I grew up in the 80s, what I still consider to be the best era of the comic industry. My reading list mostly consisted of what I could convince my family to buy me at the grocery store. As I grew a bit older I started spending my allowance money on back issues of my favorites at the local comic shop. The two comics I remember most fondly from my younger days are Chris Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men and Walt Simonson’s Thor. As I grew older, I transitioned to the more mature titles of the Image lineup in the 90s, like most young fans, but soon found their content lacking. Without anything to draw my interest, I stopped reading altogether in the mid-90s.

Around 2003, inspired by the Spider-Man and X-Men films, I decided to try and return to my old hobby. I’d heard things about Marvel launching a new line of comics and quickly fell in love with Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men. This fresh take on characters I remembered fondly introduced me to a new generation of talented writers and convinced me to seek out some of my old favorites, as well as new classics like Brian K. Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man and Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead.

When I started my site, Massive Nerd, my knowledge of both modern comics and classics allowed me to reach an audience interested in both knowing more about some of their favorite characters as well as looking for new comics to read. I met new friends and found a love for podcasting and other modern media.

I’ve once again partnered with my friend and former co-host Roger to resurrect our comic coverage here at Comic Book Informer, where I can look at cool pictures, read fun stories, educate, entertain and look damn good doing it.