Schneier on Security

Michael Alan Nelson • February 14, 2010 5:45 PM

First, a little full disclosure. I’m a writer for BOOM! Studios and have written numerous titles for them. Also, the writer of Codebreakers is a personal friend of mine whom I think is a fantastic writer and story teller. So be aware that I’m a little biased here.

I’ve been reading the Schneier on Security blog for about a year now and I was pleasantly surprised to see Mr. Schneier post a link to my friend’s book. But I was disappointed by how some were ready to dismiss the book out of hand.

Look, I get it. For many of you, cryptography is part of what you do for a living or it’s a major focus of study. You’re professionals. So I completely understand the skepticism. But you should really read the book before passing judgment. Yes, it’s quite possible that my friend got everything wrong and that the story’s rank ignorance will make you want to claw your eyes out. But it’s also possible that he tells a compelling, interesting, and entertaining story that does justice to the intelligence and security communities. Most likely, it will be somewhere in between. All I ask is that you read it first. Then, if you feel that his research was superficial and that he has no idea what he’s talking about, slag away. Again, I’m biased, but I think you all will be pleasantly surprised.

Oh, and one other thing…

@ Sortkatt: “I consider myself something of a comic book connosoir. I’ve never heard of any of booms! titles.
I’m guessing mediocre comics with worse tech speek than 24.”

Sorry to pick on you, but I have to call shenanigans. Now, I won’t fault anyone for calling our books mediocre. That is, if they’ve READ them. But don’t guess. Know.

And I have a hard time believing that someone who considers him/herself a comic book connoisseur has never heard of ANY of our titles. Really? NONE of them? Now, the average reader? Sure. BOOM! is still a relatively new publisher. But Mark Waid, one of the best writers in the business, has been our EiC for three years now and has written several critically acclaimed titles for us, such as Irredeemable, The Unknown, Potter’s Field, and Pixar’s The Incredibles. Yes, we have licenses with Disney/Pixar–not exactly something you get by being mediocre (for those not familiar with Mark’s work, he’s written Kingdom Come–one of the best selling graphic novels of all time, Amazing Spider-Man #583–you know, the one with Obama, and Superman: Birthright just to name a few).

Again, your average reader may not have heard of any of our titles. When almost 90% of the market share is in the hands of Marvel and DC, it’s hard to get noticed. But we HAVE been noticed. Diamond just awarded us Publisher of the Year (under 4% market share) and we are now the 6th largest comics publisher in the US. I understand how those numbers may not look very impressive to someone who doesn’t read comics, but for a connoisseur, those numbers should tell a much more impressive story.

All I’m trying to say is that we are very proud of our books. We work extremely hard to give readers the best reading experience that we can. We do good work, folks. Yes, we sometimes fall short of the mark, but we take the criticisms in stride and strive to improve ourselves.

Please, praise or condemn us based on our merit, not the mere presumptions of our merit.