Hey folks,
It’s been a ghost town on ol UrbaneTurtle dot com lately and I don’t like the random comic panels of the week bunching up on the home page like they are here (although I do love finding them and sharing them, and I hope you like seeing them.) But I recently started a freelance gig with Comic Book Resources as a comics reviewer. It takes up a lot of time as I am really wanting to contribute to comics criticism in a meaningful and in-depth way so I am doing a lot of supporting reading & research for every review I’ve done.
It’s been a fun challenge to work in the strict word limits and boil analysis into the essentials. I’m still working on finding my voice in the specific CBR approach but I think I am getting the hang of injecting more of myself into each peace without it being quite as personal as this space.
It doesn’t pay much and nobody really reads reviews but it is important to me to put out work that really tries to start some critical conversation around the medium and doesn’t just serve as press releases for companies. My first week of reviews have really run the gamut of both subject matter and opinion and I think I am doing a pretty good job and look forward to this being a space to grow my professional voice.
From a personal perspective I would just like to say that these last few months have been very gratifying, with my commitment to this page and regular writing paying off in different ways quite quickly. I have found a level of professional satisfaction through my celebration of comics here and elsewhere that has eluded me most of my adult life and the response to some of my pieces have been truly humbling to me even though my audience itself is quite small.
I’m not abandoning this page but unfortunately it does seem that posts are going to become less frequent. I have something about DC’s Final Night I am percolating over but i am finding myself falling into a research vortex though, while not as intense as my Nightwing read, is taking time between my professional comics duties.
You can find my work on CBR here and I will probably periodically link to specific pieces just to build the personal portfolio on the site. My essay on Jane Foster is set to release in June in PanelxPanel and there are some other really exciting things in the early stages of discussion. I’ve also got that baby due in June that is sure to have more long term impact on my writing commitments.
So until next time, Turtle Club faithful, thanks for sticking with me.
O
Urbane Turtle 