Column Archives As I Was Saying, Before I Was Interrupted Have you been looking around? Can you believe this place? What an amazing line-up of columnists! On Mondays, you've got J. Michael Straczynski, writer/creator of Babylon 5 and Rising Stars, and new series writer of the Amazing Spider-Man comic. On Fridays, it's Kevin Smith, writer/director of Clerks, Chasing Amy and Dogma, creator of his own line of comics and writer of Daredevil. Clearly these guys need no introduction.   But today is Wednesday, so I'd better introduce myself. I'm Dwayne McDuffie, your cheerful hump day columnist. It's not the first time, either. Let me explain.   Seven months ago, at an earlier incarnation of this very web site, I wrote the last installment of a weekly column about comic books called To Be Continued… Now I'm writing a brand new column that, to be perfectly honest, is pretty much identical to old one, only this time it's called Brought To You By…   While I promised my editors that this first column would be biographical, anyone who's ever read me will tell you that if you stick around for a couple of weeks you'll end up knowing more about me than either of us will be completely comfortable with. Besides, any self-respecting editor of mine already knows; I'm not to be trusted. So instead, let me focus on telling you what you can expect from this column. If you've heard it all before, forgive me. How many times in a year is a guy supposed to write a first column, anyway?   Brought To You By… is a weekly opinion column on comic books and related topics. My opinion. Frankly, I'm biased as Hell. Hope you're okay with that. Every week, I'll ramble on for approximately a thousand words about anything I can remotely connect to comics. I'll gush over my favorite titles and creators. I'll discuss comic adaptations to other media. I'll regale you with inside stories on how comic books are created. I'll tell tales out of school about some of the people who make comics (for starters, I've seen some of the biggest names in the industry, very, very drunk). I'll talk about my personal experiences with comics, as a plain old reader and fanboy; as a doe-eyed assistant editor at Marvel Comics; as writer, editor and publisher of comics for my own company; and eventually as co-creator of a comic book-based TV show called Static Shock (which, if the mighty, yet capricious gods known only as the "Nielsens" have been kind, will still be on the air by the time this sees print). I'll also be bitching about the state of the industry. Probably a lot. And while whining isn't ever pretty, it can be pretty entertaining, at least when I'm doing it.   * * *   Even though long-time readers know me as a broken and bitter man, it's actually a lot of fun to be back here at Psycomic. I love what they've done with the place, although I miss the creepy mascot they used to have. From where my old column used to be, you could see right up her skirt.   Speaking of inappropriate fun, if you want to take a shot at cheering me up, you should know that the only thing I like more than love or money is free stuff. I do a science fiction column on another web site and I've learned to my great pleasure that sometimes when I mention something, I get sent free stuff by the people who make it. I intend for that to be the case here as well (especially since I've been unaccountably dropped off of all of the major publishers' comp lists).   I think I've come up with a way to improve the whole "getting free stuff" process. Here's the deal: If you're a comics publisher who wants some electronic ink, e-mail me. I'll send you an address and you can send me your books. If I like them, I'll gush about them. Here's an old example as illustration: "Everybody should go out right now and buy Kyle (Why I Hate Saturn) Baker's latest graphic novel, You Are Here. Kyle draws better than everybody who can outwrite him and writes better than everybody who can outdraw him. In fact, no self-respecting comic library is complete without all of his graphic novels. And while your wallet's out, the outrageously gifted Kris (Manya) Dresen has just released a collection of her exquisitely drawn and extremely funny Max and Lily strips. Surf over to www.Girlthrow.com right now and pick up a copy or three, or I'll come over to your house and hit you."   Now, if I don't like your stuff, relax, I'm not going to embarrass you. I'll still mention your book, I just won't gush. The educated reader will quickly come to understand what that means.   I'm running long, so I'd better start wrapping this up. Over the next couple of weeks-- in addition to shameless plugging for my Static Shock: Trial by Fire trade paperback collection (now on sale), and my Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool mini-series (on sale November 1)-- I'll touch on a number of topics, including: my long-delayed series of columns on "What Comics Should I Be Reading?"; behind-the-scenes tales from the Static Shock TV show; my ongoing fruitless struggle to get any information about the movie based on Damage Control, a comic book I created; why, while web comics are cool and web animation is also cool, web animation isn't comics; my responses to Reader Mail; how fellow Psycomic columnist J. Michael Straczynski, a gentleman I've never met, once kept me from losing a screenwriting job; I'd also like to tell you a personal anecdote about Kevin Smith, but I don't have one. Although the more I think about it, "Kevin Smith" sounds suspiciously like an alias. I think someone should check into this.   Okay, now I'm completely out of space, but if you come back in a mere two days, I'll explain how to make superhero comics readable again in one simple stroke: by ditching the "shared universe" concept, once and for all. Dwayne McDuffie has written and/or edited for Marvel, DC, Harvey and Milestone comics. He's proud to announce that Static, a comic book he co-created, has come to the Kids WB as the animated series Static Shock. But he's ashamed to admit that he's working in TV mostly so he can get a job writing comic books. Apparently, these days, working in Hollywood is even better than being British. Dwayne promises if you visit his website he'll give you a cookie.