(Re)Introducing We Have to Go Back

Editor’s note: I originally wrote this introductory post waaaaaay back in the halcyon days of late May 2023. And then…a lot of life happened to me. Now it’s almost the end of 2024 and I’m finally getting this bad larry started up again. I’m keeping the text as is because, well, it works. Never fear—we’ll be on a regular schedule in no time.

Welcome to We Have to Go Back. Although—you’ve been here before, haven’t you? No? My mistake.

Since you’re new here—since we’re all new here—a little summary. I’m your host, Larry Clow, a writer, editor, and incurable collector. I collect way too many things: books, comics, card games, magazines, toys, bits of research for books I’ve yet to write, piles of regrets…you get the idea.

My collecting projects usually lead me down random rabbit holes and odd side quests, which is why I have a decent knowledge of, say, the 1990s collectible card game industry but can’t fake my way through a conversation about 90% of current pop culture. I’m not bragging; I could’ve done literally anything else with my spare time, and I chose becoming a generalist nerd. Whoops!

We Have to Go Back is intended to be a place to share some of my thoughts on the things I’m revisiting (or finding for the first time) as part of my hobby. Recaps of forgotten (whether justly or not) comic book runs, thoughts on the cross-media franchises of old, photos of fun finds, and ruminations on nerdy nostalgia—that’s the plan, and hopefully I follow through. And of course, all these things are also metaphors for Other Things. It’s no coincidence that, as a person who was adopted as an infant, one of my primary hobbies as an adult is reuniting disparate pieces into a collective whole in order to achieve some sense of satisfaction.

Okay, we got a little heavy there. I’d say we should reel it back, but it’s also not a coincidence that, on the day I’m writing this, Vanity Fair published an excerpt from Maureen Ryan’s book Burn It Down about the toxic behind-the-scenes environment of LOST, the early-2000s TV mega hit from which this humble little corner of Substack takes its name. In the years since, “We have to go back!” has become a shorthand for a return to a better time or place (the always excellent Casey Johnston uses the phrase in the latest She’s A Beast). But as Ryan’s piece makes clear, and as we all know anyway, however much we try to avoid or deny the knowledge, going back means reopening old wounds and remembering the degree to which nostalgia papers over pain. (As a LOST fan myself, you gotta admit: going back to the island wasn’t the best idea!)

So, that’s the plan: Nostalgia, but with some context and perspective and reflection and some other stuff. Maybe fun? Wait, definitely fun! Thanks for joining me.