Comic book heroes, particularly those from Marvel, have hit the mainstream in a way that they haven't since the 1960s. When I first started seriously collecting comics, it was rare to see anyone down the street wearing a comics-inspired t-shirt. Now it's not uncommon to see a dozen people sporting shirts emblazoned with tights-wearing strong men and women.
When I started reading comics, Carol Danvers was still Ms. Marvel, Nick Fury was still a white guy, Aquaman was still a bit of a joke (I loved him, though), and no one outside of people who were deeply into comics knew who Iron Man or Doctor Strange were, let alone the Guardians of the Galaxy.
I think it's brilliant that these characters have hit the mainstream so hard. Yet, the comics their adventures were originally told in, the medium that birthed them, hasn't. Sadly, the huge success of the MCU has not translated to a huge upsurge in comic book readers. Sure, it helped a bit, but not as much as one might think. As such, comics, and many similar hobbies, are still something of an esoteric notion to many.
I've been reading comics now for the better part of 32 years. Starting, as many Aussies do, with The Phantom, and then discovering Marvel and DC, followed by the wonderful, crazy world of independent comics.
I've been collecting for almost as long, my first memory of wanting to collect being when I received my first Mighty Max toy. I collect a myriad of things, but the vast majority are connected to the comics, movies and games I love. I've even started working on a wiki that acts as a personal collection database, as I found I was buying things I already had 😊.
As none of my friends are as into these things as I am, Geekology is a place for me to gush about all this cool stuff! (My lovely wife is willing to listen to me carry on, but I feel I should give her ears a rest.) Here I'll be posting about my collecting, my thoughts on various comics and books I read, games I play and maybe sometimes a movie or show I've watched. I'll discuss various aspects of the collecting hobby, and most likely go on about Sonic the Hedgehog more than most almost-40 year-olds ever should.
In short, this is the nerdy section of Making It Up, Wandering Along.
If you're not into this sort of thing, that's cool. Subscribing to MIU,WA will score you emails for both my writing and Geekology, but if you want to unsubscribe to the Geekology portion I won't be offended. If you're a fellow geek, please say “hello.” I'd love to meet any geeks hanging out here on Substack!
TTFN. 🤓
P.S. If you'd like a clearer idea of what topic will most likely be covered in Geekology, check out this “Stuff I Love” list I posted on Mastodon.
I'm a carer for my mom, who has Alzheimer's, and we have just embarked on the entire MCU universe (TV shows, films and one shots) in chronological order. They are perfect viewing with someone elderly - lots of action and no dodgy embarrassing scenes to watch with a parent! We just finished Thor last night.
I also used to collect comics, up until my teens. I'm really into indie comics and graphic novels these days but have no access to them in the small town in Brazil I live.