Pinned post
Buckle in because this is a bit of a novel. Sorry, but these are thoughts that I have that lead to a decision regarding "ComixDad" as a channel
Over the last 19 months (with a break in between) I started a YouTube channel to discuss and read comic books for people, to try and do my part to get more people into or reintroduced to comics as I love comics and we all know it is a slowly dying industry.
Then I quickly went into doing gaming streams as well.
Not long after, I created a channel on Rumble and got into the creator program and was being paid to stream.
Once I lost my job last year, that was all I did. Then I started a new job last summer/fall and stepped away due to the long hours this job demands.
I came back, streamed more, made more videos, but I learned some things along the way about myself, "creator culture", and about other people in the "content creator" space.
I learned that the people who are willing to treat it as a full time job are the ones who get ahead. Good for them for being able to grind that kind of life and dedicate to basically two full time jobs. I can't do that. Not anymore.
After the last 2 weeks of doing hardly anything with my channel (streams or videos) I was able to spend more time with my kids and connect more with my wife, @Queencomixwife, who now works a 2nd shift job so time with her is very limited now.
When it comes to creator culture and creators that I have experience with (both directly and indirectly), there are a good amount of genuinely good people who love being creators and have a passion for it. There are others who, I personally think, are in it for the glory, the clout, the praise, the ego, and/or the money.
Especially on YouTube, but on other platforms as well. Once money, notoriety, and praise become involved in the equation, people change or show their true colors. Some for the better, plenty for the worse.
I started working with or interacting with other creators not just for the sake of collaborating or having people on my channel, but because I genuinely wanted to get to know people, and even potentially make some friends along the way. I am happy to say I achieved just that, but some of them have not been the "fiends" I thought they were or to me in return once I either provided no value to them or don't feed their egos. Again this does not apply to everyone I have interacted with!
Between all this, the fact that not doing anything the last week+ has led me to more time with my family, and overall leading to less stress and being overall happier not worrying about interacting with or trying to get the attention of other people has led me to the decision that I will, at least for the very foreseeable future, no longer be doing streams and videos (which I hardly had time for videos lately anyway).
I am not officially deleting or shutting down my channel on YouTube and Rumble so this way people can go back and enjoy past podcasts or videos if they choose. But, this is me stepping away.
Now, this doesn't mean I won't appear on streams from time to time with people who I enjoy talking to or see as genuinely good people or even friends. But I am at my limit for doing my own thing. I don't even have any guests lined up for "Talkin' Shop" after July.
I want to thank everyone who has come onto the channel for Talkin' Shop and other various one off streams I have done.
I also thank those of you who at least inspired me to give this content creation thing a try. I did enjoy it. I still do to an extent. But not enough for it to consume my life anymore.
To those who are viewers/followers/members of my small little community. Thank you all so much for being supportive. For showing up for the streams. For providing your own commentary in the chats. For any monetary support you provided to the few of you who were able to....Thank you and I truly appreciate and cherish you all.
I will still be active on X and other social media platforms like @BrewedSocialHQ, and my instagram that I ironically started just recently before I made this decision. My discord server will still be active but will serve more as a place for people to hang out if they want to and talk about whatever, instead of it being a place for me to let people know about streams and videos I post. I will still be in chats of channels/people I respect, enjoy, or see as friends (when I am able to which isn't often nowadays unfortunately). I will be around. Don't be afraid to say hi. Let's still chat and talk and play games together. I just won't do it as content. I will do it because we are all people and I value the connections I have make and hopefully continue to make with you all, whether you are a creator or a viewer/chatter.
Also, please go support some other great channels who do a much greater job of support and talking about comics and keeping people informed more than I have. Channels/accounts such as @Brimstone1178, @Conversecomics, @Worldatwarcomic, @comicsand_ , Andrew and Spencer of Foil Variant (@FoilVariantShow).
Also continue to support you local comic shops and support independent comic creators and publishers such as Vaugh Coleman (@VaughnMColeman) of @RebelOasis, Phill (@FillPops) and Brandon Diaz of @ZaidComics, Dave Brink of @GenuineComics, Michael @thelucentcomic, @RenieDraws creator of Fiendish, Grahman Nolan and Compass Comics, be on the lookout for something from Michael Oden (@ElysianFields_0) in the future, Erik Hodson (@DreadedDinosaur) and any projects he has coming up in the future as Erik is a fantastic artist and an even more phenomenal person, @VKMarion and any project he is tied to as his work is top tier and one of my favorite artists in the mainstream, Web Bleynat of @DreamsUnchartd, and @EricDJuly and the awesome people at @TheRippaverse (especially Andrew @Dokumaandrew, Carrow @Rippalorian, and Igor @chakal_igor whom I've had the privilege to have on the channel and get to know).
Again, thank you all so much for this wild and wonderful experience, as short as it may have been. Thank you to those who have collaborated with me in good faith and have come on the channel and inspired me supported me or encouraged me through this journey.
Those of you who actually watched the streams and videos, you definitely made me feel seen in a time where I didn't even see myself or know who I was at times. Doing this has helped me find my passions and interests once more be it comics, video games, entertainment, or just socializing with people and getting to know them. So, thank you all so much. It means more to me than you'll ever know.
Thank you most importantly to my wife and my kids for being understanding, patient, and supportive as I took more time away as a husband and a father than I care to admit. I'm sorry that I wasn't as ever present and aware because of it than I needed or should have been. That's all going to change.
One final thing. Again, support local comic shops, make comics great again, fight against the radical ideologies in comics (either side) as comics should be fun but also have meaning without being too preachy, and support crowdfunded indies when you can.
And remember, be good to yourselves, be good to each other, Comics are good for you....and Seth Rogen sucks.
Over the last 19 months (with a break in between) I started a YouTube channel to discuss and read comic books for people, to try and do my part to get more people into or reintroduced to comics as I love comics and we all know it is a slowly dying industry.
Then I quickly went into doing gaming streams as well.
Not long after, I created a channel on Rumble and got into the creator program and was being paid to stream.
Once I lost my job last year, that was all I did. Then I started a new job last summer/fall and stepped away due to the long hours this job demands.
I came back, streamed more, made more videos, but I learned some things along the way about myself, "creator culture", and about other people in the "content creator" space.
I learned that the people who are willing to treat it as a full time job are the ones who get ahead. Good for them for being able to grind that kind of life and dedicate to basically two full time jobs. I can't do that. Not anymore.
After the last 2 weeks of doing hardly anything with my channel (streams or videos) I was able to spend more time with my kids and connect more with my wife, @Queencomixwife, who now works a 2nd shift job so time with her is very limited now.
When it comes to creator culture and creators that I have experience with (both directly and indirectly), there are a good amount of genuinely good people who love being creators and have a passion for it. There are others who, I personally think, are in it for the glory, the clout, the praise, the ego, and/or the money.
Especially on YouTube, but on other platforms as well. Once money, notoriety, and praise become involved in the equation, people change or show their true colors. Some for the better, plenty for the worse.
I started working with or interacting with other creators not just for the sake of collaborating or having people on my channel, but because I genuinely wanted to get to know people, and even potentially make some friends along the way. I am happy to say I achieved just that, but some of them have not been the "fiends" I thought they were or to me in return once I either provided no value to them or don't feed their egos. Again this does not apply to everyone I have interacted with!
Between all this, the fact that not doing anything the last week+ has led me to more time with my family, and overall leading to less stress and being overall happier not worrying about interacting with or trying to get the attention of other people has led me to the decision that I will, at least for the very foreseeable future, no longer be doing streams and videos (which I hardly had time for videos lately anyway).
I am not officially deleting or shutting down my channel on YouTube and Rumble so this way people can go back and enjoy past podcasts or videos if they choose. But, this is me stepping away.
Now, this doesn't mean I won't appear on streams from time to time with people who I enjoy talking to or see as genuinely good people or even friends. But I am at my limit for doing my own thing. I don't even have any guests lined up for "Talkin' Shop" after July.
I want to thank everyone who has come onto the channel for Talkin' Shop and other various one off streams I have done.
I also thank those of you who at least inspired me to give this content creation thing a try. I did enjoy it. I still do to an extent. But not enough for it to consume my life anymore.
To those who are viewers/followers/members of my small little community. Thank you all so much for being supportive. For showing up for the streams. For providing your own commentary in the chats. For any monetary support you provided to the few of you who were able to....Thank you and I truly appreciate and cherish you all.
I will still be active on X and other social media platforms like @BrewedSocialHQ, and my instagram that I ironically started just recently before I made this decision. My discord server will still be active but will serve more as a place for people to hang out if they want to and talk about whatever, instead of it being a place for me to let people know about streams and videos I post. I will still be in chats of channels/people I respect, enjoy, or see as friends (when I am able to which isn't often nowadays unfortunately). I will be around. Don't be afraid to say hi. Let's still chat and talk and play games together. I just won't do it as content. I will do it because we are all people and I value the connections I have make and hopefully continue to make with you all, whether you are a creator or a viewer/chatter.
Also, please go support some other great channels who do a much greater job of support and talking about comics and keeping people informed more than I have. Channels/accounts such as @Brimstone1178, @Conversecomics, @Worldatwarcomic, @comicsand_ , Andrew and Spencer of Foil Variant (@FoilVariantShow).
Also continue to support you local comic shops and support independent comic creators and publishers such as Vaugh Coleman (@VaughnMColeman) of @RebelOasis, Phill (@FillPops) and Brandon Diaz of @ZaidComics, Dave Brink of @GenuineComics, Michael @thelucentcomic, @RenieDraws creator of Fiendish, Grahman Nolan and Compass Comics, be on the lookout for something from Michael Oden (@ElysianFields_0) in the future, Erik Hodson (@DreadedDinosaur) and any projects he has coming up in the future as Erik is a fantastic artist and an even more phenomenal person, @VKMarion and any project he is tied to as his work is top tier and one of my favorite artists in the mainstream, Web Bleynat of @DreamsUnchartd, and @EricDJuly and the awesome people at @TheRippaverse (especially Andrew @Dokumaandrew, Carrow @Rippalorian, and Igor @chakal_igor whom I've had the privilege to have on the channel and get to know).
Again, thank you all so much for this wild and wonderful experience, as short as it may have been. Thank you to those who have collaborated with me in good faith and have come on the channel and inspired me supported me or encouraged me through this journey.
Those of you who actually watched the streams and videos, you definitely made me feel seen in a time where I didn't even see myself or know who I was at times. Doing this has helped me find my passions and interests once more be it comics, video games, entertainment, or just socializing with people and getting to know them. So, thank you all so much. It means more to me than you'll ever know.
Thank you most importantly to my wife and my kids for being understanding, patient, and supportive as I took more time away as a husband and a father than I care to admit. I'm sorry that I wasn't as ever present and aware because of it than I needed or should have been. That's all going to change.
One final thing. Again, support local comic shops, make comics great again, fight against the radical ideologies in comics (either side) as comics should be fun but also have meaning without being too preachy, and support crowdfunded indies when you can.
And remember, be good to yourselves, be good to each other, Comics are good for you....and Seth Rogen sucks.
