Hello, my friends!

It’s Fri-yay and I definitely didn’t want to end the night without writing something new for you guys, as promised. So, I figured for today, I’d give you an NGC post about something new I’ve been doing: reading comic books!
Now, I know some of you are probably questioning my “nerd cred” because I never really got into comic books, but hear me out, okay?

So, I didn’t get into comic books because I was never really introduced to them. I was more of a novel-reading kid (really novel collecting, but that’s another story) and I also didn’t think to get into the comic book scene because I watched Batman: The Animated Series and the X-Men cartoons like they were soap operas as a child and wasn’t completely aware of their source material.

Don’t get me wrong, I knew they were comics, but I thought they were old as dirt and like collectables that people kept in dust jackets forever so they could make millions on them if the world didn’t cease to exist, you know?

Nevertheless, when I became a teenager, I became more aware of the comic book realm, but still didn’t have a guide. And when I bought my first few comic issues, I didn’t know what to do — or didn’t understand the mechanics of being a comic book reader, rather.

So when I bought these gems:

I felt all kinds of lost. I literally thrusted myself in the middle of a storyline I had no clue about and after buying like 7 different issues of X-Men stories that mirrored NOTHING I saw on TV, I told myself to chill out ’cause that ‘ish was for the professionals.

Fast forward some 10 or so years… 

I had put the whole diving into the comic book world on hold for years until I started reading and writing for Black Girl Nerds. I wanted to be down with these ladies, and was painfully aware that I hadn’t been into comics — that is until I went to a BGN NY Super Week panel where the lovely Cynthia Francillon (hey, boo!) mentioned this comic book called Saga. 

I was immediately intrigued since everyone in the room was acting like this at the mere mention of it:

So I bookmarked it in my brain and after doing a couple Google searches, I learned that I could pick up the book at Strand Books (hey, Strand!). When I stepped in there, it was like… nerd heaven (in a good way), but I was overwhelmed all over again. Thankfully this time, I had a purpose. I found the Saga Volume 1 compendium, completely stoked I had been hip to the knowledge the volumes were sequential issues lumped into one.

I kept looking around at other books and covers, thinking if I should try something else or dig into this book first. However, I knew I was doing something right by going through with my purchase because when I got to the register, the cashier was like, “Saga? NICE!”

If he gave me the seal of approval, then this book was legit.

So, I hopped on the train heading home and starting reading. It had nudity, it had swearing, it had a chick with wings and a dude with horns and their weird, winged-horned baby and people with television sets for heads chasing them, and a pink ghost girl with her guts hanging out and a beanie on her head — and I was SOLD. 

Long and short, it’s definitely a Romeo & Juliet-type love story, if those kids hadn’t been so dumb and offed themselves. And lived on weird planets. And had a hybrid baby.

I could go indepth about the story (which I’ll probably do another day), but let’s just say, I was pretty damn pleased and even thanked Cynthia for putting me on (note* the tweet below isn’t the original, but my enthusiasm for being put on rearing its obsessive head).

In any event, as you can tell from the five volumes I have in the picture above, I really enjoyed Saga — and am impatiently waiting for Volume 6 to drop so I can devour it.

As I went to pick up the newer volumes, I tried out a few other comic books, like Low and this Fables comic, which I actually wrote about for work a very very long time ago:

I bought the first volumes of each to wet my beak a little and see how much I liked them. I’m still making up my mind, but Buzzfeed recommended this kinky, hilarious masterpiece called Sex Criminals about people with magical time-stopping orgasms (yup, that’s exactly right) and I didn’t hesiste to buy it. Now? I’m waiting for the next book to drop A-Father-Freaking-SAP.

And like that ladies and gents, I got over my little anxiety over comic books, and officially have a little comic book collection. =)

Who wanna check my nerd cred now, huh?

I thought so.

I’ll have to drop a review or two about some of these books just in case you’re interested in learning more about them, though those posts may be on BGN among the other cool comic book readers’ reviews, ’cause you know, I’m one of them now.

Until then, keep geeking folks and feel free to drop a line in the comments or hit me up on le Twitter!

x Nerd Girl Out x