Wednesday, May 31, 2023

CBR is Being Overhauled, but it Might Be Too Late for the Site

Comic Book Resources used to be a great site, years ago. They were bought out in 2016 when Valnet acquired them. After that, it became all list articles, clickbait, and junk. The site has sucked for years and rarely has anything good on it (I think I've linked to it once in a blue moon when they have a notable piece or good interview). Apparently, being awful has caught up with the site as it is going to do a major overhaul and address, "Culture and performance." A bunch of people were laid-off and what exactly the site will look like or how it will function remains to be seen. I saw some friends on Facebook metaphorically shrug at this news. People on Reddit overwhelmingly seemed to ask, "Wait, CBR still existed?" or outright celebrated the site being in trouble. I don't cheer for anyone losing their job, and my sympathies go out to those who were laid off. That said, it might be too late for CBR to return to the status of anything resembling a respected site for comic and pop-culture news. 

I know I'm just some random dude with a blog who probably doesn't get nearly as many views as CBR, but I also am just one person with a site that costs all of $20-ish a year to keep online (and I ain't making any money on clicks). Plus, unlike CBR I don't think I was ever respected. I've always just been here, being weird. I did do some list article gigs for other sites in the past but don't think I'd do it again. They are even less fun to write than they are to read. Anyways, I hope CBR can figure itself out. We shall see.

1 comment:

  1. Yes, CBR used to publish some stuff worth reading, notably Steven Grant's columns. Then the new owners thought the future audience was people with the attention span of fruit flies reading on their phones.

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