Let's see...well I'm your average die hard, in the now increasingly, formally minority, female comic book fan since birth. My mother, of all people, got me started on them, picking up the habit from one of her flames in her late teens and never stopped collecting them from then on. In fact, she actually taught all her children to read by weening us on comics, and as an example of the resulting effects, I had already gone through the entire set of our Encyclopedia Brittanicas by my 4th birthday. Educationally and creatively, it was a a very good beginning.

Some of my early memories of reading comics included the heroism of Superman, Fantastic 4, Wonder Woman, The World's Greatest Detective, Teen Titans, Justice League, The Amazing Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, & X-Men as well as the root for you villains, underdogs & anti-heroes that dwelled within the pages of Jack Kirby's Kamandi, Jonah Hex, Mike Grell's Warlord, Conan the Barbarian, House of The Dead, Tales From The Crypt & I...Vampire.

Several creators that I vividly recall as heavy influences were Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn and Ernie Colon's Amethyst Princess of The Gemworld (dark warped malcontent wrapped in a seemingly sweet package, possible influencing J. Michael Staczynzki's incredible "Rising Stars" series and at least in my perception, the show "Heroes") & George Perez's efforts, particularly his work on Teen Titans, the continuously copied & omaged Crisis miniseries & of course the immensely recognized retconned Wonder Woman series that embellished more on our heroine's backstory as well as portraying every character's flaws to blinding degree. His imaginative detailed art, where every character was unique visually, and writing (such as Myndi Mayer, minor character & Diana's "man's world" publicist in WW who met a bitter end, creating empathy for an initially overbearing character), is what really directed me on the graphic novel path towards others such as Frank Miller & Neil Gaiman.

To me, there is more to comics than just a shallow facade of amazing art, it is always great writing that ultimately captures my attention more than anything else. Now admittedly, there are some stories that have so-so writing but if the art is extraordinary and worth it, then it's in my collection. Although things have inevitably changed since then, I know I will always enjoy comics even when I'm a decrepit old woman, and I'm lucky enough to have friends who share the same passion for this medium.

A few writer/artists I favor of course include George Perez, Sho Fumimura, Neil Gaiman, Garth Ennis, Jan Dursema, Mark Waid & Alex Ross, Stan Lee, Marv Wolfman, Jerry Ordway, Phil Jimenez, Ryoichi Ikegami, Jim Lee, Greg Horn, Michael Turner, Marc Silvestri, Alan Moore, Tim Bradstreet, Frank Miller, Glenn Fabry, Jim Balent, Jean-Claude Mézières, David Wohl, Brian Bolland, Mike Deodato Jr., Bob Kane, Mike Dringenberg, Stjepan Sejic, Steve Dillon, Enki Bilal, Moebius and John Bolton.

Anyway some of you may have heard the nick somewhere, as I commonly frequent Top Cow boards, or if you haven't, well people seem to find me a pretty nice person to know. Unfortunately as of late, I haven't had much personal internet time, but things will hopefully be turning around soon. If you want to read up I have a MySpace and an Live Journal, so take a look should you find the interest.