The Comic Pusher at Six Months

Thursday, August 22 is the six-month anniversary of The Comic Pusher blog. Many thanks to my friends and family for the support, and many more thanks to those who read and link to my various ramblings about the things that I love.

Below I list some random stats from the past six months of The Comic Pusher. Of note, my writing output since February when I started this has gone far beyond anything I have done previously - to date, over 95,000 words. In the 12 months between December 2008 and December 2009, I wrote just over 12,000 words, all for the JHU Blog. But in the three plus years that followed, I wrote nothing - not one word.  My newfound ability to write is a result of many factors: a recent hospitalization, a refocusing of priorities - but more than anything, for the first time I am able to translate my passions about comics into the written word, and people have responded.

When I started The Comic Pusher this February I committed myself to a blog that reflected the depth and breadth of my comic and graphic novel knowledge, with the goal of writing thoughtful reviews and commentary on the medium and art form I love. Hopefully I have come close to achieving this with The Comic Pusher. I still have far to go before I am truly satisfied with my work here, but it I'd like to think I've made a pretty good start.

Thanks for reading - now some stats.

The ten most viewed reviews on The Comic Pusher, sorted chronologically:

• Marvel's Irrational and Schizophrenic Graphic Novel Policies
• Lovecraft and the Heart of Ice: Nemo Reviewed
• Post-Apocalypse Now: Brian Wood's The Massive, Volume 1 Reviewed
• Tintin on the Moon and Beyond, Hegre's Odd and Wonderful Sci-Fi Espionage Adventure
• Dave Roman and John Green's Wonderfully Absurd Teen Boat
• The Final Testament of Ivan Brunetti - Aesthetics: A (Non-) Memoir
• Creating the Universe: The Incal by Jodorowsky and Moebius
• Six Perfect Panels, One Perfect Comic
• An Appreciation of Emily Horne and Joey Comeau's A Softer World at Ten Years and 1000 Strips
• The International Private Eye and The Future of Comics

My most read article to date, across the JHU Blog and The Comic Pusher, is my Definitive Love & Rockets Guide. Even Fantagraphics and Jaime Hernandez have commented on its completeness - if you have ever thought about getting into Love & Rockets (comics' supreme masterpiece) then this is the place to start.

My ten favorite articles, in chronological order:

• Analysis: Adventure Time: Goliad
• Tintin on the Moon and Beyond, Hegre's Odd and Wonderful Sci-Fi Espionage Adventure
• Chris Ware Doesn't Want You to Read Floyd Farland Citizen of the Future (And Neither Do I)
• Life, Jim Hanley's Universe, and Everything: How J. Michael Straczynski and JHU Comic Books Changed My Life
• Ultimate Spider-Man and The Obligations of Superheroism
• Six Perfect Panels, One Perfect Comic
• Batgirl, Robin and Marcos Martin: Year One
• The Daring Visions of Grant Morrison and Garth Ennis
• The Unexpected Delights of Wine (And Comic) Making in Etienne Davodeau's The Initiates
• Understanding Time

My piece on The Incal is a close runner up, and my essay on Superman and Superheroes is a pretty good read. Usually whatever article I have just finished is my favorite, but I think this is a pretty representative list of the work I'm happiest with, warts and all. Not on the list, but by far my favorite thing I have written for The Comic Pusher, is my 10 articles on Naoki Urasawa's Pluto. I'm immensely proud of my writing about Pluto and I hope you can check those articles out. Also of note is my early article on Marvel's ridiculous trade policies. That article got reblogged by everyone under the sun and had a bunch of unforeseen consequences, and as such ranks highly for me.

Top articles by Word Count (excluding multiple-book reviews):

• The Daring Visions of Grant Morrison and Garth Ennis
• Musings On Superman on the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Superhero
• Analysis: Adventure Time: Goliad
• Life, Jim Hanley's Universe, and Everything: How J. Michael Straczynski and JHU Comic Books Changed My Life
• Tintin on the Moon and Beyond, Hegre's Odd and Wonderful Sci-Fi Espionage Adventure
• Batgirl, Robin and Marcos Martin: Year One
• The Failure of Fumetti: Force Field Fotocomix
• Understanding Time
• Ultimate Spider-Man and The Obligations of Superheroism 
• Marvel's Irrational and Schizophrenic Graphic Novel Policies 

I left all of my Pluto reviews out of this list; all told it is the book I have written the most about (16,388 words). Quantity does not always equal quality, but there is a fair amount of overlap between this list and my list of favorite writings. Make your own judgements.

Top ten most reviewed publishers:

• Marvel
• Image
• DC
• Misc Book Publishers
• Misc Self Published
• Dark Horse
• Viz
• Fantagraphics
• Boom
• Drawn & Quarterly

All told I have reviewed books from thirty different publishers including a half dozen international publishers. I have also reviewed webcomics, books, movies,videos, art exhibits and more here at The Comic Pusher. I don't review everything I read (and I read quite a lot) but I try to reflect the broad diversity of my comic intake. However, I have always and will always honestly review material sent to me by publishers and authors. If you are a publisher or author who would like me to review your work, feel free to email me at jeffey.o.gustafson@gmail.com.

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Going forward I hope to continue to review whatever moves me, and I hope you all continue reading. I believe I continue to get better at this, and I always appreciate feedback from readers and creators. Feel free to leave comments on any blog post, email me, or contact me on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for reading. As always, Like The Comic Pusher on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ComicPusher, and follow me on Twitter at @B5Jeff. You can also subscribe to The Comic Pusher via olde timey RSS and Email!

The Comic Pusher by Jeffrey O. Gustafson - comicpusher.blogspot.com and ComicPusher.com