Closing time!

While all good things must come to an end, all lame things must end as well, so it is with a heavy heart that I am closing the doors on Dave’s Long Box.

As many of you know, I’m busy with my full-time job blogging for my corporate masters at Live From L.A. on ABC.com. The demands of my regular job, family, and my career as a nude model for macramé classes has really cut into my ability to update Dave’s Long Box as much as I’d like. Heck, even before I got the ABC gig things were starting to get slack around here. So instead of keeping this blog on life support and pain medication, I’ve decided to end things now before things get more pathetic than they already are. I have plans for another blog that I will unveil at the end of this post after making you read through all the people I want to thank.

It’s been a hell of a lot of fun and I have a lot of people to thank – so let’s get to it.

I first started blogging because of the example set forth by three guys: Graeme MacMillan of the dearly departed Fanboy Rampage, Mike Sterling of Mike Sterling’s Progressive Ruin, and the enigmatic Neilalien of, well… Neilalien. Their blogs couldn’t have been more different, but they were always well-written and thought provoking and offered up an example of how blogs could be a uniquely personal reflection of one’s passions. I want to thank you guys for inspiring Dave’s Long Box and for being so flat-out awesome. At the risk of sounding corny, your work has really made a positive impact on my life and I salute you, Ric Flair-style. Woo!

I also want to thank Kevin Church of Beaucoupkevin.com – where is that Norm Breyfoggle original art that you promised me, Church? Much thanks to “Bitter” Andrew of Armagideon Time, Dorian from Postmodernbarney, Bully the little stuffed bull, and the Legomancer himself Dave Lartigue – all masters of their craft. I also want to thank Ragnell from The Written World, Dr. Scott from Polite Dissent, Ken Lowery from Ringwood and kenlowery.com, and Metrokitty for being their rad selves. As far as group blogs go, big love for The Savage Critics, When Fangirls Attack, Blogzarro, Superfrankenstein, and the late Listen to Us, We’re Right, who usually were. Thanks and praise go to Scipio over at The Absorbascon and Big Monkey Comics for being such a swell guy and for keeping the Vibe love alive. Treacher, Jim: madman. I also want to thank Brian Cronin and Augie De Blieck – Jesus, this is like signing somebody’s high school yearbook, isn’t it? Also thanks go to Harvey B.R. Jerkwater and his lovely wife. I have lots of respect for Gorjus and the Prof over at Pretty Fakes, Greg Burgas at Delenda Est Carthago, the maniacs at The Indian Chief Blowers, creators of Laser Force, The League of Melbotis, Bahlactus for hosting Friday Night Fights, Yet Another Comics Blog, Marc Singer, Tom Foss over at The Fortress of Soliloquy, Dial B for Blog, Seven Hells! and Howling Curmudgeons. I would be remiss if I didn’t publicly declare my admiration for the work of Alan David Doane, Johnny Bacardi, Tom Spurgeon, David Fiore, Jog, Tim O’Neil, Tom the Dog, Shane Bailey, and Ian Brill. Big shout outs to Ed Cunard, Mark Hale over at Chaosmonkey, Jim McGrath, Dr. K, Benjamin Birdie of The Rack fame, and any other Dead Gopher that I have neglected to mention. Crap, can I even mention the Dead Gophers? I think I just broke a bylaw. Shit, I almost forgot! Thanks to the people who used to run the Comics Weblog Update-a-tron thing, whoever you are.

I’m kicking myself because I’ve probably forgotten some blogger that I really really like, and they’re going to be pissed at me forever. Let’s see, am I missing anybody…? Oh. Right.

Him.

One of the most enjoyable parts of running Dave's Long Box, aside from all the chicks, was my rivalry with Chris Sims of The Invincible Super-Blog. I hand over my sword and concede the field to Chris, who is a tremendous talent and a funny guy, but is a total cockhead. Kidding! Ha ha! Look for mighty things from Chris Sims in the future - he is going to be a fucking TITAN! Mark my words well.

Aside from blogging folk, I want to thank Dusty Abell and Robert Kirkman for the Invincible Handbook gig, which was fun. Thanks also to Gene Ha, who does a hilarious Alan Moore impression, Larry Young of AiT/Planetlar, who is a mensch, Jay Pinkerton, and Jeff Parker, who totally likes me better than Chris Sims so eat it Sims. Many thanks to Ernie Cline, the man who created Airwolf: the adjective. I also want to thank Josh Elder for the advice and the GCPD badge and Kevin Church for making me a hot reporter in Cover Girl. Many thanks to Craig Brasfield, Dave Guttierez, the fine folks at Cracked.com, Ted “Thunderbolt” Bramble, Mad Michael Moran over at the Times Online, and Kent Goodrich, my boss who let me present the SHIELD Career Power Seminar at work.

Finally I want to thank everybody who has ever read my humble blog and a double-thanks to anyone who has ever commented. A double-thanks with handshake to anyone who has commented 2-7 times, a hug for anyone who has commented 8-13 times, a 10-second French kiss to anyone who has commented 14-20 times… OK, you see where I’m going with this. FYI, at 40 comments you get maced in the face and at 50 you get a restraining order.

Anyway, thanks also to friends of Dave’s Long Box, including but not limited to my mom, Dan Coyle, Olav the Hairy, Chris Arndt, James Remar, Mike Hasselhoff, Summer & Virgil, Bill, Woody!,Drake Hogestyn, Konstantinos Stamoulis, Edward Liu, Gayest Neil, Dara, Kelvin Green, P-Tor, Mike Loughlin, Winterteeth, Cove West, Tom Bondurant, Roel Torres, MGK, Anonymous, McGone, Ric Flair, Rachelle, Koala Mentalla, Sallyp, Todd Fucking Kaneko, Chad Sexington, Oldsmoblogger, Ghostman, Martin Wisse, Haole, Beta Ray Steve, John the IG, Nimbus, Peter, Patrick, Bill Reed, Spencer Carnage, Benari, Woody, The Real Rick Jones, Jeff Easton, Dougbot, Sleestak, your mom, Sallyp, Greg, Brad Curran, Ted Nugent, Nshumate, Ted, Ian, RTO Trainer, Matt Murray, Gbob, and Mister Sinister.

Manly thanks also to Ken Christiansen of Bad Flip Productions and Rocket Bob Lindenmayer who helped me fight off a bear attack. I also want to thank Chava and Mimsy and my wife, who is Big Barda and Mary Jane all rolled into one package.

I'll be launching a new site shortly - I'll post the address as soon as it's up and running. My new site will be a little more expansive in terms of scope... meaning it will be an unfocused rambling mess. But we'll talk about that later. I hope you swing by and say hi once I'm open for business.

So, to wrap it up, thank you. Thanks for stopping by and digging through the ol' long box with me for the past few years. It's been a hell of a lot of fun.

--Dave Campbell