The Week That Was 022523

 Power Rankings, Ads, Shameless Plugs

The Week That Was 112222

First of all, happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the US/celebrating. May the day be what you want/need it to be! 

Secondly, what's this, then?

A mea culpa, something new (that's a little old), and shameless plugs. 

Coming Soon: Champions & Hellions!

Couple of announcements regarding new review series to start off the week!

First, as patrons may have seen earlier today, next week will mark the beginning of my next "Patreon First" review series, as I take a look at the oft-derided mid-70s Champions book, a series which earns its X-adjacent status thanks to the presence of Angel & Iceman on a roster that is delightfully hodgepodge (also, John Byrne gets involved later in the run). Become a patron now in order to gain access to X-aminations of Champions before everyone else, and read along as I tackle such topics as Angel's trippy new costume, being a superhero in LA, and sentient Nazi bees.

Gentlemen of Leisure on Patreon!

The moment you've all been waiting for has come: the opportunity to give us money! Yes, it's true, Gentlemen of Leisure now has a Patreon, allowing you, noble & generous reader, to support our creative endeavors at a variety of different financial levels, just like all your other favorite websites & podcasts (never let it be said that we won't eventually catch up to trends within about five years or so of when they're first trendy)!

In all seriousness, launching a Patreon is something I've considered doing for awhile - there aren't a ton of costs associated with the work we do here, but there are a few (mostly annual domain hosting fees, and the occasional issue I need to buy for scans). I've also had a few people tell me over the years that they'd like the opportunity to support our work, so after talking it over with some trusted confidants, Dr. Bitz and I decided to pull the trigger. Nobody here has delusions of getting rich on the internet, but hopefully, we can get those costs covered this way, and if there's enough support, maybe free up some time to write some new stuff for the site (I've got about a million ideas for various review series, and I'd love to bring back my Simpsons Retro Reviews), or even get a collected edition of "X-aminations" reviews put together (which has also long been a dream of mine). 

For the most part, no one will really notice a difference between this site pre- and post-Patreon. One of the big things I've always been adamant about it when considering doing this is making sure nobody has to pay for content they're already used to getting for free - not only does that feel a little like a dick move on my part, as a writer (particularly a writer who would like to someday support himself financially by writing), I want as many people as possible to read my writing, and hiding a chunk of it behind a paywall doesn't seem like a good way to make that happen.

An Unoffical Guide to NYPD Blue

Have you been enjoying G. Kendall's The Milch Studies? Or are you a fan of his comic book and cartoon writing, either at Not Blog X or Comic Book Resources, and would like to pay him back for all the entertainment you've gotten from his writing? Well, you're in luck, because he just released An Unofficial Guide to NYPD Blue through Amazon. For a cool ninety-nine cents, you'll get a Kindle version of his NYPD Blue Milch Studies posts, plus a whole host of extras and new material! Order a copy here! And be sure to come back here for his next installment in The Milch Studies.

The Milch Studies by G. Kendall

I am pleased to announce that starting tomorrow, Not Blog X and Comics Should Be Good's G. Kendall will be writing a new series right here at Gentlemen of Leisure, titled "The Milch Studies", an examination of the work of TV impresario David Milch. I won't go into much detail about the nature of the project, so as not to step on his toes, but instead, simply offer a hearty "welcome aboard!" to a writer whose work I've long admired (and whose X-Men posts on Not Blog X served as one of the inspirations for my own X-aminations series). 

So please join me in welcoming G. Kendall, and be sure to check out his first post tomorrow!

State of the Blog

(Or, as Blam likes to call it, the Slog).

With the summer movie season behind us and the fall TV season about to begin, I figured it was a good time to touch base on what to expect in terms of TV coverage moving forward. I've never felt terribly compelled to do one of these "state of the blog" posts before, usually sneaking them into the first TV post of the fall, but there's a bunch of stuff happening or about to happen that make a quick overall check-in worthwhile.

That is, I can't sneak this into this season's first TV post, because there won't be a regular TV post this year. I'm giving up the episodic TV review game, at least for the time being, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, for those of you haven't heard the news on Facebook or Twitter, my wife and I are expecting our first child (a boy!) at the end of the year (on either 12/29 or 1/3, depending on which medical professional you choose to believe). While I have every intention of continuing to write regularly while doing my best to prevent my son from becoming infected by a techno-organic virus and taken into the future for his own well being, I recognize that, realistically, the amount of time and mental energy I will have to write will be diminished come 2015.

Sound on Sight

As any of you who follow me on Twitter have seen (and if you don't follow me on Twitter - @AustinGorton, clever, I know - you should), this week I began contributing comic-related articles to Sound on Sight, a pop culture website that covers everything from films to TV shows to comics to games, in addition to hosting a plethora of podcasts.

I'll be contributing reviews and feature articles to their comic book section, and you can find my first two reviews, of X-Men Gold #1 and X-Files: Conspiracy #1, here and here, and all my Sound on Sight writings here. Moving forward, I'll also be posting links on this blog to future articles there.

Never fear: X-aminations are staying right here on Gentlemen of Leisure, as well as my weekly TV reviews and all that stuff (though my long-promised "To Better Know A Villain" post on Loki will likely end up on Sound on Sight). This is just another place to find my writing, doing something a little bit different than what I do here. I hope you check it out (and check out some other stuff on Sound on Sight as well - if you're any kind of Disney fan, I recommend the Mousterpiece Cinema podcast, which is what brought Sound on Sight to my attention in the first place).

Opera, TV and Comics. Yes, Opera.

First of all, I'm once again here to ask you for money.

Not for myself of course (but feel free to mail either me or Dr. Bitz checks or loose change if you're so inclined), but for another cool Kickstarter project, this one to help out Jason Powell, the internet's foremost Chris Claremont scholar and author of the most insightful X-Men reviews you'll ever read (not that you shouldn't also read mine). Back in 2012, he wrote and staged an original superhero opera, and is now hoping to raise funds to put it onto CD. Check out his Kickstarter page here.

As a fan of both superheroes and musical theater, this seems like a win-win, so I'll be helping out. The world needs more superhero operas.

Secondly, a new TV website was recently brought to my attention, What to Watch, a site which is basically an engine to help you pick new TV shows to watch based on your current tastes. The database of the site is chock full of current and popular programs, and I hear tell that the creators of the site hope to eventually expand the selection to include more classic shows and one-season wonders.

It's a neat little site, and even if your TV viewing schedule is full (like mine), it's still fun to see what kind of shows get matched up with your favorites. Check it out.

Finally, Dobson, a frequent commenter on this blog, has launched a new blog, The Pouch Files, with the aim of examining the highs and lows of comics in the 90s on an issue by issue basis, celebrating and mocking comics' decade of excess, with an emphasis on the books from that era which don't get much love elsewhere on the 'net. I've already both laughed and sighed fondly with nostalgia during several of his posts, and am looking forward to more.

On Vacation

Starting Thursday, I'll be on vacation through the following week. The regularly-scheduled X-aminations posts will go up automatically (and maybe some Simpsons Retro Reviews if I find the time to finish them), but even though I'm not actually going anywhere (I'm taking what the kids these days call a "staycation"), I will be doing my best to stay as far away from the computer as possible. As a result, while I'll probably still read any comments as soon as always, I'll take longer than usual to respond to them.