the other. Can you tell me a bit about Scratch Pad and Thoughtnami and the folks that host them?”

Manga4life - “Sure. Thoughtnami is hosted by a guy named Jeff, he's a long time animation fan and seems really big into the old WB stuff as well as keeping viewers focused on great action programming. His original vision of Thoughtnami which was a part of his X-Bridge website has been long dead, though he may disagree, but he's up and running on Tumblr and he can be found on Twitter. I know The X-Bridge is still around and last year he was working on a weekly serial project, but that's since been shelved for whatever reason. Jeff's great guy, a good friend, and someone you can converse with who actually understands things, people forget how hard it is to find good people to discuss things with these days. The Real Scratch Pad is hosted by several people who have banded together via Twitter, most of which could be found on various animation forums as well as Facebook. These guys are pretty cool, I've known most of them since I hit Twitter back in early 2010 and we've all maintained contact and get along with eachother (for the most part).”

Ron Paradue - “For the most part?”

Manga4life - “Yeah, for the most part. Most of those guys I really enjoy talking to, there is one....maybe two....who I guess I haven't really bought into, but as a whole they've got a good team over there. I won't go into the member who I don't think too highly of, but as a whole they've got a great cast and I'm always popping in to see what's new. The main problem I have with TRSP is that they have multiple guys who have various levels of ego's, which can sometimes clash when they podcast. Also, I believe some members have their hearts invested into The Real Scratch Pad project while others wear it like a sweater and toss it in the closet in favor of something more enjoyable. That isn't right. One thing I like about them is that they go beyond writing blog posts, they also have a couple of podcasts that they do and they've branched into a couple of different catagories that really has given them their identity. Funny story, before The Real Scratch Pad existed they were known as The Comic Book Panel, and I was a member really early on while moonlighting as owner of The Thought Corner. I've even filled in with a couple of guest posts on The Real Scratch Pad when members couldn't make their deadlines, it's been a while since I've done that though, they seem to be more focused on audio content than print these days anyhow.”

Ron Paradue - “Moving along to other things now. Tell me, where do you see “Thought Corner” in a couple of years, or even next year, and what would you say is the best thing you've even done and a regret that you have about the blog?”

Manga4life - “There is so much I want to do. Seriously. I just don't have the time to do it. I'll continue to write blogs, I have a handful all set and ready to launch come the beginning of the year and I have some themed months I plan to celebrate eventually. But mainly I just want to bring content to readers who want a place where they can come and read something someone wrote who feels something for that certain topic, something real. I don't know where The Thought Corner will be in 2 or 3 years, but I do know that 2012 promises to be a pretty big year for the site and I may even introduce a new site mascot. Hehe. As for my biggest regret with the blog, well, it would be the falling out I had with a guy named Jason who was writing a book called "The Tale" which was to be promoted and released by my publishing company, Cozy Cabin Publishing. The fallout led me to abandon a project I was working on called "Cavendar" and before you knew it all I had left was blank pages and nothing to write. I may still take that project off the shelf someday, but all in all I was excited to release his book first to see how the company would do with it, when there was nothing to release I gave up on it. I still own the company, but I don't plan on doing anything with it besides publish posts here on the Thought Corner Blog. That would be my biggest regret, especially how it all went down.”

Ron Paradue - “What's with that little mascot guy anyway? But seriously, I'm sorry that happened to the company, but like you said earlier, you didn't want to push a product more so than you wanted others to feel your feelings through your posts. So maybe it's for the better?”

Manga4life - “He's just the face of the site, nothing more. There is no hidden meaning behind him and there is no back story or anything, he's just a character that people can see when they log on who can serve as your tour guide, or something like that. People have asked me about him before, I just tell them he's my best friend and they tend to leave it alone. As for the book deal, yeah, it's for the better. I'd just assume never talk about it again, or at least not for a long time.”

Ron Paradue - “Well, that's all I got for now. I appreciate the time you took to sit down and discuss some things with me, Manga4life, your thoughts are valued and I look forward to seeing what “Thought Corner” has in store for 2012!”

Manga4life - “Thanks for having me, Ron. It's been a pleasure and thanks for dropping in and reading The Thought Corner blog, you're support is much appreciated.”

Take care,
***Manga4life***

©2011 Cozy Cabin Publishing LLC