Michelle White was the first regular female contributor to Multiversity Comics. The featured image is from “Mind the Gap” #1, a series Michelle annotated for the site.
I started writing at Multiversity because I wanted to read more comics. I wasn’t particularly knowledgable, and hadn’t read very widely, and I figured becoming a reviewer was the fastest way to change that. Which is some backward thinking, but I admire the audacity.
I wrote from 2012 to 2019, covering a swath of my 20s. For most of that period I was working several part-time jobs, the most consistent of which was putting closed captions on movies. It was from-home work and practical; I’d get up early, write for two hours, then start working from the same desk.
I wrote two reviews a week – plus the occasional feature – and it never took less than those four hours. I’m not a fast writer to begin with, and I was worried about the permanence of the Internet. I also worried about what the comic’s creators would think. I was reviewing a lot of indie comics where my opinion wouldn’t get lost in a sea of commentary, and it felt personal.
Over time, for this reason, I stopped reviewing things I wasn’t likely to enjoy. I just wanted to analyze and appreciate – especially the oddball books that weren’t getting a lot of hype.
I wound up being pull-quoted on a few trade paperback covers, which still trips me out. It’s a tiny little legacy, but it’s neat!
I stopped writing at Multiversity following a few upheavals in my life, and felt terrible about it. I enjoyed my time here, and I also felt like I’d under-utilized it. I only met up with other members of the Multiversity team once, at NYCC ’13. (Everyone was lovely.) Shyness kept me from engaging with them and the broader comic community for pretty much my entire tenure.
Given the chance I’d do a lot of things differently, but I’m proud of what I was able to do – and more broadly, what Multiversity has been. In-depth commentary from enthusiastic people is golden, and Multiversity has housed a lot of gold.
To close out, I want to thank the Multiversity team for sharing this space with me and being so welcoming. And – cheesily – I’d like to thank the creators for all their work. I count myself lucky I got to read so much!
Finally: I still read comics! (Almost exclusively manga, which I’d never delved into before this year.) The older I get, the more I find that the good stuff doesn’t run out. Your next soul-wrenching, life-changing favourite thing is right around the corner.
