It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that I have left Channel Awesome.
This was not a decision made lightly, but it has been a decision that has been building for some time. Because this is my shows tenth anniversary, I think its important to talk about my history with the site and why I have been so reluctant to depart despite the growing number of difficulties in working with it and grievances made by other former producers.
I began Atop the Fourth Wall as text reviews because as far as I knew, that was the way to do recaps and reviews of media particularly BAD media. If you didnt have your own TV show, the only way to get your opinions and quips about awful movies, television shows, and indeed comic books was to write out lengthy essays about them. Then one day on a forum I discovered the Nostalgia Critic. I learned of this fantastic place called ThatGuyWithTheGlasses where others did their own videos about the media they hated or enjoyed, with videos uploaded to Youtube, Revver, and eventually Blip. There was just tons and tons of content waiting to be enjoyed by an eager, hungry audience.
Inspired by this (in particular the Nostalgia Critic videos), I set about turning my rantings about comic books into videos. At the time, ThatGuyWithTheGlasses (TGWTG) had an open submission policy if you wanted to join. Within only a few days, I was accepted and became a part of a larger family. As soon as my videos went up (alongside Phelous and Ed Glasers Press Start Adventures cartoon), my views increased in massive numbers. I suddenly had an audience one that grew larger and larger over time. The videos were popular enough within a year or so that I was able to quit my job at Barnes and Noble and go full time in making them. Being a video producer has been my vocation and career ever since.
I owe my success to being picked up on TGWTG. Sure, talent is one part of it people wouldnt still be watching the show if there wasnt SOMETHING about it that they enjoyed, but in a world with hundreds if not thousands of channels and shows vying for attention from the public, getting that exposure got me a foot in the door that, it is entirely likely, I never would have enjoyed otherwise. I have been incredibly privileged and lucky since then to have this opportunity.
Furthermore, joining TGWTG allowed me to meet a plethora of friendly, smart, creative individuals whom I am still proud to call my friends. Despite the problems that have occurred in making them, I still enjoy all of the anniversary movies as their own works and just for the opportunity they gave me on an annual basis to meet with these people I am still in awe of. They have expanded my interests and my own skills simply by the use of their own helping me make videos that I hope are not only entertaining but informative about the comic industry and my other passions. In essence, if I have reached wondrous heights, it is only because I stand on the shoulders of giants. I have met incredible fans with wonderful stories of their own, been told that our videos helped them when it seemed like nothing else could. I met my wife thanks to being a part of TGWTG and that is most especially something to be happy about.
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"Well, it's not a bad game. It's made by Capcom, so how could it?" ~ AVGN