Ep 37 - comic geek pride

[Your Pal Eric]

How "out" are you about your love of comics?

_________________
"You're fingering all the poses that I'VE liberated!"

-Deven Green

[drumore]

How "out" is the new episode? huh... Huh... HUH?
It's Monday night, and the new episode isn't up yet

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHERE IS THE NEW EPISODE!!!
I need my Queers NOW!


(Drew really needs to stop getting large carmel macchiatos at 10pm!)

[butchman]

I have always looked at comic books as a "badge of honor". When my parents went through there 2nd divorce, my dad had half custody. When I would have "visits" with my dad he would take me to the local bar and drink with his friends...and when he did we would stop at the corner convience store and he would buy me comicbooks to entertain me while we were at the bar.

When I moved to Omaha in 9th grade the first place I looked for was a local comicbook store.

Comicbooks have always been and always will be a symbol of what I have lived through and survived. I will always (in most cases) be very proud to let people know that I am a comicbook nerd.

_________________
J@y Diers

[ZdrowcaB]

Comics are my badge of honor. I don't really care about what other folks think about it, mainly because I know there are comics that are better written than many prose novels.

If other people don't want to read comics, its their loss.

_________________
Mulch often and plant a tree seasonally.

[Lezzie Lindsay]

I'm am totally out - but also I think lesbians are viewed even hotter if they're a geek so I sport it with pride!

As far as coming out to my partner, Val actually brought me *back* out b/c my previous partner wasn't supportive and bought useless crap with all my money. Val found that thread of geek in me and pulled it out of it's shell. And she gets mad if I don't get my books every Wednesday - then go get them herself.

At work, totally out even tho people still look at me weird. But that's usual for me...

And I wear my comic t-shirts, buttons, hats and dog tags with pride!!!

_________________
”...There’s nothing that time, whiskey, and the novels of Virginia Woolf won’t heal.” - X-Men #187

[MatMutchmr]

I guess I had similar experiences as the panel, as far as coming out as a comic fan in High School. Telling people was not something I did often. Sort of like Gaydar, you could pretty much guess who you could tell or not. We all wear our influences on our sleeves, you just have to be attuned to decipher them.

In the small town where I grew up, there was a drugstore that always had the comics out first. I would walk there on comic day after school. There was another guy who would do the same, but he always kept his distance from me. He was a sort of a jock, and I being the school's #1 faggot, he didn't want much to do with me. But when we were in the store, we would always grab for the same books. Eventually, he became a little more civil and would say a word or two to me, at the store only.

One day, a new comic day, he walked past my locker and I smiled and started to say something to him, but he was with a friend and he immediately had this PANICKED look in his eye, as if to say "PLEASE don't out me." So I let him off the hook. But I always had something on him that no one else seemed to know. And I loved that. He payed me back my saving me from being picked on once, so I felt like we were even.

In College, I worked in a Comic Store, so you can't get much more out than that.

These days, I don't keep much of anything a secret anymore. I don't wear comic T's in public much, but I sleep in them almost every night. And if you come over to my house, you'll find the very Comic Book spinner rack from that drugstore in my living room. They gave it to me when they closed up shop.

[Your Pal Eric]

That's an awesome story, spinner rack and all. If only you'd been at the Chicago Pride festival, walking down the street wearing a superhero t-shirt...

_________________
"You're fingering all the poses that I'VE liberated!"

-Deven Green

[stin]

you guys are gonna love this. Back before I met my girlfriend I kept my collection in my closet.

Literally in my closet. And then one day she asked me what preacher was, and suddenly they all came out of the closet.

Then I became a hardcore uber-nerd. Now I sport my comic know how with pride.

Oddly enough, nearly everywhere I've worked since I've graduated college there has always been one comic nerd (who's usually older than me) who never spoke about comics at work before, but after meeting me and seeing how ridiculous I am about them, finally opens up to everyone else.

It continues to amaze me. You'd think in science there'd be more comic nerds. But no.

[chriskl99]

I took some comics with me to school one day in the fourth grade and started reading it in homeroom. The guy next to me started to ask me what I was reading, and I kinda nervously showed him, probably grimacing in the expectation of everyone laughing at me. Exactly the opposite, though. Guys who never had a nice thing to say to me were wanting to read it and talk about comics. Of course, I didn't want to let them read my comic because I figured they were going to steal it and put me in the middle of a game of hot potato. I wasn't a girly kid, but I was really short and really skinny (those were the days), so I was a little bit of an easy target. Everything was fine, though, and we spent the school year hiding comics in our textbooks. The big thing then was Who's Who, and we would take pens and trace over all of the one-color background images for each entry. The Perez ones always took the most time, and I remember showing off the Monitor entry when I finished it. Good times!

So, I've never really held back my love of comics, although it's not on my sleeve. I work with a guy now, and he mentioned something that made me ask "Do you read comics?" He totally got the "should I say it" look on his face, but he said "yeah," and I quickly found out he was a Marvel guy, etc. etc. I'm more into DC, but he's still cool. My other coworker loves reading Jodi Picoult, but she sorta winces whenever we bring up the Wonder Woman arc. She was ok with it this week when I told her she could borrow my copy of the trade when it comes out, though. She just doesn't believe that comics could possibly match novels, and she thinks that her opinion of Picoult might suffer if it's bad! I don't think she's read any comics other than maybe Archie and Richie Rich; I can't fault her for just not knowing how cool comics are!

I guess I just think that people who don't like comics or can't get into them are just plain missing out, and I could care less if they think I'm slow or immature! I figure most people have their little things, too, like following celebrities or collecting toy trains. So, who are they to talk?

Good episode guys, but too short!

[howtaobrowncow]

It never really occurred to me that people would look at you funny for liking comics, or that their viewpoint would be remotely valid if they did, so I've never feared admitting to the hobby.

Besides, with with computer programming being my job, and with all the spiritual stuff I've studied and practiced over the years, comics is one of the most normal, understandable things in my life that I can talk about with people. So, for me, it's a big plus.

_________________

Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.
- Brendan Gill

[ZdrowcaB]

[Dale Lazarov]

My lunch companion today was a graphic novel. And I felt no shame. And the waitress didn't give me a weird look.

That said, I was a few blocks away from Chicago Comics so it's probably not unusual in that area.

_________________
Dale Lazarov
writer/editor of STICKY, MANLY, FANCY and other gay erotic graphic novels
http://www.amazon.com/Sticky-Dale-Lazarov/dp/3861879719

[drumore]

In the 2004 Prism Guide, I co-wrote a piece called "Coming Out of the Comic Closet"

The first half (my part) was a short story, of a guy getting a call from him parents one Sunday, saying they were stopping by his place after church. Panicked, he quickly scrambled through the apartment grabbing various magazines, videos, flyers and other "incriminating evidence" and hiding them in the closet.

When they arrive, he realizes that he overlooked the Lynda Carter WW pin-up, "That's okay, she's a diva." The parents ask about his boyfriend... and then we realize he wasn't hiding various gay items, but comic books.

It then has a "Twelve Step Program" to come out as a comic fan written by Rod Townsend.

BTW Matt's house is the coolest -- especially his comic room!
You need to post pics.

[MatMutchmr]

[Your Pal Eric]

I read this just a month or so ago-- it was hilarious. I had no idea it was you.