Welcome to TheHeroBlog.com!

I'm Miguel Rodriguez (a.k.a. "Carlos the Dwarf") and I'm a superhero junkie. When I was three, my uncle bought me this:

...and I've been hooked ever since. I was five when Superman: The Movie came out and I made my parents take me multiple times (unheard of in that day and age...at least, in my family). I had the Superman soundtrack, the Viewmaster cartridge, the book and record, and yes, even the underoos.

I had one hour of TV time each week day, and I'd spend it on Batman reruns and the Super-Friends cartoon.

I started collecting comics seriously in 4th grade, when Wolfman/Perez' New Teen Titans were all the rage. (Issue #33 was the first one I picked up in the local mall's bookstore). I later branched out into Marvel Comics around the time of the Mutant Massacre/G.I. Joe. In Junior High, I would spend 20% of my lunch money on lunch, and 80% on back issues of G.I. Joe comics (shhh, don't tell my parents).

I got in on the ground level for Alpha Flight, and they remain one of my favorite teams to this day. Same goes with The Thing - his 36 issue series was the first series I collected from start to finish.

As a broke college student, I drifted away from comics for a while, missing both the Death of Superman and Spider-Man Clone Saga (apparently, I didn't miss much). But once I graduated and got a full time job, I was back to collecting.Today, I spend close to $50 a week on comics. (<--yeah - you read that right. $50. A week. In this economy. I am insane.) Between my job, my wife and kid, and my gaming habit, I often don't have enough time to read everything I pick up in any given week. I often toy with the idea of calling in sick for a month, just to catch up.

I mentioned my gaming habit - in 2004, I fell in love with a card game called Vs. System (made by Upper Deck Entertainment). Vs. is a superhero TCG that allows players to take their favorite characters and have them duke it out on the kitchen table. DC, Marvel, and Darkhorse characters are represented in this game, and though there is a bit of a learning curve, the game itself is easily the best TCG ever.

Because I dug the game so much, I started "Vs-blog.com". From there, I freelanced for UDE as their "Casual Friday" writer (I'm not a "pro" Vs. player - while I did play in some big tournaments, I never did much better than average and my preferred method of gaming has always been in a casual environment among friends).

In early 2009, UDE announced it would no longer be supporting Vs. System, and though the Vs. community's numbers have fallen off some, a core group of players can still be found over at VsSystem.org. I help run that site with with another former UDE writer, Steve Garrett. Together with the community, Steve and I hope to keep Vs. System alive through creating fan sets, organizing tournaments, and introducing new superhero/TCG junkies to the game. 

Now that Vs. System news isn't flying quite as fast and furious as it was before, I decided to open Vs-Blog.com up a little bit. With a name change and a new look, I've turned the Vs. blog into the blog you're reading now - TheHeroBlog.com. Here, other blog contributors and I can continue to talk about Vs., but we can also hit on other hero-based media without being too off-topic.

From comics, to movies, to video games, to television, to Vs. System, this blog is dedicated to giving you fresh content for your hero addiction 5 days a week. I hope you enjoy. 

- Miguel

Comments

[scottkthompson]

Exciting time Miguel. This is awesome!

It is interesting that we had opposite correlations between vs. and comics. You got into vs. through comic fandom. I, on the other hand, bought my first comic because of vs.; and I've been reading ever since!

[Fudd]

I was disappointed the underoos link wasn't to a pic of you in your underoos, but other than that great first post!

[Carlos]

Hey Scott - glad you dig it! Also glad you're hooked on both the game and the comics now. Welcome to the club. (<--said one addict to the other.)

Fudd - I'm working on a "members only" section for the site. For a nominal fee, you'll soon be able to view shots of me in my Superman underoos...both "then" and "now"!