Though the current project started as a series of posts charting my grief journey after the death of my mother, I am no longer actively grieving. Now, the blog charts a conversation in living, mainly whatever I want it to be. This is an activity that goes well with the theme of this blog (updated 2018). The Sense of Doubt blog is dedicated to my motto: EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY. I promote questioning everything because just when I think I know something is concrete, I find out that it’s not.
Hey, Mom! The Explanation.
Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #4009 - Hey Mom Reprint of #219 from Feb. 11, 2016 - Various Images
I am off for some weekend fun. Today, Saturday, I am attending a Zen cohort meeting at Dharma Rain Zen Center in Portland followed by a gathering of the Star Trek fan club that I have not attended since before the pandemic.
Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday, and I plan to just relax, read, and half pay attention to sports getting back to serious work on Monday.
And so, two reprints today and tomorrow. Though the picture above is new, the rest of the content is from around this date, not the exact date, in 2016.
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #219 - Various images and a puppy
Hi Mom, Just some images and comics and things I have been throwing into a folder.
Still in catch up mode.
And here's a puppy.
Reflect and connect.
Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.
Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.
Jack Kirby - 1976
Adrian Tomine - The Overlook - 2015
Paris
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ - Days ago = 221 days ago - Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1602.11 - 10:10 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2602.07 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3872 days ago & DAD = 527 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #3596 - Reprint of Hey Mom #170 - Box of Comics on Christmas Eve - Comic Book Sunday 2412.22
Among my favorite Christmas traditions is receiving a box full of comics on Christmas Eve, something to read when I wake up at 3 a.m. and yet cannot wake my parents until at least 6 a.m. It was a strategic choice to give me a box of comics the night before.
Not that I don't read comics all the time, but I always read many on Christmas Eve.
Still in low power, reprint mode.
Since I LOVE Fantastic Four, I thought the image above was a good one to share.
Thanks for tuning in.
LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.
I think it's worth noting the Jack Kirby Black Panther comic and the issue of Howard the Duck in the picture above.
Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #170 - Box of comics on Christmas Eve
me and Lori, reading 8-9-1971
Hi Mom,
You remember everything I am about to write, Mom, of course, but for those who read the blog who did not know us growing up, I want to share about our family tradition of a box of comics for Christmas Eve.
Every year, you would wrap presents early, Mom, giving us at least a week (and sometimes more) to shake and ponder the contents of the many packages under the Christmas tree in eager anticipation of that magical December morning.
Christmas 1972
Given my buggy intensity leading up to Christmas, and later Lori's, you would let each of us open one gift on Christmas Eve, which was always a box of comic books. In your estimation, this was the ideal gift, as I would sleep at best from bed time to about 3 a.m. at which point I would wake and need something to do. And so, I would have a box of comic books to read. I wish I had a picture of some of these boxes of comic books or of me reading stacks of comics on Christmas Eve. The picture up top of me and Lori shows comics on the floor nearby, though we are not actively reading them, we had been. But the picture is from November (or before) and not Christmas Eve. But I have some other neat pictures that I will share.
You had a good idea with the box of comics, Mom. Between this tradition, reading to me at bed time, buying little books and comics for me at eat grocery trip, and later my allowance based on the cost of two comic books (a quarter = two 12 cent comics and a penny for tax), I grew up to become a great lover of comic books, which are still (often) magical and beautiful to me.
Thank you, Mom. You changed my life. You instilled in me a great love for comic books.
Christmas 1976 Unwrapping with Mom
In the above picture, we have begun to go through our stockings from Santa Claus. Mom, you liked order, and so we had bowls to collect our candy and fruit. The large apples and oranges were a Christmas tradition, always one of each in our stocking. As you can see near my side, I have two apples -- a red one and a green one -- and an orange. Mom is helping Lori fill her bowl with the items in her stocking.
Christmas 1976
Taking pictures following the celebration (usually over a week or more later) was also a Christmas tradition. Here's that same Christmas. I am posing with the presents I received. You can see Pong, the first computer video game, in the lower left corner, Mom. And if you look closely, the comics from that Christmas Eve box are spread out from left to right just behind Pong and all along the front of the display. I am holding a magical illusion with three silks that I cannot remember the name of.
With Tim Travis Jan 1976
Here's a picture of me from January of 1976 (so about 12 months before the Christmas pictured above), probably celebrating my birthday with my friend Tim Travis, assessing my comic book collection. This picture was taken in the spare room in the basement where I could entertain friends and practice my magic. Note that stacks of games behind us. Also, note an issue of Warlock at the far upper left end of the pile. Full circle? I received a shirt with Warlock's picture for Christmas this year in 2015.
My Birthday 1974
Another traditional pose shot following my 1974 birthday (I am 12; Lori is four). All the gifts are mine except the tutu and ballerina case on the far right. That was a gift for Lori, revealing another tradition as we would always receive one present at the other child's birthday so not to feel left out. Notice the display of comics along the top of that couch. The issue of the Flash that I am holding in the previous picture with Tim is on the far right end of the couch in this picture. Also, in another full circle moment, I received a Morbius t-shirt for Christmas this year (2015), commemorating the comic book seen directly above the Marie Osmond Paper Roses record album.
I think the grouping of presents here is very interesting. There's a ventriloquist dummy that catches your eye, dead center. To the left, there's a watch and its case. Above that, a narrated comic book record album of Batman. A huge '70s mod card. Some books. To the right of the dummy, the aforementioned Marie Osmond album, Lone Ranger and Tonto and some Batman diorama. Above my head, a boxer from the Big Jim collection, Captain America, and Tarzan.
Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2412.22 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3460 days ago & DAD = 116 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #3050 - Jack Kirby Statement to Stan Lee Documentary - More John Romita - Newsletters Various - Comic Book Sunday for June 25, 2023
Three comic book things here:
- Jack Kirby statement to Stan Lee documentary
- Steve Cook newsletter (Secret Oranges) about John Romita RIP
- Most recent Kieron Gillen newsletter ( 07 June 2023) about Immortal X-Men 012
Though I wrote about loving Romita over Kirby as well as Gil Kane, Gene Colan, Neal Adams, and a few others, I do ADORE Jack Kirby.
It's like splitting hairs. They can all kinda be tied for first.
Most people outside of comics think Stan Lee was the one and only mastermind behind the entire Marvel universe without knowing that the creation of all the characters from the start was a collaborative effort and that Jack Kirby was involved in all of it.
Despite Steve Ditko being the original artist on The Amazing Spider-Man, few know that Jack Kirby conceived the look of the character and drew the cover of Amazing Fantasy #15, the first appearance of the famous wall-crawler.
Kirby was at least equally as instrumental as Stan Lee if not more so. Though Kirby did not continue with Spider-Man, which became a Lee-Ditko production and then a Lee-Romita production, Kirby had great influence if not outright complete creation of The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, Thor, The Avengers, the X-Men, Iron Man, Daredevil, and of course, Captain America.
And so, it's upsetting that a new Stan Lee documentary continues to advance a narrative that Stan Lee was the main or ONLY mastermind behind the Marvel universe.
I learned about Steve Cook from Warren Ellis and subscribed to his newsletter mainly because I liked the name: Secret Oranges.
Cook has had a long career in comics in Britain. And just writing this I see that he designed the cover for William Orbit's Strange Cargo III, which is among my all-time favorite albums (though not top twenty).
His newsletter is good fun and thought-provoking. I loved what he had to share about John Romita Sr, so it's included here.
And lastly, Kieron Gillen. Somehow, I got unsubscribed or just was not receiving Gillen's newsletters for much of the year. Odd that it took me six months or so to realize it.
So, including his most recent, as I just read the featured comic, Immortal X-Men #012, patterned on The Idiot by Dostoevsky.
The newest Stan Lee documentary is another example of regurgitating falsehoods and repeating long debunked ideas into the creation of these beloved Marvel characters. Jack and Stan were an amazing team, whose combined talents ushered in an entire universe of superheroes that have inspired generations. The Jack Kirby Estate has and will continue to ensure that comic book and pop culture fans understand the importance of Jack in the creation of the Marvel Universe. This continuation to push a challenged narrative, hurts the legacy of Stan Lee as well, and continues the disregard towards Jack in the creation of these iconic characters. It truly pains the family to once again have to fight to ensure Jack’s legacy and his global contribution to the comics industry. Jack Kirby was more than an artist, he was a visionary and creative force, whose contribution to the creation of many Marvel characters goes way beyond putting pencil to paper. Stan Lee will rightfully be remembered as a champion of comic books, creative powerhouse and figurehead of one the world’s most cherished brands. It is now time for the world to discover the other creative force behind their favorite superheroes. The Jack Kirby Estate invites you to learn more about Jack’s version of how these superheroes were created and his inspiration for doing so. Jack loved his fans and creating for them was not just a job, it was his passion. There are many resources that now add historical facts that are finally changing the one-sided narrative that has been pushed throughout the years. We look forward to one day having a documentary that tells both sides of this amazing story. Until that time, we’ll continue to ensure Jack’s legacy is protected and find solace in knowing that these co-creations continue to inspire and entertain people around the world.
RIP John Romita. 1930-2023. I can't imagine growing up without John Romita's Spider-Man. It meant so much to me. An absolute legend has left us.
This is John Romita’s self-portrait, from a set of Marvel artists that I bought, which includes Jack Kirby. Each has a biography on the reverse.
Thinking back to when I first discovered American comics, there were three of us at Junior school who decided to adopt our own secret identities. We each made a costume to wear beneath our school uniforms. Unfortunately, lycra or spandex were not an option, and mine was made of rather itchy wool. It’s a wonder we didn’t all pass out in the blazing heat of summer, but I got my special moment as I was leaving school one afternoon. A girl in my class (who knew my secret) said to her mother who was waiting beside the school gates, ‘Look, Mum... look at this boy’s secret identity!’ and forced me to pull back my school shirt and tie to reveal a rather pathetic home-made attempt at a Spider-Man costume.
I never could find anything suitable for a mask. The closest I got, was one of those string net bags that you buy oranges in, but to be frank, it looked ridiculous, so I gave up on that.
This was delivered to my house every Saturday. Spider-Man Comics Weekly #40 published in 1973.
This very same ‘costume’ had one more outing the night my father discovered a burglary was in progress on the other side of the street, and was on the phone to the police. It took me 3 minutes to get changed and run down the stairs to the front door, and 3 seconds for my father to yank me back in by the scruff of my neck to prevent any heroics!
I have another tale that relates to my Spidey costume fascination. You see, there was a great cut-away by Larry Lieber and Mike Esposito, in my favourite issue of Spider-Man showing the costume hanging in Peter Parker’s closet, and I always wished I had one to hang in mine.
From Amazing Spider-Man Annual Vol 1 #4
When I decided to leave my staff job at Marvel UK in 1988 and go freelance, Robert Sutherland, the MD offered me free studio space in the basement as a sort of incentive to continue doing freelance for them, which was very much appreciated. A few months later, Marvel decided to relocate to another part of town, leaving me behind until I found another space of my own. Anyhow, they’d left a lot of old rubbish down there in their haste to vacate the premises, and one night I was packing up to go home after working late on a particularly urgent deadline. I was fumbling around looking for loose change for the underground journey home, and a coin fell out of my hand and rolled across the floor to rest behind a big old cardboard box in the corner of an abandoned office space. As I shifted all the rubbish to get to it, my heart began to race when I saw, in the dim light, a red webbed hand hanging over the edge of the box. I peered in and there was a complete (if a little ragged) Spider-Man costume. I couldn’t believe my eyes!
Production Stat for page #8 of Amazing Spider-Man #50 - July, 1967. A landmark issue! Writer: Stan Lee. Artist: John Romita. Inker: Mickey Demeo. Lettering: Sam Rosen.
I knew that the publicist had invested in a new one for public appearances a few months back, because we used to share an office, but it hadn’t occurred to me that she’d just binned the old one. A bit of a wash and some needlework renovation and my childhood wish had finally come true!
Ta-Dah!!! Yep, ‘fraid so! Spidey in the East End of London.
When I mentioned this to John Tomlinson, who I’d worked with at both Marvel UK and 2000 AD, he said:
‘I never knew you rescued that old Spider-Man cozzy from the bin... Somewhere on VHS I still have its appearance on Data Run, a Saturday morning kids show (with Timmy Mallet) in which 'Spider-Man' visited the Marvel UK offices in Jadwin House. I was in it too as a student on work experience, as was (UK Spider-Man editor) Jez Meteyard and (artist) John Higgins, who pretended to draw Spidey. The costume was so knackered, they had to do it up with masking tape – Spidey backed out of the room at the end to avoid showing it!’
The Amazing Spider-Man #43 - Rhino On The Rampage! (1966) Script: Stan Lee. Art: John Romita Sr.
I’m pretty sure that reading about Peter Parker’s exploits as a photojournalist spurred me on to be a photographer with a press card myself, coupled with my first viewing of the Antonioni film, Blow-Up which was also a major influence, and one of my all-time favorite films.
As much as I was into Steve Ditko’s Spider-Man initially, I grew to really love the way John Romita drew the strip. As I went from junior to senior high school, the stories about Peter Parker’s college and personal life became far more interesting to me than the battle scenes. Stan Lee’s witty, snappy dialog worked so well with Romita’s hip, and groovy looking characters, and that panel of the first appearance of Mary Jane Watson has most definitely become THE most iconic comic book panel of all time IMHO. In fact, I created my own photographic homage to that panel which I will share at some point.
There's no mistaking a Stan Lee script! The Amazing Spider-Man #55 - Doc Ock Wins! (1967) Script: Stan Lee. Pencils: John Romita Sr. Inks: Mike Esposito Letters: Sam Rosen.
Another of my 'rescued from the rubbish pile' items from Marvel UK. It's a shame it's so stained, but maybe that's why it was discarded. I had this bromide print on my office wall for a long time, slightly out of view in this photo below, by Marvel’s managing editor, Jenny O'Connor. I think I must have worn the shades as a joke, it was never that bright in the office, plus the fact that I always wore a Walkman probably explains why I now have extremely annoying tinnitus!
Another vintage production stat from my collection: Amazing Spider-Man #54 - November, 1967 'The Tentacles and the Trap' Script: Stan Lee. Art: John Romita Sr. Inks: Mike Esposito. Letters: Sam Rosen.
Brendan McCarthy’s Spider-Man: Fever, April 07, 2010
I’m thinking back to when I was kid, sitting on the pavement outside my Uncle Bill’s house on a sunny day in Edmonton, London. I was reading the Terrible Tinkerer story in Amazing Spider-Man annual #2 that he’d just bought me from a local newsagent called Sands. I’d never have thought that one day I’d have my own name on a Spider-Man comic, so when I did, I made sure to send him a copy and thank him for the inspiration he gave me all those years ago.
Vintage production stat of Amazing Spider-Man #2 - May, 1963.
Yes, I was a Friend Of Ol’ Marvel subscriber - FOOM #18, June, 1977. Cover by John Romita Sr.
In my opinion, apart from John Romita Jr., nobody else has surpassed Steve Ditko or John Romita Sr. when it comes to Spider-Man, but maybe that's because I grew up enjoying their interpretations of the character.
I read a book, like a grown ups If you can’t love yourself Driven Links Byyyyeeee!!!
Immortal X-men is back, with issue 12, which is our Colossus point of view. It’s somewhat packed. It’s only when seeing the initial response I’m reminded that “Oh yeah – we do that too.” Colossus is an unusual PoV, because due to his plot over in X-Force, he’s being manipulated by a reality-warper, who tweaks existence by writing. I mentioned this way back in issue 1 of Immortal X-men, so it was always on the table, but bringing it to the fore has been interesting.
The issue’s called “The Idiot” after the Dostoevsky novel and about poor old Piotr tends to be looked at. After writing it, I had significant guilt because it’s a Dostoevsky that I haven’t read. So after handing in the script, I did – the first big literary thing I’ve handled since Iris joined us – and then did some extra specific tweaks at lettering. It was pretty small stuff, because I’ve handled enough of the big D to write the issue, but the tweaks were fun, and it was a joy to read the book. It’s a book of complete hot messes. I also wasn’t expecting a joke about throwing a dog from a moving train.
You can’t keep a good woman down, and you can’t keep a bad one down either.
Last time I forgot to mention that the second Immortal X-men trade has been released…
…which collects issue 7-10, which wraps up Judgment Day before cascading into the build up for Sins of Sinister. There’s some of my fave stuff in here – issue 10 is one of my favorite issues I’ve done since I’ve been back at Marvel, for example.
Yes, if it they weren’t bad enough, now the Sinisters are dating.
This picks up of Sins of Sinister’s status quo, and builds from what Gerry does in X-men today. While we’ve seen them both as active players in a load of comics, this is where we dig into their background, their motivations and who they actually are. I want to delineate them as much as possible, and hopefully afterwards folks will really get how (say) Stasis differs fundamentally from Sinister.
For the record, I consider it as an issue of Immortal X-men, and believe it’ll be collected in the third trade .
I found myself thinking about something I wrote for Empire magazine back in 2016 recently, and realised I didn’t think I had put it out anywhere. It was for their feature where they got people who hadn’t seen a movie in Empire’s readers Top 50 to watch it and then write about it.
I hadn’t seen Drive, so chose that. Reading this, I smile a little at the tone I choose. As a compare and contrast to what I do in the newsletter is telling. I’m awful.
DRIVE
I’m not sure if I’d try being an inconspicuous getaway driver if I had Ryan Gosling’s face attached to the front of my own potato shaped head. “Do you remember the driver at all?” “Yes, I do. He had a face like the very sun itself. He made me want to do a film that lingers lovingly on his features for – oooh – about one hour forty.”
I have no idea why I hadn’t seen Drive. I’m pretentious enough to like Refn’s previous Valhalla Rising. Presumably 2011 was one of the years I dedicated to solemn solitary crying and masturbation. I’m a writer. We do that occasionally. In retrospect, I can’t help but link the films – Drive needed Gosling in the same way Valhalla Rising needed Mikkelsen. Both wouldn’t have worked without a face for the lens to fetishise for its length. It’s striking that both films that are so deeply embedded in an examination of masculinity objectify their paragon so much. It’s interesting to compare and contrast that to its treatment of a crime trope as hoary as backstage with the strippers – where the lens showing no interest in all the boobs. This isn’t male gaze. This is a movie that’s predominantly gazing at males.
It’s a deeply old fashioned, traditional form of masculinity. This isn’t even Han Solo. Driver would always let Greedo shoot first, because that’s what real men do. With the greatest of love for you lot, with Empire’s demographics, it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that it’s in your Top 50. Running through here is how to square being a good man in this world which often isn’t – the fantasy of hypercompetence with the longing for peace and home. In the film’s most memorable visual tour de force in the kiss/fight elevator scene, the doors shut on the possibility of squaring those two worlds… but with the doomed, mythologising romance.
However, as we head the credits, with College/Electric Youth’s A Real Hero playing out you do pause. This is so glossy, so hyper-stylised, so about the idea of all this, you can’t help but read some irony into it. “A real human being – and a real hero.” I’m unconvinced that there’s a real human being anywhere in here. That the movie manages to fetishise so much about being male here while leaving a question mark may be the most interesting thing of the many interesting things about it.
I’m glad I watched it. I’ll watch it again. I’d recommend to others. I would have probably have ended up writing about it after seeing it even if Empire hadn’t asked me to. That said, there’s an alternate universe where slow-motion hasn’t been invented where Drive is about a half hour long.
DIE continues to reach folks over the world, which is lovely to see. We’ve updated the character sheet resources online, which you can get here. If you haven’t nosed at the game yet, skimming through some of the resources is likely the best way to get a feel for some of it. My suggested way to learn the game is to read the introduction from the book, then skim the Rituals character sheets (which include the core rules), then read the chapter Rituals and then likely the Rules chapter and a proper read of the sheets. After that, you really could play.
Oh – a couple of pieces on DIE. Here’s Eurogamer on what they’ve been playing at the moment. Here’s a rave over on Medium, though very mean to poor old D&D. There’s a number of actual plays coming too, which I’ll gather up and link in here as well.
This Scorsese quote is a lot. When I was coming out of games journalism, a question which was working into my standards when talking to older games devs was: You’re in your early 50s. Game dev cycles are about 5 years. You probably have 2 big games left, right? What do you want to do with them?” I also thought a lot that I probably should be doing big, serious career interviews with developers while they’re still here. You never know when someone is going to be Bowie or Prince. Then I gave up, and went to write comics. What am I like, eh?
The big thing was the UK Gaming Expo. As said, it was the first time I’ve spend a night away from Iris, so was a lot personally – but it was also a lot as a con. I’d never done the Expo, because there’s only so many cons one can do in a year, and ones not directly related to the job are going to suffer. But now it is the job! I had a very casual schedule – RRD had me sign for an hour and a half every day, which is basically the equivalent to a light jog for a comics wirter. Apart from a lovely live game of The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen in front of an audience, I generally filled my time seeing friends, meeting new folks, having a very reasonable amount of drinks, sleeping, doing a quick playtest of a new small game I’ve been fiddling with, buying a bunch of stuff, and so on.
Here’s what I brought home with me.
Which is a pretty good portrait of my head. You can see that the part of me which has thought “you know – maybe you’ll like to play a historical miniature wargame. That’ll be nice. Maybe you collect Carthage? Or Sumer? That’d be a nice time” has finally taken control of my wallet.
The Masterclass went well last night. Or at least I think it did. I’ll find out when the feedback form arrives. It also focused my brain on what I don’t include the Masterclass, and what I probably should if I ever expand into a two parter.
The other work has mainly focused around my X stuff, and the tight plotting going forward. Basically, if you take someone like Jon Hickman, and then hand stuff to someone like me, you end up with something that’s so impossibly complicated I’m going to have to work hard to make it as accessible and clean as possible. It may involve my ultimate Data page, which will look like a nervous breakdown on paper, but in a good way. But there’s really good stuff, I think. It’s big and (ironically) human, which is what the Krakoan age has always been about.
As such, the Creator Owned stuff has been a little slower – still in conversation with an artist for the furthest out book, and I need to do some digging into the one that’s nearest soon, but the other artist has just started work on our book, and sent over a screengrab of the first page, which is lovely.
Oh – I said I had something I wanted to float last week. Basically, you may remember why I left Substack – I didn’t think they had been sufficiently transparent about who they were giving grants to. There’s never been any proof that they were giving grants to dodgy folks (any news story which claimed that retracted it), but when the upside was “a free mailing list” I decided it wasn’t really worth parasitising of a Venture Capitalist’s money when I could pay for my own. It’s no skin off my nose.
Buttondown has been great, and the list has grown happily in its usual way, but I found myself looking at my substack account a couple of weeks back and was surprised to find it has a couple of hundred more subscribers than my actual mailing list. In other words, the passive influx of new subscribers from being part of an interconnected platform gained more subs than me actually running a newsletter.
Hmm.
You can see how this changes the math. This list is my main marketing outreach to readers, and so that I’m limiting my reach is actual skin off my nose – especially as I head into doing more Creator Owned work where reach is everything.
So, I’m thinking of merging the mailing lists, and moving back to Substack.
Anyone has strong feelings on this, feel free to reply to this. I’m still chewing it over.
However, as people who follow my Mastodon will know, the main drama has been my keyboard. Last week, it started going wrong. Everything is working… except Caps and a single key. Caps Lock works fine with it, but any Caps and this key doesn’t do anything. We thought perhaps it may be a macro, but the error remains on my PC and my Mac. Eventually, I realise that I’m not going to be able to fix this, and should just get a new keyboard. So I order one.
After it’s shipped, the key starts working again. Arghh.
Then today, it stops working again. Arrgh.
I then decided to slap the keyboard hard, to see what happened.
It’s working again.
I hope our forthcoming AI masters will overlook this act of brutality.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2306.25 - 10:10
- Days ago = 2914 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
