Blame "Bennifer" for this site

Almost three years ago, I was home for spring break and, with nothing better to do one afternoon, I went to the movies alone. Turned out I was the only one in the theater that day, so you'll have to take me on my word for the monumental life-change that occurred at that screening. You see on that day I watched "Daredevil."

Wait! Please keep reading, I'm only slightly insane.

I realize now that the film adaptation was less than spectacular when compared to the Miller and Bendis stories that defined who Matt Murdock is, but at the time I had no idea who or what Daredevil was. But what Mark Steven Johnson did pull off in that movie was the spirit of DD -- like ignoring the cries for help that only he can hear and leaving with Elektra. C'mon, you'd never catch Superman doing that. That's what I'd do, or at least what I'd want to do. This is what hooked me -- a hero who didn't always do the right thing, a guy that screws up or thinks of himself once in a while. I didn't know sophisticated characters like that existed in comics.

A few months after seeing the movie I wandered into my first comic store, picked up some Daredevil trades and haven't looked back. I've added a slew of other titles to my stack since then and comics have become a source of great enjoyment for me.

I'm realatively new to comics, so I'm probably going to write something stupid in a review here and there, which I'll blame myself for not having read Action Comics #628, Wolverine #57 and The Adventures of Peter Porker #3. But that's what Mike's for -- he's the expert, I'm the novice. I think the combo will give our site a little something different than what you'll find out there in the comic-reviewing community.

So, welcome to LowBrowMedia, courtesy of Ben and Jen, part deux.

"What's a Bendis?"

About, oh, a week ago, my wife stole a glance over my shoulder at a certain website I was reading, and asked me the above-stated question with a slightly disapproving tone. Though I'm sure I've mentioned Brian Michael Bendis from time to time in our years together, he's far from a household name. (And she, as much of a comic book skeptic as I am a reality show skeptic, probably tuned it out anyway.) She probably couldn't tell a Bendis or a Brubaker from an Ennis or an Ellis either, and she'd just as probably be proud of that fact.

[PLEASE NOTE: She has, of course, a nearly overwhelming amount of redeeming factors which more than make up for this one small flaw.]

But for those of us that can tell the difference, and who, to use an old, and true, and cliched phrase, love the comic-book medium almost as much as life itself, there is nothing like New Comic Day -- whether it comes every Wednesday, or in my particular case, the first Wednesday of every month.

And after I've read my way down through to the bottom of this month's comics stack, I can think of few things I'd like to do more than to share my love of the medium with others, and discuss the finer points of what's been going on, and speculate wildly about the plans for the future.

Welcome to LOWBROWMEDIA, where I and my good friend Jon, who will drop by to introduce himself shortly, hope to do just that.

More to come, and soon.