A selfie of me with some comic book art and nerdy paraphernalia in my nerd room, Daniel’s Dorky Dungeon
I didn’t mean to go this long between writing blog posts, but life has been sort of nuts. Over the course of the past month, I’ve had several ideas for blog posts, but not enough time to write any of them. Today I finally have the time and energy to write, but I’ve been struggling to pick which of the posts I wanted to write about. I decided to go for what I think is going to be the easiest topic to ramble on about, and that’s nerdy stuff.
I’ve been collecting comic books since I was 7 years old. At that time, the X-Men animated series was on TV and I got really into the X-Men comics. A friend’s dad was looking to get rid of several long boxes of comic books, and so when he offered them to me, I jumped at the opportunity. That means that I was enjoying the comics of the 90’s at the same time I was reading tons of X-Men stories from the 70’s and 80’s.
When you’re a little gay kid who has no athletic ability, it can be hard to fit in. My almost encyclopedic knowledge of X-Men characters and stories helped me make friends when I was a kid. Boys thought I was cool because I was into superhero comics. They’d ask me questions about X-Men characters and I would know the obscure information about the characters that made me seem interesting.
I mostly stuck to X-Men comics until the beginning or middle of my college years. Sure, I read some other stuff (a little bit of Superman, a little bit of Spider-Man), but I was mostly a loyal X-fan. My freshman year of college, I bought the DVD set of the Justice League animated series, seasons 1 and 2. I had some familiarity with the characters (I, like most people, LOVED the Batman Animated Series of the 90’s), but the Justice League cartoon made me become obsessed with the heroes of the DC universe. I made the switch from reading almost exclusively Marvel comics to reading almost exclusively DC comics.
In 2007, at the end of my college years, a comic writer named Gail Simone took over the writing duties on the Wonder Woman comic. I already loved Wonder Woman from the Justice League animated series, but Gail Simone’s take on the character resulted in Wonder Woman becoming my favorite superhero, possibly my favorite fictional character, of all time. That remains the case to this day. It also made me a loyal reader of anything Gail Simone put out. I read her run on Deadpool from several years earlier, I caught up on every Birds of Prey comic she ever wrote, and I’ve read almost everything she’s written since. (Two of Gail Simone’s works that really stand out to me are her Batgirl run and her Red Sonja run - if you’re reading this post and looking for recommendations for comics to pick up about powerful women, check those two out!)
As I’m writing this, I’m starting to want to write every nerdy little fact about myself. For example, one of the few exceptions to my X-Men comics only reading was a book called The Invisibles. I could probably write an entire book on how The Invisibles impacted me. And then that stream of consciousness is making me want to write about books like Planetary and The Authority, and then I could see this post devolving into just a lot of obscure comic book references. So let’s step back from this line of thought and get back to the focus I wanted for this post. (Sometimes my ADHD rears its head when I’m writing these things.)
Comic books have always been so much more than a form of entertainment for me. When I was a kid who knew he was different and didn’t know what that would mean, the X-Men comics taught me about how incredible it can be to be different, even if the world hates and fears you for what you are. The X-Men comics really cemented for me that being different is a gift, and having an identity as a different person can make you strong and brave. The Justice League cartoons and comics became important to me in college because that was such a dark time in my life in many ways. The Justice League - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. - were so genuinely GOOD. They were heroic, their morality and nobility were aspirational, they made me want to be good and kind and giving and heroic when I could have easily become someone who hated the world.
My Justice League tattoo. The characters are Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Martian Manhunter, Superman, The Flash (Barry Allen), The Atom, and Hawkgirl.
I have a lot of nerdy tattoos, but perhaps the most impressive tattoo I have is the Justice League tattoo (pictured above). I once told one of my best friends that wearing comic book t-shirts sort of reminds me of why people wear jewelry with patron saints. In the same way that a lot of religious people will wear a necklace with a St. Francis or St. Theresa charm as a way to aspire to be that person and carry their energy with them, comic book t-shirts feel to me like a reminder that I can wear of who I want to be and who I want to emulate from my favorite stories. When a character or a comic book really speaks to me in a deeply personal way, I’ll get a tattoo of that character. My first ever tattoo was the X-Men logo. When we lived in Boston, I got the giant Justice League tattoo pictured above. My other nerdy tattoos are of the DC character Obsidian (a gay superhero who struggles with his mental health); the Marvel character Angela (a queer warrior woman); the Disney character Stitch as the Star Wars character Yoda; the “Non-Compliant” logo from the comic Bitch Planet (a feminist re-interpretation of the Women in Prison sex-ploitation films that is probably the most powerful thing I’ve ever read, written by Kelly Sue Deconnick); and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer logo (because I was OBSESSED). These tattoos feel like a way to remind myself to carry the energy of these aspirational, inspirational characters and stories that have taught me so much.
As you might know by now, I also have always loved to draw. I started drawing as soon as I could hold a drawing implement. My parents recognized my passion for art and signed me up for private art lessons in grade school and high school. In college, I minored in Studio Art. I’ve done lots of art about lots of different things, but my favorite thing to do artistically - and the thing I have done the most - is draw comic book characters. Here’s a recent drawing of my ideal Avengers team:
An ink drawing of my ideal Avengers team - Thor (Jane Foster), Northstar, Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), Vision, Squirrel Girl, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), and Captain America (Sam Wilson) - colored with alcohol markers
Drawing superheroes has always been a way for me to transport myself into another world. I can use my passion and my creativity to go to a place where the good guys win, and where heroes are fighting for the things worth defending. Drawing superheroes - especially The Dissidents, the superheroes I created - also helps me learn about myself, who I am, and what I want to fight for.
In the past several years, my comic book buying habits have been pretty diverse. I’ve read a fair number of indie books, some books from not-quite-so-large publishers, and several books of DC and Marvel characters who were not my favorites growing up. I got into the Avengers comics, and I think the current Avengers book is truly one of the best comics I can remember reading. I got into the (Teen) Titans books from DC, even though those characters have never been my favorite. And I’ve read some truly awesome stuff by expanding my horizons. It’s been really fun.
BUT …
The reason this blog post is titled “It’s a good time to be a comic nerd” is because my worlds are converging. The X-Men - my first loves, my original superhero family, and the ones who taught me so much about being myself and being different - are getting a lot of attention these days due to Marvel having decided to continue the story of the animated series from when I was a kid with the Disney+ series “X-Men 97”. This cartoon has been so incredibly good and has reminded me why the X-Men spoke to me so much as a kid.
The X-Men comics have been … interesting … in the last several years. I have enjoyed some of the stories, but they haven’t felt as exciting to me as a lot of the other books I’ve been reading. But remember me mentioning Gail Simone? Well, she’s going to be writing one of the main X-Men books starting in July! This writer who took an already incredible character - Wonder Woman - and made her my favorite character of all time is now going to be writing the characters that feel like family to me. My excitement for this cannot be understated. I am ecstatic about it.
As I’m getting to the end of this post, I’m realizing that what I’ve written here is probably of very little interest to most people. While I have a few friends who are comic book fans, most of the people I know are not comic nerds. I’m also feeling like this was a really drawn out neurodivergent rant about my “special interest”. (Adding that to the title.) I’m trying to not feel too much shame about that, but there certainly is some. I thought about writing more about the philosophical and psychological and theological implications of the stories I’ve read. I thought about writing about The Dissidents, my original characters (I’m now thinking that topic deserves its own post). But maybe that was too ambitious for one post, and maybe my energy wasn’t in the right place. I’m rereading what I’ve written and it really is just the nerdiest rant.
But maybe it’s okay that I just nerd-word-vomited all over this post. I’m someone who loves when people share their passions with me. If you are really into something - a band, a type of art, a type of technology, a type of animal - I want to hear all about it, and I want you to share that passion with me because it makes me feel really privileged to learn about the things that the people in my life love. Seeing someone’s face light up as they talk about something they love brings me a lot of joy, even if I have no connection to that thing. So I’m going to choose to let this post stay as it is, because maybe you enjoy learning about people’s special interests as much as I do.
Thanks for reading! If you’re so inclined, write a comment about your special interest. If you want to info-dump, I’d love to read about the things you love, ESPECIALLY if it’s “strange” or obscure or niche.