Reviews...kind of.

I've been lucky enough to have some of my work published in the past.  Other than one issue of Mr. Massive (and a preview "zero" issue of Teddy and the Yeti), other companies have handled the printing and publishing chores, for which I've been even luckier.  For whatever reason, though, everything else I've done has been quite short on reviews.

It's not that I expect to be a household name or to have my work read by lots of people.  But writing in any form is a lonely business, and it's nice when people leave their comments, professional or otherwise, and so far those comments have been few and far between.

I wonder if it's just because I rarely write anything very controversial.  In Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch, Teddy and the Yeti went up against one story where Bigfoot joined the US Army and mutilated Osama Bin Laden; in Strip Search, there was a story about lesbian robots (I'm exaggerating...and it actually was a pretty decent tale).  Still, these are both books that had a fairly wide release and are still available to this day, and you'd figure someone would talk about my entries at some point.

The same can be said for the Amazing Transforming Superhero, an academic collection of essays on how certain characters have been revised as times have changed.  My entry on the Thing (of course...what else?) perhaps got lost in the shuffle as there were some fairly brilliant pieces surrounding it, and I haven't heard much reaction, good or bad, until I did a bit of searching a while ago, and finally found some words about my contribution.  Sort of.

In 2007 (the year the book was released), the SF Site reviewed the book to find that The Amazing Transforming Superhero wasn't for everyone, which, as a collection of conference essays, would figure. The reviewer then goes on to mention that "Nevertheless, there are several points of minor interest to the comics fanatic.  Some of which, I was pleased to find as an occasional comic book reader of long standing, were new to me.  Among them are; Ben Grimm's religious heritage..."

JACKPOT!  Four words, not bad.

The online journal Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture also reviewed the book, this one in their fourth issue of 2008.  Reviewer Christian Pyle had this to say: "A wide variety of other topics complete this anthology.  Jeff McClelland looks at how the Thing of the Fantastic Four has developed over time from a Yancy Street everyman to a devout Jew."

That isn't necessarily the point of my essay, but HEY!  What the heck...I'm even mentioned by name!

Sigh.  I'm sure there'll come a point, if I keep at it, where someone will either love or hate something I write enough to espouse or deride it in more than just a few sentences.  I await that day with baited breath.