I love movies and comic books. I feel like that might be enough for this site, but I tend to be a little verbose. So, let’s dive deeper.
The nerd I am, the things I love, and my entire mentality about movies all start with my mom. When I was a child, she would have me sit on the couch and close my eyes. She would dig through our movies and pick one for us to watch. It could be one she loved growing up or just one she thought I would enjoy. It didn’t matter what it was; I gave it a chance because the movie itself didn’t matter. For those couple of hours, nothing mattered. It was about having fun and spending time with my mom. After the movie, we would just sit there and talk about whatever it was we had just watched. What we loved, what we didn’t like, what made us laugh… everything. It’s some of my fondest memories. It was during this time that I was introduced to Batman through Tim Burton’s 1989 adaptation. Realizing how deeply I fell in love with this character, she started to periodically buy me the comic books when she happened upon them.
Growing up, I just fell more and more in love with movies and comics. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really considered “cool” at that time, so it wasn’t really something I advertised. It was cooler to be a fan of pro wrestling than it was comic books around then (to be fair, it was the “Attitude Era”). As I got older, I found friends who shared my love of comic books, movies, TV shows, and even professional wrestling. It still wasn’t something I advertised, but I had a small group of friends that I could be myself with, and that was enough. It wasn’t really until I became a proper adult and was introduced to Kevin Smith that I realized something and shifted my thought process: It doesn’t matter what the “many” think of you. Always be yourself and love what you love. The people that matter will love you for who you are, and that’s the kind of people you want to surround yourself with.
Once I started living my life with that credo, I started looking for outlets. I’ve had a couple over the years. I used to have a YouTube channel where my friend and I did silly little skits that were followed by long, kind of boring, one-shot movie reviews. I hadn’t learned how to edit, so I wanted to do everything in one go. If we messed up, we had to start over again. How my friend put up with my stubborn methods for as long as he did is a minor miracle. After that iteration, I learned how to edit and started doing reviews by myself on the same channel. I did a couple of episodes before, and honestly, getting bored with it.
Not long after that, I started a podcast. Each week, one of my friends would join me, and we would just discuss any number of nerdy topics. I even got to a point where I started doing silly little skits on my own to advertise that week’s episode. It was so much fun and I enjoyed doing it so much. Eventually, I made it overly complicated. I attempted to mirror my favorite podcast (Weekly Planet Podcast) and started introducing segments. I even tried releasing multiple episodes a week focused on different things. With that and trying to record a backlog as well, I burned out and ultimately ended the podcast.
While I was doing the podcast, I also started yet another YouTube channel under my current moniker. The podcast just wasn't enough to satiate my nerdy cravings. While we talked about all manner of nerdy nonsense on the podcast, I never made them discuss everything that I wanted to because they weren't interested in everything that I was. I thoroughly enjoy FanCasting and talking endlessly about professional wrestling. So that was what I intended to use my YouTube channel for. I uploaded a video explaining my "rules" for FanCasting, followed by a video FanCasting the new MCU X-Men film. Aside from that, I uploaded a review for Mortal Kombat and... I think that was about it.
It became a little more time-consuming than I felt it was worth. So I turned my attention to TikTok, which was far more my speed. It was quick enough to film and edit videos, so I didn't have to stay up until 4 or 5 in the morning getting a video ready. What that turned into wasn't just nerdy nonsense. It turned into posting whatever silly things popped into my head. I think I've posted far more professional wrestling videos on there than I have anything else. But, as it turns out, those particular fans are kind of irritating. I can't post an idea or an opinion without getting attacked or having a FELLOW WRESTLING FAN toss a "you live in your mom's basement" insult at me. So, I don't gravitate towards that very much.
However, my first outlet was right here on ComicBookMovie.com.
I was (and am) a frequent visitor of the site way back in 2010 and was already a member under the name “The Reflecting Hierophant” or “The Hierophant.” The old account is now under “YakeTheSnake,” so I grew tired of the pretentious username at some point. The main focus was FanCasts (something I still love to do) and film reviews. I remember the absolute excitement I felt when my first review got featured on the main page. It was a review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. I wrote the review right after watching it. Just words, though. I didn’t add any pictures or anything. Luckily, one of the editors (I believe it was JoshWilding) liked the review enough to add the pictures and gave it a more accurate title. I was just so excited about it that I kept trying to chase that feeling. I don’t recall getting any more articles featured because I mostly focused on FanCasts, and those are rarely (if ever) featured on the Main Page. I had fun doing them because writing is a passion for me. It has always been my outlet from the time I was a teenager, and a teacher pushed me to write as a way to let my anger and depression out. I don’t recall the exact reason I stopped writing here in 2016, but I can only assume life got in the way.
A lot has changed since then. I moved from Indiana to South Carolina, my father had a “Widow Maker” heart attack (he kicked its ass, though), I got divorced, and went through a lot of nonsense since then. But now? Now I’m married to the best woman in the world who loves and supports me, I have the greatest daughter anybody could ever ask for, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.
Being in such a good place now, I’ve caught the writing bug again. I’ve written little bits here and there as posts on my personal Facebook, but nobody paid much attention to them. After writing a long review of the first 3 episodes of Ironheart, which also served as my opinion on “review bombing” and the negativity surrounding it, a friend at work told me that I needed to stop posting reviews on Facebook. He said I should be doing YouTube or something. Unfortunately, that isn’t really an option for me anymore. With my work schedule and wanting to spend as much time with my family, I just don’t have that drive anymore. But then I remembered this site allowed users to post articles.
I’m not going to do what I have in the past and promise a single thing. I’m not sure exactly how often I will post. I’m not sure exactly what kind of articles I will post. Whenever I have a thought on something in our nerdy world and can make an interesting article out of it, I’ve got that outlet now. The only thing I know for certain is that I’m excited to be writing again.
Hope to talk to you guys in the comment section!