Manifesto
Look, we love superhero comics. We admit it. Especially from, though not exclusively from, The Big Two. We’re not going to try to pretend that we’re too cool for spandex and capes; we’re not. We like other stuff too, but we grew up on fights ‘n’ tights and, inherently silly or not, we still have a big ol’ soft spot for that stuff… particularly when done well.
There are literally thousands of comics-related blogs and news sites out there on the ol’ Internets, most overflowing with snarky commentary of the I Don’t Like and OMG I Haven’t Read This Yet But It Is Such Crap variety. Let’s face it, it’s way easier (and, yeah, more fun) to write that stuff than it is to fire off even a dozen words on I Do Like or OMG This Is So Cool. Maybe it’s easier to impress a group of relative strangers by piling on the sarcasm and cheap insults and bad jokes, but guess what? We’re all unapologetic comics nerds — if we weren’t, we wouldn’t be reading (or writing) comics blogs, now, would we? Here at Thunderdog, while there’s no need to put on a costume to talk funnybooks, we certainly don’t mind if you do.
Calling what follows a “manifesto” is, we’ll admit, stretching the point more than a little. Honestly, we’re not that pompous. But we do want to share with you some guiding principles we’re putting into place for what we want to do with this site:
- Natural Selection: We don’t buy every comic that comes out every week; just like any other form of entertainment, there’s product out there that isn’t, shall we say, the best the medium has to offer. And the budget doesn’t go near far enough to pick up even everything we’re interested in. However, we do know a lot of what’s out there, and we’re committed to doing the best we can to find the good stuff wherever it may be hiding, in whatever form it may be hiding in. If you’ve got suggestions for stuff you think we’re overlooking, bring ‘em on. If you’re doing something that you know we’re overlooking, bring it on ’til it can’t be brought’n anymore.
- Equal Opportunity Geekism: We here at Thunderdog operate under the principle of YKIOK, ITNMK: Your Kink is OK, It’s Just Not My Kink. We may not understand your 100 Bullets fixation, but we do understand having a fixation. Just because we don’t get your particular affection or interest doesn’t give us grounds to make fun of it or you. Whether you get your jollies from Power Pack or Preacher or Archie or American-Born Chinese, we encourage you to be into whatever you’re into. (And we sort of expect the same treatment from you, Dear Thunderdog Reader.)
- Pay It Forward: We think the comics industry — not just the publishers, but the retailers and readers — need to do more to promote comics and get the younger generations into reading them. There’s never been a better time for it, with all of the über-successful (and even semi-successful) movies out there based on comics. But it seems like this ball has been dropped more times than that big shiny sphere in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
- Be Part of the Solution: It’s easy to bitch about an unsatisfying conclusion to some otherwise decent miniseries, but if we’re going to complain, we’re also going be obliged to try to offer a solution, when we can, as well as to examine what we thought the creators did right.
- This is a Douchebag-Free Zone: As part of our effort to promote the positive as much as we can, we’re expecting people commenting here not to act like obnoxious, socially-retarded thirteen-year-olds. Even when the commenters really are obnoxious, socially-retarded thirteen-year-old shut-ins. Be an adult, even if you’re not. No personal slams on creators, on the blog authors, on other commenters. Critique the product, not the producer. Comments not playing by these rules will be deleted, and we won’t feel even a little bit bad about it. You don’t like it, go read one of the other thousands of comics blogs which might better fit what you’re looking for.
