BLAMO!

Blamo!

fangirls and fanboys breaking the geek mold.



Name: Marcus
Employment: Graham Cracker Comics

How long have you liked comics?
This is just a trick to make me feel old huh? I’d say maybe 14 years

How big is your collection?
I’d say right around nine long boxes.

What is your favorite comic book?
All time favorite comic book ever? My all time favorite comic book ever is Justice League of America volume 3 issue 10. It’s really random and it had nothing to do with the rest of the series, but it was the issue where it was painted inside, and the entire story took place in like, ten feet of space. The whole plotline is like, “hey we’re trapped under this building that is like, underwater.” And the writing was so good that even though the scenery doesn’t change, you felt so much emotional connection to the art and the writing. It was like the perfect story.

What superhero can you most identify with?
I’d say either the Green Lantern or Dr. Strange. Green Lantern, John Stewart, he’s always trying to make a name for himself and not be compared to all the other green lanterns. Like, his whole struggle is, there are four other green lanterns. And he’s just a fallback guy. And he always has to overcome things and always be a little better than the rest. And that’s why I like him. I like Dr. strange just because, well it’s the overcoming thing also. He literally had his hands destroyed in an accident. And forced himself to learn magic in order to continue to help people. Dr. strange was a surgeon and obviously he can’t do surgery after losing his hands so after that he went on to be this superhero and became a huge part of the marvel universe

Ok, now these questions get kind of personal….do you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend?
No. Not right now

Do you find that comic book love gets in the way of finding someone to date?
No. not at all. And I think anyone who would find comic books a turn off, they’re not worth my time anyway. I don’t like you as a person now.

Do you have a superhero costume? Do you ever dress up?
No, not my thing. I’m not really into that

Have you ever been to comic con?
No, but I am going this year.

What would you say is your geekiest comic book moment ever?
Actually I think it was when I was hanging out with that guy (he points to another man in the shop) we went to a party and someone, I have a tattoo of the green lantern, and I can’t remember how the Green Lantern came up, but we were like, “wait you don’t know the Green Lantern?” and then we legitimately drunkenly recited the entire Green Lantern oath and everyone at the party that didn’t join in just all turned around like, whoooooa.

Alright, any last comments?
I would say, don’t get into comics if you just want to collect. We’re kind of a purist group. We’re not into buying comics just because you think it’s going to be worth money. You should actually appreciate them.




Name: Sam
Employment: Graham Cracker Comics

How long have you been into comics?
For a very long time. I used to steal my older brother’s comics. So I guess I was pretty young. I remember the first time I raided his comic books, I think I was in like, the second grade, so I was like 7 or 8.

What’s your favorite comic book?
Comic series? Oh my god, I’m too indecisive to ever pick. Currently, the first thing I would say would be Fables. That’s definitely one of my favorites. If I could look back and decide what single comic book had a huge impact on me, it was Demo by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. I love the style of writing and how it was this collection of short stories based off of this one idea.

How big is your collection?
Not very big. Just because where I came from there is absolutely no comic book stores. The only kind of comic book store you could go to was a borders and that was at least an hour and a half away.

What comic book character can you most identify with?
I’m such a newbie at this. I always go towards the bigger characters. I’m very drawn to superman. Just because he is like the Boy Scout and no one really goes into depth about how much pressure is put on him. There are so many expectations with this one character. And I always go back to the question of; he isn’t a human so why is he helping us?

Do you have a boyfriend?
No, not at the moment, no.

Has Liking Comics ever been a problem with getting dates?
No. it’s actually kind of funny, if I bring up that I work at a comic book store or I read comics, guys kind of gravitate towards that. So yeah it’s never been an issue.

Do you have a costume? Do you ever dress up?
I’ve dressed up once. There was this tiny titans day at my friend’s comic store, she owns the place. And I dressed up as Raven. Although I do have plans to dress up this year for free comic book day as White Violin from The Umbrella Academy.

Have you ever been to comic con?
No. I really want to go. But it’s a money issue.

Do you have any comic book tattoos?
No. I really want to get a Batgirl one though.

What’s your Geekiest comic nerd moment?
Ok, I have this friend, who, we’re both extremely nerdy. And we were both hanging out really late at night. I was wearing a star wars t-shirt, he was wearing a marvel t-shirt, our whole conversation for about three hours was the difference between Marvel and DC. And then we made out.

Any last parting comments on geekiness and comic books?
Well, I can answer questions too! Why do people always think just because I’m a chick I don’t know about comics. And I hate the question, “Do you actually read comic books or do you just work here?”



Name: Kaitlin
Employment: Chicago Comics

How long have you been into comic books?
Probably since I was eight. Somewhere around there

How big is your collection?
Pretty small right now because I sold a bunch of it but I probably have 7 or 8 long boxes.

What is your favorite comic book?
Oh, that’s tough. Currently running, my favorite comic book is Walking Dead. For all time, I guess I’ll have to say The Max. Just because it was very influential on my desire to make art. As far as comic book art goes.

Do you write comics?
I’ve written one. It’s called The Magical Quest.

Is it published?
It’s published. I’ve sold out of the first run though.

Which comic book character can you most identify with?
Personally, I guess, Batman has always been one of my favorite characters. And although my parents didn’t get gunned down in the street, like I can identify with him, which is kind of weird. I guess it’s because he’s always fighting against crazies and sort of is trapped in crazy-people-land where he himself is also kind of demented, and he is always trying to achieve this unattainable balance of goodness and justice in the world.

Do you have a boyfriend?
I have a boyfriend.

Is he into comics too?
He is into comics, yes.

Has liking comics ever gotten in the way of getting dates?
Oh no. I’ve never had a problem getting dates because of comics. It’s probably a plus for me to like comics to get dates. And all of the people I’ve dated that haven’t liked comics, it got really boring after a while because they couldn’t identify with a huge part of my lifestyle.

Do you ever dress up? Do you have any costumes?
I really am trying to work for a Han Solo costume. I had one before but the buttons were wrong so I’m still trying to put together a better one.

Have you ever been to comic con?
Yes, I dressed up there too.

Do you have any comic book tattoos?
No. I’ve wanted to get the comic code logo or maybe Berserk, but I don’t have one yet

What is your geekiest moment?
I’m not sure if it is my most geeky moment but it’s the most recent, I think. There was this comic book cover with a bunch of characters on it and a friend of mine pointed to this raccoon asking who it was and I knew it was Rocket Raccoon. Like he’s such an obscure character and I knew who he was!

Do you have any parting words on geekiness and comic books?
I think everyone who is into super hero comics should read indie and everyone who is into indie books should read super hero comics. We all need to coincide and get a long, and there’s an unfortunate split in the comic book community.



How long have you liked comic books?
Since I was a kid, I have been reading them. Going on road trips I would read comics. I think since I was 6.

How expansive is your collection?
It’s up there. I like the rare and limited edition comic books and art books.

Do you have a girlfriend?
I actually have a wife. Yes I know its breaking the geek stereotype but I have been with her for quite a while. We enjoy reading books together.

Do you ever dress up? Have you ever been to comic con?
Yes I did. When I was younger I would go to comic con. It is very different from the recent comic cons that are celebrated today. We dressed creepier and now it’s more family related.

Do you have any tattoos?
Yes but they are more art related than comics.

What is the geekiest moment you can think of?
When I would download secret books and comics from the internet I would realize what I was doing after I did it. I felt like such a nerd but I enjoyed it.

by Grace Gimpel and Pablo Ponce