Hello, my name is Daniel Millwee and I am enrolled in the master's program at UTD with a focus in literature.

I am interested in getting into comics studies as an academic, so this course will be very valuable to me for seeing and studying what has been done so far in the field, and for figuring out what the field even is right now. Thankfully, it's in a nascent state right now where literary scholars can still contribute to the field--at least I think so. We'll see!

I started reading comics at a very young age, as I have two older brothers who had their own comics stashes, and I had a grandmother who saved many of my father's old comics for when we would visit. X-Men and Uncle Scrooge comics got equal play in my early childhood. An early favorite was GI Joe, which as I look back on it now showed an early interest in comics outside the superhero arena.

I still read some superhero comics and I have a strong foundation in the Marvel universe, though I have enjoyed DC comics as well--usually standalone, such as Kingdom Come and Batman Long Halloween. But my favorite comics, the ones that really showed me what comics can be, are probably Cerebus, Bone, Milk and Cheese, and Powers. There are plenty of other comics that I love and would point people to, but these are the ones that I personally can read again and again and find new things to love about each time.

Current reads are RASL (the new series by Bone creator Jeff Smith), Powers, Criminal, and The Boys. Upcoming are Half Moon by Warren Ellis and Powers artist Michael Avon Oeming (release date unknown), and Saga by Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man) and Fiona Staples (release mid March).