Back when I first became a 9rN cult member, I wasn’t reading too many comics. In fact I wasn’t reading any. I had abandoned my love for comic books years ago when I was a strapping lad of 14. My dad sat be down and said “Son, you’re too old to be reading comics. You’re going to be weird if you keep it up.”
That totally freaked me out so I stopped reading them on the spot. No more Jim Lee drawn X-Men for me!
Ten years passed. I had been following Whitespace (now wisdump… I liked the name Whitespace better, for the record) for some time, as well as Airbag and several other weblogs. I had decided to make a personal blog of my own (entitled Soilblog) about my life in Southern Illinois. It was fairly boring and short lived. But during that time I was thrilled to learn of Paul Scriven’s idea for the new 9rules Network. Instantly I knew I wanted in, but also knew that Soilblog wasn’t gonna cut it. Round 1 passed and round 2 was soon announced. I took a look at the blogs that made it in to round 1 and noticed that no one was touching the comic book scene. This was my chance to bog my life down with more crap to do each day, and make it in to the 9rules Network!
I quickly registered the URL FreakComics.com and started writing. At first Freak Comics was a compilation of my original comics and fairly crappy “articles” about Marvel Comics (in other words, Marvel Comics press releases repackaged with short quick commentary ala Gawker). I submitted my site for round 2 and waited… in the meantime I changed the format of my site slightly, realizing that I hated Gawker and their poorly done format. I made an attempt to be more genuine and original. Soon after Scrivs received my bribe in the mail and decided to induct my in to the 9rules Network.
I feel I have vastly improved my writing style since then (albeit slowed down the frequency significantly over the summer) and hope to continue to improve in the months and years to come.
When I first started this site I was reading zero comics each month. Now the addiction has taken firm root and I’m reading around 30 – 40 comics each month. I am definitely a weirdo, as my father warned I would be. Hopefully this weirdo will manage to entertain enlighten and enrage with more articles and reviews in the near future.
Thanks Scrivs, 9rules Network, it’s members, and all six of my loyal Freak Comics readers.
2 responses to “9rules Network: One year later…”
You were probably too young at 14 but you should have told your dad “these are not comics dad, these are ‘graphic novels’” that’s what I did, got me over that hurdle 🙂
I’m late to the party as usual, but I remember when I first came across the site and didn’t hesitate for a second to let a site about comics into the Network. Since then you have only gotten better and I almost have to stay away from the site for fear of rekindling my comic book addiction. Don’t know if there is enough in the bank account to share it with my anime fascination.
A great look back indeed.