It's gone
Fanboy Rampage called it quits today. I've been running around at work, so this is the first free moment I've had to enter the blogosphere, a place I've grown less and less fond of lately, but this is important. One of my favorite comic book blogs is closing up shop.
Good job, Graeme. That's about all I can say. You picked the perfect time to step back, and it'll be fun to see what's next.
posted by Alex Segura @ 8:57 PM
15 Comments:
T'will be missed. Sorely.
"T'will be missed. Sorely."
Not by everyone. ;)
James - No, those that can't appreciate what such a unique blog brought to the blogoshpere table will not miss it, but it is a loss nonetheless.
Tim - Please fix your comment avatar. I've yet to see what it is. Email it to me and I'll host it, sweetie.
"No, those that can't appreicate what such a unique blog brought to the blogosphere table..."
Unique? Please! There's nothing "unique about people snarking others. There's nothing "unique" about taking pot-shots and creating an air of negativity. There's nothing "unique" in belittling someone who belittles themselves every time they speak. Hence, there is nothing "unique" about FBR.
In fact, it was much too typical of the type of attitude and nonsensical fanboy rabble that detractors of the hobby and industry use to make their case against it.
"...it is a loss nonetheless."
In much the same way a cancer growth is a loss to to the person whom it was attatched. The blogverse is just as much better off without it.
In much the same way a cancer growth is a loss to to the person whom it was attatched. The blogverse is just as much better off without it.
Isn't this the kind of negativity you say has no place?
Fanboy Rampage was what it was. Some liked it. Others didn't. That's the way of the internet, and the world. Snark may not further the discussion much, but histrionics, even less so.
"Fanboy Ranpage was what it was. Some liked it. Others didn't."
You are right. But there's nothing wrong with those who didn't, as Chris would seem to imply. There was plenty about the place that was as bad (or worse) than what they supposedly railed against there. And I don't think that should be forgotten, just because it's run has come to an end.
Don't you agree?
Everyone gets it, James. Perhaps they read your blog post, I'm sorry two blog posts, celebrating the demise of Fanboy Rampage. Or maybe they've read your comments on the blogs of other people lamenting the closure of FBR.
You didn't like The Rampage. There's nothing wrong with you not liking it, really. But for someone who constantly rails about negativity on the comics internet, you're a real buzzkill. Hell, Graeme might have to restart it for a day just to make fun of your comments.
Don't play "holier-than-thou" with me, Hoke. You don't wear that mantle very well.
You know, I find it very telling how so many of you fomer "Rampgers" were so good at dishing it out for years at people, yet when the time of getting a little of what you all were so willing to throw at others comes back at you, you are unable to take it.
I'm just one guy. And it's only been a couple of days. Now imagine dozens of people doing this, for years. That is what FBR was.
There a lesson in there for you. I hope you learn it. And I still wish Graeme the best. He has some real talent. It deserves a better stage, than a snark-pit for those who think they knew so much better than others. I hope he gets something truly worth HIM.
Actually, James, I do agree. Well, in part. Kind of. I posted about it myself at my blog. In short, though, the blog itself was a good thing. The commenters? Depends on the day and the subject--kind of like any comics message board/blog discussion thread. When something gets written/posted/discussed in an open forum (and that includes the blog itself, and its comments, but also posts on other message boards, blogs, comics, etc.), things happen--the author has no say in the reaction to it (although the serious personal attacks at Fanboy Rampage were more often than not deleted by Graeme, which shows he's a better guy than I am).
I honestly think that because you were a target on two occasions, you might still be feeling hurt or whatever.
As far as "thinking they knew so much better than others," everyone does that--that's having opinions and expressing them in an open forum. If I'm going to discuss the concept of maturity in superhero comics on my blog, I'm not only meditating on a theory, I'm making a statement I think has value. When you're writing to ICv2 regarding the monthly comics vs. trades discussion, you're saying you have an opinion that is of value. When we disagree with others, it's often because we know (or think we know) that we can support our opinions and that we believe our opinions are right.
Something I may touch on later, though, is your concept that the fans are somehow responsible for being representatives of the medium. That sounds like something that will be fun to mull over.
I read most of the blogs on the Comics Weblog Updates list (at the very least, I skim through them, but I'm making with the clicky). I'm not expecting to agree with everything people write (or how they say it). I think you'll find that most (obviously not all) of the people from those Rampage comments threads are the same. There was no hive-mind; everyone had their white whales that they were so fond of trotting out (mine were THE GIFT, its creator's hyperbolic and obnoxious promotional efforts, and other things of which I can't fathom the appeal--not unlike your "beef" with Joe Madeuira). Some had a hard-on for Warren Ellis. Some hated other bloggers.
Some probably hated me, come to think of it.
And that's ok. I'm not expecting everyone to agree with me, or even like me.
The reason I responded here, and not at your blog, is because I didn't see anything particularly actionable there. You didn't like it, fine--hell, I'm happy someone didn't, and was willing to say so. The more perspectives, the better. But here, you demonstrated very much of the same bile you find in others. "Cancerous?" It was a blog. It's, in the words of Arnold Schwarzenneger, "not a tumor."
I'm not playing with you, James. I just find it odd that you're so fixated on The Rampage still. And all this "ding dong the witch is dead" is a tad dramatic.
Ed:
I completely agree with you that Graeme should not be held accountable for the actions (or words, I should say) of others. That's partly why at my blog, I made sure to point out that I wish him the best (as I also said here and at a couple other blogs on this topic). So, I in no way hold that against Graeme.
But I do feel that a lot of those who've been going on about what a "loss" this is are way to quickly sweeping away the bad things that went down there (despite what Graeme's intentions might have been). It's like when a not-so-nice person dies, and people start talking them up. Anyone who speaks up about the bad they committed, is seen as a "buzzkill." Like all the bad stuff they did should just be forgotten and act like it never happened, while others go on lionizing this person for sainthood. That's how I see the reaction of so many about FBR. Forgetting the bad and acting like it's such a "loss".
Truthfully, while I might see the end of FBR as a plus, I have no doubt in my mind that something will come along to replace it. Heck, I would be surprised if it was SEVERAL somethings (which I would find to be a very sad thing, but that's a whole other topic).
As for the few times I was made the "target" of FBR, I know that's an easy out for most to take concerning my comments. And if that's what they want to think, well, that's up to them. But I know there were plenty of other "targets" who got it just as bad as (or worse than) me. So, really, it's not a big deal for me.
As for stating opinions, sure, that's a right of everyone. But, despite the words of the great Abe Lincoln, all men are NOT created equal and even moreso their opinions are not. You see, with my ICV2.com replies, I was talking about concerns that actually effect the industry and hobby. I also did so in a very professional and intelligent manner (if I do say so myself). I think it's great when people want to discuss an issue to help fix a problem or enhance something that already works. That's a part of what I try to do at my blog. I didn't see anything of the like for FBR. It was a place for folks to vent and belittle others. That's it. If any discussion was had, it was more out of happenstance, then any concerted effort for it.
You are absolutely right that I feel fans are representatives of the hobby (and to a lesser degree the industry). They are the "face" of it. They are the others whom the industry exists for. They are the ones non-readers will view as being representative of the audience that industry and hobby caters to. And I think places like FBR shown a very bad image to those people, which in turn makes the industry look bad, as well. I know there are lots of places that might do so on the web, but FBR sort of POLARIZED it. Not just by digging around other places for "the drama", but by creating more than a little all by itself. Was my comment of comparing to a "cancerous growth" a bit harsh? Perhaps, but to some degree that IS what it was. And still, compared to some of the things others said at FBR, that comment is almost Victorian Age polite.
Hoke:
Actually, had Hunter just said something like, "Well, different strokes and all that jazz." I probably wouldn't have said a word after that.
But trying to, in true "Rampage" style, belittle those who he doesn't agree with, sort of made me feel more was needing to be said (despite how you might feel).
As I just told Ed, with the near linonizing of the place by those who dwelled there on a daily basis, people who might not know what FBR was (and I had a couple people tell me that at my blog), they deserve to know the whole story. Not the carefully selected musings of those who indulged there.
As for "Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead", call that "creative license". Granted, I am pleased the place is gone, don't get me wrong, but I also like to make my blog a place of fun (because, you know, that's what comics are supposed to be). That's just a part of it.
Well, different strokes and all that jazz.
There. I said it.
But that's not really all to be said about FBR, now is it? Yeah, FBR made fun of a lot of idiots, but it also did some good as well.
Have you forgotten about the "Fuck, Kill, Marry" threads that used to happen on the Bendis Board? I know you had to have heard about them. Haven't seen those again since they were exposed on FBR.
Or the MB posters at the Bendis Board that were talking of rape at WW Chicago?
And those are just two instances of things that FBR brought into the light.
FBR was a mirror, plain and simple. And a lot of people did not like what they saw staring back at them when they looked into it.
The way I see it, James (and I may be completely wrong), is that you envision fans as being missionaries of the medium, or at least they should be if they aren't. You've basically said so on more than one occasion, though you did not use those exact words. Hey, that's cool. It's a nice thought. But FBR would show, at times all too often, the blasphemers, the ones either not spreading the gospel or the hypocrites, and that was always something that you didn't like.
But it's gone now. Time for us all to find the next fun, cool, or blasphemous thing to do and move on.
Cheers.
In much the same way a cancer growth is a loss to to the person whom it was attatched. The blogverse is just as much better off without it."
You know, I'm not that into Young Avengers, mainly because after a decade Jimmy Cheung still knows how to draw only one kind of face, but I might buy the hardcover just to get back at you for that statement.
Do it!
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