There's something about seeing an attractive girl read comics on the subway that forces one's inner nerd to surface. I would be lying if I said that this didn't please me immensely, even when I am the target of the questions. This morning was a perfect example of why reading comics on the subway is far superior to reading a plain old book. Unless of course the book in question is about comics; in that particular case books are an acceptable substitution.
I squeezed past the multitudes crowding the doors (why do people insist on doing that?) and managed to find a seat. I took out my stack of new comics and flipped through them briefly, trying to decide what to read first. Brightest Day: Justice League Generation Lost #9 won the first round draft pick and I settled back to enjoy Booster, Bea, Tora, and the rest of the gang's latest attempts to try and stop Maxwell Lord, aka the biggest prick in the world. So far. I am getting right into it when the cloaked nerd beside me stirred in his seat. I say 'cloaked' because he was dressed like a businessman but was clearly trying to figure out a way to ask me what I was reading without sounding dumb and/or nerdy. I continued to read and finally, he poked me. Not a sexy poke, an actual jab-in-the-ribs poke.
I looked at him and before I could admonish him for poking me, he said, 'It's been almost 20 years since I've seen someone read a comic book in public. That's really awesome.' I stared at him. He cleared his throat and asked,' At the risk of sounding like an idiot, what are you reading?'
I showed him, and his face lit up. Apparently, his favorite character is Booster Gold. This guy was absolutely thrilled to see Booster headlining a book that wasn't named 'Booster Gold'. He told me that he had read the entire run of 'Blackest Night' and that he hadn't yet had a chance to catch up on the 'Brightest Day' titles. I briefly recapped some of the titles that were current and suggested he pick a few up. As we talked, he suddenly remembered that he had to get off the subway. As he was leaving, he thanked me for reading comics and for encouraging him to go buy them. His last words to me were, 'I wish my girlfriend was half as cool as you are.'
I read comics in public for everyone to see because I am a nerd, a damn proud one at that, and I will not put away my so-called 'childish' hobbies just because the other girls my age are reading Cosmo and People on the subway. You would think with the influx of comic-related movies and videogames that this would not still be an issue but it is. Comics are apparently a very male thing, both to create and to read. I am certainly not going to turn this into a feminist rant about how women and men in comics should be equal. It isn't that I don't care; I just want to read comics. I do not care about the sex of the people who write or draw them. Just give me my stories and no one gets hurt.
Now if you will excuse me, Batgirl and Supergirl are about to become a midnight snack for a plethora of black-and-white movie Dracula's and I need to find out why.
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