Pretty similar story actually. A group of my friends came up with characters that we would doodle and write messages to and from (our early form roleplaying.)
As far as comics, there was a kid in my middle science class that challenged me to draw a better mini comic than he could. Well, he turned up with nothing on the due date and I had (crappy) first chapter. I guess it just snowballed from there.
I've been drawing as long as I can remember because I come from a creative family. I've never been naturally good at it but it was something I always enjoyed, so I kept doing it. I also started writing and creating my own stories in elementary school. I found the idea of creating my own world and characters very fascinating and that just sort of stuck with me.
Been drawing since I could hold a pencil. Got into comics by reading my brother's comic book stash when I was little- I wanted to make comics myself.
I only started drawing about 1,5-2 years ago. And I did it because I wanted to tell my story in the comic book format. So I'm kind of using the comic to improve my drawing so I can then in turn draw the comic better! Snake eating it's own tail-kind of situation. ^_^
I've been drawing as long as I can remember. I know it sounds corny. What helped was that I was surrounded by comic books from a very early age and my big sister was also big on drawing, so it always came very naturally to me.
I've been drawing since forever... and I actually drew so much in high school, making comics and all that my grades dropped ... I realized I couldn't breathe if I wasn't drawing so I went to art school ! lol
I've always done little scribbles and such ever since I was little. My parents always encouraged art and music in our household. Christmases and Birthdays were always filled with gifts of paper, markers, paint, easels, brushes, pencils... they took us to art museums and my mom volunteered as an art history teacher in grade school (not her profession, she's actually a sheriffs deputy). So a love for art and drawing has always been there. Ironically I hadn't really ever read comic books. I read some manga, and watched some anime. It wasn't until I was in my 20s when I got married that I started drawing comics. My husband is an avid comics collector and reader and he's the one who really encouraged me to draw comics. 
I have been drawing since I could hold a crayon! I got a lot of positive feedback so I just kept going. I got into comics first with Archie, then through Marvel because my dad was an avid collector. I used to draw fanfic comics as a kid. Then, I went to art school and made graphic design my career and make a webcomic in my spare time.
I've always loved art so my dad taught me how to use charcoal and oils and took me to art museums and that sort of thing... but I actually got interested in comics through film? I was always really into film (another thing I got from my dad) and I picked up a lot of storytelling from that.
When I was going to college I knew I loved drawing and storytelling and that comics would let me do both those things, so I majored in illustration and took play writing and film studies classes as electives. Comics and film are really intertwined in my mind because it's all about pacing and framing images.
I've been drawing since I was small. My uncle gave me my first how to draw book when I was in 4th grade and I liked drawing at that point, but I wanted to be a writer or a singer. In middle school I fell in love with manga and decided I wanted to be a "mangaka". I started drawing comics in 6th and 7th grade. I was reading a lot of art books at that point. After 7th grade I quit choir and started taking art classes. And I took art classes all throughout high school.
When I graduated from high school, I wanted to be an animator or a game designer, but the closest thing my community college has is graphic design with an emphasis on animation So I started studying graphic design. I'm trying to teach myself animation on the back burners.
ive always drawn, and loved art, but got into comics via the manga route at 12 or 13. i slowly transitioned to western comics and stopped reading manga for a combination of disinterest and not having enough space for manga readers on my phone. i didnt really start making comics until i discovered tapastic, though, and it all became suddenly possible.
on like the other side of the arts im also a theatre technician, which i fell on my arse backwards into because i had to take two years of further education by law and it sounded good, and i needed the skills for running events in the poetry circuit (its all connected~~~) technical theatres so easy to fall in love w tho - i have to more or less quit it to focus on comics and art and poetry, but its gonna be crazy difficult to quit.
Out of the burning need to put stories into visual format. Never one to draw for the sake of drawing.
This is why to this day, when I'm not doing a comic panel, I get mental block and at least 1/2 my skills go out the window... Lol
Like a lot of other people here, I've been drawing for as long as I can remember, haha.
As for how I got into comics, idk, I guess I've always loved the idea of telling stories through a visual medium. So when I found out that manga and webcomics were a thing, naturally I wanted to try it out. And now here I am!
I hate to admit it, but Chris Hart is mainly the reason why I started drawing.
I got thsese bad boys when I was 11 or 12 I think. 
@miesmud my first exposure to manga was when I was in art school(in the early 90s), started buying Silent Mobius by Kia Asamiya. I then moved on to You're Under Arrest & Oh My Goddess(Fujishima), and then moved to Gunsmith Cats by Kenichi Sonada.
I always liked coming up with stories in my head. Around 4th grade I started to doodle more. When I was in middle school, I started to write a "gag-a-day" comic and decided to expand on that and make something more story driven. I had a 5 subject note book which I drew thumbnail comics in. I carried that thing everywhere and all through high school.
I guess I was inspired a little by TV shows, like Dragon Ball Z. I remember first discovering manga in middle school and was surprised that a comic could be more than just superheroes. I think in small parts I pull a little from the Simpsons.
