Origin Story

A lot of the time, people know me from my posts on my various websites - KryptonSite, GreenArrowTV, KSiteTV, etc. etc. In addition to writing about comic book related TV projects online, though, I've been a comic book collector since the late 1980's.

A G.I. Joe cover with Cobra Commander, Snake-Eyes, and Destro removing their masks lured me toward comics, and I bought the G.I. Joe Order of Battle #2 that month. G.I. Joe comics were all I collected for a time - including the main title, Special Missions, Tales of G.I. Joe, and even a digest-sized series that was pretty awesome.

West Coast Avengers was my first foray into a superhero world. It was issue #37, full of notes for back issues that set up the current stories. Those footnotes - saying to read, say, issue #229 of Avengers or WCA #23, helped inform my early back issue buying. Those back issues were usually found at a store I discovered in Annapolis called "The Twilite Zone." I remember seeing G.I. Joe issues in the issue #40 range as "not affordable" because they were over $2! If only comics that good still went for that price.

The most magic thing about the Twilite Zone -- which still operates in a Glen Burnie, MD location -- is the way it smelled. Walking upstairs at 8 Fleet Street, it smelled like musty old comic book paper. It was pretty amazing.

Anyway, that's my "origin story," and if anyone happens to read this, they'll probably read more about what informed those early comic book collecting experiences. The other question I should answer before we start, though, is "why am I doing this?"

Really, this blog is just set up for me to yammer on about comics. So often now, you post in a thread at Bleeding Cool or CBR and the immediate reaction is "Who cares?" People are rude. Maybe they'll be rude in the comments here, but this is my "house" and I don't have to tolerate it. I have thoughts about what I like from comics, and what I want from comics in the future. What I want probably doesn't line up with everyone else, but that's part of the fun, right? Sure, I could probably blog for a comic book site, but maybe it is true that "no one cares" -- except me. That's why I'm here.

I'll get started with my first real post this weekend.