So, I doubt any one that reads this will be aware of my great love for comics, so I thought I would fill you in.

Comics were my first real love, my first passion. I discovered comics when I was four, I was sick with the flu so my dad bought me an issue of the Spiderman comics that are printed over here. I was thouroughly enthralled by this brand new concept. I must have read that comic about 20 times that day. If I remember correctly it was an issue about Venom trying to find his ex-wife and then at the end the symbiote takes over her. I thought it was fantastic and I couldn't wait to read more, unfortunately I had no money in those days, so I only got comics when I was sick or as areward for something for the following few years.

It wasn't until I was 9 or 10, when I finally got around to negotiating a weekly allowance with my parents, that I was finally able to buy my own comics. Suddenly a whole new world was opened to me, Spiderman, Avengers, X-Men and a few years later Fantastic Four started being published here. I became engrossed in their worlds, I lapped up every new issue. I just couldn't get enough.

None of my friends were interested in comics, they saw it as a bit weird but I didn't mind, they were passionate about other things that I didn't like so it never really was a problem.

Then when I was 12, we got a computer at home, along with a really terrible dial-up connection. One of the very first things that I searched for on Google was Marvel Comics, the results were amazing to me, millions of pages all about comics.

I discovered that the comics I was reading were actually over a year old, that I was far behind everyone else. So did a little searching and I found Wikipedia, and there a found plot synopsis' for all the current comics in America, I was up to speed at last, but it didn't feel right, I was missing something. I missing the comic in my hands, to be able to see the art and hold it.

So I found a cook book store website, the fantastic Midtown Comics of NYC, and after saving for weeks I purchased about 10 trade paperbacks, all the fairly recent comics that wouldn't be out in my country for another year.

So I began a practice that continues to this day. I will save up for a few months, then I go online and buy a load of comics. Over time, my tastes have changed somewhat. Though I still enjoy Spiderman and the Avengers, I have begun recently to start buying comics I never even would have considered before. I have discovered series' like The Authority, The Boys(highly recomended), Preacher and others.

I still follow all the major events in Marvel, and I am a massive fan of Green Lantern.I am trying out a bunch of other series that I have never read before, I recently bought The Ultimates vol.1 and All Star Superman vol.1 and both are very very good, Vol.1 and 2 of Ultimate Spiderman are currently on their way to me. It has become a bit more about the writer and artist for me these days.

I now also collect comics more actively, I keep much better care of them then ever before, though this is down to my purchasing of some signed comics and also a first edition print of Amazing Spiderman #583( the Obama cover issue).

All my comics come from the USA, I feel they are more authentic this way, they are not the reprints that I used to buy,these are the real deal and that makes all the difference to me.