No more hiding in the basement with a stack of comics fearing the great ball of gas in the sky for us anymore! With the media and style trends over the past few years drifting towards all great things nerdy and geeky, being a proud and representing Geek has never been easier or more commonplace. Gone are the times when the only people you would see wearing a Batman or Green Lantern shirt were hunkered down in an isle at the local comic book shop.
Now’s the time to rock out your Flash shirt with pride or stamp your car with an Autobot symbol and represent (or Decepticon, we can stay friends and not argue). My personal favorite part of this has been not just the spread in acceptability of rocking your hero or villain of choice, but how much easier it is to do so now. Just half a decade ago it would have taken some serious work to track down an Avengers shirt, much less a replica Mjolnir hammer so I could run around and pretend to be Thor. Hey, like I said, no shame.
With San Diego ComiCon having just wrapped up, it’s clearer than ever that being a nerd and being in the know is far from the social outcry it used to be. People aren’t afraid to indulge themselves in some nerdy goodness no matter what their social or personality style. You might remember a stereotype of a hardcore punk kid beating up a comic book nerd; today that punk’s stretched ears could have Superman logo plugs representing his DC pride. It’s helped bring together an uncountable amount of people over their shared love of the Dark Knight’s rise or Bruce Banner’s fall, not getting hung up on the petty things. There are much more important arguments to be had, like who would win in a fight between Captain America and Iron Man.
No matter what your particular style is or what you’re looking for it’s almost certain that at this point you can personalize yourself with that extra touch of +1 comic book geekness. I myself am highly anticipating my Deadpool plugs as maybe a bit of an excuse to run my mouth off just a little bit more on those right occasions. So go ahead, rock your power rings, customize your bling and shout what side you stand by, because who knows where the trend is going, but there’s never been a better time to be a nerd than now.
