Shotgun Reviews: A Welcome
I can hear it now. Some of you are saying, “How the hell did I get here?” Some are saying, “Why does Sparkshooter link here?” And others are saying, “Not this shit again.” Well, those are all fair points I suppose. Whatever the reason, whether you remember or whether you’re new, welcome to ShotgunReviews.com.
Who the Hell are These People?
My name is Troy Brownfield. In 1998, after several years writing for my high school and college papers, booking a ton of musical festivals and one-off shows, and getting a job in Indianapolis, I started writing for Comic Kingdom, the website of my friend Nick Jankowski. I put together two columns: The Big Question, which was an interview column wherein the subject would answer only one, frequently complex, question. The other column was based on one of my regular college paper concepts. I called it Shotgun Reviews because it spread out and covered a wide area. I usually would throw in a movie, a comic, and a CD, maybe a TV show or something else. As things kept rolling, I thought that maybe I should just put together my own site, maybe with the aim of giving other aspiring writers a house.
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| Troy and Shawn in 2004 |
In June 1999, with the help of original webmaster Shawn Delaney, that’s exactly what I did. And really, it went pretty well. The site kind of took off, more or less, and before we knew it, we were putting up booths at Wizard World shows, getting quoted on things like volumes of “Dragonball Z”, doing radio and TV appearances (ah, the great Jordana Green crowning) and generally having a great freaking time.
One of the great things about the site was the flexibility it gave everyone. If you were into something, you could build on it. Russ branched out and became the ring announcer for WCWO in Indianapolis. Jonathan Birdsong and Oseye Boyd put together a great crew of reviewers in the Lyrical Lounge section. Shawn, always a musician, played in local bands like The Shivers and Samsell, and I brought back my old booking skills by having the site sponsor or host package shows with Indy indie bands. And that was just the tip.
My own writing stretched out, and I started contributing to places like Comicon.com’s The Pulse and Newtype USA magazine. I wound up writing for Newtype more or less after meeting Ken Wiatrek of ADV in Chicago, and he was one of the forces behind my becoming acquainted with Corey Henson. Corey was one of the early “second wave” Shotgun gang, along with The Rev. OJ Flow, whom I first “met” (along with Jim Beard) on the DC Direct boards at DCComics.com. OJ and Corey would soon join me in another crazy endeavor.
In January of 2004, I began writing for Newsarama under PRIOR SITE EDITOR Matt Brady. If I knew what it was like to run a site and a crew, Matt knew what it was like, times ten. I started contributing there regularly, and it’s no exaggeration to say that it changed my life. From there, I got to do things like write for WIRED, write trading cards for Topps, covered the convention that led me to writing for Fangoria, reported from the set of “The Dark Knight” and met dozens of friends. In March of 2005, with my two month old son Connor in a baby bjorn on my chest, I wrote the first installment of Best Shots for Newsarama; it included reviews by me, Corey and OJ.
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| The Rev. OJ Flow, Sarah Jaffe, Troy, Janelle Asselin, Lucas Siegel and Kevin Huxford in 2008 The Best Shots column (which said “brought to you by ShotgunReviews.com “ for years) attracted some rock solid writers almost instantly. We got the likes of J. Caleb Mozzocco, Michael C. Lorah, Kevin Huxford, Sarah Jaffe, Lucas Siegel, Janelle Asselin, and Jeff Marsick early on. Some of those names might seem a touch familiar today. The team has grown exponentially over time. And though I left the running of it to David Pepose in 2010 after deciding that my ongoing actual writing of comics would be too big a conflict, I still think of it as an inextricable child of ShotgunReviews.com. |
But, the downside of us all spreading out and doing our own awesome things was that, more and more, fewer and fewer of us had time for the old girl. I had planned to make a move with Shotgun of another sort, but had to table that. Things, as they tend to happen, got in the way.
Where Are We Now?
Good question. I’m 13 years older than when I started Shotgun. Since its founding, I married my long-time girlfriend Becky and we’ve had two kids that are now shockingly seven and five. I taught college for seven years. I worked for Fangoria Comics and have written for Zenescope and (with Matt Brady) Dynamite and DC. And on February 29th, artist Sarah Vaughn and I launch the Sparkshooter webcomic at Sparkshooter.com.
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| Troy, Becky, Connor and Kyle |
As I was working toward the launch, I thought more and more about the good times that we had here with the simple mission of News, Reviews, Comedy and Commentary. Express yourself. Be funny. Be smart. Be what you can. That’s what we tried to do. And as much as it amazes, some people still say that they miss it.
So here we go, back for one eight-day week. A few dozen people that either took part or wanted to take part are here, putting the band back together as we usher a new (fictional) band onto the stage. We’re going to kick some of the rust off, shake some of the dust off, and hopefully have a great time for the next week or so. If one of us makes you laugh or think, mission accomplished.
Guys? Turn on the lights and open the bar. ShotgunReviews.com is back in business.
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