Hey all. I wanted to tell you that HU is going on semi-hiatus, at least for the summer, and possibly for good. We’ll see what happens, but my family is moving in the next couple months, which is taking up a lot of time. In addition, for my own writing, I’m trying to focus on developing my Patreon and on writing ebooks. I’m not sure either of those projects are ever going to be self sustaining, but I’d like to give it a fair shot—and I don’t feel like I can do that if I’m also trying to keep the blog going.
This space won’t go dark completely; I’ll continue to post the Saturday roundups every week. And I’m sure I’ll have the occasional thing I want to say that I can’t place anywhere else which will end up here. But there won’t be daily posts or guest posts, at least for a while.
The blog started back in September 2007; so it’s been going for almost 9 years now. That’s an eternity in blogging. It’s been an incredibly rewarding experience hosting HU. I’ve made many friends, had tons of great conversations, and been lucky to publish wonderful articles by smart folks on topics I never would have known about without this blog.
Despite a viral post or two over the years, HU has never been what you’d call popular, even in comics circles, and I expect it’ll pass away for the most part unremarked. It’s been an amazing experience for me, though. I never could have thought when I started it that it would last so long, or mean so much to me. So to all of you who read, or commented, or posted here, thank you.
I’ll miss this blog. I’m not a huge comics fan, but I often find really interesting things here. (I don’t think I even knew what a furry was until I read about them here!)
Boooo
It had a good long run. I am proud to have been a part of it and look forward to seeing your evolution. Best of luck!
I’ll miss it; I was glad to be a commenter and occasional contributor over the years. Luckily, you’re still doing plenty of writing elsewhere that I can enjoy and learn from. Good luck with the move, and let me know if you need a hand hauling boxes or furniture or anything.
Noah,
Ten years is about how long Poor Mojo’s Almanac(k) lasted, as well, and that had three creators. Hats off to you on a long run and much creativity. Since I first saw your work in The Comics Journal I have enjoyed your writing, and it was a privilege to collaborate with you. Good luck and thanks.
Alan Benard
:(
And to think today was the day I was going to start the post for the Joss Whedon roundtable I’ve owed you since last summer. But I know the feeling of not having enough time and being overwhelmed by projects. I’ve been considering starting a Patreon for The Middle Spaces, in hopes of being able to just throw some contributors a nominal amount of cash, in order to solicit more diverse voices more often (I actually have it ready to go, but can’t decide if I should pull the trigger).
Anyway, this place has been great, and taught me a lot about blogging, and I “met” a whole bunch of great people. Good luck on all your projects.
Where am I supposed to talk to my brother?
Wow! This surely ruined my day!…
Anyway, someday in the (unfortunately for me) not so distant future, I’ll be proud and honored to look back and say: I was there, I was part of it all…
Sorry to see this come down. You’ve had a fantastic run.
And moving where?
Just moving to the northside…
Thank you for all your work, Noah, I have learnt a lot from what I have read here.
You even got me to watch and recommend Hostel 2.
I still remember finding this site and thinking, “finally, I’ve found my people!” I look forward to reading your work in the future, Noah. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to write. It meant the world to me.
Came late to the site but enjoyed it. Best luck with the Patreon and ebooks.
Aww, man. Thanks for all the time and effort that you put into HU, Noah. I wouldn’t have given Octavia Butler a second try if it wasn’t for you (and that’s really saying something) and I appreciate the opportunities that I had to contribute. I’ll keep supporting you through Patreon!
Bummer. After they started blocking discussions over at TCJ this felt like the last place where interesting conversations on comics were still happening. Just recently you had Chester Brown giving lengthy comments, and didnt Frank Miller himself just stop by to drop a Fuck You? I think this counts for something. Anyway, I really hope this place will at least survive as some kind of archive, too much good stuff on here. Thanks for all the work you put in this, Noah (+ the other great writers)!
I plan to keep paying the hosting fees, so the archive isn’t going anywhere.
Thanks for the kind words everyone. I really appreciate it.
I found this blog when you had some article talking about (maybe a parody of) Wallace Stevens. I’ve stuck around since. Best to you and thanks (to you and the other authors and the commenters).
Hooded Utilitarian was the very last blog I still t
read voraciously after all these years. I’m very sad to see it fade away like this. Your writing and that of others here as really opened my mind in a lot of ways I may not have encountered elsewhere. I may have read some of your writing before, but it’s stumbling on your infamous “In The Shadow of No Towers” review that got me thinking I should seek out your stuff. Never underestimate the benefits of a good takedown.
At the very least I’m glad I got to contribute once… Which makes me wonder if you’ve considered getting some help editing and running this blog? It’s be such a waste to see the HU community just float away.
Anyway, thanks a lot for the years of free reading.
Oh no! This was my favourite pop culture site – I discovered it during the Charlie Hedbo roundtable and kept reading. I’m very glad I got to contribute just before the end. Thanks for all your work and good luck with the Patreon, and whatever else you choose to explore!
So, HU is done, but some folks who posted here still have ongoing blogs…
Chris Gavaler is here: https://thepatronsaintofsuperheroes.wordpress.com/
Jimmy Johnson is here: https://cico3.com/
Osvaldo Oyola is here: https://themiddlespaces.wordpress.com/
I was wondering if any of the larger blogs would mention HU’s passing, but doesn’t look like it; we weren’t quite big enough! It’s been great to hear that people read and enjoyed the blog though; I really appreciate it.
And here’s Heidi at the Beat, unable to avoid getting a dig in:
http://www.comicsbeat.com/comics-blog-death-watch-the-hooded-utilitarian-goes-into-the-long-hiatus-of-unknown-length/
Aw, Heidi didn’t have to be a putz about it and dance on your grave.
In any case, Sorry about the hiatus, but I get it. The run was fun, and I’ll miss the sometimes spirited discussions.
Best of luck with your new endeavors!
I’ve always enjoyed Noah’s clashes with his various nemeses. Heidi was a sporadically entertaining one, but now that the blog is ending, I’m hoping for a final, Dark Knight Returns-esque showdown with Jeet Heer. Two middle-aged, successful freelance writers with nearly indistinguishable lefty politics–have they finally buried the hatchet from their days at TCJ? I hope not.
Thanks for keeping the blog going for so long, Noah. It’s given me a lot of entertainment over the years, and I hope you start it up again eventually. But for now, to quote the Meghan Murphy-defending woman from a few weeks back… “Goodbye, Berlatsky.”
Hah; I chat with Jeet on twitter every so often. He was upset recently that I said that the Great McGinty was a piece of crap. Seemed like old times.
Bummer
Thanks, Noah, for hosting HU, offering such a wide array of voices and viewpoints, and occasionally being kind enough to give my strange ramblings a home. Good luck with future endeavours.
I found Heidi MacDonald’s snarky send-off particularly appropriate. “[I]n a final, self-absorbed tweet,
Berlatsky announced the news during Comic-Con, the biggest comics event of the year” Hooded Utilitarian is so not the blog to care about the San Diego Comic-Con, and that’s one of the things I loved about it. All the other American comics blogs do, of course, which is what makes them seem so insular.
I think I vaguely knew comic con was going on at some point…but yeah, it’s not really something I think about a lot.
Oh no. I came because I was contaminated by the commenters on the AV Club’s comic articles and needed to cleanse myself with writing from people with taste.
Thank you for the years of insight. I think the Top 115 comics poll was a great ‘comics internet’ moment, but the day to day articles were great too.
Thanks for all your work Noah. I’ll miss publishing with you and of course I’ll miss Frank.
While I’m going to miss the thoughtful articles, I’m really going to miss the conversation. And I agree with everyone that Heidi’s farewell is a perfect misreading of the blog, which makes it a perfect farewell. Anyway, Noah, thanks so much for the good work you’ve put into this, and for inviting me (and so many others) to post the occasional article, throw the occasional fit, and have the occasional insight. I’ve learned a lot.
You will be missed. Thank you for the insight, and great reads!
If i ran a comics blog, i would go and post a top 20 list of HU articles, arguments and flame wars. Since I don’t, I would like to link some here, hoping others will join and share their favourite HU moments.
– Jacob Canfield on Robocop, Johnny Ryan and Benjamin Marra
https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2012/10/subversion-satire-and-shut-the-fuck-up-deflection-and-lazy-thinking-in-comics-criticism-2/
– Osvaldo Oyola on The Killing Joke
https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2013/09/queer-silence-and-the-killing-joke/
– Ng Suat Tong on Frank Miller
https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2016/05/frank-miller-triumphant/
(what really makes this post is the end of the comments thread though)
– Richard Cook on splash pages
https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2011/10/splashy-drifting-roundtable/
Ok just some random posts that somehow really stuck with me. I know there were so many more great posts that i cant think of just now, also by Noah who always was so eager to join the comments and never gave up arguing. That really made this website …
– Noah Berlatsky on Bob Haney and Nick Cardy
https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2008/11/the-cowardly-and-the-castrated-part-the-second-in-which-gotham-is-rechristened-and-alan-moore-weeps-silently/
This blog cross over series on The Brave and the Bold was lovely, Noah’s enthusiasm for Haney is really cute and 100% agreeable.
The obvious classic (already mentioned here) of course was:
– Noah Berlatsky on Art Spiegelman
https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2008/09/in-the-shadow-of-no-talent/
As a long-time creeper very occasional poster, refuse to believe this is the end of this blog. So, you know, there’s that.
I’ve been reading since the site started, though i only commented occasionally. some favorites over the years included Bill Randall’s mixed/negative review of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (thanks Bill, for turning me onto ‘the Emptiness of Japanese Affluence’; interesting book); Suat’s (mostly negative) review of other peoples (glowing) reviews of ‘Town of Evening Calm’; The article where Jones dug up the West Coast Avengers panel featuring villains The Cactus, Sunstroke, Butte and Gila; Tom Crippen’s sense of humor; Caro; the one-off article on Islamic finance; various others which I don’t remember off the top of my head and am too lazy to dig up right now, but will continue to comb through as long as the site continues to exist as an archive.
For my part, thank you very, very much for providing a platform for against-the-grain material. I was grateful for it as both a reader and contributor.
I also want to say thanks for the hosting and collaboration on the comics poll. It wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.
Finally, if you decide to end the hiatus, promoting HU as the comics site for people who don’t give a damn about comics conventions might be the way to go.
It’s no exaggeration to say I learnt many important lessons about criticism and much more here. Thanks for the good times.
Honestly this blog made me a better reader and a better thinker.
Haven’t commented here for ages, but I still (and will probably continue to) trawl the archives for hints on some new direction to explore, read or research.
Good luck with everything Noah!
Sorry to hear this blog entering hiatus. I only discovered it last year, but it became one of my regular hang-out places. I Hope you go forward with that ebook thing. I think the book is superior to blogs in a lot of aspects. Only, I’ll really miss the comment section.
Uh, regarding ebook writing … for the love of god, man, use “curly quotation thingies”, not those “straight” ones! You think you’re blogging or something? Seriously! Anyhow, feel free to mail me if you need cover design. My address: kasperhviid@gmail.com
My most personal HU memory was with the blog entry “An Open Letter to Art Spiegelman”. In its comment section, I mentioned that french teen who was arrested for making a satire on a Charlie Hebdo cover. A few days later I was attending an event where Art Spiegelman showed up out of the blue and among other thing mentioned … that episode with the french teen!
Most likely a coincident, but … it really gave me a feeling that shit written online actually matters. I mean, people read it. It modifies their brain. That’s pretty wild.
I can’t really pay for cover design at the moment…I think I’ve made 120 dollars on the first ebook. I guess I have hopes of making some more, but I can’t say I feel assured I will….but! If I ever do make enough money to pay someone, I will keep you in mind!
People have been commenting on Patreon…at least a little…
Dude, appearance is everything. You need kick-ass covers! Fuck the money, I’ll do you some freebie design. I have been doing the same design gig for years, so cover design would be a nice change of scenery.
I’ll miss this site, but I’ll keep my eye out for stuff that you’re writing in other places–I liked things that you had written for The Comics Journal (almost twelve years ago now, time flies) and looking around for more led me to this site. Also, though I rarely have any extra spending money these days, I do plan to pick up a copy of “Fecund Horror” when I get a chance.