I am a third-year student at the University of Texas Austin.

I am also happy to speak to people on AIM or facebook or whatever if you're into that sort of thing.

AIM: SATriphos

I suppose I should write something about my funnybook tastes here. I, uh, try to avoid reading most mainstream(big-two) stuff, although I look at enough of it to stay abreast of current trends. The main reason I don't is the proliferation of "event books" which, while nothing new, don't really appeal to me anymore.

Critically speaking, I'm interested mostly with issues of format and its importance to a work, and in the feminism in funnybooks debate. Mostly I'm surprised that I manage to agree with feminist bloggers despite their every effort to keep me from doing so.

Enjoy some pointless, non-exhaustive lists.

Things I have read and enjoyed recently:

Astronauts in Trouble (Larry Young, Charlie Adlard, Matt Smith) - AiT/Planetlar
Superman Confidential (Darwyn Cooke, Tim Sale) - DC
The Best American Comics of 2006 (lots of people) - Best American Whatever
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (Sean McKeever, Takeshi Miyazawa) - Marvel

Things I have read and not enjoyed recently:
JLA (Brad Meltzer, Ed Benes, Others) - DC
Civil War - (Mark Millar, Steve McNiven) - Marvel

That's about it for specific titles. In a similar vein, however:

Creators I will follow into hell and back:

Sean McKeever, who is probably the best writer in comics today when going off sheer fun-to-read factor.
Darwyn Cooke, who is the best writer DC has in their stable.
Becky Cloonan, who is excellent for reasons I can't really define objectively.

Creators whose work I actively avoid, sight-unseen:

Mark Millar, who has a knack for reducing complex issues into teams of people punching each other. Also suffers from the BADASS factor.
Greg Land, because seriously, it's Greg Land.
Jeph Loeb, because the "ALL YOUR FAVORITES" style of writing got old when I was in my teens.
Geoff Johns, see "Jeph Loeb", add in the "Silver Age Circlejerk" description.