Ablate that turkey!
It’s officially time to tuck into that turkey. Then create leftovers. Then keep wearing the leftovers away for the next week with your stomach, ablating them like some sort of…oh, I don’t know…some sort of Iron Man armor from 2003.
So in the spirit of this holiday, here are a few things I’m thankful for that have at least a tenuous attachment to Iron Man’s Ablation Suit.
I’m Thankful My Rankings Finally Took Off
I started up this site around August 2020. For the first few weeks I wasn’t ranking for any keywords, even when I added words like “axol” to “iron man ablative armor.”
Then Google finally noticed me. I worked my way from pages 5 to page 3 to 2 and then page 1, adding blog after blog. In most searches for this particular armor I’m ranking either 3rd or 4th (and sometimes 1st), only trailing sites that have been around for years and have much more interlaced user-generated content for every Iron Man armor, not just the Ablative. I’m actually not doing too bad on the term Ablative Armor itself without any IM additions. Now I’m hunting for “Model 23,” because I was erroneously going after “Mark 23.” Models are used for comics, Marks are used for movies.
Oh, and there’s another ranking I’m thankful for…
I’m Thankful For Iron Man Codpiece
After noticing that I was ranking for “iron man codpiece” thanks to a single page on my site, I wondered “could I rank higher?”
Higher! Move the frame higher!!! Right up to the “iron man nipples” (which will be my next conquest).
The answer is yes, I could rank higher, and I have. Rankings are looking good, mostly thanks to this racy blog.
I’m Thankful For the Contributors
Robin Laws, the writer of the Vegas Bleed Neon storyline in which the Ablative Armor first appeared, was kind enough to get back to me with a quote regarding its origins.
Jeff Slemons, an incredible artist with ink (and not just inks), has allowed me to feature his image on the site that has just a hint of Axol.
I’d also like to thank someone I met on an original art board for teaching me OA and providing pictures of the cover of Iron Man #416 from his collection. (And also confirming that Robert Teranishi is impossible to get ahold of.)
I’m Thankful For This Site
It might just be a distraction from Covid, but it’s a distraction from Covid! I’m happy to have had something to look forward to twice a week, creatively speaking (aside from two fiction books and a screenplay I’m working on that also help distract me from the horrors of the world). It’s distracted me from the election, from the wildfires, from all sorts of <insert preferred swear word here> that just drags me down. I might not be getting a lot of hits, but even if it works as a diary and entertains a couple friends, it will be worth it.
Oh, and I’m Thankful For My Friends!
I have two friends who stop by to read my blogs every week. They’ve been supportive of this crazy endeavor and enjoy it as the nerding-out exercise it is. So Beth and John — perhaps the only two people reading this — Excelsior!
