Ugh (Patreon)

Hey gang,

Let's talk about the COVID video. First up, I want to talk about why we made it in the first place:

1. To spark some healthy discussion about the present state of the comic book industry

2. To jump on a topic that's happening right now, especially since we skipped that opportunity to do it live on Elseworlds to put out our chat with Flash writer Joshua Williamson. The episode was a blast to make, and had lower views than normal/expected, which was a kick in the balls.

3. To get back into the swing of things when it comes to the diversity of content you come to expect from us. Sure, most of you only watch Back Issues. But we're the only comics channel that tries anything and everything, and takes pride in it.

YouTube demonetized the video immediately following its upload. We were certain given the lack of objectionable material, we'd get that cleared up quickly with a manual review. What we didn't realize/remember was YouTube has a strict demonetization policy on videos that talk about big national topics. It's weird, but the nature of the beast. But hey-- we had a strong video that was worth the discussion on its own merits. Still, this is my job, and finding out a video we spent 90 minutes shooting and 2 hours editing wasn't going to bring in any revenue was crappy.

Then the comments came in. Look, we're used to being called morons for our opinions. And initally we got some really thoughtful responses. And for some reason whenever we talk about the comic book industry, we get it harsher than if we misidentified the wrong Green Lantern villain. But what I wasn't expecting was the amount of lecturing we got, ranging from giving proper respect to the industry to social distancing (and about that-- most people don't know Ben and Ethan are roommates and Tiff and I are together, plus our own strong efforts of self-isolation throughout the past month, etc.). Still, though, it was a lot. And maybe it felt like more than a lot because the video wasn't doing anything except hoping to inspire debate, and all it looked like it was doing was encouraging people to flip out.

And finally, after four hours being up, it became apparent the views were shit. And that, for me, was the straw that broke the camel's back today. Superficially speaking, this video I wanted to be one thing turned out to only be a soundboard for people to attack us. We lost ten subscribers between the video's release and it being unlisted, I spent four hours making it, it made no money, and it didn't even perform well views-wise. And all of those factors combined really fucked up my mood, which caused me to react poorly.

We're going to take a step back and re-list the video. It's still a good video, and when I took a step back and looked at it, the response was far less hostile than previously interpreted. I'm sorry I let a combination of inside baseball factors affect my reactions to any of you.

Thanks for watching the video, but more important-- thanks for your patience and for your continued support over the years. I'm so lucky to do this, and I do my best to remind myself every day. But sometimes I get too deep into the world of it, and I don't see the forest for the trees. I hope you'll let it slide, and I appreciate your insight. Whether you agree with me or not, we want this to be a place where your opinions are welcome here. Thanks, gang.