Polite Dissent

Recently, a certain CBG commentator has had some negative things to say about the comic blogosphere. Comic Treadmill sums it all up nicely.
Tired of the negativity (though I’ve contributed my share), I hearby present Ten Reasons that Comic Blogs are Superior:

1. Speed: Opinions and views can be expressed almost instaneously. No need to wait for weekly or monthly publications.
2. Discussion: The communication is not one-sided, like most periodicals. There are interactions between the bloggers and people leaving comments, and between the bloggers themselves. With blogs, you can have posts on various blogs build and expand on each other.
3. Variety: With hundreds (if not more) of comic-blogs to choose from, if you don’t like one person, you can easily find ten or fifteen you will like. Whether you like professional blogs, semi-professional blogs, or totally non-professional blogs: all are available. I’m not paying a subscription; I’m not limited to 3 or 4 columnists.
4. Dedication: Bloggers are posting because they enjoy and are dedicated to their interests. It’s not our job; we’re not paid to do this. The hours we spend, after work, after family, are our contribution to the comics community.
5. Specificity: If there’s a particular comic-book interest, chances are that a blog covers it. Graeme covers the highlights of the message boards in Fanboy Rampage, so I don’t have to read them all; Laura is the source for all things Aqua; this blog (generally) presents the medical aspect of comics. Other interests have their own blogs as well.
6. Peers: I don’t necessarily care what John Q. Professional cares about the latest comic. I’m more interested in what average readers like myself think about the comics. Did everyone think “Iron Fist” sucked as much as I did? Was everyone else enthusiastic about “Monolith”? I can get advice on books to try from people with similar opinions.
7. Community Support: Comic bloggers support the comic community, especially the smaller publishers, more than any professional publication. How many bloggers brought attention to the recent “Demo” contest? How many helped Fantagraphics with their recent concerns? How many push smaller, less well-know books?
8. Democracy: Anyone can blog. This is not a negative; it’s a positive. I can find information from anyone about anything. It’s not a secret club. Anyone can join for little, if any, cost (other than time). There are comics blogs from teachers, lawyers, students, doctors, housewives, secretaries. If I don’t like what I see, I don’t have to read it. What matters is not who you are, but what you say and how you write.
9. Cross-Overs: You’ll never see George Will write an article about comics, but more mainstream and political bloggers will frequently write about comics. Michele of A Small Victory makes no secret of her love of comics, and Meryl Yourish writes some hilarious Hulk dialogue (here’s a good one), and her Superhero Dating Ratings are hilarious.
10. Honesty: I’m not worried about conflicts of interest in comic blogs. There have been always been rumors of biases in the “professional” internet comic news sites (i.e. “The Pulse in is CrossGen’s pocket”, “Marvel gets preferential treatment from Newsarama”, etc.). To some extent these are tue because these sites have to worry about not offending publishers, writers, artists or they may not be given their next big story. These worries don’t exist in the comic blogosphere. If it’s below average, we’ll say so.