The #Comicsgate hashtag recently began trending on Twitter on July 12, a day after Eric July launched the Rippaverse and the nearly $3.4 million Isom #1 campaign, and the same day that I started including #Comicsgate in every post on the @ComicsgateVideo Twitter account.
#Comicsgate trending on Twitter was first shown by Hunting Alice artist and guitarist Anthony Romano on his @DarkGiftComics Twitter account, who posted a picture of it to his followers at 7:15 p.m. EST. Others including Jack the Ripper: Vampire Hunter artist Peter Gilmore reported seeing the hashtag trending earlier at 6:30 p.m. on his @PeterGilmoreArt Twitter account and Darren Blair’s @FortIronhold Twitter account at 6:27 p.m., who was the first to see it.
HAIL #comicsgate pic.twitter.com/D4EOz9O8dl
— DarkGift Comics (@DarkGiftComics) July 12, 2022
Well, that’s the first time I’ve seen #comicsgate trending in the non-comics section of twitter.
…and here’s us about to go LIVE to talk about Jack the Ripper: Vampire Hunter book 2https://t.co/OL947AbtGY
— PeterGilmoreArt (@PeterGilmoreArt) July 12, 2022
So #comicsgate is trending.
Can’t remember the last time I saw any of the major mainstream publishers trending.
Can we say “Streisand Effect”? https://t.co/Sv74DnGVZt
— Darren Blair (@FortIronhold) July 12, 2022
That was just an hour after the first posts on July 12 from @ComicsgateVideo that included the #Comicsgate hashtag: a comic auction stream by Cecil at 5:13 p.m., an Ethan Van Sciver video celebrating Isom #1 hitting $1 million at 5:38 p.m. and two Mandy Summers’ videos promoting Overmind by Jon Del Arroz and another promoting the Jack the Ripper: Vampire Hunter 2 mailing list at 6:04 p.m.
RIPPAVERSE HITS A MILLION!!!
By Ethan Van Sciver
##Comicsgate #TeamComics #Comicshttps://t.co/Nu23mWIAth
— Comicsgate.org (@ComicsgateVideo) July 12, 2022
LIVE CG #150! OVERMIND WITH JON DEL ARROZ! COMICS & CROWDFUNDING!
By Mandy Summers
##Comicsgate #TeamComics #Comicshttps://t.co/bwaVCwFsfy
— Comicsgate.org (@ComicsgateVideo) July 12, 2022
I’ve been running the @ComicsgateVideo account since Feb. 2021, but after Rippaverse launched I noticed that although the name of the account includes “Comicsgate,” I was not using the #Comicsgate hashtag in the bot account’s posts. So, I started including #Comicsgate, #TeamComics and #Comics in every post on July 12.
Other notable posts that day were a couple of tweets from Lucious Morningstar celebrating Isom #1 getting close to $1 million on his @HellsSpawnWorld Twitter account at 7:56 a.m. and 8:50 a.m. that definitely got a lot more likes and retweets than the @ComicsgateVideo tweets.
With still 1 hour and 30min left before closing out it’s first 24 hours. @EricDJuly @TheRippaverse first Campaign #Isom is strong at $946k. Just shy of another $54k to break into 1million. #RippaVerse #comics #indiecomics #comicsgate
Let’s make it happen!https://t.co/1EU7dhpwVo pic.twitter.com/pfHmgiJiYP— Lucious Morningstar (@HellsSpawnWorld) July 12, 2022
And also The Horror Gamer’s @GazerMeat Twitter account celebrating Isom #1 hitting $1 million at 6:45 p.m. that similarly did way better than my own tweets. I am certain these contributed to the trending, too.
Attention all those who actually LIKE well written comics, ones that don’t rely on identity politics, and over all a good team reading: BE SURE to check out @EricDJuly & @TheRippaverse live stream: NOW! #TheRippaverse #comics #comicsgate https://t.co/9JA5cWLLgi
— The Horror Gamer (@GazerMeat) July 12, 2022
Initially, I assumed that Eric July’s launch was solely responsible for the #Comicsgate hashtag trending, but looking closer at some of the data, the only plausible explanation appears to be that there were Twitter accounts explicitly including the hashtag in their posts that day that were at least getting some attention. Otherwise, what else do we mean by “trending”?
That said, I still believe Rippaverse’s super successful July 11 launch absolutely contributed the enthusiasm of Comicsgaters on July 12 to promote the #Comicsgate hashtag when Isom #1 hit $1 million and also, in my opinion, the hashtag likely would have trended anyway without my help, because I wasn’t the only one raising the flag that day and there were others whose Twitter presence was far more effective. Overall, Rippaverse appears to be driving these trends, without which, I doubt the #Comicsgate hashtag would have trended that day, or in the ensuing weeks, when it would again trend on July 23 and July 28.
#comicsgate is trending again 🥳 https://t.co/6GSpIiHihS
— Finatra (@FinatraOnline) July 23, 2022
#comicsgate is trending again! Let’s get out there and support #indiecomics creators!https://t.co/nLcXWoyMk9 pic.twitter.com/39mhKpbJx4
— Ashen (Maximal Violence) Jackal (@AshenJackal) July 29, 2022
Clearly, hashtags work. But, in case readers needed any additional incentive to include the #Comicsgate hashtag in their tweets, here’s the bottom line: again, within an hour of adding the #Comicsgate hashtag to every one of @ComicsgateVideo‘s Twitter posts, the #Comicsgate hashtag was trending. Maybe you can do it, too.
And so, I encourage all Comicsgaters who want to see #Comicsgate keep on trending to keep using the hashtag and raising the flag on Twitter and everywhere else, and please keep liking and retweeting @ComicsgateVideo posts. We’re all stronger together.
Robert Romano is the Editor-in-Chief at Comicsgate.org.