| Name: Erwin Date of Birth: November 17, 1977 Sign: Scorpio Country: Belgium (Europe) Education: Engineering (electro-mechanics) Occupation: Database administrator & developer Knowledge: Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, various other databases, Java, PowerBuilder, MapObjects, ArcView, HTML, CSS, JavaScript... Hobbies: American comics (of course), G.I. Joe, anime, manga, videogames, movies, sitebuilding, my girlfriend...
|
 Me & my fiancée Dena |
How I got into comics |
|
I think I must have been 7 or 8 years old. Sure, I had read some comics before... or rather flipped through them. I was familiar with Superman, Batman and Spider-Man. But the book that got me hooked was the first issue of Superhelden Parade, which was a Dutch translation of Marvel Fanfare # 1 (Chris Claremont/Michael Golden). Not only did it feature my then favourite super-hero, Spider-Man (or Spinneman as he was called here), but it had this whole group of other colorful characters, the X-Men. Little did I know they would one day reach their current status of popularity. There was this black woman controling the weather (Storm), a big man turning into steel (Colossus), the leader who shot lasers out of his eyes (Cyclops) and of course that grumpy, little guy with a bad-ass attitude and those cool claws coming out of his forearms (Wolverine). Heck, there was even the Tarzan-like man (Ka-Zar) with his cool sabretooth tiger (Zabu). Add all the other cool characters to this and the fact that the story took place in a place filled with dinos and I think it's not difficult to imagine that this story had a major impact on the young kid I was back then. |
Marvel Fanfare # 1 (Vol. 1) |
Captain America # 409 (Vol. 1) |
After this, it would take a while before I would get back into them. I read an occasional comic book from time to time, usually when my dad bought me one at the newsstand. But I was more interested in Masters of the Universe and G.I.Joe back then. Around the age of 12, I got hooked again, after reading another classic, Marvel's Secret Wars (Jim Shooter/Mike Zeck), published in the French magazine Spidey. I recognized many of my old favourites and started buying comic books on a more regular basis. As my English improved, I got more and more interested in the originals. Not only was there more choice, but they had something special. Was it the smell, the paper? I don't know. But I decided to give them a try. My first American comic was Captain America # 409 (Mark Gruenwald/Rik Levins). Soon, I switched from translations to originals. A bit after this, Image came on the market and things got even more interesting. Initially buying 20 comics a month, I got to a maximum of more than 70. Since then, more important aspects of my life have taken over. But my love for comics is far from dead. These days, I still read like 50 books a month. As long as I keep enjoying it, I will probably keep reading them. And I still enjoy it as much as 15 years ago. |
| How comics can help you find a girlfriend... or how I met Dena | |
I guess I don't have to tell you how comic fans are often looked at as being geeks. The masses still consider us as being a little weird. We've all heard the rumours and prejudices. Well, don't let it bother you, because in the end, it doesn't matter. In September 1999, I encountered Dena or Lady Rayne as she used to call herself back then on the Southern Comfort ( a list dedicated to Rogue and the X-Men) mailing list. What initially started as friendship, slowly grew into something more. It was (and still is) a pleasure talking to her. Our conversations went from politics to society to romance, but always had a small doses of comics mixed in it. As many things we had in common, our love for comics was probably the most obvious one. During the summer of 2000, I decided it was about time we met each other and made the jump over the big pool. Being the city boy I am, Oklahoma was different to me (to say the least). But it didn't matter. This girl was worth it. Since then, we've been a happy couple. And yes, discussing comics is still one of our favourite subjects. So you see, being a fanboy or -girl isn't a bad thing. Be proud of your hobby and just be yourself! |
|
|
