#karmencomic

[coolgirlcomics]

Introduction... or something like that. 

If I am being honest, I can be a bit snobish with my love for comics or anything nerdy that I am passionate about. It’s definitely something I’m working on... Although its hard not to boast when you have first prints and first issues of a lot of the comics people are just now getting in to... lol ok I’ll stop!

The truth is I’ve been reading comics since I was 12 (21 years now) and it wasn’t always the “cool” thing to do. I was not cool. I was a nerd. I wasn’t only a nerd but I honestly just didn’t know how to read. It was hard because I have a huge imagination and to think there was a time in my life that I just couldn’t read but desperately wanted to makes me somewhat sad. 

I was in slow learning classes my whole life. At 12 I was reading at a preschool reading level and I got made fun of a lot for this. And then one day in science class a girl I barely knew but sat next to was reading a comic about this cute little dead girl named Lenore. She let me try to read the first issue and with the imagery/word combination for the first time I was able to read something other than Spot Jump Over the Big red Ball and was intoxicatingly sucked in to Lenore. 

Every month my new science class friend’s uncle would pick up each new issue for us as they came out. AND Each month I was so excited I could barely contain myself. I got to experience a written story that wasn’t a children’s books. On top of being able to read something with a story that was meant for a more mature audiance the art work was so fucking cute. I LOVED IT! Every bit of it. I still have all of these issues because they play a huge role in my life. Who would have thought a comic about a cute little dead girl would be the leading factor in to how I taught myself how to read. 

My ultimate goal was to be able to read all of the Harry Potter books that were out at the time. So impatient and incapable of waiting a whole month for the new issue of Lenore I started going to comic book stores on my own and searching out comics with deep storylines and intense visuals to hold me over. Eventually it turned in to me waiting each month for not just Lenore but all of the other amazing series I had discovered along the way. 

Wednesday’s started to be my most favorite day. New comic release day! 

It didn’t take long before I was able to read Harry Potter amongst other amazing novels. Harry Potter being the very first chapter book I was able to read. AND LET ME TELL YOU... I couldn’t put the books down. I would wait in line for the new title midnight releases with my mom (she was just happy I was reading and excited about it) and I would sit in the downstairs study and just read until my eyes bleed. 

I remember my mom walking by the room one day and looking in and muttering to herself “I can’t believe she’s reading” and to be totally honest I couldn’t believe it either.. Something I used to struggle with and hate had transformed in to the most magical gift I could ever receive.

Now I dont know what I would do if I couldn’t read. Reading is a daily thing for me and still being a hardcore nerd its a bit haunting. I still misspell words and my grammar isn’t perfect which is a huge insecurity of mine. Not to mention majority of what I read are comics. Leaving me still somewhat of an outsider. 

Oddly enough since I am a female in the comic/gaming world I tend to hear a lot of sexist comments. Sometimes insinuating that the only reason I read or play videogames or DnD must be because I’m riding a trend.

I’m not denying others aren’t doing this (male and female) but come on, really? When do I get to just be myself without constantly having to prove my identity. I built my first PC when I was 13 and started playing counter strike, quake, halflife amongst so many other games. I would lug my giant tower and monitor to my friends house and we would have LAN parties and play all night long.

When I was old enough I worked at GameStop. I worked there for 7 YEARS! Meanwhile keeping up with all my favorite comics. I have hundreds - I used to have thousands 😱 but had to dial it down and sell or give a ton away. I am so much a regular at the local comic shop here that I am now friends with all the people who work there! And the amount of times I’ve cosplayed in my life for megacon or Comic-Con or any fucking con is insane. And not sexy cosplay, real deal Battlestar Galactica viper pilot - or Sander Cohen from Bioshock. Even Desmond from assassins creed!

I honestly dont know any other way to be... So if you read this blog know every post about every comic, videgame, table top game, or nerdy movie/show will be written with passion... Because this is the stuff I love and I can’t help but want to share it with whoever wants to know about it. 

Anyway I have gone on too long. Bye

Samiha Elvira