5 Years of The Cosmic Circus: A Personal Message from the Editor-in-Chief
5 years ago today, I launched The Cosmic Circus with the help of a handful of writers enthusiastic about Marvel and DC movies, shows, and comics. I was inspired by my love of those movies and shows, as well as sci-fi and fantasy. I came up with a title for the website that could reflect that “cosmic” love while also leaving the door open for a variety of topics to be covered. Thus The Cosmic Circus was born!
Over the past 5 years, The Cosmic Circus has expanded coverage to not only movie, streaming, and TV series reviews of most genres, but also books, comics, video games, concerts, film festivals, cons, and other events.
One of the site’s accomplishments I’m most proud of is being approved for Sundance Film Festival coverage, and we have covered Sundance virtually for the past 3 years. The prestigious film festival is an honor to be a part of, and I deeply appreciate the writers here who have helped make that and other film festival coverage possible for The Cosmic Circus. Film festivals The Cosmic Circus has covered either in person or virtually also include Fantasia Fest, Fantastic Fest, and others.
Contributors, writers, and friends have come, and some have gone over the past 5 years. Please know that I genuinely appreciate all of you and wish all the best things to happen for you. It sometimes makes me sad when people leave. I have become very attached to the friends I’ve made through the site, but as I’ve learned over my 50+ years on this planet, change and people leaving is a part of life. Sometimes people move on. Sometimes changes hurt at the time, but in the end can be for the better. It makes me a little sad, but it’s important to accept change and try to keep a door open for new friends in your life.
I feel proud when I see those who have contributed to the website grow as writers and as people, even if they sometimes move on from this website. Brian Kitson, who still writes and produces interviews for the site from time to time here, has started his own website, bsbisider.com. That website, which I encouraged him with and helped him set up initially, started out focused on musicals and theater but has since expanded to other topics.
Brian has become quite the podcaster and interviewer as well, and you can find many, many interviews and discussions on BSB Insider. He has devoted a lot of time to The Cosmic Circus in the past 5 years, both in the form of content and as an occasional trusted shoulder for me to cry on and confide in.
Another contributor who has been involved with The Cosmic Circus almost since the beginning is my dear friend Alex Perez. What can I possibly say about this absolutely phenomenal human being to make people understand how incredible, kind, generous, smart, and deeply talented (at various things) he actually is? He deserves all the success in the world. That’s all I am going to say.
Other writers who have been with me since the beginnings of the website are Drew Reed, Vin, and Uday Kataria. Thank you guys for your friendship and for putting up with my requests and sticking by me and the website all this time.
Thank you, Vin, for all your hard work on those comics guides and reviews and your work on YouTube. Thank you, Drew, for all your help in the Discord and your love of zombie stuff; the latter of which I will never understand, but I appreciate The Walking Dead coverage nonetheless. And Uday, you already know I love your passionate, well-thought-out opinion pieces and always look forward to reading them.
Writer and podcast contributor Wiktor Reinfuss came in a little later but writes regularly here and has been doing some terrific work in the game reviews section, along with one of our newest contributors, Ten Sky. Thank you both.
John Dotson, along with Vin and Wiktor, have been working at growing the YouTube channel with their great conversations about film, shows, and comics. Over the past few years that he’s been involved with The Cosmic Circus, I’ve found John Dotson to be an especially talented film critic who deserves a lot of respect in those circles. I am very thankful to have him as a friend and regular contributor to the site and YouTube channel.
Film critic Maxance Vincent has also contributed significantly to both the website and the YouTube channel (in the past). He brings a lot of passion for film and in-depth insight into the filmmaking world in his reviews and is also a talented, personable interviewer for Awards Radar.
Over in the books section of The Cosmic Circus, we have many reviews from the lovely Luna Gauthier. That lady sure does love reading books, and she does a wonderful job with our book reviews. In addition, she occasionally creates some fun recipe posts to go along with our favorite movies and shows.
I was delighted when longtime friend of the site and all-around wonderful person Cameron Brook, who some may know from Ant-Man News on X, agreed to contribute occasionally to the site. Cam has brought a lot to the Star Wars coverage here, and I hope he continues to for a long time to come.
There are so many people that I should mention and thank for helping The Cosmic Circus along the way, so I apologize in advance for not naming them all. This includes other current contributors, Joshua Mbonu, James Preston Poole, Joshua Ryan, and John Daniel Tangalin, and past contributors who have moved on, such as Anthony Flagg (a talented writer and “voice”) and Julia Delbel (who brought the site our very first interview in 2021). Thank you all for your help over the years.
Ayla Ruby, another old friend, writer, interviewer and podcaster who contributed a lot at the beginnings of The Cosmic Circus, now runs another film and TV review website, Movies We Texted About. I helped Ayla during the initial setup of that website. I’m pleased to see how it has grown since its beginnings a few years ago, with Ayla at the lead there. I wish her great success with it.
I, personally, take a lot of joy and pride in watching those who have written here grow as writers, learn new skills, try new things, and grow as humans. In some cases, this is directly because of this quirky, nerdy little website that I’ve built with love.
If I, or The Cosmic Circus, have contributed positively to the lives of others in some small way, this brings me joy as well. I lost my mother, who was a retired teacher, less than a year before I launched The Cosmic Circus. I know that she would be proud of what I have done with it and happy that it has helped others learn and grow through working here.
Last but definitely not least, thank you to our social media followers and our Patreon and Discord members, some of whom have also been with The Cosmic Circus from the very beginning. A special shout out to The Cosmic Circus Discord moderator Irene, another phenomenal human being who I am lucky to have involved with my “circus.”
The future of The Cosmic Circus
As for the future of The Cosmic Circus, I hope to continue this for many years to come. When the site began in 2021, we were fairly heavily covering Marvel Studios and DC-related projects. We still have a love of comicbook movies here, but there has been a shifting of our coverage much less on that over time.
It’s been a slow and, in some ways, challenging shift, as of course many of our followers are still very focused on Marvel and DC movies and shows. But what I wish for The Cosmic Circus to become is a site that might be known for other things, last beyond and do well without just focusing on those very popular franchises.
I recognize that it’s asking a lot from some of our followers to stick with us if certain aspects of the site lessen or go away entirely, but I think it is necessary for the site’s future and longevity. For that reason, The Cosmic Circus will continue to work under a wider umbrella of coverage for various film and TV genres, growing the YouTube channel, expanding game coverage, and, of course, books too.
One thing I regret from the past five years is not having the time to write as much as I would have liked to. The Cosmic Circus was initially meant to be a place for me to share my own writing with some help on the side from others. Unfortunately, I got a bit sidetracked between real-life responsibilities, social media, editing for almost everything that gets posted on The Cosmic Circus, and the general maintenance of the website.
I have learned a lot over the past five years. Some good, some bad. Working on this site has at times made me want to tear out my hair or cry, but I will never regret its creation for all the happiness and friendship I’ve found here. In addition, I am currently working on changing some things around, adding new tools to help me manage my time better, and getting back to writing. More on that later…
To those of you who have stuck with The Cosmic Circus up until now, thank you again for your support. I hope you will keep coming back to read and enjoy the articles and reviews here for five more years and beyond or as long as I can keep this crazy cosmic circus running.
