It’s So Hard Not Being a Black Nerd

There are a number of reasons I picked up my first comic book. The most honest is this: I like a boy, who likes comic books. Now, from all accounts and interactions, this boy appears to be a rational, reasoning decent human being, intelligent, funny and he likes me too so he obviously has good taste. I, though never having read a comic book before, do love to read, thus I was expecting, at the very least not to hate whichever comic was suggested. What I did not anticipate is how thoroughly I would enjoy it. So now I have a genuine affection for Miles Morales and a legitimate interest in what happens in the next issue of Saga, but I’m lost in the world of Nerddom. I am not a nerd, but I’m also not not a nerd, I fall in this no-man’s land of labels. I’m not hip hop or happening (I believe that’s what the kids say). I’m not really up on pop culture, the hottest tracks, the latest… anything, I’m not into arcade games, I’ve never played a video game in my life, I read my first comic 2 months ago at the age of 27. Not really nerd material. I’m into World’s Strongest Man and poetry, I love board games and good books (I haven’t read Harry Potter, I tried, I really did, it just wasn’t for me). I love movies (I haven’t seen the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, nothing happens in the first film, I couldn’t bring myself to sit through 6 more hours of the same). I enjoy a good cocktail and know a fair amount about gin. I used to collect tattoos until my mom told me I couldn’t get any more becau…