(WARNING: This post is very image-intensive. Please be patient if the pictures take a while to load.)

Holy shit. I’ve owned this damned dot-com for ten years as of today. It’s come a long way from its beginnings as an online portfolio when I was job-hunting after college to its blog format today.

I purchased the liquidcross.com domain name and associated web hosting on July 23, 2000, and set it up as a place to display the artwork and other design materials I was working on in college. I was set to graduate the following semester, and I wanted something that I could easily send to prospective employers; nothing’s simpler than a web link, after all.

Over the following years, liquidcross.com went through a few visual changes, but eventually the online portfolio ceased to be relevant. In 2003, I revamped the site once more and turned it into a blog. Aside from being a method in which to teach myself Movable Type, I used it to write about all manner of stuff. In addition, I eventually created static pages that featured random articles I’d written about video games and my other hobbies, plus pages devoted to my various collections: games, models, books, et cetera.

I stopped blogging in early 2008 due to failing interest and readership, but about six months later, I was bitten by the writing bug once more. I installed WordPress and created a new blog, complete with a proper title: Text and Violence, a blog specifically designed to be an outlet for my grumblings with the world. I removed the static pages towards then end of 2009, as constantly updating them was getting tedious.

Hop into your DeLorean, kids, and check out some snapshots of the various designs that I’ve created for liquidcross.com over the years. To my great dismay, I cannot seem to locate the very first version of the site, so we’ll just have to begin with the first major revision in 2001:

Much to my chagrin, I don’t have a picture of every permutation, but that’s because I was stupid and didn’t snap them every time I created a new design. Also, as I said before, some of the very early files have sadly been lost. However, I do have a few unused designs, which have never seen the light of day…until now! Aren’t you lucky?

Other than my own personal stuff, liquidcross.com has also been home to a few subsites over the years; most notably Breakfast at Timpani’s, Iron Man 2020, and Crimson Plague.

Breakfast at Timpani’s (or B@T for short) was a superhero webcomic drawn by myself and written by my friend the Reverend, which ran from 2001-2003. It ended because real-world priorities took over, but such is life! Anyway, here’s a sample of what that site looked like:

The Iron Man 2020 site was just a shrine of sorts to a lesser-known character within the Iron Man mythos that I particularly enjoy. The site was removed in 2009.

Crimson Plague, however, had a much higher pedigree. The Crimson Plague comic book was the brainchild of legendary artist George Pérez. A science fiction horror story, Crimson Plague was notable for the fact that every single character in the book was based on a real person with the same name. Only George’s photorealistic drawing style could have made this possible. While the book had a modest web presence on the publisher’s site, I was fortunate enough to build the official Crimson Plague fansite with George’s blessing. In fact, it ended up being my senior project for my bachelor’s degree! George’s help was invaluable, and he provided me with all manner of images, scripts, and other media. Series star Dina Simmons was also incredibly helpful in promoting the site and providing content, as well! Since Crimson Plague sadly did not last, the fansite shared its fate.

Anyway, check out a screenshot:

I’ve considered reuploading the subsites for archival purposes, but some of them are so out of date and broken that it would be a colossal undertaking to make them work properly again, even just for nostalgic reasons. Still, it’s an idea…

So liquidcross.com really has a come a long way in a decade. As for what the future may hold? Honestly, I have no fucking idea. I had no clue this was what the site would evolve into when I started, so any premonitions I do have are likely to be completely wrong. As such, the only real way to find out what’s going to happen in the future is to just experience it in realtime. Here’s to many more years…