It’s finally launch day foir Heroic Hollywood. For starters, I wanted to take a moment and say thank you to you, the reader, for being part of my new journey as I strike out on my own and launch a brand new outlet. I also want to thank Latino Review readers who supported me over the years and hope you guys join me here in my new permanent home.
The site has been in the works for almost a year. Being my own boss and webmaster is something I always wanted to try and I think now is the perfect time as we enter Hollywood’s Heroic Age of superhero movies. It’s an exciting time to be a fanboy and there is no other beat I rather do.
I love doing geek and I think I do it rather well. Three of my colleagues who found massive success at their new homes, that like myself had a decade of skin in the game at their previous outlets, are also a big reason I’m giving the webmaster thing a shot. I want to personally thank Devin Faraci at birthmoviesdeath.com, Drew McWeeney at hitfix.com, & Mike Sampson at screencrush.com for the inspiration. Three solid writers and gents you should be reading daily.
There are forty one superhero movies in the works at various studios due to be released over the next five years. Twenty nine with official release dates, and another twelve in development. Simply amazing. While our primary focus are the superhero movies, we are going to cover other heroes in cinema as well. The official Heroic Hollywood site description is as follows:
“Covering the greatest in heroes of the big and small screen ranging from comic book legends to iconic characters in cinema.”
That means James Bond, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Star Trek, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, G.I. JOE, etc., and yes after a very close vote on twitter Power Rangers. If the hero wears a cape or a mask, has a special power, ability, or skill set, evades bad guys, possesses cool cars and gadgets, resides in a galaxy far away, or possess some other heroic trait, it will get covered here at Heroic Hollywood.
In creating the site, I went back in time and revisited Andy Mangel’s Hollywood Heroes column from Wizard magazine for inspiration. Before the internet, and Harry Knowles pioneering movie scoop websites in 1996, Andy was THE GUY you read for all the scoops in comic book movies back when I was in college. I wanted to create an old school scoop site in the vein of Andy’s column, with a new school sensibility now that social media is all the rage.
What’s the difference between Heroic Hollywood other outlets that cover the superhero beat? Simply put our goal is to break news. Ninety nine percent of the other superhero sites and feeds out there are headquartered in flyover states with no foot soldiers down range here in Los Angeles. They don’t break any sort of news except the occasional publicist hand me downs and have zero perspective or the slightest clue on how the business works.
Lots of outlets are nothing more than extensions of studio publicity with their lips firmly planted on publicist’s asses. It’s painfully obvious which sites are those. A big reason I decided to roll solo instead of become part of another outlet is because of the agendas of other editors to basically play nice, and do what they’re told.
My agenda, simply put, is to put foot to ass. My integrity isn’t for sale.
I’ve covered the fanboy beat for thirteen years. I had some hits, and I admit, even some misses. The important thing is to step back up to the plate and keep swinging. I’ve learned some hard lessons from my misses and adjusted my scoop game accordingly.
The bar has been raised this year in a big way by The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit and the legendary Kim Masters. They have been doing some outstanding journalism in the fanboy news space as of late and you should be reading them as well. I’m not looking to compete with them, my goal is to hopefully compliment their work. One of my biggest moments last year was when Borys introduced me to Ms. Masters at the Marvel presentation back in October. She wrote one of my favorite all time industry reads Hit & Run. Definitely worth a read if you haven’t.
Heroic Hollywood MARK 1
In designing Heroic Hollywood, I reversed engineered it. I went ahead and wanted to be sure we would be mobile and tablet friendly FIRST before being desktop friendly now that google has changed it’s algorithm. I hope you guys like it.
In my opinion, superhero sites are way too cluttered these days. I wanted something simple, clean, elegant, mobile friendly, responsive and fast in the vein of medium.com. Since we are a new outlet, I wanted Mark 1 to be functional and effective. Our goal right now is to pump out content. I build and tinker with PC’s all the time and I’m the same way with my website. Once we have enough content, I will add more functionality and upgrades to the site.
So please be patient with us as we work out the bugs on the site and get everything in working order. Tony Stark’s Iron Man Armor Mark 1 wasn’t perfect but it did the job. It got him out of the cave. Just liked Tony is always tinkering with his armor, we will always tinker with the site to hopefully make it the best it can be.
Heroic Hollywood GROUND RULES
I’m also going to moderate and strictly enforce the forums here on Heroic Hollywood. I have zero interest in having a troll hive which is another problem that has plagued most superhero sites. Not here. New site. New slate. Everyone gets a shot. Even if I banned you at Latino Review.
When I worked as a bouncer and doorman many years ago, a guy I worked with had a simple philosophy. Get rid of the riff raff and make sure they go out head first so that they know this is not a place you want to mess around in. It worked. The riff raff got the message.
I have the same philosophy with the forums. So please no profanity, personal attacks, or flame wars. We can certainly have discourse and even disagree, but stay on topic, don’t be nasty, & please try be kind to each other. You get one shot with me. Break the rules, down comes the banhammer.
In closing, welcome once again to Heroic Hollywood and thanks again for being part of my journey. I also want to thank you for your trust which I never take for granted. I have a lot to share with you guys and I’m looking forward to growing the site over the next five years as we enter Hollywood’s Heroic Age! Enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments below.
