“I Am Fire! And Life Incarnate! Now and Forever… I am a Black Coal.”

Last time I’ve been around (January 3) it was with a promise to do some more posting. Instead, I completely abandoned it and used all my writing prowess on PoP! As of this week, I’m no longer part of Panels on Pages’ staff, by my own decision. For the first time in years I have no other platform to publish my stuff on other than this. It may sound like I feel forced to use this blog as my last resort, but I’m not; I’d really like to use it to publish my stuff, on my own terms and schedule. It’ll probably consist more on reviews and some random/general posts with a possible revival of my old features (top lists etc.), perhaps in new formats and new names. I’m still sorting things out.

What has changed?

In real life I still have the same job I had for the last two years. Two months ago things went downhill when my boss was caught on embezzlement, As a result, lots of things changed and I feel like anything could happen. I’m not sure how much my position is secure but for the time I’m doing my job and hope for the best.

When it comes to comics, I haven’t read a mainstream superhero book in almost a year. I’m far from missing it. Now I focus my interest and wallet on independent reads. Don’t expect anything like this to happen again.

See you around,
-T.

Another Post Another List: Top 10 Comics of the Decade (2000-2009)

Yeah, yeah, I fell to the “Top X” formula that infects every media outlet in the world when it comes to sum up the passing year. Since it’s the end of the first decade of the millennium and it affected my comics reading a lot, I felt it needs to be remembered somehow. Earlier this week I wrote about my decade from a different angle on PoP! Now here are my 10 most favorite stories of the decade. At first I wrote something in depth on each, but I’m happy with what I did eventually.

10. Astonishing X-Men: Gifted

Astonishing X-Men #1-6
Story by Joss Whedon
Art by John Cassaday
Marvel Comics (2004)

Five things learned from this story:

- A team’s greatest asset is a fire-breathing pet dragon from space.

- “Death” in comics actually means “abducted by an ugly alien with whiskers”.

- Wolverine spent too much time with Spider-Man, thereof became a one-liner drunk midget.

- Kitty Pride is even cuter and awesome after several years on hiatus, finishing college and maturing.

- There’s a cure for anything nowadays.

2010: New Year Resolutions

I have just two resolutions in regards to this blog, really:

- To update it more. Looks like most of that will be links to to PoP! and specifically my articles.

- Fix the dead links caused by Wizard killing their archives, therefore my old X-titles columns are gone from the web. Good thing I saved them on my own.

So… may 2010 be a far better year and the next decade be nothing like its predecessor.

-T.

Oh, Crap…

I’ve been meaning to do this for awhile but completely forgot. As you can see, my gig at Wizard is dead. My last column was published in last December (also my last post in the blog) and I got into this bizarre whirlpool where they either neglected my posts for technical reasons or I just couldn’t get myself into doing it anymore. When I was finally about to get back on track in February, all freelance columns/round-ups were canceled due to major cutbacks, firings and changes at Wizard.

About a year ago I was approached by one of the other freelancers and a fellow WUMBer to be part in our own new project, completely unrelated to Wizard or the future changes (we didn’t know about at the time). We started pitching ideas and eventually set our goals on the first Friday of March as the launching date of Panels on Pages (or PoP! in short). By coincidence, about a week earlier was when our editor informed us about the cancellation of our columns. Well, it gave us more time to work on our new baby. The Saturday prior to the launch I had a free afternoon and used it to build our new forums. Just a little seven months later and we continue to grow, both the website and the forums.

In the meantime, Wizard seems to go down while chewing more that it can. My former editor Jim Gibbons was let go in late August and looks like anyone I knew at Wizard or cared about is gone. The website is barely active and merely two days ago was replaced by a new pop culture website, while the recent Wizard Universe now only offers subscriptions to the various Wizard magazines (which are rumored to be taken down from the shelves by the end of the year). I no longer visit WUMB and ditched my Moderator position. And the hatred for Gareb Shamus and his lackeys has been growing in the passing week all due to their recent actions in the conventions department.

But let’s get back to business; I’m not sure what to do with this blog. I don’t mind keeping it around, but all my good ideas are going to PoP! We’ll see.

-T.

MUTANT MANIFESTO: December 10, 2008

This week: Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #2

Last week: Cable #9, X-Infernus #1, X-Men: Manifest Destiny #4, Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #2

Two weeks ago: X-Force #9, Wolverine: Origins #30, Secret Invasion: X-Men #4

Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes #2

Cable #9

X-Infernus #1

X-Men: Manifest Destiny #4

Wolverine: Manifest Destiny #2

X-Force #9

Wolverine: Origins #30

Secret Invasion: X-Men #4

-T.

MUTANT MANIFESTO: November 19, 2008 Part 2

This week (Part 2): Young X-Men #8, X-Men: Worlds Apart #2

Young X-Men #8

X-Men: Worlds Apart #2

-T.

MUTANT MANIFESTO: November 19, 2008 Part 1

This week (Part 1): Uncanny X-Men #504, X-Men: Legacy #218, X-Factor #37, Deadpool #4.

Uncanny X-Men #504

X-Men: Legacy #218

X-Factor #37

Deadpool #4

-T.