You have been reading my work on the movies and comicbook section. I have written articles about Captain America: Winter Soldier, Iron Man, The Big Bang Theory and more.
But who am I? You sure you wanna know?
My name is Manfred, I live in The Netherlands and I love to read comics ever since I can read. I watch a lot of TV shows based on comics and superhero movies. I have watched all the 23 movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel’s Netflixverse as well. Please note, that I am also a Starbucks addict!
My comicbook history
I started to look at comics at the age of 6. My uncle collected them and I was impressed by the artwork and later when I actually understood them, I started off with the Infinity Gauntlet (written by jolly Jim Starlin) and the X-men vol.2 #1 (amazing art by jesting Jim Lee and written by the legendary Chris Claremont) and I was hooked. I read Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, The Avengers and pretty much anything I could get my hands on.
Some of my favorite comicbooks are The Infinity Gauntlet, Jan Michael Straczynski’s run on The Amazing Spiderman and Brian Michael Bendis entire run on anything Marvel. And anything Spiderman from the 1970s. In my opinion it was one of the best eras for comicbooks. Gwen Stacy got killed for example and Marvel was the first to write about drug abuse and addiction, thereby defying the comicbook code. It ended the Silver Age but we got so much more in return.
Ed Brubaker is another writer who is one of my favorites. His soloworks and his Marvel runs on Daredevil and Captain America were epic and groundbreaking. His noir style of writing is very appealing to me.
I don’t just read Marvel and DC Comics but I also read some works of Image, this includes everything from Ed Brubaker and for a long time I read Invincible by Walking Dead creator and writer Robert Kirkman. The thing about Invincible is that it is formula writing. Almost every 30 issues, the universe resets itself to status quo. That makes Kirkman’s writings a bit dull.
One of my main reasons for comicbooks is the diversity displayed in comics. Whether you are black, white, purple or yellow, it was all about bonding, friendships and love.
My favorite comicbook artists
Ofcourse a comicbook isn’t a comicbook if there isn’t any good art in it. So it goes without saying that I have my favorites.
It goes without saying that Ed Brubaker’s art is best with Sean Philips’ art. I consider the both of them to be the John Lennon & Paul McCartney of comicbook creators of the new era of writers and artists. From the older generation I consider John Byrne and Terry Austin alongside Chris Claremont the top artists.
I like the art of Jeffery Scott Campbell (Gen 13 and Black Cat) and ofcourse Jim Lee’s work but only if Scott Williams inks it.
Steve Epting and Mike Deodato complete my list. The both of them fit really well if you have a great detective story or a comic noir styled comicbook.
Marvel Cinematic Universe and more
My favorite Marvel movies are The Guardians of The Galaxy and all of The Avengers movies. While my favorite Netflix shows are Daredevil and The Punisher.
The perfection of CGI made a lot of movies come to life on the big and the small screen and for that I am forever grateful.
While I love the Marvel TV shows, I still think that DC has the lead. I follow the Arrowverse closely and my favorite show is DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. The humor and the absurdness of the show is what makes me tune in every week.
The Flash is second because, well…he is The Flash. Arrow and Supergirl come after that. Other shows that prove to me that DC’s TV Universe is a step ahead of Marvel are Titans and Doom Patrol. Especially that last one has great storytelling and special fx for a TV show.
Comicbook inking
I like to ink for fun in my spare time. I can’t pencil but inking is a lot of fun and takes my comicbook nerdiness a step further.
I especially like to ink Ivan Reis’ work and John Byrne’s.
It’s not my original artwork but these are my inks!
Gaming & Friendship with Vulkk
Next to movies and comics, I also like to game. I started out on an Atari 2600 and a Commodore 64. In the 90s and the 2000s I played a lot of Quake and Star Wars games. When I heard that Bioware were developing a Star Wars MMO, I just knew I had to play.
Over the years I have met some amazing people in SWTOR and one of them was Vulkk. He and I played together at Solstice for ages and when I called it quits on the game due to personal tragedies, we still kept in touch. After a while Vulkk asked me to write for his website about comicbooks and movies and I said yes without hesitation!
My favorite all time games are Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Assassins Creed and Cities: Skylines.
