I'm A Geek...Wanna Fight About It?

I've been a geek for, man...close to 26 years now? And a practicing one, at that. I was the kid on the playground who got his friends to enact a real-life version of Sonic the Hedgehog. I had a little notebook where I drew pictures of people I knew as their superhero alter-egos (of my own choosing, of course. Sorry about that, Annoying Boy). I gave one of my high school girlfriends my Green Lantern ring as a good luck charm for a test.

Which she immediately lost! I'm looking at you, Jerin...

I have credentials, is what I'm saying. I am not a geek because it's currently fashionable, or because I want to fit in (incidentally, can you imagine anyone typing that sentence 10 years ago?). Nope, I am a true, full-blooded nerd.

And immediately you've formed a mental picture of me.

Close.

Maybe not what I look like, but my attitude, my personality. I have strong feelings on everything. Marvel vs DC. Kirk vs Picard. Tommy the clearly superior Green Ranger vs Jason the "de facto leader" Red Ranger.  You know I have opinions on everything and will argue loudly with anyone who thinks differently, probably while sweating profusely. But here's the thing...you're wrong about me. Except for the sweating.

Also, I think we can all agree that the Green Ranger is objectively awesome.

See, I don't believe it has to be like that.

Geeks, nerds, dorks---we all tend to get a bit wrapped up in the things that interest us. We take ownership of them, and for better or worse, whatever affects the things we care about affects us, too. So we get angry when Kyle Rayner is brought in to replace Hal Jordan, or when Superman turns all blue and electric-y. Then we get angry again when Hal Jordan is brought back in to replace Kyle Rayner. But not when Superman is returned to normal, because come on, there's only like one guy who thought that was cool (hint: it was me). I'm getting off subject, but the point is, somewhere in the midst of all of our outrage, we forget that we're supposed to be having fun with this. Yes, we are paying customers, and yes, we do have a right to voice our opinions, but you have to admit that as a whole we are almost impossible to please.

Maybe they'll be happy if there are two of him?

Why do we have to be the volatile hobbyists? Do home beer brewers get up in arms over new brewing techniques? Do stamp collectors threaten to strike when the post office changes the design on forever stamps? Seriously, do they? Because I don't know. All I know is that geekdom is becoming more and more mainstream. Some may like that, some may not, but it is definitely happening. Suddenly, we have to share this stuff with the general public. And even though they may not "appreciate it like we do", shouldn't we be psyched that they're interested at all? It's legitimate now. WE are legitimate now. Mostly. So maybe we should try to move out of the fog of cynicism and negativity that can sometimes cloud our collective vision, and approach these nerdy things that we love with fresh eyes. After all, while we know that Han shot first, there is now a whole generation of kids that know him as a disaffected, bad-ass starship pilot who can dodge lasers. When you think about it like that, it's pretty cool.

BAM!

Tune in next time, when I'll be posting reviews of the comics I pick up this week. And feel free to comment with any suggestions on books I should check out. Or if you want to talk about how awesome electric Superman was.

Gasp! Got To Make A First Post! And Fast!

Hello people of the internet, and welcome!

I'm starting this blog because I recently got back into comics due to DC's New 52 initiative, and that has proven to be a bit of a rabbit hole for me. Granted, that's mostly in regard to comics, but I'm pretty late to the party in most things. For instance, I only recently made a Steam account, I just started playing Portal 2, and I've yet to see a single episode of Doctor Who (it's on my list, I swear!). So join me as I discover some things that most of you have known about for years, as well as a few new things. I guarantee that whatever it is, odds are I'll think it's pretty awesome.

Within reason, of course.

Some things to know about me:
-The first comics character I ever followed was Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern
-The first comic series I ever collected was Ultimate Spider-Man (I have 115 issues of the original run, and I love literally every one of them)
-I have a PS3, and I'm currently playing Skyrim (and Portal 2)
-I used to play Magic, then I stopped, then I decided I would start up again, then I was like, nevermind, this is expensive and hard
-D&D? Yes, please!

Feel free to suggest things I should try, and they don't even have to be geeky! Let's keep this casual.