an actual comic related posting

a condensed intro:

the reason why i started this blog wasn't completely narcisstic. my boyfriend dylan wanted to set up an offshoot of his primary blogging site successless for something completely dedicated to comics. this is a great idea because not everyone is into comics. it would be a definite bummer to lose readers who find the relishing of artwork or anticipation of a release date of some coveted titles boring. so i am now a part of the successless comic blog, where he asked me to be an occassional contributor. we haven't quite worked out the details yet, so in the interim, i am posting here.

so why comics?

i've always been a fan of comics in some fashion. growing up as a tomboy with a younger brother, we always had various titles laying around (though to think of how we trashed these books through general horseplay and childhood negligence makes me shudder now). i remember reading "tales to astonish" featuring the hulk and "justice league" and other superhero titles with fervor. then middle school hit. i desperately wanted to shake off the image of being a tomboy so i decided that playing with my brother was uncool, reading comics was lame, and the garbage pail kids stickers on my dresser were 'gross'. fast forward to 1999. after a short stint in college in chicago, i found myself back in albuquerque, new mexico working at kinko's. one of my manager's was a comic fan and aspiring writer. because i had an extensive editing background, he would have me proof-read the screenplays he wrote and eventually the comics he was writing for (damon watson has since then penned a couple of books for david hahn's "private beach" series for SLG). anyway, reading his stories rekindled that comic fan in me. however, on a limited income, my aspiring library was rather sparse and depressing. after deciding to move to portland, i foolishly though that it would be more of a worthy cause to donate my small, but cherished collection to a friend. once in portland, i met a fellow closet comic fan named eamon shea. i started to read and reread his graphic novel collection including daniel clowes, harvey pekar, seth, and frank miller. when i moved away, eamon made me promise to keep reading because he saw the joy it brought me. unfortunately i was with someone who didn't find it as cool to read comics. he would give me crap when i would buy books for myself. inevitably, we went seperate ways. then i went to APE this year. i got to meet dan clowes, get my mind blown by some amazing artwork, and came to terms with my status as a comic fan. it's taken me a while to get here, but the journey has been worth it. now i have my laundry list of books to get to bring myself up to speed, a couple unread books at home for me, and a person in my life who doesn't scoff at my desire to dive deep in an illustrated alterna-world where i can lose myself and look at the world through a different pair of eyes.

so that is my condensed(ish) backstory.

currently reading: same difference and other stories by derek kirk kim