The Edge Week 41 – What’s In A Name: My 1-Year Retrospective

This month marks my 1-Year Anniversary (October 4th to be precise) and with this momentous occasion finally here there comes a few announcements. First off, the big one: What is the new name of GothamRogue’s Comic Blog? Over the last few days, those whose opinions I value the most have weighed in on either last Week’s edition of The Edge or on Twitter. Let’s revisit the initial choices:

The Comic Asylum

Better Off Read

The Comic Connection

Paneled Glory

The Speech Bubble

Longbox Lexicon

Comix Catalyst

Between The Continuity

Phase 1 saw me eliminate the Bottom 3 vote getters immediately: Comix Catalyst, Longbox Lexicon, and Between The Continuity. Of the three, Between The Continuity received the most votes and I liked it so much that from now on this feature will be going by that name. That’s right…this is the last edition of The Edge.

Phase 2 kicked off when all-around great guy, Flodo Span (@GL875) brought up a really great point: he thought at least two of these names were already in use in abundance. Doing some research on the internet proved he was correct which eliminated The Comic Asylum and The Comic Connection from contention, though the later will still be used for my Question of the Week feature. This left three:

Better Off Read

Paneled Glory

The Speech Bubble

All three titles got relatively the same amount of votes but Paneled Glory got the least and I dropped from contention. Still, it’s a catchy title and will be filed away for a new feature coming sometime next year. This left me with a difficult choice: Better Off Read or The Speech Bubble. Both had their pros and cons but in the end I settled with….The Speech Bubble. Speech Bubbles are intrinsically associated with the comic medium. They act as a way of communication between characters just as this blog will act as a communication outlet between fans. Better Off Read will not be forgotten though. It is a title that will be used when I start my collected story arc reviews.  All in all, I’d like to thank everyone that helped me out with this decision and I hope you can all be happy with the final result. With a new name means new opportunities, opportunities I look forward to exploring more in-depth as 2014 rolls around. GothamRogue’s Comic Blog is dead…long live The Speech Bubble!

With the title out-of-the-way, I’d like to turn my attention to looking back at how far this blog has come. My first article was  “The First Step Is Always The Hardest“. When I wrote it I didn’t know how things would turn out, how long I would stay committed to this experiment, but once I got started I couldn’t stop. This month I’m going to honor the features that have made this Blog a joy to work on and have formed its nucleus. When I first started I had six features: Random Thoughts, Rankings, Covers of the Week, Coming Attractions, Bullet Points, and The Top 3. Over the course of this past year some have gone, some wait to be resurrected, some have had their names changed, and others have been born. I’ve decided that I’m going to celebrate my features this month. Starting tomorrow, you’ll get five editions of one of my most popular features, one entry per day for the next five days with an edition of Between The Continuity relating to some form of announcement after the fourth one. What will follow is another batch of postings honoring yet another feature, ending with another Between The Continuity over and over again until the month is over. I’m going to do all that, try to keep up with my regular postings, and finish off my Villains Month reviews. Quite ambitious, if I say so myself, but something I feel I have to do. And what is this first feature to be honored? Why it is none other than Retroactive. The first four postings will wrap-up Amazing Spider-Man’s time with Between The Continuity than revealing what series is going to take its place. At the end of the month, I’m also going to be announcing the return of some old and the creation of some new features in the form of Monthly Features.

Finally, I want to thank everyone for the support over this past year including those that have commented on and supported this blog the most including but not limited to wwayne, Paul Bowler, xmenxpert, sidekickreviews, kooliebear, Derek, and thepuremood. Your comments have made this experience so worth while and I’m proud to call some of you comic comrades. That is the beauty of comics, uniting people from all walks of life, from entirely different countries, under one banner. I also want to thank everyone who has ever hit LIKE, retweeted a Tweet, spread the word about my Blog, participated in the Comic Connection, or even just taken the time out your schedules to take a gander. It moves me that so many people actually take notice and enjoy what I do. Enjoy this celebration of what has come previously before I turn to the future, looking to expand and to grow. Hopefully this year is even more successful than the past one. Thank You. Here’s to many years to come!

– GothamRogue