A Brief History of Geekiness (Part Two)

(My Geeky History)
My First Comics.... Archies

"That's Right I'm gonna wail on this Tamberine, and you are going to Love it!"

             So growing up as we’ve established that I had a fairly straight-laced family, so it should come as no surprise that I didn’t really read comics as a child.... Except for ARCHIES, and I loved the Archies.

             But I have to say right off that “the Archies” sorta ruined high school for me. I mean I was thinking all that I’d have a gang of friends and we’d spend our afternoons at the Chok’Lit Shoppe (which I thought was pronounced shop E until really recently, like 2 years ago) and plan school dances and have a band, and everyone would be really polite and civil with each other. Which is definitely not what high school was like. I had a gang of friends sure, but we didn’t have a band (some of us were IN band – percussionist is what I was, I know you want to know), none of my friends had a car until grade 12, and we never all headed out to the beach in it once.

            But the Archies did teach me how to read comics and I love comics now, so I am glad I was allowed those. I loved the fact that Archie and gang were such good friends, even when Reggie was an ass or Veronica was a bitch, because ultimately they were all good people who just had a few bad qualities and that was what my family tried to teach me too, which is probably why I get duped with people sometimes. I’m a terrible judge of character because I think everyone is good first and then I’m terribly disappointed in them.

            I also have to say that I love the retro feeling of the Archie’s artwork. I know they have updated the artwork in recent years to reflect the times, but there is something about the pop artesqueness that the classic Archies seem to have. Though the plots very change much, and they all seem to live in a town that time and “real life” problems never touch, so even that the date may be 2012, the morality seems to be Victorian for the most part. It’s all very retro for today’s world, but sometimes it is just great to read something that is incredibly innocent and carefree.

            Since reading Archies I’ve branched more into Xmen, The New Mutants and other comics, which are all thrilling, artistic and way more action packed. But every now again I pull out my Archie, or Betty & Veronica digests and read em again.

What were some of your first comics? Email me at westcoastgeekchic@hotmail.com, or leave a comment below. I'd love to hear your history too!

 

A Brief History of Geekiness

          

Part One: Cinderella

Maybe I should have called this “My History of Geekiness”. It all started with a little bootlegged VHS copy of Cinderella. That is right it all started with Disney for me.  Our very first VHS videos were Cinderella and Dr. Zhivago and we watched both of those movies to death (although it took me until last year to completely watch Dr. Zhivago). Cinderella just captured my imagination right off.

            Cinderella opened up a whole world of fantasy and dreams to me. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was the youngest of three sisters and I was blonde, who knows, but Cinderella was and is my ideal princess fantasy. I mean who doesn’t want a fairy godmother to fix everything for them?

“Now I’ll get you to the party, but you gotta get the prince for yourself!"

           Of course the fact that this was the only kid movie we had for a long time might also have had something to do with the fact that it struck such a fancy with me. Add to that the fact that my mom was a little protective over what I was allowed to watch, Disney movies were the favourite at our house. Our VHS collection grew with every released title and heading out to see movies like “The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty & the Beast”, “Aladdin” and “Pocahontas” made me an incredibly happy little girl.

            Growing up the princesses that I loved became more sophisticated, more independent, but as an adult and a woman I feel guilty saying it, but I love the fact that Cinderella isn’t complicated; she’s just a girl, who has dealt with crap ever since her dad died. She needs a miracle to achieve her dream, and fortunately that’s what she gets, a bone fide miracle. Sometimes I think it would great if we had more miracles in life.

            While magic may not exist in our world, it exists in almost all the fantasy worlds that I love (or if it’s not “magic” it’s more advanced technology). The pleasure of all the “geek” worlds out there is that it’s a mix of what we know, what we wish, and what we hope will be in the future. While I’ll never be the princess and end up with prince charming, I can escape into a world where I can “become” the princess, the federation officer, the warrior, the companion; a world where I become the hero.

PS: NEVER WATCH THE SEQUELS THAT CAME OUT IN 2001 AND 2007

Welcome to West Coast Geek Chic

So probably you are a geek, or into geek culture and you have stumbled upon this blog, and you are asking yourself "What makes this blog different than the millions of blogs out there?" and the answer is, Me!

I am a huge geek girl and I am into almost all forms of the geek world, and I love to geek out about my favourite movies, comics, shows and internet content. Not only do I love to talk about my stuff, I welcome your input too, send me your thoughts and I will comment on your emails here on the blog too. That is what is amazing about the interent, the conversations they start!