This marks my 1000th post on the Speech Bubble. Never would I have believed I would ever reach this pinnacle so soon. Back when I first started, I imagined that when I reached 1000 (if ever) that it would mark the end of my blogging, that it was the perfect time to call it quits.
Originally, I started this blog because I read that blogging/commenting on forums and social media was a great way to warm up for the day’s writing. I believe it was Warren Ellis that said it, but don’t quote me on that. I aimed to better my writing here with a quick posting or so and then dig in deep with my creative writing. What I didn’t anticipate was the reception I would receive in terms of views and comments. I’m honored to say that wwayne was a big factor early on in the infancy of this blog during those initial months in making this into a more serious endeavor.
As my readers grew, as relationships formed, I got caught up and the time I invested in the blog increased. It was a good tool to see if I could meet deadlines, imposing a strict post-per-day policy. For the most part, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I have stayed true to that mantra, averaging more than a post-per-day all-time. Speaking of all-time, and before I go any further, let’s look back at my all-time stats:
Top 25 Posts of All-Time
1. The Character Spotlight – Issue #6: Star-Lord (Peter Quill)
2. The Character Spotlight – Issue #9: Deathstroke (Slade Wilson)
3. The Character Spotlight – Issue #10: Arthur Douglas (Drax The Destroyer)
4. Retroactive: Legends of the Dark Knight 2005 & Daredevil 2004
5. The Character Spotlight – Special Edition: Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk)
6. Retroactive: Legends of the Dark Knight 2004 & Daredevil 2003
7. Retroactive Special Edition: Green Arrow Through The Decades
8. The Character Spotlight – Issue #2: Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly)
9. Retroactive Special Edition: Daredevil Through The Decades
10. #Trending In The World Of Comics: 02/08/13-02/14/13
11. Retroactive: Detective Comics 1939 & Amazing Spider-Man 1963
12. The Character Spotlight – Issue #5: Firefly (Garfield Lynns)
13. The Character Spotlight – Issue #1: The Huntress (Helena Bertinelli)
14. Retroactive: The Flash 1993 & Uncanny X-Men 2000
15. The Character Spotlight – Issue #8: Agent 13 (Sharon Carter)
16. What Is The Artifice & Why Should You Care?
17. The Character Spotlight – Issue #4: Doctor Octopus (Otto Octavius)
18. “Let’s Settle Down Before You Crash A Tornado On Us And We End Up In OZ”: Bullet Points Part 2 – Marvel Comic Reviews 11/14/12
19. The Comics Rundown 11/21/12: Part 2
20. Never Come Between A Martian And His Cookies: An Arousing Grammar Guest Post
21. Retroactive Special Edition: Detective Comics Through The Decades
22. “A Word of Advice–Have An Opinion About Everything and Anything”: Bullet Points Part 1 – DC Comic Reviews 11/14/12
23. #Trending In The World Of Comics: 02/01/13-02/07/13
24. Retroactive: Green Arrow 2014 & The Punisher 2014
25. #Trending In The World Of Comics: 02/15/13-02/21/13
Top 10 Guest Posts of All-Time
1. The Character Spotlight – Special Edition: Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk)
2. Never Come Between A Martian And His Cookies: An Arousing Grammar Guest Post
3. Off The Shelf: A Look At “Loki: Agent of Asgard #1″ (Guest Post By Reid Vanier)
4. wwayne Presents – Retroactive: Gotham Central 2003 & Generation X 1994
5. wwayne Presents – Retroactive: Gotham Central 2004 & Generation X 1995
6. The Vanier Report: Tales From A DC Pull List (Gotham By Midnight #5 Review)
7. #Trending In The World Of Comics: (Spider-Man Rumors, Hot Trailers, Cast Announcements, & More!)
8. The Vanier Report: Tales From A DC Pull List (The Multiversity Guidebook #1 Review)
9. The Vanier Report: Tales From A DC Pull List (Secret Origins #10 Review)
10. The Vanier Report: Tales From A DC Pull List (Action Comics #40 Review)
Top 10 Months Ever
1. August 2014
2. March 2015
3. December 2014
4. January 2015
5. September 2014
6. November 2014
7. October 2014
8. July 2014
9. October 2013
10. February 2013
All-Time Other Stats
My Top 5 Referrers Ever are WordPress, Twitter, Reddit, Arousing Grammar, and The Old Reader.
My Top 5 Search Terms Ever are “star lord”, “top 3″, “drax the destroyer”, “supergirl logo”, and “spotlight.”
Finally my Top 5 Countries Ever are Italy, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France.
Looking back at all those stats makes me really happy. I want to thank everyone for the support over the years including those that have commented on and supported this blog the most including but not limited to wwayne, Paul Bowler, xmenxpert, healed1337, Sidekick Reviews, The Telltale Mind, Reid Vanier, and Gene’O from Sourceror. Your comments and spreading the word have made this experience so worth while and I’m proud to call 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 of your schedules to take a gander. It moves me that so many people actually take notice and enjoy what I do.
With that said, let us turn back to our discussion of the end. In January, I put out a call to arms with the mission to assemble a team. With wwayne, Reid, and Sam providing back-up alongside some strategic promotion on Reddit, 2015 is tracking ahead of the previous years. I knew going into 2015 that this was going to be a year of change.
I’m still working out which month I’m going to quit my job alongside arranging my future employment. Since I was in elementary school I always wanted to be a writer. I loved creating my own worlds and playing within them. In fact, for the longest time being a novelist was my end goal until high school hit, around grade 9 to be more specific. English class sucked all the fun out of writing by proceeding to force us to write essay after essay about various books and the tone of various poems made it four years of boredom. Now don’t get me wrong, I still got straight As in all my classes but creative writing was non-existent. The other factor was my friends who continued to putdown the idea of a career writing novels. I abandoned my ambition and just went through the motions, finishing as runner-up for valedictorian, losing out not because of grades but because of a popularity vote. After that, I got my first job and life continued on…until I discovered comics.
Growing up, I read the occasion comic but it wasn’t until we moved to a city with a local comic store that I truly fell in love with the medium. My creative juices started flowing again and I decided that a career in comics was what I wanted to do with my life as I felt it better suited my writing style more so than novels. I started cranking out the ideas, writing various scripts, until work changed and my creative energy was exhausted day-in and day-out. Around this time, I was a year into the blog and it acted as an excellent release for me personally, one which could allow me to interact with others and get my writing out there. Again, it was only going to be temporary leading to this day, the day where I shut down the Speech Bubble with my 1000th post.
So I guess this is the part where I say farewell…except, just as this year is my year of change, I have changed my mind. That’s right, the Speech Bubble will live on! I think back to a quote “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” It sums everything up perfectly.
The Speech Bubble has reached the end of its initial phase. Now we shall move onto greater heights! I want to grow this blog to be even bigger, to grow the team as well. I want it to continue on until the day I can proudly and shamelessly plug my upcoming comic series coming out. And after that? Well I want to continue on. Blogging has been so rewarding and taking part in the community has been exceptional. I don’t know a lot of people who share the same interests as me so I am so thankful for it. I have big plans for the future, both personally and professionally, but the one thing you can count on is the Speech Bubble to grow right there with me. Here’s to the next 1000 postings!
-GothamRogue
The Speech Bubble 
When I read that you decided not to close your blog, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Thank you for writing that I had a key role in the improvement of your blog. It was and it is a great honour to be a part of it, and I hope we’ll go on sharing our thoughts about comics as frequently and as passionately as we did in the last years. Here’s to the next 1000 postings! 🙂
wwayne, what more can I say? You’ve been there from the beginning, offering the very first comment on the Speech Bubble (at that time GothamRogue’s Comic Blog). Your continual stimulating conversations and support has been instrumental in where I am now. If you hadn’t been there in those opening months, who knows if I would have continued at all? That you also wrote those Special Editions of Retroactive was awesome and I’m going to put up your next edition next week. Hopefully when I run out, you may honor me by starting a new series? One can hope. 🙂
Thanks again.
“Hopefully when I run out, you may honor me by starting a new series? One can hope.” Of course! I just have to find two suitable series to write about. Thank you as well for your replies! 🙂
My anticipation levels are growing to see what lucky two will be the winners. 🙂
On a side note, I just had to share this song which was featured in one of the trailers for the Netflix Daredevil show. I can’t get enough of it:
Awesome! I especially liked the last minute, from 3:16 on.
Great post. Glad you are continuing onwards with it. I enjoy much of what you do here and it always makes for a good read. Thanks for everything!
And thank you for all the comments and the continued support. 🙂
You actually had me going there with all the “end cometh” stuff. Very glad to hear that this blog has earned an ongoing place in your heart. I’m very pleased to be a small part of its continuing success!
Congrats on 1000 posts!
Thank you. Your Vanier Report has been an invaluable addition to the Speech Bubble. I can’t wait until every Thursday to read your next review and they have all responded really well with everyone else. When Gene’O mentioned he was going to be starting up a social media sharing activity and asked me which day he should feature the Speech Bubble, I highly recommended Friday as not only would it benefit me but would also hopefully benefit you when all those outside viewers see your new edition of the Vanier Report.
I know I don’t comment often, but I am glad you are sticking around too 🙂
Thank you. 🙂
I think it’s quite evident that these character spotlight posts are worth doing, considering they’re your most popular posts of all time.
Also, congratulations on 1000 posts, and I’m glad you’re sticking around for more.
It would be so good if you followed GothamRogue’s advice and wrote a Character Spotlight about Witchblade. As you know, I’m a big fan of the character too, so it would definitely drive me mad! 🙂 Have a nice week – end! 🙂
Thanks. I’ve know for a while that the Character Spotlights are real winners in terms of longevity. If only I had more time but I always have so many ideas running through my head. That was why I really appreciated your She-Hulk feature and I look forward to what you may have in store after your vacation. 🙂
Great to hear you are continuing with your blog, its always such a great read. Blogging is great fun and you’ve built up a really fun community with the Speech Bubble. Its great fun reading all the comments and views. Congratulations on your 1000th post and here’s to many more!
Thank you so much for not only the compliments but for your continued support. Alongside wwayne, you have been one of my oldest supporters, with me since near the beginning. It is so appreciated. 🙂
You’re welcome, always enjoy reading your blog so much.
Congrats on reaching this incredible milestone post and everything you’ve accomplished in your initial phase. I look forward to your phase 2 and 3 and beyond. 😉
Thank you so much for the compliments and for being with me for so long. wwayne, Paul Bowler, and yourself were the Speech Bubble’s original trinity of supporters and it is always appreciated. 🙂