September Patreon Update

Hello once again to another update.

This month was quiet in terms of new reading orders and updates to the website. However is was hugely productive on the behind the scenes and under the hood of the website.

First we have a new way for Patreons to view Patreon-exclusive reading orders. My original plan when I started Patreon was to just post new reading orders as text in a Patreon post, formatted similarly to the website. Unfortunately Patreon has terrible text-formatting options. Posting the reading orders as a google doc was a last minute solution that I wasn't completely happy with. Well now Patreon-exclusive reading orders are viewed on the website like any other reading order. When you visit an exclusive reading order you'll have the opportunity to link to your Patreon, after that point any exclusive reading orders appear on the website exactly the same as any regular reading order. Non-Patreon members will see a locked page informing them that the reading order is a Patreon exclusive.

Secondly a major bug was fixed behind the scenes that affected the reading order pages. The reading orders used to have 2 tabs, one for single issues and one for TPBs (many orders, especially events still have this and are waiting to be updated). Well there was a bug when a second tab was added, it doubled or tripled the size of the pages in KBs. This might seem minor but multiple that by several hundred thousand views a month and it was a massive increase in bandwidth the site uses. Not only that, it would sometimes cause pages to hang for a while before loading and made certain pages a difficult to update. Well finally this bug has been fixed and I can start evolving the reading orders how I have always pictures them in my mind.

As an example of this please take a look at the Civil War reading order. Along with the usual tab with the reading order there are two additional tabs. One is an essential reading order for the event, cutting the event down by over 100 issues to just its main story. The other new tab is the Notes tab. This tab provides more information on other comics related to Civil War and some guidance on what issues of the event to read. This is just an example of things that can be added alongside a reading order. I plan for more of the bigger events to get an essential reading order to go along with the full reading order. Not every reading order will get an Essential tab but the vast majority of reading orders will get a Notes tab. For events it will be similar to Civil War, showing build-ups, aftermaths, and related comics. For character reading orders it will provide alternate starting points and information on famous runs.

Even though most of the work this month was behind the scenes there was still a new reading order published: Agatha Harkness.

I'm also working on a new reading order: the Marvel Essential Reading Order. This will be similar to the Marvel Master Reading Order, covering the beginning in the 60's to the present, but it will only include the best of the best and most important issues and events. I'm still working out the final details of exactly what to include but over the coming days and weeks I'll be asking in Discord for members opinions on how the reading order should be built and what exactly to include and exclude. In the future there will also be a DC version made.

I'll end here since this is getting pretty long but rest assured now that the framework is in place that October will be a much more content heavy month. Thank you to the Patreon members whose continuing support makes all of this possible. See you in a month.