I
have been meaning to write about Twitter again. My use of it has been changing
somewhat, and also, I still get a lot of question on it by people who have
tried it, or thought about trying it, and have doubts about it.
There
is a really easy way to start by tying it in to yesterday’s post with the comic
reviews, because all of those came about via Twitter. If you haven’t been
following along, listening to My Chemical Romance got me reading and writing
comic books in about April. Well, I only wrote one long comic, but I read
several, and I developed an appreciation for the art form.
Just
before that was going down, in February, I joined Twitter, and while that
started as more of a television thing, it ended up being more of music and
political thing, and more recently it started growing exponentially.
I
guess it started with Danger Days, because I started following Shaun Simon
shortly after following the members of My Chemical Romance. He is a writer on
the pending comic, along with Gerard Way, but also, I was rather delighted to
see the name because he was the keyboardist in Pency Prep, and I like them a
lot, and there is some beautiful keyboard work in there.
So
I started there, and eventually I added Grant Morrison and Kristan Morrison,
who are both in the Na Na Na video, and I guess this was about when I was
writing a lot about comics, because Sequart followed me. Their prime role is
publishing books and documentaries, but they have some really thoughtful essays
on comic on their web site. Then I followed Becky Cloonan, who is the artist
for the Danger Days comic.
The
way all of this works together is that once you are following people they may
post things that are interesting and lead you places. In addition, you get
suggestions from Twitter on whom to follow (similar to Facebook friend
suggestions) based on what you appear to be interested in, and I started
following @JohnMiserable, who I am pretty sure is Hambone or John McGuire i.e.
the bassist from Pencey Prep and that led to me Unwinnable, where he works,
which is a great site for comics and gaming. Seriously I say this as someone
who cannot personally risk gaming, and yet reading what other people have to
say about it is really cool. Plus, now with the others that I follow, I keep
getting more comic book related suggestions, and that is what led me to David
Hahn. (And David Hahn led to me following a local falconer, which, how cool is
that?)
For
those three comics that I reviewed yesterday, my even knowing about them is
wholly contingent upon that chain of followings. Becky Cloonan posted about
Swamp Thing Annual, David Hahn retweeted an announcement about Memorial, and
Unwinnable had an article about an expo where one of the photos accompanying
the article was a promotional picture for Halloween Eve.
I’m
not quite that susceptible a shopper. Okay, Memorial was impulsive. Somehow
what they said about it was intriguing for no obvious reason, though the payoff
in reading it justifies it right there. With Halloween Eve and Swamp Thing, it
really was the pictures. The Halloween Eve picture wasn’t even labeled, but it
was so gripping, and had such promise, that I wrote to the author of the
article and asked, and Ian Gonzales replied promptly and helpfully, so I
appreciate that.
With
the Swamp Thing, Becky Cloonan put out a picture of Abby Arcane (when Alec
first sees her), and it is absolutely gorgeous. It’s even more beautiful
looking at it in person. It’s like Terence Malick shot it during the golden
hours. And yes, ordering from Things from Another World, and following them so
that I know about sales, has had an impact too.
It’s
not that I would not know anything any comics without Twitter. The reading list
I first compiled all came from reviews and articles I had already read, plus
suggestions from talking with friends, plus a little bit of browsing around
Heroes and Hobbies. The items that I am currently reading now, Flaming Carrot
and Van Von Hunter, which will get some write-up later, were both already known
to me. I learned about Flaming Carrot researching the Mystery Men movie, and
Van Von Hunter used to run in the Sunday Comics. Twitter has just given me
more.
And
that is only what Twitter is doing in comics, which, while significant, is not
nearly as high-impact as the music or politics. (The comics have eclipsed
television.) It’s not that Twitter drives everything, but it brings me things I
would not necessarily find on my own. It makes the world bigger, and more
interesting, and more beautiful. Well, no, the world is all of those things
whether I know it or not, so Twitter is just giving me a better view.
http://www.beckycloonan.net/http://www.tfaw.com/
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