It is fitting that the last ComicsGate/ComicsGate-adjacent channel I cut ties with should be Zack's YouTube, since he was my gateway into this world of sequential autism and captioned sperghetti throwing.
There is a lot to admire about Zack. He has an interesting take on the medium. He comes up with leftfield ideas that are a cut above what else is out there. Back in the 90s he would have probably found work at Vertigo. Maybe he overreaches, but he's committed to a creative process. I think his books will age well and may even be looked upon more fondly in hindsight. His perfectionist streak is a double-edge sword. Most of what he puts out is late. He does give updates on the progress of his projects at the beginning of videos, which I like - he is clearly not sitting on his hands doing nothing, as I suspect is the case with some crowdfunders. I wish that he would set more realistic fulfillment dates.
Broadly speaking, I am agreement with him on the state of the industry, with the caveat that I have not listened to his videos over the past month. If he has graduated to accusing public figures of being space lizards who are in control of our economy, then I am not signing off on that. Everyone knows that the global surface and subsurface economic systems are under the benign guidance of sentient pan-dimensional mycelium. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fucking retard.
I also think that he is right about the anti-SJW movement. The birthday party clowns , as he calls them, are an absurd community of self-righteous grifters, perpetually patting themselves on the back for imagined victories, and every bit as puritanical and censorious as their perceived opposition. The insufferably pompous Midnight's Edge crew; the over-enunciating Swede with the eminently punchable face; the grown man, who hides his true identity under a mask and quilted dressing gown delivering, tidbits of information from an industry insider who has concealed themselves within Kathleen Kennedy's shoe closet. Worst of all is the shouty, living embodiment of a manbaby, caught in mid-tantrum. A balding, middle-aged northerner who resembles Humpty Dumpty in the grip of full-blown AIDs.
Zack was held in check by his alarming cough. Once he got that under control, the manic side of his personality was given free rein. His videos became much longer and more frequent. What was once a diversion that gave pause for thought became an unwelcome, close up and personal insight into the troubled mind of an OCD sufferer. More and more, exposure to his YouTube was like being cornered in a bus station by a man who wants to convince you that the government controls our thoughts by means of a yellow and orange laser matrix, when really it's ape pheromones dispensed in chemtrails.
So I said a fond and reluctant goodbye to Zack - the crazy vet who you admire somewhat, and even like like, but whose spiraling madness is a destructive cycle. I wish him godspeed, and I also worry for him a bit.
