How did you get hooked?

[DaniP]

Like Darth, I saw a write-up in Wizard about Mr. Moore and the critical acclaim surrounding his little book. I plunked down $8.00 at an indie comic shop for the first TPB and have been reading ever since, no matter how Terry has tortured me with papercuts from rapid skimming to absorb the plot and caused me whiplash from the double-takes. =)
(Although my copy of #44 has yet to arrive and I'm starting to get REALLY testy... damn bio-terrorists and such. I know it's the USPS' fault it's late- anthrax protocols and all.)

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Danielle :0)
Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness. -James Thurber
When angry, count four. When very angry, swear. -Mark Twain
Never forget that 'stressed' spelled backwards is 'desserts'.
If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.
-Catherine Aird
Treat everyone the same until you find out they're an idiot.
-Lucy Lawless
Be kind, everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. -Philo
"But what is done in fury, or anger, can never be placed to the account of courage. Were it otherwise, womankind might claim to be the stoutest sex; for their hatred and anger have ever been the strongest and most lasting."
-From 18th century work "Senus Communis" by Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury

[fallingstarre]

An on-line review column (entitled something to the effect: comics you're not reading but should) did a review of SIP. I picked up volume 2 that week (and a TPB volume a day for the next four days (I think only five were out at that point). I've long since lost track of the reviewer but remain in debt for the review.

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A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again. -Alexander Pope

[jonahrosch]

For me it was simple, but hard to explain... I had heard a 'buzz' about the comic, but I don't remember where. My guess is that I saw some article or info about it in Previews when SiP moved to Image for the 'color' issues.

I was wandering in this underground comic store (in Wilmington, DE of all places) instead of my usual haunts. I bought Strangers in Paradise Vol III,Issue #3 (the one right before Francine goest to the gym) and Kurt Busiek's Astro City Vol II, Issue #1.

I forget if I waited one week or two before purchasing the first trade paperback. Now it's a 'Rob does the dance of joy when SIP has arrived at my dealers.

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[moderndulcinea]

My addiction story - My local comic book store guy kept introducing me to fabulous comic series....that had long ago ended. So I'd read them all up - Sandman, The Watchmen, The Books of Magic - and then, that's it, that's all she wrote, nothing more. It was driving me crazy. So he said he'd find me a current comic without an ending.
He pointed out SIP. At first glance, the artwork reminded me of the Betty's Diary comics my mother used to buy for me when I was home sick from school. And at first glance, Francine and Katchoo resembled Veronica and Betty. (god, how soon I'd realize how wrong that was!) But there was something about it that had...edge. So I decided to give it a shot and start from the beginning - I bought the first edition hardback.
Read it that night. Bought the rest the next day. Read them. Read all the way up until the point where I was caught up. Then I got my first comic subscription. :-)
And by the way, I haven't received the new issue either. I saw it in the comic book store and nearly had to sit on my hands to keep from reading it. I keep telling myself that it's worth the wait, that it's coming in the mail, that I already bought it...but the wait's killing me.

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[Katchoo]

A few years back a Buffalo Comic artist (one of my mentors) ave me a copy of the Small Press Swimsuit Issue. In it is that infamous picture of Francinc in the bikini that 'fit last year'.
Nearly half a decade later I wander into a comic store in Buffalo (visiting my dad) and spot an issue of SIP with a familiar character on the cover. Intregued, I pick up the comic and purchase it. I read that one issue and think,
"Omigod, that is soooo scary, I gotta' show Jenny (my gf at the time and, Francine's doppelganger)"
I just got a severe need to know the whole story and the two of us got hooked. I'm mostly in it for the familiar feeling, but it's a goddam good comic all the same!

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The maverick heroine of STP land, avenger against those who would kick off with pretty women;
Hero to some, just another pretty face to others.
The cutest little lesbian.
THE Lesbian.


...Without love, we are never more than Strangers In Paradise.

"Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane
mittam. Utinam barbari spatium proprium tuum invadant!"
(I have a catapult. Give me all the money, or I will fling an enormous rock at your head. May barbarians invade your personal space!)

[wolfbrown]

A fellow lesbitarian(sic)he he and comic book store owner - knew that I was just getting into comics and I loved reading HeroBear And The Kid. She asked me if I had ever read SIP. I admitted I didn't and she rolled her eyes like I lived under a rock. "You've never read Strangers In Paradise? Omigod". She went on and on anout how great the series was and the next day I went into the local comic book shop and picked up the #1 Trade. I've been hooked ever since. Soon enough I wasn't satififed with having all ten of the trades, so I've been trying to collect all the individual issues of all three volumes. Even ugh Molly And Poo. I'm halfway there! Once I have them all I will keep thim in a longbox under my bed and gloat over them like a troll.

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Even a man who is pure of heart and says his prayers by night - may become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is full and bright.

[Branflakes]

I had heard about the book (I think through Wizard) and while at a comics show I picked up Vol 2, Issue 2 because the cover just amazed me. That same weekend, I went to one of my local comic shops and bought the first tpb and all the issues that were out at the time (Vol 2 up to issue 11). I've been hooked since.

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The ninja lesbian milk getter. aka dorkflakes.
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ChatterBox

[CrazyPierre]

*passes around some Oreos*

I was at a comic shop waiting for some friends to arrive so I could play Magic the Gathering when I saw this comic, with a guy covered in blood screaming his head off (Issue 34). I go "Ok this looks like an action-packed read"

BOY WAS I WRONG.
I fell in love with the comic when I saw David had a conscience! How many comics do you read where a person has remorse over killing someone?

I knew I had to find out everything about the plane, etc so I got the back issues, then bought 37 (which made want to get MORE back issues lol)

Funny thing is I wanted to buy back issues but didn't know which so I got the "dark scary covers" first because they looked so cool.

I was NOT disappointed.
And though I bitched about issue 43, I just bought it to add to my collection

I miss Vernonica though


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[Pookah]

My list of required comic reading has waxed and waned like lunar phases. I'd heard of SiP, but never from a source I considered reliable enough to plunk down money.

In the midst of a discussion over a game of cards, a friend of mine handed me the TPB and said, "Trust me, you'll like it. Heck, you're named David and date a girl who looks like Francine. You can read on this on the condition that you swear you'll let me know if you ever meet Katchoo." Talk about getting my curiosity fired up; at the least I wanted to know what he was talking about. I read through the whole thing before I let them deal the next hand.

- Pookah

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[JKCarrier]

It was pretty simple in my case. I'm a fan of Elizabeth Watasin (the cartoonist who used to do "Adventures of A-Girl", and now does "Charm School" for Slave Labor). One day she dropped me a note that said she was going to have a story in the back of this new comic called "Strangers In Paradise". So when vol. 1 no. 1 arrived at the store, I grabbed it right up. Needless to say, Terry's work hooked me immediately, and I've been here ever since. Elizabeth's strip was good too.

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J. Kevin Carrier
Fantasy Theater: http://members.aol.com/jkcarrier/fantasy.htm