I don't really have the tools to even process this shit. I mean, yeah, it was an internet website that talked about one of the least-effective forms of entertainment. It extensively covered the flagship industry for the toxic effects of intellectual properties. To strip all of the romance out of it, it's like the cancellation of Hottest Abusive Spouses Magazine.
Therein lies the unique and unmatched virtue--stop and dwell on that word, "virtue," for a moment--of Comics Alliance. Comics Alliance did report on stupid shit like the latest awful crossover event or officially licensed products. I'm sure that for a lot of us, it was simply the latest vehicle for Chris Sims (that's how I started reading it).
It was those things, but it was something more; it knew that comics could be better. It demanded that comics be better. No matter the trolling, opposition, and even personal threats, the staff of Comics Alliance demanded that comics fulfill their potential as more than just a medium providing a constant stream of Batman or T&A to a complacent, circumscribed audience held captive by nostalgia and a fear of exposure to new ideas.
I can't vouch for their effect on the industry, but I think they kicked a lot of fans in the ass, and anything that heaves a boot assward in relation to unimaginative, pretentious consumers with pretentions to geekdom without the requisite empathy, introspection, and curiosity to warrant it--
Yeah, I'm being a gatekeeper. Fuck you.
--is more than just "okay," in my book; it's a knight in shining armor, wielding a fucking bleach-filled pressure washer on a holy mission to scour mold off of my front porch.
Did Comics Alliance have an unapologetically liberal viewpoint? Hell yeah. Did I agree with its writers all of the time? Aw hell naw, but even when I didn't agree with the writer or article in question, I at least respected them because they were worthy of respect and good at their damned jobs. While I can't say that Comics Alliance never regurgitated a press release, misspelled a word, or fucking put up content for content's sake, the shit was spread over the foundations of a friggin' laser that carved a retort into the face of a complacent community that had never, never previously seemed deserving of that level of greatness.
Comics Alliance made me believe in comics fans again, and for that, I'll be eternally grateful.
Links:
Comics Alliance
Chris' Invincible Super-Blog
Chris Sims talks about CA's closure
David Brothers continues his work on The 4th Letter
David Uzimeri's goodbye post.
Andrew Wheeler on Tumblr
Image Comics bids Comics Alliance farewell
Comic Book Resources article on the closure of CA
io9 article on closure of CA
Joe McCulloch of the Comics Journal says his piece
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