At 5:23:42pm on March 26, 2008, Graphic Policy launched with its first article ever. Yes, it was a rather random time, but it began a journey that’s now sixteen years in the making. It’s been a hell of a ride that’s taken me to places I’d never imagine, meeting people I never thought I would, and opportunities I never contemplated. It led to this site, podcasts, a YouTube channel, and spinoff site focused on games, Board Game Today. It’s been an adventure that has been exhausting but worth it.
We’re over 100,000 posts in 16 years. That’s around 17 articles/posts a day since the beginning. There’s over to 20 million minutes watched on YouTube. That’s nearly 14,000 days worth of watched video. We’ve aired 403 episodes of Graphic Policy Radio resulting in hundreds of thousands of listens. Those Two Geeks is currently at 261 episodes and counting. And all of this from visitors from around the world.
I want to say thank you. Thank you for the millions that have visited the site, the millions that have viewed us on YouTube, the tens of thousands that follow us on social networks. From the bottom of my heart thank you. Without you, there’d be no point in doing all of this (it’d just be a journal for ourselves).
Beyond the readers and community, I want to thank the publishers, the public relation teams, the creators who have spent time with us, given us the time of day, worked with us, and trusted us to cover you all. Without you as well, this site would be much more difficult to do and honestly probably too costly to do properly.
And to the contributors. There’s been dozens of you over the years and every one has brought something unique and special to the site with a view that I have found interesting and a voice that I’m proud to have helped get out there.
The site has helped stock a little library and donated to local libraries, helping spread the joy of comics to others. It has helped raise funds for charities and just attempted to do good, not just promote comics. Recently we launched an after school program to help foster the next generation of creators and fans and the enthusiasm and support from the kids, parents, and teachers has been amazing (more on that at a later date).
One of the focuses of this site has been community. I like to support comics, creators, publishers, and enjoy talking to fans. There are many great places to have conversations with fans and share our love and there are places that are downright toxic. One thing I’m proud of is keeping that toxicity away from this site. We’re here because we love comics and I hope that shows.
It’s been sixteen years and thank you for being a part of that. Here’s to sixteen more and beyond.
Brett Schenker
Founder/Blogger in Chief
Graphic Policy
The post Happy 16th Birthday to Graphic Policy. Thank you all! first appeared on Graphic Policy.