samhumphries:

This was the first year I wrote a lot of comics. Inevitably, some of the magic as a comic book reader is now gone. (Although I am infinitely more forgiving of the bad comics, too.) 

I hope I’m not condescending when I say that I’m very proud of my friend, comics writer Sam Humphries.  It doesn’t seem all that long ago he was sharing a table with Paul Azaceta and I at NYCC, selling “Our Love is Real” and handing out postcards for “Sacrifice”, both gutsy, self-published books.  Now, he’s churned out an staggeringly impressive output of books for Marvel, with more on the horizon.

The quote I reblogged from Sam has real resonance for me.  Becoming a professional comics writer, you DO lose some of that magic (I count the panels too).  And you - or at least I - became more understanding of “bad” comics, especially those done under the editorial restraints of The Big Two.  

I’d add that also becomes harder to separate the personalities (real or artificially constructed for the Internet) from the books.  I’ve been lucky to have worked or associated with amazing people, but in a small, competitive business it’s hard not to rub others or be rubbed the wrong way.  Sometimes you want to like a book but it’s hard to root a particular creator, editor publisher etc.  Basically, it’s not fun to see how the sausage is made, although that’s a very small price to pay for getting the chance to have my work published.

(When it’s up, I’ll link to something I wrote for Robot 6 and CBR about some of the comics I read in 2012 that managed to get me to turn off the critical, jaded side of my brain and help recapture that magic.)

Sam, however, is an easy guy to root for. He’s helped me out more than almost anyone in comics, but even if he hadn’t, I’d be happy to say his success is well-deserved.  It’s nice to see one of the good guys win in this business.