This website is a project that was in the making for quite some time now.

My plans for this site are very simple. Basically, I've enjoyed comic strips (well, and comics for that matter) for practically my entire life. I would buy a lot of comics to read, and every Sunday I would take the comic section of the paper to enjoy as well.

My comic collection goes without saying. I think a lot of people have been fans of comics at one time or another, whether it be Harvey with titles like Richie Rich and Casper, Archie comics, Marvel with titles like X-Men and Avengers, and DC with titles like Superman and Batman.

However, I don't think comic strips have attained the same amount of fandom (is that a word?) as comics. I also don't think that the art form of comic strip cartooning is nearly appreciated enough either.

When I was little, I used to actually save every Sunday comic section at my grandma's house. I enjoyed reading them over and over, and marvelled at the different cartoonists' styles and techniques. Well, I didn't really look at it THAT deeply in those days, but I did enjoy the different strips like Blondie, Peanuts, Garfield, and Barry's World (I don't see that strip anymore; is it still around?).

When I was a sophomore in High School, I became an insane fan of Bloom County (who wasn't?). I even went so far as to cut out every Sunday strip, mounted them on oak tag, and had my mother laminate them (she had access to the equipment). I also made it a point to buy every Bloom County book when it came out.

Well, my interests later changed and I took a hiatus from comic strips for awhile. However, I was always a collector of 'stuff' in general, and was particularly fixated with autographs. My interest originated with sports figures, but in the mid to late 1990's I started to collect celebrities in general. I started to write for autographs from my favorite stars through the mail, and I enjoyed a fairly decent success rate.

I then started writing to cartoonists, and found that the responses I got from them (when I got responses, anyway) were great! I also discovered the existence of the International Museum of Cartoon Art, and I became inspired. I managed to develop a humble but respectable collection of the autographs of my favorite cartoonists, with the hopes of one day creating a 'Wall of Fame' to share with my family and friends. I was hoping to further the 'movement' of developing a greater appreciation of the comic strip.

My attention and interest then grew to where I desired to obtain the actual original comic strip art that's used for publication. Reading the strips in the paper was one thing, but actually seeing the original art just took it to a whole different level.  I began to appreciate not just the finished product, but the entire process, from conception, to preliminary sketches, to the pencils and finally to inking.  Each comic strip is an amazing work of art, masterpieces which are taken for granted because they appear in print in the newspaper every single day. 

Through surfing the web, I then discovered that a whole different genre was emerging;  the webcomic.  I discovered that a lot of strips that were exclusively online were a lot more entertaining than the ones actually in print in the papers!  I soon found myself addicted to those as well, and the best part was I didn't have to subscribe to a paper, and the cartoonists were not hampered by censors either.  I then 'met' (via email, anyway) a great gentleman by the name of DJ Coffman, the creator of the webcomic, 'Yirmumah!'.  I purchased the first 'Yirmumah!' strips he created, and since then we have formed a great friendship.  He has given me great inspiration and support in my quest to now collect webcomic art in addition to newspaper strips.

One thing I've found, however, is a lot of people do not understand nor appreciate this art form.  I've had discussions about this with several people, but the majority of them don't understand my fixation with comic strips.  They know it's in the paper (most don't even know about the genre of webcomics), but they just don't understand my passion for it.

This brings me to this simple little website. I hope to somehow be able to share my collection with you, the general public, as well as my friends.  I hope to instill in all of you an appreciation of this art form.  However, I am HOPELESS when it comes to web design, so this may be a VERY loooooooooong process before this site becomes even remotely close to what I want it to be.

Please be patient and please understand that although right now this site really isn't very pretty, I hope to one day make it worthy of the strips that are represented.

Thanks again for stopping by!

~ E

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