Polygon Sold to Valnet--This Doesn't Bode Well

Polygon has been sold to Valent--as reported with concern by many gaming sites, except, funny enough, Polygon itself. Polygon has been around since 2012, doing fantastic journalism on video-game and pop culture.  Valnet runs a bunch of, "Content aggregators," which is a nice way of saying clickbait slop such as Screen Rant, Game Rant, Comic Book Resources and the like. You know when you see an article with an attention-grabbing headline like, "Fans distraught this beloved show is canceled after one season," and then you have to scroll through half the article to actually find out what the show in question is? Yeah, those kinds of sites. These are the sites where half the articles read as if written by AI, and the other half seem like they were scribbled out by a caffeine-addled third-grader desperate to complete an assignment before it's due in 15 minutes. 

Polygon made articles, and these sites make content--there is a big difference. At least, there was. Now, Polygon has been hit with mass layoffs, and everyone seems unhappy with how this all went down, except Valnet, which now has another site it can utilize to put out garbage pieces. I mean, maybe Polygon will survive as we know it in some fashion and not become a shadow of its former self (much like Comic Book Resources did). That said, there are occasions where looking on the bright side is foolish because sometimes optimism spells disaster. This may be one of those times.

Marvel Should be Doing More With Luke Cage as Mayor

At the end of, "Devil's Reign," in the early months of 2022, a number of notable things happened. Matt Murdock faked his death via his, "Brother," actually dying (it's complicated), the Kingpin fled New York City (to later turn up in the X-Men comics as his wife is a mutant) and Luke Cage became mayor of New York City. Now, you would think a superhero as mayor of NYC would be loaded with potential and that Marvel was ready to launch a, "Mayor Luke Cage," ongoing. Well, you'd think wrong. Besides his popping up in some titles briefly, Marvel has (so far) wasted a golden opportunity with Luke Cage as mayor. This is Marvel's chance to do their, "Ex Machina," series and that was a damn fine comic (a lot of credit for it being great goes to the creative team of Brian K. Vaughn and Tony Harris, of course). Plenty of folks on Reddit have complained about this lack of Luke Cage and even a crappy website like CBR noticed Luke Cage being mayor has had little narrative impact in Marvel's books.

All of this said we are finally, yes finally, getting a comic focused on Luke Cage as mayor...and it is a thankless tie-in to the latest Spider-Man event, "Gang War." More than a year since Luke Cage became mayor and that's it? Now, I am pleased we are getting something, and I am sure the creative team of Rodney Barnes and Ramon Bachs will do their best to give us a solid story. That said, I want more! Give me a comic where Luke Cage engages in fighting crime via his political office and getting down and dirty. Touch upon the complexities of a Black man who was once incarcerated by the very Governmental system he is now a part of and how Cage handles these dynamics. It's a golden opportunity and would probably sell decently--why are you leaving money on the table, Marvel? As long as Luke Cage remains Mayor of New York City in Marvel's comics for a while they might finally give us a series focused on him. For now, though, we get an event tie-in, Cage appearing briefly in some random comics, and that's it. Such a bummer.

Comic Book Resources is Going Full-On Dumpster Fire

Heidi MacDonald of Comicsbeat has a post up discussing just how badly things are going at Comic Book Resources. They use a dumpster on the fire as the header image, which is pretty accurate. I noted in May of this year how CBR was being overhauled but it was probably too late to save the site from continuing to suck (which it had since about 2016 when the current owner, Valnet, took over). Someone on CBR's own Twitter/X account threw shade (one assumes before being locked out of the account) about how the site has essentially no comic news anymore and will just be full of AI-generated clickbait (at least the current clickbait seems to be all human-based). Rich Johnston of Bleedingcool discussed this depressing-yet-also-funny event too.

This is a shame as CBR used to be a fantastic comic-book site. Now the best comic sites we've got are the aforementioned Comicsbeat and Bleedingcool (which is pretty tabloid-styled and full of intrusive ads but has its charms). I check or link to CBR so rarely it is like it might as well not exist. That could very well be the case sooner than later, the way things are going.

CBR is Being Overhauled, but it Might Be Too Late for the Site

Comic Book Resources used to be a great site, years ago. They were bought out in 2016 when Valnet acquired them. After that, it became all list articles, clickbait, and junk. The site has sucked for years and rarely has anything good on it (I think I've linked to it once in a blue moon when they have a notable piece or good interview). Apparently, being awful has caught up with the site as it is going to do a major overhaul and address, "Culture and performance." A bunch of people were laid-off and what exactly the site will look like or how it will function remains to be seen. I saw some friends on Facebook metaphorically shrug at this news. People on Reddit overwhelmingly seemed to ask, "Wait, CBR still existed?" or outright celebrated the site being in trouble. I don't cheer for anyone losing their job, and my sympathies go out to those who were laid off. That said, it might be too late for CBR to return to the status of anything resembling a respected site for comic and pop-culture news. 

I know I'm just some random dude with a blog who probably doesn't get nearly as many views as CBR, but I also am just one person with a site that costs all of $20-ish a year to keep online (and I ain't making any money on clicks). Plus, unlike CBR I don't think I was ever respected. I've always just been here, being weird. I did do some list article gigs for other sites in the past but don't think I'd do it again. They are even less fun to write than they are to read. Anyways, I hope CBR can figure itself out. We shall see.

Smart Journalism is for Suckers AKA Loser City Made Me Aware Today How Far CBR Has Fallen

This is real.

Look, all websites/blogs/tumblrs/whatever have their ups and downs. Heck, even I have had periods of time where I feel like I'm making great article after great article a s well as other weeks where I struggle to find the motivation to even think up a snarky headline about the latest stupid stunt by a publisher. Therefore, I can't  be too hard on some comic websites even if, say, Bleeding Cool is becoming a nearly impossible-to-navigate mess of advertisements hiding some decent articles (it still is one of the sites I check daily even if it is a pain, after all). That said, I quit going to Comic Book Resources AKA CBR awhile ago when it turned more into a list-article/listicles website than something that actually is a, "Resource," for comic-readers. That said, I didn't know how low it had sunken until I saw another culture-site I enjoy, Loser City, did a piece mocking CBR.

Apparently, "Down to Hulk: 15 Hulks You Want to Smash," is an actual article from CBR. Loser City makes sure to mention that not a single male Hulk is discussed, because apparently only 100% heterosexual men read these puff-piece articles, nevermind that women who are attracted to men or same gender loving men might enjoy an article that humorously points out how Bruce Banner is, "Someone you wouldn't like when he's angry, but might love when he's horny!" or some other moronic joke like that which I literally just made-up on the spot--which I think makes me more qualified to write for CBR than anybody else at that joke of a website. I mean seriously, who still says, "Smash," to refer to sex anymore too? That pun would have been weak even when the term was popular and used on programs like, "For the Love of Ray J."

She sure did, Ray J, she sure did.

The next time I ever doubt my only journalistic abilities I will remember that in August of 2017 a website that once was at least moderately useful for keeping track of comic book news completed sinking to the lowest common denominator with an article about which female hulks are the most fuckable. It doesn't even redeem itself by being tongue-in-cheek, titillating, or anything beyond shockingly stupid. I'm not opposed to sexy imagery or erotic storytelling in the least, but when your idea of a smart article is which hulk you want to penetrate that's just depressing. I personally want to thank Loser City for reading CBR so that the rest of us don't have to. I really hope you guys and gals can maintain your sanity.

Comic Book Resources is Kind of Awful Now

There was a time I regularly checked-out, "Comic Book Resources." It had all kinds of good writers and the awesome, "Robot 6," blog. Then some people left it and I found myself reading other websites more and more as it became more of a website for fluff-piece articles and softball interviews from publishers who wanted easy and free press without any conflict or difficulty. Recently CBR was bought-out by another company and it went through a big redesign where it eliminated, "Robot6," and kicked-off I think every writer I liked. Many folk relocated to other sites (for example, "Tilting at Windmills," is now found on Comicsbeat), but what is really tragic would be how CBR is kinda of awful now.

"Comic Book Resources," is now mostly stupid, "List articles," which I'm guilty of doing for both fun or pay (I like money, so sue me) but while they can have their place, and even putting those aside, the rest of the writing is a bunch of clickbait nonsense (and of course plenty of the ass-kissing stuff too). The whole thing is just one big ad-spot for movies and comic-companies along with other media sources to the point that even though the website is, "Comic Book Resources," there ain't a lot of comic-book stuff on it.

To the credit of CBR, they at least are willing to pay anyone interested in contributing, so thankfully they don't go for that old chestnut of wanting people to make stuff, "For exposure." Still, there is basically zero reason for me to ever bother reading the website. It is a bit depressing. Oh well, at least there still are plenty of other site I enjoy reading.