The End of an Era

My first website, Supernatural Crime, is no more. Although I'll be retaining the domain name, and there's a memorial page there now, the site itself is officially closed down.

There are number of reasons for this. First, and foremost, I haven't been able to devote any real attention to it in months and months. The way the site was designed and intended, there was supposed to be a steady stream of new content on an almost daily basis. But as the years rolled past, I learned just how unrealistic my original goals were. Also, relationships with some of my old collaborators and contributors have changed, and, well, it just wasn't the site I wanted it to be. In fact, it was starting to feel a bit like an albatross around my neck, and a constant reminder of various failed endeavors.

Second, as my attention has shifted to my print projects – specifically the upcoming Femme Noir miniseries – it seemed that the site's best possible use was as a promotional tool for those comic books. Unfortunately, the site had become cluttered with lots of extraneous material and abandoned projects, and just plain unwieldy. In the next couple of months, I'll be launching Femme-Noir.com, which will have a lot of the old Supernatural Crime material, but will be much more tightly focused, with a streamlined, stripped-down design. I'll let you know when it goes live.

Third, I'm just plain moving on to other things. With the imminent re-launch of DVD Late Show, my new Guns In the Gutters blog, this blog, a revised Atomic Pulp homepage, and my new focus on print projects – both comics and prose – I no longer felt a need for the site, never mind have the time to maintain it.

Besides, a lot of people kept getting it mixed up with Batton Lash's Supernatural Law.

But I don't move on without a pang of nostalgia and regret. Much of my online persona and many of my most important web acquaintances and online friendships are directly tied to the Supernatural Crime site and my role as its "Crimeboss." I learned a lot about web design by revising and reworking the layout of the site over the years. It was the birth place of Femme Noir and Brother Grim. And, damn it, it was a lot of fun.

But five years is a long time – especially in Internet terms – and I'm ready to move on to new challenges and projects, both on the web and off.

Thanks to everyone who visited the site over the years, and especially those who discovered me and my work there, and have followed me to my other ventures. I'm deeply grateful.

Supernatural Crime. 2001-2006. R.I.P.