Getting to Know TGC: Brian Warmoth

In order to follow Alex's example, improve upon Zach's format, and thirdly apply peer pressure to TJ, who has not yet posted a "Getting to Know" of his own yet, here's an overview of the guy who is attaching his name to all of the "Week at the Curve" and Middle Eastern comics posts.

The long and short of it is that I'm a 22 year-old soon-to-be graduated senior (having done so in 4 years, thank you very much) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Yes, that is the same University of Illinois that is home to the current #1 ranked basketball team in the country. I wear a #45 Nick Smith t-shirt to every home game and make no apologies for it. My areas of study here are English and rhetoric (which includes an emphasis on professional writing). When I'm not at class, I'm usually doing something related to my capacity as editor of the Arts & Entertainment section of Buzz, which is the weekly entertainment magazine here on campus run by Illinimedia. I'll be flipping the much-deserved bird to academia, however, come this spring when they hand me my degree. This means anyone with the power to hire me to fill a full-time position in editing, writing, or bounty hunting should contact me ASAP.

Alex met me at Wizard in summer '04 when I was one of his intern slaves in the editorial department. It's thanks to him that I was able to write up a bio on Dr. Octopus for Wizard's Amazing Spider-Man #3 reprint, among other nifty assignments.

I'm originally from Charleston, Illinois, which isn't too far away from where I live now. I also lived for a year in Herrljunga, Sweden, and speak Swedish as a consequence. Though I did read a few issues of The Mighty Thor in Swedish while there, Charleston was where I first began reading comic books about 11 years ago from a small shop there called Midgard Comics.

My favorite series of all time are Transmetropolitan, Concrete, Optic Nerve, and Grant Morrison's New X-Men, which I will never disavow as continuity, despite the powers that may be. My favorite comics writers are Adrian Tomine, Mark Millar, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Brian K Vaughn, Paul Chadwick, Terry Moore, and Warren Ellis, among many others; and my favorite artists are Frank Quitely, Jacen Burrows, Walt Simonson, Steve Dillon, and Dave McKean (if he counts in that category), among many others. My career goal is to one day obtain editorial or writing sway at Marvel so as to begin a series afresh with Scott Summers walking out of the shower after having dreamed under the influence of indigestion all of the Claremont-provoked madness that ensued following Morrison's departure.

Besides reading comics, I can usually be found reading text-only books, writing, or listening to unhealthy amounts of Tom Waits and Warren Zevon in rotation. Staples of my reading diet include mostly plays (lots of August Strindberg and Chekov) and novels. I like lots of Michael Chabon, Salman Rushdie, and David Sedaris. I write more dialogue than anything else and recently had the pleasure of directing my second original full length play here on campus through my theatre troupe. It was awesome, and I made people happy, sad, and confused at the same time, which is usually my goal in any given situation.

Furthermore, I'll add as a bonus fact that TGC managing editor TJ Deitsch and I were roommates while we worked at Wizard. Alex is also one cool cat for asking me to write on here. He'll be even cooler when he sends me back the interview questions I gave him for an English class I'm taking right now.