User:LordCybron

My name is Emilio Torres Garcia. I'm a 45 year old male born and raised in Ponce, Puerto Rico. I’m an Accounting Officer by day and a comic book collector in my spare time.

Let me start by sharing with you some of my educational background. In June 1988 I got my first college degree, a Bachelors Degree in Science of Business Administration (B.S.B.A.) with a Concentration in Industrial Management at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus. In May 1999 I got my second Bachelors Degree in Business Administration (B.B.A.) with a Concentration in Accounting at the Inter-American University, Metro-Campus at San Juan, Puerto Rico. I currently work as the Accounting Officer of the Labor Relations Board of Puerto Rico (JUNTA DE RELACIONES DEL TRABAJO), a local government agency.

Now I would like to talk to you about one of my favorite passions, comic books. I love comic books. I have been holding them in my hands since I had use them and I have been reading them since fifth grade. I started with Spanish translations of DC Comics that were published at the time by EDITORIAL NOVARO a Mexican publishing house whose comics were sold in Spanish speaking countries. After a brief hiatus from the hobby (between 1980 until mid 1984) I resumed my comic book collecting but this time I was reading and collecting the U.S.A. published material from their main publishers DC and Marvel. After my first college Graduation I moved to New York City (lived from 1988 to 1989) where I attended my first two comic conventions and got my first taste of american fandom I got to meet artists like Peter David and joe Kubert. This was my first of many future encounters with USA based fandom. At the end of 1989 I moved back to Puerto Rico.

During the 90's I saved enough money from my job that I was able afford to go on vacation to major comics book conventions in the continental United States. Here's a list of the ones I went to:

1.	In June of 1991 I attended my first big time convention of comics in the United States, the 1991 SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON where I had the honor of meeting and speaking with the great Jack Kirby. I also met more of my personal heroes like Harlan Ellison, Jim Shooter, Sergio Aragones, Denny O'Neill, Erik Larsen, Stan Sakai and Mike Baron among others. In addition I had the special opportunity of sharing a dinner table with Colleen Doran during a special night activity for the attendants to the convention.

2.	In 1993 I attended COMICFEST convention in the city of Philadelphia where I attended the now legendary debate between Peter David and Todd McFarlane with George Perez as a moderator.

3.	In 1994 I attended HEROES CONVENTION in the city of Charlotte, South Carolina where I had the honor of meeting Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross during a signing of their classic hit MARVELS. Also I had the chance of sharing for the second time with George Perez.

4.	In 1995 I attended the DRAGON CON in Atlanta, Georgia where I had the honor of meeting the great Steranko, John Byrne and I also met and had a great chat with Harvey Pekar. This has been the last US convention that I have attended so far.

After my US convention-going era was finished I concentrated in collecting comics and attending Puerto Rico based events. During the early 2000's I joined a local Star Wars fan club called the PUERTO RICO JEDI OUTCASTS. I remember fondly those years; I made a lot of friends and participated in a lot of Star Wars related activities. After the release of the movie STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH that group of friends pretty much disbanded, each one going their own way in order to cope with the demands that Graduated Studies and married life made on their respective lives.

After the PRJO the fandom scene in Puerto Rico didn't have much to offer. Local comic book artist were creating their own forums which were more artist oriented than fan oriented. So in march 2006 my friend Fantomas and I started to extend everybody on the internet an invitation to visit our newly created web page PAQUINES.COM and to join our internet forum, one that was originally oriented to comic book readers in Puerto Rico and Latin America, but that now it has diversified to include, anime and manga fans, movie and TV show fans, cos-players and the list keeps on growing. We also produce a Spanish spoken podcast called PAQUINES SON COMICS.