Blog Review: Comicsbeat
The blog comicsbeat.com is a blog catered to people who read and are passionate about comic books, those who write, illustrate, and publish create comic books, and those who attend the ever growing Comic Con (as well as other comic book conventions). Comics Beat is a comic book aficionado’s dream encyclopedia, it being a source of an abundance of information about everything a comic book fan could need, including, reviews, information on conventions, sales charts, and publishing information. Though the site did not say how many followers it had, according to the site’s twitter following, roughly 14,000 people are active fans.
The blog has many different features that allow for the comic community to come together read the latest news, such as the latest Comic Con news and Beat Podcasts that keep the community up-to-date and well informed. Though the blog does offer the option for comments beneath each news article and review, due to the lack of a forum, it appears that this is not the type of blog in which readers communicate or forge connections with one another, but a place for knowledge and industry insiders to read about their competition or their peers. When one does leave a comment, it is usually in response to a convention review or photos in which a person tends to reminisce.
Since the blog is a source of news and information for those passionate about comics, it is often updated five or six times a day, depending on the section. The site itself links to comic book manufacturers, Twitter, The New York Film Academy, Facebook, Google Plus, other comic blogs, comic news sites, and publishers like Archie Comics and DC Comics, as well as upcoming event information.The blog seems to stay true to the comic book theme. The title uses a font that is often found in comic book titles or within comic books, while a minimalist design helps make the information the most important part of the blog. It appears that there are blogs within the blog, which helps link to other parts of the site. The colors, gray and white, are similar to that of a newspaper with pops of color here and there, like a comic strip.
Self-expression seems to play a very large role on the site. They seem to be supporting the art of comic books and they report about different conventions that encourage self-expression and the blog itself seems to depict different aspects of this culture. People who are so into comic book culture are so spread out from one another, and blogging has brought people from all over the world, together to discuss, explore, review, and celebrate the comic book. We live in a digital age where people are less likely to pick up comic books at a store, talk to people at the comic store about different comic books, and now comic book conversation happens on the internet, and thus, this is the perfect genre for this news source.