Author Archive for: MyGrodd (Joe Manzo)

MyGrodd founder and Editor-In-Chief. Joe Manzo, has been playing with toys and reading comics for as long as he can remember. His earliest collection was Masters of the Universe, which he shared with his classmates at show & tell.

Early on he enjoyed collecting and sharing toys, but the latter resulted in many lost parts. So, today he continues to share his love of toys through reviews and articles.

Joe has created many fan websites & forums for toys and comics, some of which have lead to wonderful connections. After college, Joe created NYBugle.com which was a Daily Bugle website that summarized all the adventures in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. This got the attention of Brian Michael Bendis, who reached out to Joe, which resulted in interviews with Bendis, Quesada, Bagley, Millar and more. Some of the old site can be found on archive.org.

The next fan milestone for Joe came in 2005, when Star Wars Episode III was released. He was playing and collecting Attacktix, and wrote a tips & strategy blog for the new game. He was contacted by the game's creator, Hasbro's Brian Wilk, and was able to "leak" game news to the growing fan base. JoeAttacktix.com was the go-to resource for Attacktix fans, and eventually landed Joe with his first (and only) paid job in the toy industry.

Inspired by these connections, Joe continues to create fan pages for his toy interests. Once his daughter was born, he began to collect Imaginext superheroes "for her." MyGrodd.com is the result of that current collection, and with the recent announcement of Masters of the Universe Imaginext, it seems like there is no end in sight.