Been a while, huh?

Hi there old (and new) folks, welcome back to another exciting moment in my life. This time, I'm happy to bring lots of good news. First one and most important is that I'm feeling quite happy lately after doing lots of changes (waaaaaaay less social media, making more friends, and embracing the things I love more often without worrying about "becoming famous"). Things are going quite well, and while the goals I'm setting for myself are hard to achieve in this day and age, I'll take my time enjoying the journey rather than speedrunning towards it like I used to do a lot.

Therapy is also being quite useful as per usual, so if you ever feel like nothing works try getting in contact with an expert. World's pretty much a mess sure, but improving things in oneself can create ripple effects on others even if we don't believe it. Go out and touch more grass kids, you'll feel happier in the long run.

Oh and as you might have noticed, my art has been leaning more towards comics than games, and it has a reason: I love comics. Well, I used to, but American style comics and graphic novels in general haven't been that popular in Spain for the most part. And it's quite a shame, as I'm understanding the importance and relevance of this media more as I grow older. Well there's that and also the fact that you actually have a physical thing in your hands when you buy it and you can enjoy it at its fullest without worrying about your Internet connection going south or the company that sold you the comic deciding that you can no longer play because the servers are down.

But also yay funny pages and pretty colors!

My love for games has faded, that much is true. Not out of hatred towards developers and creative people in general (they deserve WAY more praise that we give them), but towards the feeling of giving up and not fighting against them with our wallets. The claim "support indies!" can do so much when you still have people playing safe rather than risking putting money into something that might be ok for them. But comics? Which would you rather get: an $80 game that took a thousand years to make only to get a "meh" and close and entire studio or a $5 comic that in case you don't like it you can just go to something else without feeling you just wasted half your salary on it?

Sure, they are different entertainment channels with different approaches, but comics still provide to me something that games sadly have moved away from: ownership. I open up a comic and I feel invested in the colors, the story, the characters from the very beginning (and I can even learn who's doing what without having to go to the end of the issue, credits are on the first page!). But when I purchase a game sure, I can get the feeling that I'm playing something amazing or remarkable even, but end of the day I don't get to own them. I need to install them, update them, and even have to pay extra if I want to play something that requires friends outside of PC.

I love comics, and I love games. But lately I've been feeling more and more distant from games. There are titles that blew my mind like Clair Obscur Expedition 33 sure, but those are anomalies in this current times filled with safe bets and 0 risk. Even some indies have turned into "remember this game from your childhood? Yeah here's something pretty much similar to it, but it doesn't really go beyond that". And of course I'm not stupid, I know comics have been around with the same characters and the same stories since the days of old, but at least with them I get to see different takes on characters by different people. Frank Miller's Daredevil is not the same one as Noceti, or Waid, or Zdarsky, and that's great and awesome and I love it! The Martian Manhunter of today with the Absolute run is miles away from what the original looked and felt like back in the 50s in terms of story, characters, and visual storytelling and THAT'S the power of comics. If I play the new Assassin's Creed it will look prettier, sound prettier and feel better, but I'll be doing the exact same things I did back in 2009.

This rant might sound like both paths converge in the same points, and that comics and games are not that different when I put them like that.

They are not.

Games and comics are entertainment, and end of the day extremes are stupid. I'm not going to stop supporting the games I enjoy made by the people I like, and I'm not going to become a Marvel/DC shill and deny everything they make is flawless either. But with this I just wanted to showcase my thoughts as of late, and that the bright flame of loving games with a passion has rekindled an old flame: comics.

Change is good. Change is bad. Change can be both, and that's why it's important to take the step and try things. Things you loved, things you hated, things you don't know if you will like. But try, just try.

Anyway, all of that just to say I love Daredevil, damn

Have a nice one,

-Ray