Blog Update: Summer 2018

It's that good ol' time of year again: when the Sun is scorching, the beaches are full, and when you really just don't want to get in your car that's been basking in sunlight for the last eight hours. Also all the kids are on break so hey, no school, tons of fun.

But it is not just the schools that are summer break this year, it's also this blog! Much as it does pain me to stop a good train while it's rolling, I also think it'd be insane for me to put out what I normally would over the next two months. I think that by the time we'd need to kick things into high gear again I would be creatively bankrupt and that just sounds terrible.

So, instead, I decided that the blog will be on a bit of a hiatus. I wanted to do this for a multitude of reasons, beyond the exhaustive effort of putting out a blog during a time when people, including myself, are just too busy for this sort of thing:

For starters, it was getting to the point with my weekly comic book reviews that it was becoming a bit taxing to read the books. I couldn't enjoy them as much as I wanted. Part of that has to do with the sheer amount of books I've been looking at week-to-week (probably averaging around five a week, each very different in its own way). It wasn't becoming difficult but rather tiresome to come up with new things to say, and I think the quality of discussion was also lacking in that regard. A good break will allow me to get back into reading the comics without needing to immediately put out a critical analysis and will allow my mind to get back into the ease of just sitting back and reading. Not to mention that it probably becomes a bit boring to hear about the same books week in and week out, so when the reviews do come back, there will be some fresh titles I can bring a new perspective on.

On the discussion-side of things, there really hasn't been much for me to bring up. Because I haven't been up-to-date on the Spring anime this season (save for, of course, My Hero Academia, WHICH EVERYONE SHOULD BE WATCHING) there haven't been as many avenues for discussion for me to traverse. I've had a few things come to mind, but nothing that's all that relevant or that would be worth a long-form discussion. Not to mention that there will be a ton of fun announcements or pockets of discussion that will crop up over the summer, so I'll be able to come back soon with these things in mind and possibly have more discussion topics.

I was going to put out an article with my thoughts on this past E3, but really it would boil down to just senseless speculation on some games and just hyping up others. It's better, for me, to discuss these things when we either have more information or when the games are released. I'd love to do articles on One Piece: World Seeker, My Hero Academia: One's Justice, or Dragon Ball FighterZ on Switch, but those games aren't quite out yet. Although, at the time of this writing, there was a Kill la Kill game that was just announced, so you bet I'm excited about that!

Another major factor going into this break is that we just reached a good stopping point for Blue Nexus, with the next arc all set and ready to go. It's by no means going to be a long one or one that will be majorly groundbreaking, but it is something I want to be able to go all-in on rather than coming at every other week with a bit of a struggle, as I did with some of the past few stories. It was fun to get into more characters' lives with these last few parts, but I want to get the focus back where it belongs.

I will say, as an overall update, that I'm super happy with where the blog is right now. People have been responding well to the new format of comic book reviews, which is something that excites me going forward. I was, of course, a little cautious on the format when I first started but I think I've been able to find a stride with it that allows me to get critical with the comics every week without turning it into something super long or detailed. There are other, probably better, places you can go for something like that.

On a personal note, it would be practically impossible to keep a consistent schedule moving out of June and into July. I'm going to be doing a lot of moving around and there are quite a few other personal projects I'd like to jump head-first into or continue that simply make it impossible for me to run this blog properly. This blog runs best on a tight schedule and for the first time in a long time I've been able to hit the deadlines I set for myself as well as put out the content that I've wanted to see, that I've wanted to discuss. The best thing to do moving forward with this format of the blog is to take a small break and then come back powering into the fall with a fresh mind and loads of pent-up creativity for this site.

Right now I'm looking to have this thing back and running the week of August 12, when Fantastic Four #1 is released. I can probably have a full-week of content, too, with two discussions on Monday and Tuesday, the comic book reviews on Wednesday, and Blue Nexus #89 that Thursday. After that it's just business like usual.

Thank you to anyone who has checked in on the blog this year in any capacity, I really appreciate you giving this a glance. It's just something I started for fun back in college and it's something I've really come to love, and I can only pray that it shows in the content that I put out.

See you all in August! Make sure to keep watching and keep reading!

And go watch the World Cup. Soccer every day? How can you say no?!

Follow me on Twitter!