Hi, my name is Ryan Stephen, but then you probably already know that. I run this site in my spare time while I am not studying for my French, German and English Literature A levels.
I have been a comic fan all my life but have never really had a place to buy them and the Marvel UK reprints infuriated me by their tardiness. That's until I found Astounding Comics, my local retailer, and now it's 4 or 5 years since I saw the light. I used to work at Astounding but quit for a job that lasted all of a month. I still lend a hand from time to time.
Apart from comics, my hobbies include drinking, sleeping, music, writing and reading. To be honest, I'd read anything from comics to 20th Century literature (I love both). I love to read and my favourite author is Edgar Allen Poe. In fact, the only thing I like more than reading him is reading my own writings (hey, what can I say, I like what I write!). I write scripts (TV, film, comic) and short stories, which I hope to find time to put on a site of their own one day. My dream job would be to write for Marvel, but until then I'm happy where I am.
I have more than a knack for languages and the current count is 5 well, including English, and about another 5 where I can get by. Yes, I am a smart-arse and I wollow in this fact.
I live on the Isle of Wight, an island in the south of England, and first got in touch with Jim through this site. I think that about covers it so...
As Jim is the founder of the site and owns the web space and did all the art, I though it'd be nice of me to include all that is below. It is a bio and then some links based on the mythos of the one they call James Manning, with the original title of...
He is a 21 yr old male, recently graduated Electronic Media student, based in Southampton, England. Electronic Media basically uses the skills of Video, Animation, and Computer Graphics. You can refer to him as Shieldz (based on one of his comic characters), or Jim, whatever suits you best. He's the geezer illustrated on the Shieldz Homepage. All artwork drawn by him will have the 'Jim' signature. If you're going to steal his images, at least tell me or him where we can see them. As you can tell, he fancies myself as a comic artist, and would appreciate constructive criticism on his work. When not at work, he hangs out with his mates Jess, Nod, and Mark n' Janey who live in Southampton (his home town) about 200 miles from where he studied in Wolverhampton.
In the future, he hopes to either become a comic artist, or do computer graphics for video games (along with owning a games company). Well, you've got to set your hopes high.
His hobbies include playing video games, watching (way too much) T.V, and collecting comics. He also used to do Tae Kwon Do, but there isn't a club where he currently lives.
For everyones convenience, he's catagorised his interests. Even if you don't give a damn about him, this provides some good links.
