Meta: The Beat is one of the Top 10 Comics Blogs You Should Read for Uninteresting Future Talk

By far, for me, The Beat’s least interesting topic is convention coverage, which starts months before a given con then seems to go on for months after.

What’s presented is usually only meaningful for people who are going, but that also makes it redundant for those same people, especially scheduling information.

I know it’s not even worth checking the headlines during the weeks surrounding the big cons.

“and less interesting items like the financial health of the comic book industry.”

As a retailer, this is the most interesting part of the site, I know you link from other sites, but here it’s all easy to find.

I could give a rat’s ass on the other comic nonsense, especially Hollywood rumors on who is going to play who in some comic book movie, if you are not an investor in said movie, what do you care who’s in it and how much it makes opening weekend?

Getting more comics into the public’s hands and keeping this industry thriving is more important than anything else.

The most uninteresting thing The Beat covers? Well, now the answer to that would be “Penelope Cruz.”

I actually come to the beat for the industry news. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Boooo!
News about the financial health of the comic book industry ARE interesting! And so are the other news.

“What is the most uninteresting topic that the Beat covers?”

Anything that provides a link to the other eight si– sorry, I’ve been a bit aggressive in search engine stuff this morning.

“What is the most uninteresting topic that the Beat covers?”

For me, it is the separate prior listing and description of what sounds like every single blessed booth at every single convention.
I just skip ’em all. Looks like the sort of thing that is useful for trade but not for the consumer.

But I luvvvv the convention coverage. Love it.

I started doing massive convention coverage back before everyone had a data phone so everyone could find the info in one place, but I think with apps and what not it is not as necessary. So this is easily fixed.

I will always do “Debut” types round-ups. however, as I have heard from many indie exhibitors that it gets them traffic.

Jerry Butler’s abs.

I like everything. However, since I get the RSS feed via Google Reader, the monthly sales analyses are really a pain to scroll through. I like that the full articles come through most of the time, but I’d rather read the super-long posts on the site and just be directed there via my news reader.

Anything with the word “nerdlebrity” in it.

Convention reports with too much emphasis on Tales of I Forgot to Eat Before I Got There. Once was amusing; after that…not so much.

Buy a sandwich on the way, for heaven’s sake! ;-)

And I’ll second the vote against “nerdlebrity.”

Manga and Neil Gaiman.

Print comics deathwatch.

Meta coverage of the “posts about why there aren’t posts” variety. If things aren’t going well at Stately Beat Manor because of con crud or computer problems or server meltdowns or jetlag or whatever, just wait till they are and post then! I mean, if it’s going to be days and days that’s one thing, but we’ll wait a day or two, I promise. And I guess if you see a lapse coming, you could always backlog some easy link or art posts and schedule them to roll out while you’re busy.

‘Convention reports with too much emphasis on Tales of I Forgot to Eat Before I Got There.’

yeah…sometimes the con coverage blurs the line of ‘telling us interesting stories about the con/city’ to ‘telling us what you and your friends did before we finally left the hotel and got to the con’. i know its a fine line to walk, because the first one makes for good reading and the second makes me stop reading convention posts on this site even though they are very similar subjects.

other than that*, the site is great. i like the financial stuff because other sites DONT talk about it and simply softball questions about the Human Torch or whatnot.

*the movie stuff is useless to me, but that doesnt mean i think it should go. i personally just dont ever care.

I’ll go with the yearly articles about how tickets for San Diego Comic Con have completely sold out within the first twenty seconds and how you’re pretty much screwed and tattooed if you don’t already have a place to stay lined up.

These days, San Diego sellouts and lack of vacancies are pretty much the norm rather than breaking news. Now if there wasn’t a quick sellout or there were hotel vacancies readily available, THAT would be news.

Is there some way to keep the cut tag / “continue reading” option intact in the Beat’s RSS feed? I love The Beat, but I wish I could just click to continue instead of having the entire article take over my feed page, particularly since the html is frequently broken in RSS.

Jettison:
speculative doomsaying (for doomsaying with numbers and facts, ending in questions that can spur a dialogue)
white background
this advice

Embark:
Exclusives
more pictures/preview pages/panels
opinions
humorous opinions
interviews with creators
alternative comics (and not just whiney Portland indie strips)

I don’t think there’s anything uninteresting… the one pet peeve I have is coming home after a long day at work and finding the “Thing to do tonight!” after I’ve trekked all the way back to Brooklyn. I know comics events are usually under-announced, but even if it was a day or two in advance I could plan to go rather than find out right before/during/after it’s happening.

I like the convention coverage as well…

Sabin — yeah we’re working on that. There is an events page here:

https://www.comicsbeat.com/resources/events/

that posts everything as it comes in, but the plug-in that generates it needs some work.

“‘Convention reports with too much emphasis on Tales of I Forgot to Eat Before I Got There.’

yeah…sometimes the con coverage blurs the line of ‘telling us interesting stories about the con/city’ to ‘telling us what you and your friends did before we finally left the hotel and got to the con’”

Heh heh. It’s funny because it’s true (not to mention incredibly self indulgent and pretentious). But I was hoping to say it first. Oh well. Smirk.

The only boring thing about The Beat is when you use filters on the photos you post. I like to be able to actually see what’s in the photos, I don’t need it to look “artsy” or “nostalgic.”

I enjoy the personal con stories and all the roundups of info! At least keep the after hours con stuff, since that’s less easy to find than any official information.

nerdlebrity

the convention anecdotes and editorials bore me too.

i’d love to see those aspects fade out and be replaced with interviews or reviews.

i would say to continue to cover everything that you cover no matter how big or how small. why? cause somebody somewhere will be interested in it, even if they do not comment on the story. that’s the great thing about this blog, it covers a wide range of topics within the comics/pop culture universe to a wide range of fanboys and fangirls. it’s all good.

Thanks for the honest feedback, everyone. I think I can add a cut on the RSS feed for long posts — some experimentation is in order.

I think if I were just to run interviews and reviews The Beat would be more like every other comics site, but they should be part of the mix. Interviews, as you might guess, are the content that takes the most time away from eating for the Beat, so it’s all a matter of checks and balances.

I’m thinking of moving the personal and nerdlebrity stuff to a tumblr, since that’s where everyone seems to do it now.

PS: my investigations into the hotels and local politics of Comic-Con over the years have been some of my favorite posts — and in at least one instance had a direct bearing on negotiations, but the new status quo is a lot different. I do love reading the SD CVB reports, though as its gone in a few years from “Comic-con doesn’t bring in any money” to “Here is an award for being the biggest event in town.”

However if there is one thing I’ve learned in seven years of blogging it’s that there’s always a New Big Story just around the corner.

The most uninteresting topic? For me, those MARVEL/DC/Indie Sales Charts: numbers and percentages arcana of comics I don’t read, and the attending commentary/analysis that has no bearing on my enjoyment of those titles I DO read. (But I concede that I’m not the targeted BEAT audience for those entries.)

The most interesting? Yeah, the Convention reports: the good, the bad and the ugly of them. It’s been enlightening to read the site’s analyses regarding how this Con went compared to that one; and it’s fun to parse what observations and comments are made in them… and what were not. (As per THE BEAT’s editorial purview, I suppose.)

I would say anything related to comic-book inspired movies.
Thank god you don’t cover those that much and you keep a non-impressed point-of-vue on it. (because let’s be frank,it’s mostly crap after crap). So I did read some of your comic-book movies entries, especially the ones where you put pictures of good looking barechest actors doomed to play in it. :)

Dan Merritt said:

Print comics deathwatch.

I think that’s someone else. ;)

Dang, these comments are bumming me out. People talking about posts being too long in Google Reader, there are shortcuts to skip right to the next post – the J & K keys on your keyboard. Problem solved! If you’re using an app, you can just click or touch to the next story.

I, for one, love coming to the beat for the industry sales news. I’m sure The Beat is smarter than hearing some peoples gripes in the comments about what they do or don’t like. You’re analytics should give you a good idea of what’s working.

I wouldn’t change anything. This Beat is The Beat. That’s why I come here.

Please don’t change the RSS feed.

I’m not a fan of the CCI sellout articlea.

I agree with many of the people that have already stated that the industry business _IS_ important and interesting. This is one of the few sites that has actual journalists reporting on the state and health of the industry.

One thing I find with a lot of the other sites is that they spend more time pretending to be rock stars, and trying to use their site to promote themselves instead of doing the task at hand and delivering quality content.

Oh, and even if some of those other sites attempted to cover the health/state of the industry, their writers wouldn’t know how to report it like The Beat does.

I like those other sites for other reasons, but The Beat is best at tracking the state of the industry and the business of comics.

what slim said! and this?

I’m thinking of moving the personal and nerdlebrity stuff to a tumblr, since that’s where everyone seems to do it now.

in my humble opinion: that’s exactly why you should keep it all here. The Beat isn’t a drone comics spider news dump, it’s a personality — that’s why people come back. If someone feels you cheated them by taking .10 seconds of their life by posting a picture of Penelope Cruz — they can grit their teeth and shoulder on. The state of comics right now is a big seeping amoeba looking for corners and alleys and only The Beat reflects that. Oh, and more movie reviews…

I view this site as the “Deadline Hollywood” of the comics industry, although I suspect the Beatrix is much nicer with industry professionals than Nikki Finke.

I read it for the behind-the-scenes goings on. Other sites do other things well… press releases, interviews, humorous columns, convention panel coverage, news aggregation, investigative journalism… This is Heidi’s sandbox, and she let’s us play in it.

Generally I like most of the stuff – However I have no time for the convention stuff, it’s like listening to someone talking about their holiday – just not interesting.

And where else can you go for the signature ‘aggrieved gender politics” posts?

This Beat is The Beat. That’s why I come here.

Yes. As an interested layperson of “Comics Culture”, this site’s one of four I regularly drop in to scratch my Nerd itches on looking for news about comic books/films/art. But one with a certain, er, regional p.o.v. in covering that news… a p.o.v. less prevalent in those other sites I visit.

And gives this site its certain ‘flavor’, I think.

This is Heidi’s sandbox, and she let’s us play in it.

Well, as long as I’m “allowed” by her to play in that sandbox by posting my Comments here— I’ll gladly do so!

(But I STILL think that Salma Hayek would make a better “Luba” than Penelope.)

I LOVE just about everything The Beat covers….especially the monthly sales charts, it’s what brought me to the site to begin with…..keep up the great work!

I would have to say though, the most uninteresting coverage for me is the “what to do tonight…” articles, but that’s only because I live in Columbus, Ohio where there is nothing to do. lol.

I like the “bonus”:)