Obviously, like all media, digital aspects of the business have grown exponentially since that time.   I probably would never have realized how much the new medium revolution could potentially affect the habits of comic book readers like myself if I had stuck with my tentative plan to get back into reading regular. It involved either borrowing trades off  friends and then collecting the books myself, or limiting myself to those books that I could check out at my local library for free, to ease back into collecting. (Lame I know, but I’m also cheap and comics are my crack)

It was a chance tweet on Twitter of all places that introduced me to the comic book matrix, a healthy Digital social media web that changed my approach dramatically.

Like any good little obsessive/neurotic type I took that one “discovered” Tweep (Mark Waid of Boom! Comics in a hilarious ‘twitter war’ with Gail Simone) and went down the data pipe of following artists, writers, editors, recruiters, and those who report on comics at sites with a strong web presence. Before I knew it I was following over 80 comic book folks, many of whom promoted their own interests and works in under 140 words.

These folks also lead me to a plethora of comic book Podcasts by those who cover comics that I was able to download to my iPhone. The podcasts recommended a whole host of reads with great discussion in order to give me a basis to start shaping my new pull list on a limited budget. Many, such as some of the iFanboy video podcasts gave me the background I needed to follow such things as Blackest Night, along with a recommended GL reading list with direct links to Amazon where I could purchase those titles in trades.

Perhaps the biggest revolution though came after reading Isotope comic shop owner James Sime on Twitter promoting a new Web 2.0 venture, Comixology. The site has a free and paid application through iPhone, as well as a site on-line (much like iFanboy.com) that organizes, tracks, previews, reviews, rates, and pulls comics for ever Wednesday shipment of books. It also has a spotlight to highlight more independent works each week and pages that grow a community organically around the multi-publisher platform promotional tool.

As a concept ComiXology blew my doors off. It builds itself around the comics community and appears to be as inclusive to publishers as possible. Basically, as a word herder in community journalism and having seen multiple attempts in my own industry for individual publications to try to jockeying for platform position within various niches, it is astounding to see a third party organize and promote multiple sources for its audience that seems beneficial to all parties involved. Of course this is an outgrowth of the paper publications that would list solicitations for weekly publications no doubt, but the bringing together of all elements of what can be done on-line is fascinating to watch and use.

Most recently the group at ComiXology launched Comics, an application that allows folks to view previews and free issues, and to purchase comics on-line or on iPhones (as well as guiding them to purchasing the paper products). This test drive approach to allow participants to view comics before purchase has me reading one more title. And I like the way the frame transition of comics works on my iPhone.

Even better, competition for Comics seems to be on the way with a project called Longbox by Rantz Hoseley. In a long interview on CBR the project is being described as an ‘iTunes for comics’ that will allow download purchases as seamlessly as possibly from multiple participating publishers of not only paper comics in a digital form, but solely digital comics too. A whole host of community features will be provided as well according to Hoseley who is partnering with CBR for news content on Longbox. A tentative release date for the project, which is in closed beta, is set for September or October according to the CBR article.

These ventures move much further to empower the reader and allow them to make choices in a sprawling market. I know a digital approach to disseminating news about comics and the comics themselves has introduced me to titles, publishing companies, and independent works I may never have been introduced to before. (Quite humorously I got around to listening last week’s Around Comics podcast after I posted this to hear the gang in Chicago basically say the same thing about comic podcasts. Great minds.)

Of course this does not even broach the subject of solely on-line comics that already exist like Zuda, Marvel, Top Shelf 2.0, motion comics, and others. Hopefully they participate with projects like ComiXology and/or Longbox to aggregate their catalogue of works as well.

For someone like myself, whose been out of the game for a while, this robust on-line presence for comics is a spectacular thing. May the Digital age of comics be golden.

I eventually entered graduate school myself. I studied literature and film for a brief time. I married and divorced that girl in Oklahoma. I cleared my head. I dropped out of graduate school. I buckled down again and got a “real” job. Comics completely fell off the map with the end of Promethea. Life became serious and I lacked the imagination to continue buying comics, and grow as a writer — basically all the things I treasured.

Eventually I returned to where I grew up after torturing myself as the manager of some shitty national retail outlet for a year.

I had a friend from college who opened a life line to comics for me when I returned. He would tell me about new developments in old series. He’d force me to read trades. He introduced me to crazy books like Joe Casey and Tom Scioli’s Kirby homage “Godland.” I thoroughly loved it. He also showed me “The Walking Dead,” which I now consume like strips of fresh flesh.

On my own I started reading the few trades I could find at the library. I made it through all of “Y: The Last Man,” Dash Shaw’s “Bottomless Belly Button” and “Queen & Country” that way. But I still did not dive into the deep end of comic books like I once had. By this point I bought a house and had student loan payments. I put myself on a strict budget, no comic book stores allowed.

By 2007 I was a regular reader of a pop culture website that covered San Diego Comic Con voraciously. That coverage hooked me. I knew I had to go the next year. That blog made me fall back in love with comic book and popular culture though I wasn’t really participating in the culture of consuming either.

In 2008 I took my measly tax return check and bought my plane ticket and four day pass to the Con. I booked a shitty hotel room almost too late in a rough neighborhood that eventually filled with other Comicon newbs. The trip was frustrating, chaotic and glorious. I discovered Essex County: Tales from the Farm from Top Shelf and Fables from Vertigo, which I completely missed.

I sat in the audience for the Eisner Awards. I listened to Frank Miller and laughed with Samuel L. Jackson. I wished I was closer to the action. Ultimately, I loved seeing the artists and the industry. I loved sitting in on the Batman panel and hearing Jerry Robinson discuss the early days of the Joker. I met that blogger who inspired me and saw the owner of Isotope without knowing who he was. I lamely admit that I actually fan boy geeked out a little when I saw Mark Waid.

Reflecting back, if I had had my head on straight, if there wasn’t so much of what some writers have suggested they don’t like about the Con through Twitter (the glitz and media spectacle of it all), I may have found more discoveries to enjoy and left feeling slightly less than defeated by the event. ( I got sucked into too many Hall H shennanigans)

And honestly, its for that reason I want to go back again, just so I manage my time better, see more artists and get a better feel for what the Con was originally supposed to represent, comic books. If you are a new con attendee, deeply in love with comics, that is what I would suggest. Pick one of the big panels, maybe, to attend and spend the rest in line, waiting to see your favorite comic book panel. The few I saw were so much more enjoyable.

Unfortunately my return is not this year. With potential lay offs and a little debt I will be sitting at my computer at work, sighing at my favorite blog, but not as badly as what I thought I might. Social networking, twitter, facebook, and blog pages are miraculous things. You see this year may not be my return to the Con, but it is my return to comics and the actual culture.

In the past year since con I skated the edges, grew frustrated with other areas of my life and that frustration pushed me to seek artists and writers out I once read. Powers scribe Brian Micheal Bendis, Transmetropolitan and Planetary genius Warren Ellis, my favorite run on the Flash author and now Boom! editor Mark Waid, Starman scribe and new JLA writer James Robinson, and of course Neil Gaiman were all found right there on their own websites, on Twitter, and through podcasts. They are some of the most accessible inspirations. And from them my list of those I follow has grown.

From my follows, reading what the authors were doing, what they recommended, and a host of commentators I seriously ventured into a comic book shop for the first time in years. And as cheesy as it sounds the same owners who stood behind the counter there when I was a kid were there still. I saw new gray strands of hair and wrinkles, but the same smile that made me feel welcome when I was ten was unmistakable.

I am astounded how good and natural it feels to pick up a book like Detective and see its being drawn by JH Williams, an artist I’ve loved since his guest spot on Starman. It’s good to see all those people friends and I used to gloat over “discovering” in their early careers now kicking ass with Marvel and DC. It’s good to be back home.

I hope to do more. I hope to cover the industry, and perhaps tuck back a few of my own ideas for stories, because you know, I’m tired of being completely cookie cutter and serious.

It’s time to hold on to a little passion and have a little fun in an art form I’ve always held dear.