The night was dark, stormy, like an expresso coffee cup that had the water drained out and then more coffee poured in. So dark. Much like my soul. My dark, dark soul. Like a hamburger, too well-done, without yellow cheese to make it brighter.

And thus, I was born, into a world most unlike Gotham City. More accurately, into a vast wasteland some call "Iowa". Armed merely with brimming hope, naïveté and a cat named Ender,



I ventured out only to be smacked upside the head with a frying pan and an impending ache solely satiated by chocolate salty balls. After meandering through most of the states of America, I have settled in as a 5 year resident of Arizona, home to the cactus and road runners (beep beep). I couldn't ask for more. Except maybe for a bazooka and some licorice. Also, for the love of God, can't any stores stock canadian bacon pizzas?

I became a fan of comic books circa 1978, spiraling into a life of crime, unabashed debauchery and flawless church attendance. Fleeing the likes of foil covers and Rob Liefeld in the early '90s (thank God I missed the manga/anime explosion... sorry, it's not for me), I remained exiled from the world of comics until the summer in 2006, the year of the rotten cabbage eating chocolate-covered goat. Through an arduous revival thanks to Kingdom Come,



I have become a fan again. Thank you, Alex Ross and Mark Waid for awakening my turgid soul.

Stacks and stacks of trades await my attention. I look forward to every lasting moment I have missed in the past fifteen years. In a way, it's like you can go home again and listen to your oldest sister crack the walls with her voice.

Among my old-time favorites were the early Chris Claremont run (pre-1990) on The Uncanny X-Men, the first 50 issues or so of Larry Hama's run on G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero, J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen's deconstruction of the Justice League, Bob Burden's Flaming Carrot, Sergio Aragones's Groo the Wanderer, Amazing Spider-Man (I love the black costume), Alan Moore's The Watchmen, the early run of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Kevin Easton and Peter Laird, Wolverine, the first mini-series done by Frank Miller, West Coast Avengers (with Hawkeye), Sam Kieth's The Maxx, Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, and of course, Marvels with Kurt Busiek and art by Alex Ross. It is pretty safe to say the landscape of comic books has vastly changed since 1992...

I am a writer in my spare time when I eat my Wheaties. I have some prose published in an anthology called Into the Sun. I have plans for a one shot graphic novel, tentatively entitled "Coma", provided I can find a suitable artist and mold the story into a scripted form. I have other stories awaiting adaptation should I see some modicum of success... I attended my first "real" con at Phoenix ComicCon last year for inspiration and guidance. I'm looking forward to more!

Current* monthly reads:

- Astonishing X-Men
- Justice League of America
- Criminal
- Wasteland
- Fell
- The Immortal Iron Fist
- Justice Society of America
- Sensational Spider-Man
- The Brave and the Bold
- World War Hulk
- The Spirit

* Subject to change as I catch up with trades and current runs I haven't gotten around to reading yet.

There is a little trend if you didn't already notice. Nearly all of the titles I've listed are quite fresh in their current runs. I've found it really hard to know where to jump back into old favorites, thus I'm "starting over" with everything. In a way, it's like being a kid again. I've been willing to look at almost anything and discover who the good new creators are these days. Those 25 cent preview issues are the new gateway drugs. (I'm looking at you, Fables!)

Trades I grab as soon as they come out:

- The Walking Dead
- Fables
- Conan (Anything with Busiek or Nord in it will get my money.)