Broken Frontier

If only life were like the comics. If that were true, I could have spent a whole year writing these columns and only two weeks (or less) would have actually gone by. Alas, this is not so. Real time prevails and with it, real pressures from real things.

Sometimes, like the superheroes so many of us admire, we can take on more than we should. I have to confess I felt just a little bit like Supermark when I was teaching full time, going to school full time, and my wife was about to give birth to our third child. I look back now and wonder if somehow I wasn't transported into the realm of comics for that stretch of time. The good part about times like those is that you learn your limitations. As Dirty Harry once said, "A man's got to know his limitations." If we don't know how far we can go, we can't really stretch ourselves. For those of us involved in pursuit of the artistic life, stretching is something we must always do, or we will quickly stagnate and find ourselves stuck in an idiom the world has since passed.

Unfortunately, now is not one of those times. To be sure, I'm learning my limitations. But I'm finding out that I have too many things happening and so I must find a way to "limit my exposure," as my publicist might say. Sadly, this means that my column for Broken Frontier will have to go.

I've enjoyed my time here immensely. Even when readers let me know I was ruffling their feathers. Perhaps especially when I ruffled readers' feathers. For me, ruffled feathers means we're thinking seriously about what we love and why. For us, that's reading and writing comic books. I do believe comics writing -- like all writing -- is a serious art. And for it to be taken seriously by others, we who write them should take what we do seriously. I have taken writing this column seriously. I have tried to present issues and ideas that I think have real value. I hope that some of you have found value in some of what I have said -- even if it's not where I thought you might find it. (Perhaps especially when you found it where I didn't think you would.)

I have to thank a lot of people, but I’ll still try and keep it short. (Unlike the acceptance speeches at the Oscar, you can skip to the next paragraph if you want.) Thanks to Frederik Hautain for even giving me this opportunity. I answered his ad at Digital Webbing with no expectations and found myself incredibly rewarded. Thanks to all the writers who participated in my Occupation: Storyteller columns, I couldn't have done them without you. Thanks to the rest of the BF staff for all your support. One of my great regrets about my experience here is that I couldn't support you all more. Thanks especially to those who read my column. Writers are nothing without readers. So thanks for making me something. Double thanks also to those readers who responded by writing in the forums. Open friendly debate is one of life's great joys. And triple thanks to those who have popped over to my personal website to check out the stuff there. I've noticed an increase in traffic lately and as any webmaster will tell you, that's good.

My last piece of advice is simple: never give up on your dream, no matter what it is. If you do, all you prove is that you never really deserved it in the first place. Writers who don't write can't ever get published; anymore than actors who don't act or dentists who don't clean teeth can get where they should be going.

So until next time -- whenever that may be -- keep writing.