Ten Years of SDS

It doesn’t matter if your reviews are published online, in print, or broadcast, or whether you shout them through a megaphone at Speakers’ Corner – what matters is that you wade through the good, the bad, and the ugly, all year round, producing accountable reviews that combine pithily expressed opinion, description, contextualization, analysis and (at best) entertainment, in whatever medium. Anyone who does that, and puts their name to it, is OK in my book.

Hatchet Job, Mark Kermode, 2013

Ten years ago today I posted the first Super Duper Stuff review – The Amazing Spider-Man – and somehow I’m still going! So I thought what I’d do what I’ve been doing this whole time, and write a few words.

By the way, if you’re interested in how the site has evolved since 2012, try this.

The Ups

The main reason that SDS is still going is simple; I enjoy writing. I’m proud of what I’ve put together and the growth in style of both the website and the content. Looking back, the site has also afforded me some wonderful opportunities.

First off I’ll be forever grateful to Gary, Luke, and Flickering Myth. Luke got me in touch with Gary, who as head honcho, posted many of my early film reviews and was very encouraging. I also wrote news pieces, and bagged some advance review copies of films to write about. But my main calling was monthly comic book reviews. I was sent advance copies, and whilst I reviewed several other series, TMNT was the one. I ended up reviewing 120 issues in the end. Thanks FM!

In the first few years of SDS I managed to arrange interviews with some awesome people. Twitter can be an awesome thing. Yale Stewart was first up due to my enjoyment of his JL8 comic strip; the interview led to a crazy few days with thousands of views. Sophie Campbell and Mateus Santolouco have both played huge parts in the IDW TMNT series being a continuing success. I got in touch with them both during my run of TMNT reviews. Both had intense schedules yet made time for increasingly lengthy email chains with me. They were both amazing!

Then there was Debi Mae West. MERYL?!

Debi is the only interview I conducted by video, which gave me ample time to get nervous, and then cringe at as I watched it back. Ultimately I transcribed the whole thing (which took HOURS) to save on awkwardness. I needn’t have been nervous though as she was an absolute sweetheart. Pretty sure we spent half of it talking about our pets and generally chatting. Getting to talk to one of the main characters from my all-time favourite video game blew my mind! That she was so cool and humble just made it even more awesome.

I may not write as much as I once did, but SDS is a constant in my life. It’s not a job, or a hobby. It’s just a thing I do. A wave that I ride.

The Downs

Fortunately not many, but I’ve learnt a few things.

At the start I thought SDS could be a ‘thing’. Maybe it could make a few quid. Maybe I’d become known.

I chased it, and it nearly ended the whole thing.

The rush to be first, and the pressure I put on myself to review every piece of content I consumed, was far too much. Fortunately the arrival of my daughter in 2017 led to a re-evaluation. I calmed down, reviewed what I wanted to, and didn’t worry about the rest. I’d much rather write decently than quickly. It’s saved me from burning out too.

I’ve racked my brain to think of bad times with SDS. There aren’t any stand out moments. Well, reformatting a few hundred posts when I moved to WordPress was quite something. But really it’s just taught me lessons. There have been some absolutely shocking films though…

Stats

I’d be doing myself a great disservice if I didn’t have some kind of list or set of stats. So here goes:

• 780 posts (including this one)
  • 498 film reviews
    • Including 116 ‘100 Word Reviews’
  • 120 TMNT comic reviews
    • Including issues #15 to #75 alongside various mini-series
  • 64 Star Wars Rebels reviews
    • That’s all 75 episodes reviewed
  • 42 video game reviews
  • 40 features
  • 19 Batman related posts
  • 11 Resident Evil related posts
  • 7 ‘Ranked’ posts
  • 4 interviews
  • 1 poem by my Dad

The Thanks

Thank you! You’re here, reading this now. So you’ve only got yourself to blame.

But I appreciate it. You could have spent this time reading something else, so whether you let every word soak in, or SDS is merely an easy way to pass time on the loo, I thank you for it.

Just as important in the thanks department is my family. My wife Laura has never questioned me hunkering down after a film to get some points across before I forget. My brother Ben has proof read so many reviews and offered pointers. Love you both.

Thanks for all the comments, likes, shares, typo point outs, and your time.

Here’s to ten more years!