Friday, September 12, 2014

Thanks (Half) A Million!

Or: Great News Inside!



I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all readers of this blog for visiting over the years, as my stat counter has now just passed half a million views. That's an astounding number and one I never even thought about reaching - when I launched this blog in February 2011 I received just five views in the first month. My record number of views in one month is now 61,457, achieved in June this year. I know not all these views come from fans, some people probably accidentally clicked on the blog or came on here to visit just once, but thanks none-the-less.

However, now that the landmark number has been achieved and for reasons I shall not go into I have decided to bring Wacky Comics to a close. This is something I've been thinking about over the past few weeks and had decided to do it when the big number was reached. Again, I'd like to thank all my readers - especially the 57 of you who subscribed. This blog became so much bigger than I ever expected it to, now with 1,392 comments and 563 blog posts (this one included), and I know big names in comics such as Leo Baxendale, Euan Kerr, Jim Petrie, Tom Paterson and others have all visited along the way. I've also had the honour of talking with some fantastic and highly knowledgeable comic fans. It's been great having discussions with everybody and I'll probably still occasionally visit the Comics UK forum in the future.


Hopefully you've learnt something about comics and had some fun reading them here over the past three and a half years. I've certainly learnt a lot from writing it and it's all been good fun. I enjoyed creating The Atomic Comic with Harry Rickard in 2013 and in it I wrote an article about the history of comics. I wasn't too pleased with that so I went back to the start and wrote a much more in-depth history that took me 11 months to research and write. That document now sits in my computer - maybe I'll do something with it someday.

As I'm sure you all know there are plenty of other blogs about comics that you can visit. Here's a list of just a few of them, and even more can be found on the right-hand side -->


Now I'd like to end this blog where it began way back, or so it seems, in 2011. The very first comic I ever covered was the 21st issue of Oink. I thought I'd show my favourite strip from the issue and although it's hard to choose I settled with this half-page Tom Thug strip, illustrated by Lew Stringer.


Oh, and I also quite like this...


And there you have it. 500,000 views, 1,392 comments, 883 tags, 563 posts and 57 followers. Wacky Comics - 12th February 2011 - 12th September 2014. 

Cheers.

12 comments:

TwoHeadedBoy said...

Had a feeling this was coming, what with the usual amount of updates being unusually infrequent.

Thanks in return, I've really enjoyed your blog over the years - especially the more recent "ancient" comics you've been covering, a world I've yet to delve into myself.

And half a million's a tremendous achievement too, well done! I just passed 90,000 this week - ha! - but aren't too far behind you with the number of comments.

Thanks for the link too, and good luck with whatever you're planning for the future (journalist, right?).

Niblet said...

Sorry to hear your blog is coming to an end, George. You did a great job on it, especially your research into the lesser-known titles from the early days of British comics. Your enthusiasm for the medium shone through your posts. All the best for the future.

Peter Gray said...

I've reached
Started May 2009.
390830

I've stopped a bit myself...But not officially...
Sorry to hear this...it can be hard work...But also fun and quick...
hope your break isn't forever..

all the best Peter

gobshyte said...

all the best mate. thanks very much for inspiring me to start up a comics blog of my own. will miss your wondeful posts that reminded me of long forgotten comics, making me search for ones i wanted to read again and above all appreciating the wonderful uk comics scene.cheers

Gobshyte

PhilEdBoyce said...

Sorry to hear this George but there's a wealth of posts I still haven't read here so it'll still keep me going for a long time to come! Thanks for the link to The Oink! Blog and, personally, great choice of final strip! :) Are you going to carry on with your Whizzer and Chips blog?

meherenow said...

GREAT NEWS INSIDE CHUMS!

:(

Seriously though, wishing you all the best George, I've thoroughly enjoyed your blog, indeed making it one of my regular "pit stops".

Good luck in all your future endeavours!

Bruce Laing said...

Sorry to see the blog coming to an end. :(

All the best for your future endeavors.

Kid said...

Aha! Got a girlfriend have you? They always soak up most of your time. I reckon you'll be back at some stage, George - it's in your blood. All the best for the future.

Lew Stringer said...

Sorry to hear you're ending the blog, George. You posted about a lot of interesting stuff. Thanks for the nice words about my strips. I hope you'll at least continue to develop your interest in the history of British comics, and hopefully we'll hear more of you in the future either as a blogger or as a historian of UK comics. Best wishes.

Unknown said...

All the best George in whatever you do - I have really enjoyed visiting this blog -

Peter Gray said...

Are you coming back to your blog...its come up on my blog list...

George Shiers said...

Hi Peter, yep:) Have restarted it