Online and In Touch: Message Boards and Comics Chit Chat

This story originally appeared in PW Comics Week on Sept. 27, 2005

Heidi MacDonald -- Publishers Weekly, 9/27/2005

It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken—or a good message board, at least where comics are concerned. This is an industry and a fan community that's wired to max, happily dependent on all manner of message boards, blogs and web forums to spread the comics news and chit chat. Most of the most quotable message boards out there—the ones that are the most popular and break the most news—seem to be centered around notable creators in the comics world.

To start with the eldest, The Comics Journal Message Board is patrolled by Fantagraphics mainstays Kim Thompson and Eric Reynolds, while cartoonists like Peter Bagge, Eddie Campbell, Sam Henderson, and Coop call it home. The discussion centers around indie comics and personalities, but you'll have to wade through a lot of old feuds and in-jokes to get to the meat.

Almost as old, there's the venerable board at Comicon.com, which have been churning away since 1998. Started and overseen by comics artist Rick Veitch, whose career includes Swamp Thing and The Maximortal, the board plays host to a variety of comics fans and a few pros. While news gets a thorough discussion, it's often derailed by the in-jokes that such a long running online community can spawn.

Moving into the more personality-driven realms, Millarworld is hosted my Mark Millar, a Scottish writer of such titles as Ultimates. Millar writes frequently about upcoming projects and his problems with software. The emphasis is on superheroes and industry issues, with upcoming releases regularly posted, and tidbits of news and speculation.

On a slightly more bizarro tack, the immensely popular writer Brian Michael Bendis has a forum that prides itself on having a circus-like atmosphere. While discussions of new Bendis comics and industry issues can be found if you look hard enough, most of the board is given over to almost obsessive posting by a number of fans and new creators. It's dizzying but amusing if you need a diversion from real life.

Perhaps the most controversial comics forum is the one hosted by John Byrne, an artist famed for his work on the X-Men and Superman. The board serves as a clearing house for Byrne's rather, um, eccentric pronouncements regarding comics theory and current events, and the main concern of posters, not surprisingly, seems to be just how great John Byrne is.

Finally, there's the new kid on the block, The Engine, hosted by Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, Global Frequency) who has spent the last decade crafting an internet persona as a cranky, pub-obsessed father figure. The Engine is notable for its strict posting policies -- most discussions are only open to comics creators or those who seriously aspire to create comics. The result, after a few weeks, has been a fairly lively and focused place that has played host to everything from Dave Gibbons (Watchmen) talking about his writing method, to Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil) sharing tips on how to sell more books.

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