When I was 17, Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) hit movie theaters. My two best friends and I went to see it together, and had a sleepover after. We joked about how hot Chris Evans was (and IS, to be fair), the weird look of his face pasted on a scrawny body, Peggy's love loss (little did we know, then, HA!), and notably, how I was the one who convinced them to go see it (me and Chris Evans' bod, again, to be fair). I was already the girl who was "a little too" into superheroes. Iron Man had been 2008, it's sequel a year ago at that point, and even Thor had dazzled us in late Spring of that year. I felt like I was seeing the most clear pattern in the universe, but all my friends laughed when I first said it at 17 years old: "It's a good time to be a nerd!" At the time, they laughed in jest, but I knew their heart wasn't in it. They truly didn't follow, because I's always had that reputation. I was the girl who'd practically grown up in the high school Robotics program (where, fun fact, in maybe 2006 I was first introduced to current DC comics by way of a club-dad and editor at the company). My parents took away books as kids when my sibling and I misbehaved, not any toys. I was, plainly, one of the geeks. As an anecdote, somewhere out there is a picture of my sister and I with our two oldest girl-friends (also sisters), jumping on the beach in an image taken by our respective moms. Our friends posed in their jump, as I now know is expected, but my sister and I just....jumped. Flatly, up and down. Because we were dorks, and that's simply who we'd always been raised to be. In our house, we grew up on PBS Kids; I don't remember ever learning that Vader is the father of Luke and Leia, or that Peter Parker is Spider-Man and Clark Kent Superman. It was knowledge I feel I've always had. Growing up in our house, there was only ever time to be a nerd. It is now 2024, and as a fan, those first steps of the MCU are almost mythological to have experienced as they were happening. The World has changed immeasurably, but there is one thing I am more than certain of, now more than ever, 13 years later: Folks, it is a good damn time to be a nerd. I made it the tagline on this site 5 years ago for a reason. Through political upending, national and international drama, wars across nations, unspeakable moments in history, an actual global pandemic, and more... it is every day. Every day we have these things to look forward to, these silly little stories of people trying their hardest, fighting through personal hardship to still do their best, failing, and continuing to try. Be them superheroes, alien space pilots, mythical beasts, or a 1950's housewife with a past, the stories will always keep coming. And that's why I continued to say it, write it here, and have a little laugh almost every time a new, exciting announcement is made. It's a good time to be a nerd. At this point, I think most of the media and popular culture sees it, too. And people don't laugh anymore, or assume I'm being silly, when I tell them. Even the friends I had at 17 grew to fall into those interests as well, long after we parted ways. It IS a good time to be a nerd. Hobbies that were once mocked, like Dungeons & Dragons, Anime and Manga, even the multitudes of card collecting games have all grown to be pretty much accepted in the public eye, some becoming more of household names than any of us dorks could have ever dreamed a decade or two ago. It wasn't foreign films or arthouse movies that changed the perception of what makes a successful movie theater run, it was these silly superhero stories from comic books, that made literal billions of dollars, raising the bar of what SHOULD be earned to Executive eyes. As complicated as that gets, the effect is undeniable. Geek culture is very openly having it's moment, and the world seems to agree, now. It's a good time to be a nerd. I have almost had this site for five years, and it's gone through a number of changes. I hope at least, the spirit has remained the same.
As the creator, I have changed quite a lot, too. I am now in my 30's, married, and my fantasy-princess long curly hair has been mostly shaved off for a number of years now. Life happens, time pushes on, and you figure it out. You learn about who you are, and you grow into yourself. With any luck, you, too, are more confident, happier, and smarter than you were in 2019. So where do I, this blog, and occasionally, podcast, stand, now? 5-year check in, GO!
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![]() Update #1: Issue-by-issue summaries have entries through Mister Miracle (v.1) #15! Continue Reading! Contrary to how it may look, Barda was actually the first character I did when I started these read lists, alongside Angela (Image/Marvel). Why aren't those the first two uploaded? I started those lists (gasp) handwritten. When I started the other lists, I had already started using an online, multi-device note-taking app, so the notebook was forgotten. Now that I'm uploading the rest of my lists, it's time to back and update Barda's. This is the best list I could come up with without having already read every issue. Oddly, there aren't many resources at all for other Barda reading lists, and the ones that do exist are missing pieces, haven't been updated, or focus on a Barda from a different Earth. In making this list, I've combined a few partial lists, filled in some spaces I knew were missing, and guessed for only a handful of likely no-longer-canon appearances. I'll get around to typing up my previously written notes soon, I hope, but the reading list itself is complete! Continue Reading to follow Big Barda's history, and always remember Barda Is! ![]()
Angela is one of my favorite 90's heroines, and she's got a hell of a history to go with it.
Created by Neil Gaiman at Image comics in 1993, Angela's first role was as anti-hero in Todd McFarlane's creator owned comic, Spawn. She started as a bit of an antagonist for the hellspawn character, but returned in a series by Gaiman and Greg Capullo that made the two opposite characters find a unique kind of friendship. Unfortunately, after only a few years with Image, McFarlane killed off Angela during Spawn #100. To make the offense even more awful, he chose the most basic, tragic, and terrible of deaths: she was stabbed through the chest in front of her friend Al Simmons, continuing a tragic tradition of female deaths put in place solely for the betterment of a male counterpart. Avoiding starting an essay on what a disgusting and disrespectful trend of men writing women which that is, she was rescued in the mid 2000's by her creator, Gaiman, when he took McFarlane to court over Angela's ownership. The case remains a landmark trial in the world of copyrights, character creation, and comics, to this day. What did Gaiman do with her, once he had her back? Neil sold her to Marvel promptly, a decision many see as negative, but from my perspective, Marvel has put in dozens of times more effort to her character arc than anyone at Image ever did, aside from Gaiman. She's been with Marvel about seven years, and has had a number of solo series' and team books, already. While she hasn't been in anything since the cancellation of Strikeforce, I constantly see room for more Angela at Marvel, and hope to see her added to the MCU, soon, as well (see: Vote Loki and the Loki Disney+ series)! Without further ado, Continue Reading for Angela's appearances at Image, Marvel, or both! Summaries and commentary coming soon! SILK Cindy Moon Reading List!12/28/2020 Mid-2024: Article in need of updating. I'm working on a bunch so it's coming! -SSG ![]() Cindy Moon was one of the best things to come out of the Marvel event, Original Sin. The series went over ANOTHER person bitten by the same spider that bit Peter Parker--a (then) young Korean-American girl named Cindy. Due to events of the Spider-Verse series, she spent the decade or so since then in an underground bunker, by herself. No family, no friends, no outside contact. Original Sin lifted the secret of Cindy's existence, leading Spider-Man to find his female counterpart! Since then, Silk has been received by fans with open arms. She quickly became a favorite of all ages, repersenting Asian-American women in the Spider-Verse. Two back-to-back solo series' are down the hatch, and a third is starting in March, 2021! With under 100 appearances under her belt, Silk is a hero you can easily read up on before her new series premier. Continue Reading to learn all about Cindy Moon's Silk! The list is complete, but issue summaries and commentary are on the way! Monica Rambeau Reading Order12/28/2020 ![]() Monica Rambeau is the first woman to hold the title Captain Marvel, the first female Black superhero at Marvel, and is soon to be coming to the MCU! Her character has had highs and lows in the past 40 years, waxing and waning in popularity and usage. Finally, it seems her time to shine has officially come! Monica has been through a few titles since her origin, but since her appearances are far less widespread than Carol Danvers, I don't think it's necessary to split her titles up into sections, just yet. The list of her appearances is complete, but I have yet to start her issue-by-issue summaries! I'll post updates here as soon as they're ready! Continue Reading to dive into the reading order of one of Marvel's least-known legends! Carol Danvers ULTIMATE Reading Order12/28/2020
The life and times of Carol Danvers are a complicated beast to manage. Her character has been through so many eras, so many hero names, so many teams, that studying each different era of her is necessary to capture a full picture of who she is, as a character, in totality.
I've broken her history down into the following chunks:
Click those links for whichever era you're searching for, or Continue Reading to go star-to-finish!
![]() Woohoo, more read lists! Patsy is a fun one, and a rare one. She made her first appearance in comics in 1944, where she premiered as a teenage girl in some of their romance comics, of the time. She starred in comics full of women competing with each other, degrading one another out of jealousy, and aiming to make their entire existence about the man they're dating. After a while, her romance comics began to fade, and Marvel found a way to bring her into their main universe. She was still just Patsy, for a time, until chance encounters with other superheroes of the era gave her an opportunity to tag along on their adventures, then be a part of the heroes, themselves. On a trip through the Brand building, her opportunity grows, and she becomes Hellcat. Patsy's history is easy to get a grip on who she is. From her eras pre-hero, to the old-school teams she joined, to her marriage, her death and rebirth, her first solo series' and team-ups with her BFFs, there are so many places to touch on in her history. As I've been doing it, the summaries and commentary on this read list might be a bit spotty, filling in a little of each era as I go. If there's anything specific you'd like me to summarize for you which I haven't touched on yet, let me know! Modern Hellcat is pretty different from the character we've seen grow and change over the years, but her most recent appearances in Iron Man by Christopher Cantwell make me hopeful for more proper Hellcat in the future. Continue Reading for the complete history of Patsy Walker: HELLCAT! Click Here to be taken to the start of the latest update! (link active after updates) |
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