This day marks 20 years and 9 days (hence the topic title, wow!) for me on the JBF.

What can I possibly say, apart from "what a ride?"

Well, I can say that this is possibly the one place I can call home on the Internet.

This is a place I've checked in on an almost daily basis for two-thirds of the time I've been online.

It's where I go when I want to see civil discussion about comics, film, TV and social and political issues when I've had enough of the snarky "you're-an-idiot-and-everything-you-like-is-wrong" atmosphere of so-called social media.

It's what social media should ideally be. A moderated forum, not policed by a billionaire megalomaniac's crazed algorithms and the whims of people who are bored, lonely, sadistic or all of the above.

Most importantly, it's the one place where you can interact with one of the greatest creators in comics. In person. (I can still remember jumping up from my chair and taking a little stroll around the room when JB first replied to one of my comments!)

OK. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed just trying to describe how much I've enjoyed all of it: the artwork, commissioned and otherwise produced (ELSEWHEN, especially, is a true wonder), all the stories from the depths of comic-book history in the past 50 years or so, all the insights shared about matters common to humankind in general...

I'm rambling, so time to close.

THANK YOU to JB, the Mods, and everyone else here.

Onward!

Crazy to think that I've been on some form of JB forum for exactly half my life, now.

The loudest angry voices are often the minority and the most-outraged and negative are often those who broke the rules first. I enjoy being here and haven't been shy about saying so when opportunity arises.  

Happy Anniversary!  This site was an amazing find for me.  How rare for a creator to make himself so accessible.

It goes without saying that the Elsewhen run was something quite rare.  A dream come true.

I'm a bit bummed that I missed joining on the Inception Date by 1.

Since avatars haven't been showing on posts for years, I completely forgot that I made mine an image of Father Valenti(!!!!!!!!!) from DOOMSDAY.1.*

* Amusing because I since did something that men rarely do - I changed my last name to Santoro when I married my wife 2 years ago - so to anyone that sees comments from Vincent Santoro on Facebook Byrne groups - that's me. I didn't see the need to change my name on the forum, plus the ol' Marvel-style alliterative name just feels right here.