So I got a pretty cool compliment while I was on that extended hiatus, and I wanted to share it with you guys as well as send a shout out and thanks to the person who offered such cool words.  Now, some of you are probably aware of Webcomics.com run by the superlative Brad Guigar.  If you’re not familiar with Brad I’ll give you a quick run down:  Eisner-nominated artist, one of the voices of Webcomics Weekly, co-author of the book How To Make Webcomics, and now the Editor-in-Chief of Webcomics.com.  He’s become one of the premiere voices in the webcomics community– and rightfully so!

Anyway, one of the things that happens over at Webcomics.com on a semi-regular basis is a training exercise called a Hot Seat.  In short, it’s a practice where Brad or another esteemed artist takes a look at one particular part of a webcomic and gives some feedback.  Might be an advertisement, or the logo, or the coloring, or maybe the way you draw hands.  There’s a lot of options.  Typically a Hot Seat will review several comics, all volunteers, all trying to get better at what they do.

In a recent Hot Seat, Brad was looking at websites and offering general opinions on things like layouts, buttons, color schemes… whatever catches his eye.  The goal was to find something people were doing well and something they needed to work on.  So, when BlueStar was selected for this Hot Seat I was nervous and excited all at the same time.  When I was done reading his comments, I was floored by the wonderful compliment Brad offered!

“Joshua is a pretty serious blogger. There’s not a post for every update, but darned close. And we’re not talking a couple of sentences, but rather fully formed essays. Joshua is really engaging his readers beyond the comic.”

Wow.  That’s a huge statement, and one I hope I can live up to.

As a lot of you guys know I was a Creative Writing major in college.  So, I admit, it is kind of natural for me to enjoy the blog portion of the site.  It’s a chance to stretch my prose out for a jog on a semi-regular basis.  Even so, I never really thought of myself as a serious blogger – and I never imagined these ramblings were that engaging. But, there it is.  In black and white from someone who I greatly respect.

Now, I realize that is just Brad’s opinion and not really a great consensus of any type.  Still, for what it’s worth, I’m going to do my best to make sure that there’s quality offered to you guys both in the comics and here in these blog posts too.

Thanks, Brad, and thanks to all of you guys who make it a point to read these posts!  You guys really make it a blast to do and I appreciate it a lot!