A Little About Us

Hi there, as an introduction to our new blog, we thought it would be a good idea for you to know something about us, how we met, and where our love of comics began.

We hope you enjoy our little blog about comics,

Sincerely,
Courtney and Christian

Courtney's Comic Book Origin

As much as I loved Archie, Garfield, and the Peanuts as a kid, I didn't realize (until I met Christian) that I am a comic book nerd.  The thing is, I am an English major (now working on my Masters thesis) and a poet (which you can read more about on my blog: poetcourtney.blogspot.ca.  It started with Spiegelman's Maus.  Reading Maus  and subsequently writing a paper on anamnesis (memory) in Maus made me realize that comics are a legit art form.  

Not long after that, I discovered Gaiman's Sandman (fan girl Squee!) and Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and blazed through them.  Around the same time, Christian got me to start reading Animal Man, Justice League Dark, Sweet Tooth, and more.  I've also been hoping to continue reading Fables as soon as my budget can take it--my expertise falls within fairy tales, fantasy, and mythology, so I love retellings of any kind.

I will be reading whatever Christian gives me, plus my own battery of fairy tale/fantasy-based comics, so you can expect a wide variety of reviews here.  Teaming up will allow us to push each other out of our comfort zones and it will let you guys to hear two perspectives on everything we read.  Now, to get to reading the stack of books on my nightstand!

A Brief History of Christian`s Obsession with Comic Books

These "I've been in love with comics for thiiiiiiis long" pieces can get long-winded real fast, so let me introduce myself by giving a brief summary of my life's history with comics. Did I say this was going to be brief? I got my start reading comics like I'm sure many kids do, with Peanuts, Archie, The Far Side, and Calvin & Hobbes, but my first adventures in reading superhero comics came when a family friend gave me a box of mixed Marvel and DC comics--Batman, Superman, Justice League International, Spider-Man, etc. and I began collecting comics. 

By the time I was ten, I started reading Image comics like Spawn, Savage Dragon, The Maxx, DC/Vertigo's Preacher (which my mom found under my bed and threw in the trash), other independent comics like Nexus and Cerebus, and Japanese manga. As an older teenager, I discovered Watchmen, Maus, The Sandman, and loads of independent comics I'd never heard of before. I took a brief break from comics in between high school and my second year of college, when a friend introduced me to a book he said I had to read, The Authority.

Since then, I haven't looked back. I've taken a couple breaks from reading monthly comics here and there, mostly due to lack of funds, but I've never lost my passion for the medium, and I've broadened my love of this art form to not discriminate between one kind of comics or the next. I love ALL COMICS. From the highbrow to the utterly tasteless. And now, thanks to my relationship with my fiancee Courtney, I've been able to share my love of sequential art with another. 

And that's what we hope to do here. We want to share our love of comics with you. 

About Us

We met while we were working on Honours English degrees at the University of Regina--after many classes and group lunches together, we realized we were pretty much meant to be.  Christian realized this soon after Courtney admitted to liking Anne Rice novels and she cemented his belief by reading the comics he gave her.  She was wary of his love for Stephen King and his scary tattoo but he soon won her over with his love for poetry (he quoted Rilke to her on our third date) and complete honesty.  We can often be seen reading comics together, watching Buffy, or out walking and biking.  Christian's favorite superhero is the Hulk and her favorite comic book character is Morpheus from Sandman but if Courtney could be a comic book character, it would be Death from Sandman (can you tell she has a thing for Sandman?).

We are the comic book couple.