(pay no attention to the man behind the curtain)
(and the Big Reveal comes much, much later)
(and once again: If it’s really worth reading you all know I like to bump comments to the main page)

So for those of you who read blog comments — a small, but proud few, and I salute you — and who also happened to surf in off of the mangablog link (as always, thanks for the link) let me just say that the input has been excellent so far. At least one visitor, though, noted that despite my stated motives, I was in fact just trolling my own blog (a High Crime, I know, but a victimless one–I think–and something with very few precedents) and Katherine called me out on the carpet over this one

Comment from Katherine Dacey
Time: May 6, 2008, 6:22 am

Castigating manga reviewers for focusing on new arrivals is like chiding David Denby for focusing on the latest Adam Sandler movie instead of one that was released two years ago. When media outlets do revisit older material, it’s usually because the work (a) has demonstrated longevity and significance and (b) has reached an important milestone, i.e. the thirtieth anniversary of Star Wars or the fiftieth anniversary of Johnny Cash’s Live at Folsom Prison. I can think of a handful of manga titles that fall into this category, but not too many, given the medium’s brief history in English. (Put another way: would you read your local paper’s movie section if it focused on films released three, four, or eight years ago to the exclusion of what was playing at the multiplex right now? I wouldn’t.)

I also think your comments about the quality of manga criticism are a little off-base. To be sure, there are plenty of sites that vacillate between fanboy gushing and outright snark–two of the easiest poses a critic can adopt–but rating systems don’t automatically preclude “criticism and analysis” any more than a healthy enthusiasm for the material. Carlo Santos’ Right Turn Only! is a great example of a column that entertains and critiques without bogging down in verbiage.

Don’t get me wrong–I’m all for thoughtful criticism, and for highlighting great books that got lost during the last Naruto blitz. But coming from someone whose blog focuses on current manga sales, industry trends, and new releases, this post feels a little disingenuous.

You wound me to the quick.

Only because it is true: My reply, as posted to the comments of the original post:
“You might also have noticed, we’ve been mighty lax when it comes to reviewing *anything* recently.

“After a year and a half of this thing, Bob and I are spitballing ideas about the blog, what we might want to do with it, and What Comes Next.

“Originally started as comic review site, we quickly (as in, I came in and starting writing my posts) transitioned to comics & manga, and then to mostly manga, and then to viewpoints on the industry (because I am a bookseller and I had something to say about it) and then also to the manga sales charts because I am a big honkin’ Nerd in addition to being a geek and a fan (and possibly also a dork)

“So yes, I already had ‘the seed of an idea’ when I posted a drunken, sloppy rant to my blog about fanboy ‘critics’ and what I saw as a lack of insight into comics.

“The only thing that I have perhaps proven is that
“1) I don’t read enough other blogs to generalize
“and
“2) Katherine has excellent insight into people. (that or my writing is about a subtle as a handgrenade in a barrel full of oatmeal)

“Thank you for your comments, Katherine, and you are correct, I was being disingenuous. I already had half an answer and was looking for a little confirmation from the internet.

“Your points are quite valid, and something I need to consider as we transition to Comicsnob 2.0.”

##

If some of you took my post at face value despite the deceitful subtext and felt a renewed desire to write and post reviews of older titles, all I can say is Thanks. I plan to live up to my own rant and do the same.

And if you–yes, you–have a complaint about fan-blogs-in-general, or Comicsnob, or my-writing-in-particular then this is your chance to speak up. This is one of few opportunities you may have to say something to a blogger while he is looking to change, well, everything. Or ignore me. I’m used to being ignored; this interacting-with-the-public-thing (ref. nerd, geek, fan, dork above) is new and strange…