Broken Frontier

I want to give a huge thanks to all the people who entered the Broken Frontier/Bowzizzer mini-comic contest.  In order to enter they had to take the time to create something new and original, and it was a blast seeing what each person created.  Also, I want to apologize for the trouble with the site’s host that interrupted the end of the contest.  I still have no idea what the heck was up with that, but Frederik has since switched the site to a more reliable and professional host.

I also want to thank Scott Hsu-Storaker, owner of online comic haven Bowzizzer.  Scott was kind enough to offer shopping sprees in his store as prizes for the winners of the contest and he has been a driving force behind this contest from day one.  Thanks Scott!

The contest ended on August 20^th and on Labor Day all the eligible names were tossed into a bowl, mixed up and randomly selected.  Here are the results of the drawing:

The Grand Prize ($20 Shopping Spree and an assorted group of hand picked mini-comics from my personal stash) Winner is:

DAVID MANN

And the four randomly selected runners-up ($10 shopping spree from Bowzizzer and a mini-comic or two from my personal stash) are:

STACY (No last name given)
CHRIS MURRIN
WILL NORRIS
JACK WILSON

Congratulations to each of the five winners.  You can get a lot of comics at Bowzizzer for $20 or $10.  All other eligible entries will also receive something for their efforts in the contest; look for me or Scott to contact you in the next few days for mailing addresses.  So again, thanks to everyone who entered, it was nice to see people do something that they might not ordinarily take the time to do, and I know that for many of you it was your first attempt at making a comics page.  

Now that the congrats are out of the way, I guess it’s time to turn out the lights.  This is the last installment of The Wall at Broken Frontier.  Last June, Frederik was kind enough to agree to me doing a weekly column on comics as art and I am grateful for his faith in the subject matter and in myself as an unproven columnist.  I’ve enjoyed my role here as a columnist and much of that is due to the fact that I was able to write about anything that caught my fancy.  I know that there were probably several weeks when Frederik muttered to himself, “What the hell is he talking about now?”  But, you know, he was always quick to offer praise for the diverse selection of subjects I covered.  And for that I give him thanks.

I know I’ve said it many times, but I’ll say it again: Frederik has built a wonderful (and growing) site for fans here at Broken Frontier and it has been a pleasure contributing to that in my small way.  In addition to my weekly column duties, I also function as columns editor and I’ve agreed to continue in that capacity for as long as I’m needed.  

So thank you to everyone who has ever read my column here, and thank you to the regular posters in the forums.  Thank you to all the creators who have been so generous with their time and trusted me to write about their projects; your work is the reason I am compelled to write a column each week.  Also, a big thank you to the hardworking staff at Broken Frontier, those both present and past.  I consider many of you friends, but I know where to find you.

This isn’t all about congrats, endings and giving thanks though.  There is also a new beginning.  Starting next week (on Tuesdays), look for a new column by me over at Comic World News.  I’ll be operating under the appropriately named column title Past the Front Racks.  Just to get another thank you in, thanks to my fiancé Kate for coming up with this new name that reflects my outlook on comics.  The new column will essentially be the same subject matter (the first one will tackle Art Spiegelman’s new 9/11 book) that I covered here; if you’ve enjoyed The Wall, you should enjoy this new gig as well.