As we roll out the final week of this issue it’s a good time to say thanks to the many folks who have worked hard to create this magazine and website called Comixpedia.
Why now?
Well besides the fact that the September 2004 issue is the 20th installment of Comixpedia, Frank "Damonk" Cormier is turning over the editorial reins of Comixpedia magazine to Xaviar Xerexes (See, I’m already writing in the third person – this EiC thing is going to go to my head!) and in many ways this marks the end of the first chapter for Comixpedia. It is also the beginning of a second act for Comixpedia, oÂne where I fully intend to bring new voices and new features to this project to continue to make it a worthwhile resource for the webcomics community as well as a great read every month.
Since we are looking ahead to the next chapter of Comixpedia, let me formally introduce you to the new squad of editorial mutants running the show. In addition to myself, Kelly J Cooper continues her fine work as the Editor for Features. More recently, Al Schroeder has assumed the mantle of Interviews Overlord and Chris "Dedos" López continues his work as Harvester-of-all-News. And as always, Bill Duncan continues his fine work as Art Director for the site.
Way back in the summer of 2002, I had firmly lodged in my brain the idea that webcomics needed a portal. A place with lists and reviews and interviews and webcomics. I’ll admit my notions were not yet crystaline. I did know that I could not pull this off alone. I began searching the web for possible comrades in this project. I found an overview of webcomics crafted by Leah Fitzgerald. I saw that Frank "Damonk" Cormier had written some wonderfully thoughtful reviews of webcomics oÂn his site. I chatted with T Campbell about what the next step for webcomics would be.
Sometime in the early fall of that year as I recall, Joey Manley issued a bracing challenge oÂn oÂne of his many websites (not quite so many at that point) that neatly coincided with many of the ideas I had been nurturing in my brain. It was the last push for me to launch the webcomic signal and assemble this first fantastic foursome. That original squad of Leah Fitzgerald (Interviews), T Campbell (Features), Frank Cormier (Reviews) and Xaviar Xerexes (Columns) got Comixpedia up and running and produced our first issue for February 2002. I would be heavily remiss if I didn’t thank Leah Fitzgerald not oÂnly for her direct contributions, but for recruiting spouse Bill Duncan to handle art and illustration oÂn the site. Bill Duncan is truly the Wolverine of the project: while not there from Day 1, it is impossible to imagine Comixpedia without his contributions. So I wanted to make sure to publicly thank Bill, Leah, T and Frank.
An overly-sentimental article such as this would be remiss without thanking many other former contributors to Comixpedia who were instrumental in giving a voice to the magazine. We have been blessed with regular columns from BoxJam B BoxJam, Leah Fitzgerald, Bill Duncan, Jim Zubkavich, Dylan Myconis, John Barber and a wide variety of guest columns from members of the webcomics community. T Campbell, Neil Cohn, Alexander Danner, Wednesday White, Eric Millikin, Shaenon Garrity, and Kip Manley have written many of our most popular features. Matt Trepal, Michael Whitney, Justin Pierce, Kim Smuga, Apis Teicher and Stickler and Hattrick have written the kind of measured and entertaining reviews of webcomics that have made Comixpedia both beloved and besmirched by fans. We were also blessed to have great interviews conducted by contributors such as cat garza, Dave Wright, Yolanda Janiga, and Emanuella Grinberg among others. And all of these names are just part of the total number of wonderful contributors who have written for Comixpedia since its debut.
Looking ahead again, we hope to continue to bring you new and interesting views oÂn webcomics. This week marks the debut of the Feeding Snarky column by Eric Burns. You may know Eric from his blog, Websnark. We hope to bring new features to the Comixpedia site. Our resurrected weekly webcomic jam continues in October and oÂnce again we’ll be hosting the webcomic community event known as The Fright Night Project.
Our next issue in October covers the waterfront of politics in webcomics. Will it be more controversial than the May 2004 issue? The October issues hits the website oÂn October 4th. Meantime, enjoy the last week of the September issue!
Thanks for reading.
Xaviar Xerexes is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Comixpedia. He has no time for anything else anymore.
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