Who's There?

At one time this was the greatest fan fiction site on the internet.
Those days are gone. There are months between postings, and there are very few people left here. I hope you can revive this site again, and I wish you all the best of luck if you are going to give it a go, and be the last to turn off the lights.

I posted some of our concepts in my art thread. It will probably be one of the last posts I put into that thread, but I think many should see the amazing efforts that were put into that project by some very talented individuals. It is a testament to how the talent pool grew here over the years.

I personally grew as an artist here on this site. If you look at my own drawings from years ago to now, there is an extremely noticeable difference. I attribute that improvement from the great feedback, and the writers who pushed me to draw more and more complex covers.

Thanks to you all. I will be bouncing around other more active sites from this point on, but feel free to contact me on Facebook or Deviant Art if you feel the need to shoot the shit or talk about comics.

You've all converted me from Marvel to DC over the years, and I am now exclusively collecting DC comics on my pull lists now. I feel like a traitor, but I am enjoying the DC characters a lot now.

Good luck with everything guys!

I'm still posting on the Fan Art section whenever I draw something DC related.

Dudes, if you need anything at all on the art side, I'll gladly pitch in. Don't hesitate to pm me. I hope it's not true about Earth A, I was just about to pm Elbe that my sched has finally opened up and that I'm ready to collaborate.

As long as there's a spark, there's hope.

~JOe

On my day off, I flipped through the Earth A Project. There was some brilliant work done for that.

Those that were involved should take whatever materials were finished and bring them over to Deviant Art. We could make two folders; concept art and finished art/stories.

It's a shame to see it all collecting dust.

Well I guess that's it, then. 5 whole replies (no, I'm not counting the 2nd reply from Rik)... I can't say I'm not a little saddened, but I'm also not entirely surprised either. Don't get me wrong, thanks for the 5, but that's it..? I was hoping for at least double-digits, maybe something in the low teens? No? Okay.

So given the state of the place, I have a few thoughts on the subject of the (glacial) activity here at the DC2. Basically a handful of observations, a suggestion or two, see if any of the 6 of us and any lurkers who (may or may not) give a damn have similar thoughts. So please, feel free to chime in. Agree, disagree, as you like. I'm a married man, so I'm not entirely unfamiliar with cooler heads telling me when I'm full of crap. :-P

1) Silent Majority..?
I think based on the response to this thread (a request for a shout-out, basically) that it's safe to rule out the idea of a huge number of registered users floating around here who simply don't post. That said, of 5 replies, I got 100 reads (about 10 of which were probably mine as I read and re-read responses).

2) A Strong Core
Which says to me that the users we DO have are either pretty damn dedicated (which seems backed in full by the replies themselves), or pretty damn bored. Either way, it's something we can work with. :-)

That said, I go back to the Earth A prep work where activity spiked like mad and SO much writing/drawing/discussion happened in such a short period of time. Again, I'm thinking we've got some dedicated talent here. Which is awesome. But do we have any fans?

3) Where My Groupies At?
I think we're playing to an empty house. Or, more accurately, I think we're playing to our own garage. We have a really strong core (and yes, I would absolutely include a few more people than just the 6 names in this thread as the "Core". In fact, the reason I waited over a week to reply here was that I was hoping to hear from them. But such is life, right?)...

Where was I? Strong Core, right. So we've got a few creatives creating and the only ones seeing the work are us. At least that's my thought on the matter. Don't get me wrong, we're playing awesome, but we're drawing in bupkis for a crowd.

4) Not Just Warming Up
This site has been around for years, and on the intarwebz that's like eons. If we were gonna keep a fan-base, we'd have done it by now. Having a quick look at our Members list, we have 1,572 registered users. Even if I put on the kid gloves and pretend 10 more people would have said hi if they didn't happen to be on vacation/ have fried routers/ were washing their hair for the last week-and-a-half, that leaves us with 1,556 who have dropped this place like a simile you just don't give a crap about.

That's 1,556 folks who were here, who knew about the place, who actively cared enough at one time to bother registering, and who have taken off. Whatever their reasons, that's just disheartening.

5) Now That We're Depressed, Let's BLAME SOMEBODY!
I blame Rik. Dude, the whole thing is your fault. You know why, and no I don't wanna hear any excuses!

...I'm totally kidding. Actually I call attention to Rik because not only do I consider him a damn good artist, but he's a guy whom I believe is pointing us in a direction OUT of these becalmed waters. I'll get more into that in a minute.

Also, the becalmed waters metaphor is so good I wish I'd started with that instead of the garage band thing. But I digress.

5.5) Getting With the Times
No, I blame the format. It's 2011, guys. Message boards are like 1998. Trust me, I ran one for a few years with like 15,000 unique users PER DAY for this online RPG... Anyway, THAT's a loaded topic, but the fact is nobody gives a damn about message boards. Unless you're looking for a semi-expert opinion on flyfishing or used car parts, message boards are too slow.

We're making comic book fanfic, which is an amateur run on a niche entertainment industry. Your average online entertainment junkies are at social networking sites where you don't have to click Refresh to know if something's updated. And to their mindset, anything that's quiet for a week-and-a-half is irrevocably dead.

6) Seriously, About Blaming Rik...
Yeah, buddy. I said I'd be getting back to you, right?

One thing I noticed is that it's a LOT easier to find an artist around here in recent history. Once upon a time, we artsy-folks were tough to come by, if I recall. Now it seems there are more active artists than writers, which is practically unheard-of in any fanfic community.

And I blame Rik for THAT. I blame Rik for the biggest and best thing to happen to the DC2 in a long damn time: Expansion. Adaptation. He saw a need and addressed it by tapping a nearby resource in the form of Deviantart. His use of DA has brought over several REALLY good artists. We're attention-whores, we artists. We just are... Love to see people USING and APPRECIATING the scribblin's we put to page, and between the DC2 Deviantart Group and the fact that Rik regularly recruits new talent (because an invitation is praise, really, and like I said: Attention Whores) that one act has done a lot of good.

7) So What?
The way I see it, as long as we're clinging to the proboards format exclusively, we're not getting anywhere. I suggest we follow Rik's lead and take this community where the fans might be found. DA is a good start, but we should have a DC2 Facebook, DC2 Tumblr, maybe even a Twitter feed. Activity breeds activity.


There's more to be said on the topic... Tons more, really, but I can't be the only one to say it. Soooo thoughts? Open floor, what say the rest of us?

The fact that Earth A drew Riz back to DC2 says something about the energy that was there.

Whichever way this community goes, split, start new, revamp this site, I think you should do it for yourselves. Just create art and stories because that's what's in your soul. And create art as a community because it's more fun that way.

Don't worry about viewers.

If increasing viewership is the thing that drives you, fanfiction may not be the place to put your energy. Corporate will eventually put a stop to your efforts. You have no copyright to these characters, and everything you do is a trademark violation (even if you don't make any money from it).

If you need an assist with building something on DA, let me know over there. It's the thing I look at to occupy the moments between everything else. Jay has DA group control. We'd need to bring him into the conversation.

Good luck.

I'm here, Rik. I've been here. And I like what you said about not being into fanfic because you want viewer numbers. Whe didn't get a lot of people on this site beause we were trying to, we got a lot of people on this site because we enjoy writing and drawing superheroes.

I never stopped, by the way. TT got held up for logistical reasons, but I'm catching up now.

Somebody wants something posted on the dA site? Well, they already can, but if there's something we need to do to set up an Earth A folder or whatever, fine by me.

Love the passion Matt. I really do. I believe that there are very specific reasons why the site and the community here are in the condition they are in. In my last post elsewhere I addressed that and provided detailed reasons both in the post and link provided which makes for interesting reading where the present day DC2 was predicted well over a year ago.

I do want to point something out that I also believe relates to some of the issues you brought up. The site was at it's strongest when the writers were active, and in turn the community here was blowing up the board daily.

I won't repeat why the writers left, but again its there if you go and look. Same goes for the new Justice League writer that left the site.

Sure, not all the writers left. Jay has remained active with posting more then anyone since the mass exodus, this is true, and he continues to do so for his own reasons, which I won't begin to assume to speak to. He also made it clear that "we ain't done that" by saying what he was still involved in. Not sure how that addressed your original post, but again, his reasons are his own.

He also spoke to why he feels the site had a lot of numbers at one time. I partially agree with his reasoning. However, if what he said was true, then things would have remained business as usual, which the evidence strongly suggests is just the opposite.

You also brought up that "Earth A prep work where activity spiked like mad". I believe it was because a small, yet dedicated group of writers and artists were inspired, again evoking a strong sense of common purpose and community. Rik, commented about Riz returning, which he did as a favor to me and because he was inspired by the project. Again community and inspiration.


This is why I originally said DC2 was dead. No one is banging down the door to write the multiple titles sitting dead for well over a year. No writers mean no covers for artists to draw. Readers aren’t stopping by to read the back issues or leave comments. Even the dedicated few that remained don’t read or comment on anything. No community activity at all. And IMHO community was the backbone of this site. I believe that not everyone valued that, making it more about themselves then being part of something larger. So yeah, DC2 is dead. Call it just my opinion if it makes anyone feel better, or if it will avoid an argument.

I don’t claim to have all of the answers, nor do I have a problem with my opinions challenged. This has all happened before...and it will happen again.

But to be clear, if I didn’t care about DC2 I wouldn’t have taken it upon myself to streamline the site, which was one of the major issues brought up in the www.dc2universe.net/index.cg....ead=5746&page=1 post.

If I didn’t care I wouldn’t have offered to put up my own money for a new site with a strong URL and more up to date then the proboards platform.

If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t have supported the only new writer to step in with the Justice League title by reading and providing feedback on the issues he wrote.

If I didn’t care I wouldn’t have attempted to bring the Earth A project back, even if I failed once again.

If I didn’t care I would have gone about my business posting stories to an empty house. Heck, posting stuff on fanfic.net has a better chance to be read then here.

And if I didn’t care, I certainly wouldn’t have respond to this post.

The truth is, I am still undecided about what I want to do next. Shop around and see what else is out there? Maybe start another site entirely and call it DC: Earth Zero. Just not sure. What I am sure of is that I tried once to fight the future and lost. I won’t fight against anything anymore, when I can fight for something.

Community and inspiration is what the site was about at it's strongest. Not just of a love of writing and or drawing superheros. You Matt, along with Rik, And Joey (just to name a few) are proof of that.

We've previously discussed Detective Comics by PM; I'd be willing to go halves with you on it.

Ok, closing this now. I found a collaborator lol. Watch out this Sunday!

Thanks! Watch out for the next strip this Sunday! It's Plas

~JOe

Welcome back, Charlie!