Hello true believers!

It was so very cool of Swinebread to ask me to contribute to his blog. While we don't always agree on everything (*cough* JJ Abrams' Star Trek *cough*) we most certainly share a love of comics, cartoons, movies and pop culture. I love Swinebread's Atomic Romance and am happy to be a small part of it.

Just a bit on my geek creds so you know where I'm coming from. As a boy my imagination was consumed with all things fantasy and science fiction. I read Tolkein, Moorcock, Asimov, Lovecraft and Adams. I played Dungeons and Dragons, Gamma World and Traveller. I spent many a sleepless night on our old Commodore 64 computer adventuring my way through Richard Garrett's Ultima series. I watched Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers (mmm Wilma) and Space 1999 religiously.

On my 9th birthday my parents rented a van and took most of my grade school class to see Star Wars on the big screen. It was a wonderful, out-of-body experience. I lost complete track of the theater and the other people sitting around us munching popcorn. I was IN that movie. I've spent the last 32 years of being a film fan trying to replicate that experience.

When I was growing up comics were a reward. I have wonderful memories of serving as an alter boy and having my dad stop on the way home at 7-11 to get me a coke flavored Slurpee and a copy of "House of Mystery" or "Haunted Tank" as a thank you to me for working through a boring mass. I've expanded this idea tenfold with my own kids by the way. They got comics in their comics on Christmas morning, in their baskets on Easter and to cheer them up when they were home sick from school.

I'll say this outright- Swinebread is a genius when it comes to comics. I have nowhere near the encyclopedic knowledge he has of artists, authors, titles, etc. that he has. I don't subscribe to the previews. I don't always know what's going on in the comics industry. I do have a box at the local comics store. I subscribe to whatever titles interest me when I walk in the door.

I am not a comic "collector" I'm a comic "reader." To the extent I bag and store my comics it's not so I can sell them at a profit 10 years down the line. It's so I can get them out and rediscover them 10 years down the line when I've forgotten the stories. When I think about the CGC company and what they do with comics it makes me sad. Sure, they're putting aside a Picasso for forever but put aside the value of that particular comic and they're also removing forever the chance that some kid will open up that old comic and have their imagination exploded.

So, with Swinebread's blessing I'm going to post stuff here about comics from a layman's perspective. At the same time I'll also be posting stuff that isn't necessarily comics related but will always be geek-centric. I still occasionally play rpgs, computer games and will always be on the hunt for that Star Wars out-of-body fix at the movies. All of that is fodder.

Until next time guys,

Dean