How did you get hooked?

[theUnrefined]

Several years ago my husband (boyfriend at the time) was in one of those phases to get back into stuff from his youth. One of his things was getting back into comic books. I never really read comics even when I was younger so was not really that interested. Then he bought the first tpb. I saw it and instantly had to read it. Then I was hooked and have been buying issues ever since.

Later I started giving other comics a try. SIP opened my eyes to a whole new medium.

------------------

[partypezz]

The first time I read Strangers in Paradise was this summer. I bought my first tpb from Terry himself at the Chicago Comicon. It was number 6, the high school tpb. I had never read SIP before but, I had seen the art and somehow new that I would love it and I do!! I am addicted. I have all the tpb's now and I had to buy issue 44 cause I couldn't wait for the next tpb.

------------------

[Urban Prophet]

I came to love SIP from a crime. My cousin stole me issue 5 of Volume 2 when I was in high school. I never read it until about 2 years ago when I moved out to Seattle and was dying of homesickness. After that I fell in love and scooped up every issue. It is by far the best words and pictures I have read in the 16 years I've been reading comics (started when I was 8). No one else I know reads it where I live...so feel free to email me, I'd love to talk.

Ron

------------------
Find what's good, and make it last.

[erisesoteric]

Hmmm... randomly looking up comics on search engines, I came across SiP.

So, I ordered it online. Mind you, this was before I was an internet junky. This was the first time I'd ever ordered anything online. I'd never been on a message board, or anything. Hell, I was about to give up on the net as "potentially useful, but not interesting enough to waste time on".

So, my book (I dream of you) comes in the mail. I read it to rags (Terry can verify this, he signed the poor thing in Chicago this summer). Ended up buying all the books... but it took forever cause I had to order them, and well, you know how it goes.

Finally finished all the books, started picking up the comics. Saw the ad for the website. Ended up here.

Got dragged over to Stranger Than Paradise by Branflakes (back in the day when she was working on her 12000 post count).

So, the internet hooked me on SiP, and SiP hooked me on the internet.

And then I moved to MI to be with someone I met on the boards... and we've been together a year this month.

It's a weird book, now innit?

------------------
Give me an edit button, and I'll moderate the WORLD!!!

The Neil & Neal Show

And I would like, right now, to demand the impossible: peace. ~ Jadian

[email protected]
[email protected]

[Missloo12]

How I got hooked-
I was on my last family vacation in boston, the year before I turned 18. Needless to say, I had not yet found myself. I had no interests to call my own. I followed my cousin, whom I percieved as the essence of cool, to a comic store. In an effort to impress him by seeming a tough comic-book chickie, a guy's girl... I set out on a desperate search for something that spoke to me. I found a one-shot that perked my interest, "kill your boyfriend." The name seemed suitably intmidating. Somewhere near it was one issue of SIP. The one with Katchoo in the bath in her leather jacket. I debated for an hour whether to buy it. I didn't. I went home and read "kill your boyfriend." There was an ad for SIP in it. I forced my father to drive me right back to the store to buy it, I didn't know why I needed it, I just did. I bought the one issue and felt my heart break as I read these feelings I had inside put into words. I returned again and bought the first 3 TPBs. I saw a familiar struggle within all of the characters. And I cried because I had finally discovered that I had the strength within myself to make my own choices. That there was no reason to mold myself into what I *thought* I should be. That was 3 years ago, and I am still struggling with finding my own voice. But SIP has been there everytime I've gotten off-track and lost myself. It reminds me that I can do anything I want, that there are no wrong answers. That I am not the only one.

Thank you Terry.

------------------

[CrotchCrickets]

It was Anaka's fault. She got me hooked, and cost me a night's sleep, too. It was worth it though. I was visiting her and her GF (Hey CatCat!) and was just getting ready to crash on the futon when she handed me her collection of SIP and said I might like to check it out. I put them aside and read some Elfquest until about an hour after they had retired for the evening. I was tired, but I thought I'd humor her. I was hooked 5 pages into the first tpb. I stayed up all night reading them, rereading them, and savoring every nuance. Anaka came in the next morning to find me on the last issue she had. It was then that I let out my first cry of horror at finding the letters column rather than more story. (I still do this, by the way. Every Issue. I can't help it.) Thanks Anaka!

MO
(This is a new handle. I forgot my old one. heh)

------------------

[Katchooclone]

I had a friend that I used to hang out with after school. We would watch movies (Heavenly Creatures, Doom Generation, Tori Amos video collections) and read comics. She got me started on Bondage Fairies (very dirty) and SIP. Christinethebean (god bless her) let me borrow every single issue to read. And read I did. Until there was no more and I was crying and shivering in withdrawal. I still get the same feeling every time I finish a brand new issue and realize that I must wait a whole 6 weeks before I can read another. The addiction is strong, and I'm spreading it to everyone I know--my mother, coworkers, friends, and yes, my girlfriend too.

------------------

[BlueThunderArmy]

I was just starting to work at a coffee shop, and one of the girls getting off work was wearing a signed Wolverine shirt. I asked who the signature was, she said it was Jim Lee, and we talked about comics for awhile then and a few other times we worked together or crossed between shifts. Soon she recommended SiP, so I picked up the newest issue (#33) and as many consecutive back issues as my store had (back to #30). Absolutely blown away. So, of course, I ordered a trade off ebay ("I Dream of You"), introduced it to my girlfriend (now fiance) and together we collected the rest of the books and I kept up with the issues to present.

So, if you post here, or happen by this note, thanks Misha.

------------------

[Dale E. Mayer]

Well, it was a cold day in Georgia when I went cruising for a Gen13 comic and stumbled across SIP, the comic guy just gave me a grin and tld me that I would be back for more, I told him "yeah, whatever" and walkd out the door. Little did I know. The next day I was back and bought out his entire back issue box. Then all the TPB found their way to my house. Then I joined the Marines and was lost for a year then was re-united in San Diego while at a school. Once again, bought all the back issues I could find and TPBs. I got my ex-fiance hooked, and she lives in a small town and has to drive 50 miles to get SIP (revenge is so sweet) . I have also hooked my wife and numerous other people. My entire office fights constantly over my TPBs.....Terry, what a wonderful drug you have made......Dale

------------------
Do not mettle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with Catsup.

Never argue with an idiot. They just bring you to their level and beat you with experiance.

[Dale E. Mayer]

Well, it was a cold day in Georgia when I went cruising for a Gen13 comic and stumbled across SIP, the comic guy just gave me a grin and tld me that I would be back for more, I told him "yeah, whatever" and walkd out the door. Little did I know. The next day I was back and bought out his entire back issue box. Then all the TPB found their way to my house. Then I joined the Marines and was lost for a year then was re-united in San Diego while at a school. Once again, bought all the back issues I could find and TPBs. I got my ex-fiance hooked, and she lives in a small town and has to drive 50 miles to get SIP (revenge is so sweet) . I have also hooked my wife and numerous other people. My entire office fights constantly over my TPBs.....Terry, what a wonderful drug you have made......Dale

------------------
Do not mettle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with Catsup.

Never argue with an idiot. They just bring you to their level and beat you with experiance.