Issue 300. How about that?
My first appearance in The Escapist was in issue 33, with my article about growing up as a child under the threat of certain nuclear apocalypse. Issue 43 was the first we published after I’d joined the team as a full-time editor and Issue 48 marked the publication of my first article written as a full-time member of the team. The article was a history of Blizzard and remains one of the most widely-read articles we’ve ever produced.
Since then, I’ve seen the issue numbers tick higher and higher. Every week, another issue of The Escapist. All of which seem to be pasted together out of the blood, sweat and tears of our talented editors, artists and technicians. Most of them have gone to bed late into the evening the day before, and many require herculean acts of editorial prowess to render complete. Each issue marks a period of my life, times I’d like to remember forever, or forget for just as long. Issue 74 was published on the week that my friend James Kim was found dead in the mountains of Oregon. Issue 87 was published the week I proposed to my wife. We were married, fittingly, the week The Escapist published Issue 89 “About Last Night.” It was a small, civil ceremony at the county courthouse. Our witnesses were former Editor-in-Chief Julianne Greer, and a former editor.
When we reached issue 100, the Publisher threw us a party. There was cake and champagne. That was a good night. Issue 110 was published the same week we premiered our first-ever video series, the inimitable Zero Punctuation. By Issue 200, I had left the Editorial team temporarily to develop our video department, hiring new video creators, running the annual Film Festival and making The Escapist a great place for creative, talented people to produce webTV and for you, the viewers, to come and watch it.
Issue 210 was a big one for me. I had taken over as Editor-in-Chief the week before (Issue 209), but 210 marked our annual birthday celebration, and served as my coming out as the new EIC, the second EIC our website has ever known.
That was two almost years ago, and in that time our readership has very nearly doubled, we’ve worked with dozens of new writers, comic artists and video creators and we’ve produced another 90 issues of The Escapist‘s weekly magazine, the first print-quality internet gaming magazine and as far as I’m concerned, still the best.
It’s fitting that this week we’re talking about magic. That’s what working on this magazine has been for me. Magical in both its effect on my life and its ability to continually conjure devotion, passion and a joy for living that no other job I’ve ever had has matched. I hope you enjoy Issue 300, and I look forward to bringing you at least 300 more.
/Fingergun
