The Comics = Nerd Factor

[SuperSurfer]

When I'd go to comic conventions and marts in the 80s I think it would've been quite reasonable to conclude that a pretty large proportion of comic collectors were nerdy (I would include myself, looking back).

Nowadays I reckon there is a wider range of people when I visit comic shops and you can more easily find graphic novels in bookshops which definitely helps.  

But I don't think it helps our cause that the vast majority of comics (at least those sold in comic shops) are about superheroes. I read the odd superhero comic every now and then, but why so many of them?

We are at pains to explain that comics are serious medium that can do so much more than other artforms yet the comics industry churns out mountains of superhero titles. Let's be honest, with a few exceptions, superhero comics do not seem like adult reading material because in most cases they are not.

Which other artform or medium is almost exclusively linked to one genre?

[Professor Bear]

Hmmm, I must say that one passed me by. At our school we just settled for saying, "You Joey!" or "You Deacon!"

Different life experiences, different social circles, etc - it's not unreasonable to assume that different words end up being shorthand for the same thing across a relatively minor class divide.  'Round our way there was enough of a divide between catholic and protestant (living in the same town) to make the odd word a puzzler, compounded by relatively short distances between council estates or villages creating practically different dialects.  Language is an ever-evolving thing.

[Peter Wolf]

It is true about the different vocabularies and colloqualisms and different classes.

For example when i first when i first moved to the UK and overheard conversations i never knew what they were talking about when i heard them say "My Nan" or "my Nans house" or "Going to see my Nan" etc etc.

I thought they were all talking about their Nanny [Nan being short for Nanny" but then i didnt think they had Nannies so i couldnt work it out and i think i had to ask whereupon it was explained.Its just that i hadnt heard the word used before that ever.

"Mum - why are they all talking about their Nannies ?"

[Stuzzle]

In that case I bet "pants" Really confused you 

When you're 7 years old in Britain and see someone on an American tv show shouting "Don't forget your pants" it ends up in sniggers and giggles

[Mikey]

Secretly I believe geek is for nerds who just don't care enough.

You take that back,sir! We are all of a fannish persuasion and should unify, not split along petty lines of obsessiveness!

Your comments about professional archaeologists calling each other nerds is a strange one. They're really not seeing the wood from the trees, or the shard in context if you prefer. Can you really be a nerd within your own circle of interest, personal or otherwise?

Any fandom has it's fair share of geeks and nerds and Dog Deever's right; as fanboys we should be wary of stereotyping other fandom, be it sport or trainspotters or whatever. I love some sports (not footie!), but they've never become an obsessive interest for me.

On a related note, I love Harvey Pekar's (Paul Giamatti) soliloquy about taking Toby Radloff (Judah Friedlander) to see Revenge of the Nerds and how the world ultimately sees people like them. Check it out if you haven't seen it!

M.

[Emperor]

In that case I bet "pants" Really confused you 

When you're 7 years old in Britain and see someone on an American tv show shouting "Don't forget your pants" it ends up in sniggers and giggles

Not as good as someone falling over and landing on their fanny.

[Mardroid]

Not as good as someone falling over and landing on their fanny.

I remember the first time I heard a man say something like that on an American Show (either concerning another man or himself) and thinking "Eh? What?" Heh. In context it wasn't too difficult to work out but it's interesting how a word which is quite rude and vulgar over here is light and somewhat twee across the pond.

[paddykafka]

If a comic-reading Nerd applies for, and gets a job over twenty other applicants, would that make him a "Nerd-do-well" ?

[Dandontdare]

Taxi for Mr Kafka! 

[Roger Godpleton]

They see me mowin'
My front lawn
I know they're all thinking
I'm so White N' nerdy

Think I'm just too white n' nerdy
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy
Can't you see I'm white n' nerdy
Look at me I'm white n' nerdy!
I wanna roll with-
The gangsters
But so far they all think
I'm too white n' nerdy
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy
I'm just too white n' nerdy
Really, really white n' nerdy

First in my class here at M.I.T.
Got skills, I'm a Champion of DND
MC Escher that's my favorite MC
Keep your 40
I'll just have an Earl Grey tea
My rims never spin to the contrary
You'll find they're quite stationary
All of my action figures are cherry
Steven Hawkings in my library
My MySpace page is all totally pimped out
I got people begging for my top 8 spaces
Yo I know Pi to a thousand places
Ain't got no grills but I still wear braces
I order all of my sandwiches with mayonnaise
I'm a whiz at minesweeper I can play for days
Once you see my sweet moves you're gonna stay amazed,
my fingers movin' so fast I'll set the place ablaze
There's no killer app I haven't run
At Pascal, well, I'm number 1
Do vector calculus just for fun
I ain't got a gat but I gotta soldering gun
Happy days is my favourite theme song
I can sure kick your butt in a game of ping pong
I'll ace any trivia quiz you bring on
I'm fluent in Java Script as well as Klingon
Here's the part I sing on

They see me roll on, my Segway!
I know in my heart they think I'm
white n' nerdy!
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy
Can't you see I'm white n' nerdy
Look at me I'm white n' nerdy
I'd like to roll with-
The gangsters
Although it's apparent I'm too
White n' nerdy
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy
I'm just too white n' nerdy
How'd I get so white n' nerdy?

I've been browsing, inspectin'
X-men comics you know I collect 'em
The pens in my pocket
I must protect 'em
my ergonomic keyboard never leaves me bored
Shopping online for deals on some writable media
I edit Wikipedia
I memorized Holy Grail really well
I can recite it right now and have you ROTFLOL
I got a business doing websites
When my friends need some code who do they call?
I do HTML for them all
Even made a homepage for my dog!
Yo! Got myself a fanny pack
they were having a sale down at the GAP
Spend my nights with a roll of bubble wrap
POP POP! Hope no one sees me gettin' freaky!

I'm nerdy in the extreme and whiter than sour creme
I was in AV club and Glee club and even the chess team!
Only question I ever thought was hard
Was do I like Kirk or do I like Picard?
I spend every weekend
at the renaissance fair
I got my name on my under wear!

They see me strollin'
They laughin'
And rollin' their eyes 'cause
I'm so white n' nerdy
Just because I'm white n' nerdy
Just because I'm white n' nerdy
All because I'm white n' nerdy
Holy cow I'm white n' nerdy
I wanna bowl with-
the gangsters
but oh well it's obvious I'm
white n' nerdy
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy
Think I'm just too white n' nerdy
I'm just too white n' nerdy
Look at me I'm white n' nerdy!

[klute]

I had teh misfortune of taking someone to forbidden planet in the mid 90's about 5 minutes after getting in there and looking at what i was missing from my collections that month this "person" decided to laugh at the top of her voice before announcing that comics and people that read them were retarded.

Unfortunatly this effected me enough to stop collection for 12 yeaqrs ashamed that i was doing something wrong.......eventually i met my wife who though not into comics herself takes an interest in my interests.#

So she asked about my comic collection gather dust in our loft about 3 years ago,so i told her i collected/read them but hadnt for years for teh above reason amongst the reasons mentioned in this thread,to which she reply i was being stupid and gave me a few hundred pound to start me off again...ive never looked back.

But now if anyone was to mock my interest i would reply "Do you pay for them?...no!"
as far as im concerned i dont drink,smoke,gamble i work full time and when im home i concern myself with my wife and son and read comics whilst they do there own things around me...im not bothering anybody. and if the biggest insult anyone can come out with is geek/nerd or childish for reading something i enjoy then im not doing to badly.

[Emperor]

Unfortunatly this effected me enough to stop collection for 12 yeaqrs ashamed that i was doing something wrong.......eventually i met my wife who though not into comics herself takes an interest in my interests.#

So she asked about my comic collection gather dust in our loft about 3 years ago,so i told her i collected/read them but hadnt for years for teh above reason amongst the reasons mentioned in this thread,to which she reply i was being stupid and gave me a few hundred pound to start me off again...ive never looked back.

What a wonderful lady you have there. There is till hope for the world.

[SuperSurfer]

this "person" decided to laugh at the top of her voice before announcing that comics and people that read them were retarded.

I am sure many of us could come up with examples along those lines. Someone I know is starting to annoy me as he continues to slag off some crappy newspaper by referring to it as a 'comic'. I have picked him up on that already.

Snobby anti-comic closed mind types are such a wind up. And then they sit there watching brainless soaps and read those red-top so-called newspapers that require just a couple of brain cells.

[klute]

What a wonderful lady you have there. There is till hope for the world. 

She is without a doubt wonderful and im so please that she supports my comic collecting

[Peter Wolf]

I had teh misfortune of taking someone to forbidden planet in the mid 90's about 5 minutes after getting in there and looking at what i was missing from my collections that month this "person" decided to laugh at the top of her voice before announcing that comics and people that read them were retarded.

Unfortunatly this effected me enough to stop collection for 12 yeaqrs ashamed that i was doing something wrong.......eventually i met my wife who though not into comics herself takes an interest in my interests.#

So she asked about my comic collection gather dust in our loft about 3 years ago,so i told her i collected/read them but hadnt for years for teh above reason amongst the reasons mentioned in this thread,to which she reply i was being stupid and gave me a few hundred pound to start me off again...ive never looked back.

But now if anyone was to mock my interest i would reply "Do you pay for them?...no!"
as far as im concerned i dont drink,smoke,gamble i work full time and when im home i concern myself with my wife and son and read comics whilst they do there own things around me...im not bothering anybody. and if the biggest insult anyone can come out with is geek/nerd or childish for reading something i enjoy then im not doing to badly.

Its incredible how one incident can have such an effect on someone else which just goes to show if you take the piss out of someone [for no good reason in this case] then you dont know what kind of an effect it can have.

I am glad you got over it and i hope you are never affected by anything like that again.