Shall we do introductions?

I am Sirui, aged twenty-five, Scorpio. I do not know my blood-type. Does anyone know their blood type? My recent accomplishments involve a Masters on graphic narratives, which segues nicely into my present predicament—taking a Liberal Arts degree and making it into something awesome. It is going well, thanks. Just yesterday I engaged the Internet for seven hours straight and ate enough sunflowers seeds to kill a small child. They are incredibly dehydrating.

This would be a good time for y’all to introduce yourselves, only that’s not how the Internet works, and so I’m going to cut you off with more about me.

Talking comics has always been a bit hit or miss with me. I wrote my thesis on Golden Age Superman, and at all the cool grad school parties, the boys would try to win my favor by telling me that they like comics. This meant that they read comics when they were twelve and Dark Phoenix rose for the first time, or they recently saw the motion picture Iron Man. The intellectuals among such suitors would have read Maus or Sandman, at which point they can claim to be a connoisseur of comics, and offer me a glass of wine instead of the usual PBR. It wasn’t entirely impressive.

But then there was this one boy that really did know comics. I doubted his commitment, but then I went to his apartment and there were long boxes. Nine of them. Ordered by publisher, title, and date. He had little plastic tabby things with typed labels. Typed labels! He proceeded to tell me about the short lived attempts of Valiant Comics (a tabby thing I did not recognize), and by the end of the night and a couple of those infamous PBR, I was completely smitten.

If you were presuming that this tale ends in necking—wrong! Totally wrong! The boy had a girlfriend. Of course. Anyway, this isn’t a column about necking, it’s a blog about comics—and talking comics proved to be the best get-to-know-you that I had in a long time. Indeed, the merriest part of my descent into comic fandom has been bumping into fans, getting introduced to new books, and falling a bit in love with the conversations. Which is to say, COMICS ARE MEANT TO BE SHARED. That is the story’s moral, faithful readers, and the premise of Recommendable. What you’ll find here is a chronology of he-said/she-saids for good and great reading (and rereading). We read stuff, and then talk about the art, writing, characterizations, and etc. I’ll get to you know, you’ll get to know me—it’s all heartwarming. And the twist?

I’m taking the recommendations, and y’all get to make them. WOAH!

Simply put, this blog is all about me reading what you tell me to read. I really would like to hear about what you’re reading, what you thought of it, and whether you’d, you know, recommend it. Hence, the title Recommendable. It is the “Hey have you read…” conversation, combined with the “So, what did you think of…” conversation, to make a happening blog that reviews your recommendations. Doesn’t that sound cool? The answer is yes.

Right now, we are still trying to figure out logistics, but I am maybe thinking monthly themes. Like Animal Comics Month. Which I am wary of, certainly—but man, I totally love Marvel Apes. They speak English rather poorly, and poor language skills always equal comedy gold. Oh but, don’t think of animal comics right away, we want you to be ready for anything. So keep a fresh mind and watch this space for June’s prompt. (Psst.. the first month will be kicking off with a prize!) I am looking forward to your suggestions!