Why You Should Care What I Have to Say

I know Xerexes said not to expect me until Tuesday, but since I had this ready, I figured it was worth taking a minute to introduce myself. But there will certainly be more news and information about the Web Cartoonists’ Choice Awards as the week progresses…

Hello, I’m Mark Mekkes and I’ll be your guest blogger for this week.I was incredibly honored when Xerexes asked me to do this, but I was also a bit apprehensive.I know that having blogs has become incredibly common among webcomics (among other places), but I’ve always shied away from it. I couldn’t see why anyone would want to hear about anything I have to say. My comic isn’t the type that projects my point of view, it’s meant to be an entertaining distraction, a bit of escapism. So why would anyone care what I have to say about anything else? I didn’t want to become just another celebrity using their fame to promote their personal agendas (as much as you can apply the word celebrity to a webcomic artist).

But I’ve also come across another revelation lately, and that is that ego is important. Ego is not a bad thing. Popularity is part of the game, and that requires the ability to promote yourself, which mean you have to be willing to blow your own horn, sing your own praises, pat yourself on the back. Look at the most popular figures in webcomics (or any artistic field really) and you’ll find people that aren’t afraid to tell you how great their work is. Sure, there’s a fine line where it goes too far, but I’ve come to realize that the line is much further away than most of us tend to think.

Self promotion is something that I’m as bad at as anyone, and the main reason for that is my unwillingness to pat my own back publicly. I can promote Tiffany Ross great art work on Abby’s Agency, or the incredible accomplishments of the WCCA Committee and it’s winners, or even Keenspot as a whole. But talking about my own accomplishments just doesn’t seem like something that I should be doing. However that;s what self promotion is. If I want you to check out my work, I have to be willing to tell you how great it is. I’m doing something that I haven’t really seen anyone else do; parody is fairly common, but the kind of rapid-fire parody meshing that I do does seem to be unique and worth checking out. So I’m going to say it…

The kind of rapid-fire parody meshing that I do does seem to be unique and worth checking out!

So I’ll be following this up with a brief introduction to who I am and why I may be of interest to you, after that you can choose for yourself if you care about what I have to say