Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Brian K Vaugh, comic, entertainment, gail simone, NYCC, reviews

Our Reviews Matter

Published Sun, 12 Oct 2014 20:00:33 -0500

Christine Marie Vinciquarra writes for Bleeding Cool:

There are countless amounts of people that review comic books on a daily basis, but I've been writing reviews for Bleeding Cool for about six months now. I never expected to learn so much about my own work, as well as expand my horizons by reading new comics. When I was given the opportunity to be part of the press team for New York Comic Con 2014, I couldn't help but wonder if I would have the chance to meet some of the writers/creators/artists that work on my favorite comics. Luckily for me, most of the comics I review, Saga, Rat Queens, Batgirl, and the new comic Gotham Academy, fall into the list of "my favorite comics." Anyway, as a reviewer it's easy to occupy your mind with questions about who is reading your reviews, and how much your opinion influences other readers. After all, while it is fun, it still takes a decent amount of work to review all of these comics. Fortunately for me, I had some of those questions answered yesterday when I got to meet two of my favorite comic book writers, Gail Simone and Brian K. Vaughan.

A couple months ago, Gail Simone retweeted the review I wrote about her final issue of Batgirl, and I was honestly thrilled about that. But to talk to her in person and have her thank me for reviewing her work took me to a whole new level of happy. Now it might seem a little crazy, but during the DC Comics- Batman: Gotham Rising panel writer of Gotham Academy, Brenden Fletcher made mention about people having strong opinions that the Academy is reminiscent of Hogwarts, and how that hopes it makes readers happy. Well, that was the core of my review here on Bleeding Cool, and it made me extremely happy. I'm sure I wasn't the first person to make that connection, but it was still nice to be acknowledged in a group opinion sort of way. As if that wasn't enough, later that night I had the chance to chat with Brian K. Vaughan at the Stitch Bar Image/Multiversity Party. He was so friendly and thankful that I felt so passionate about the Saga series and that I was helping to spread the word to more readers.

The point of me saying all this is, if you ever have a moment when you think that the hard work your putting into reviewing comics goes unappreciated, stop! These brilliant writers/creators appreciate our reviews, and encourage us to write more. Some of them even read them! We are insanely lucky to be part of such an awesome website like Bleeding Cool, which allows our voice to be heard on a level that we normally wouldn't be able to reach. So, keep writing people!

Christine Marie Vinciquarra is a writer and bibliomaniac with a love for all things creative. Some of her favorite things include: Batgirl, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Saga, Game of Thrones (the books and the show), Johnny Depp, and all things Disney. She spends her weekends feeding her competitive side while she plays tabletop and/or video games with her husband and friends. She is currently working on a series of young adult fantasy novels. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram @AWritersWay or on her blog writerchristinemarie.wordpress.com.

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