Zan and Jayna. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Professor Charles Xavier and Cassandra Nova. Psylocke and Captain Britain. Some are good, some are evil, and some hang out with a blue monkey named Gleek. Twins are everywhere in comic books, and it turns out I’ve got one, too. Cooler yet, my twin brother Shaun loves Comicology as much as I do, and he’s hoping to provide a place for a dialogue on and deconstruction of the comics industry with his new project: “ComicsTheory.”
Both life-long comic book fans and interested newcomers will find a lot to love at ComicsTheory, and a lot to learn. As Shaun illustrates on the website, “We stand on the precipice of a new age in comic book history,” propelled by digital comics, line-wide relaunches, multimillion-dollar comic book films, and more initiatives and challenges that “can lead to a new-found relevancy for the comic book industry.”
ComicsTheory intends to focus on the unique opportunities—and difficulties—the comics industry faces. Advertisements on television and in theaters. Alternate modes of numbering issues. Interactivity. Online piracy. Selling books that aren’t in the superhero genre. Comic fans, as the industry’s one consistently reliable population of consumers, should be weighing in on these issues. ComicsTheory hopes to be a forum for these discussions.
While it’s still a work-in-process, it’s fun, intelligent, thought-provoking, and entertaining. Give ComicsTheory some love, and check it out at comicstheory.com.
Gamenomics & Comicology 