Socrates McFadden and comic lore

I've been getting these spam mails in my hotmail account lately and the names that they come from are totally awesome. Is it wrong that the fake people from Spamtown seem cooler than your real friends and family? Examples: Socrates McFadden, Abioye Pitts, Nemisis Block?! I want to live in Spamtown! I can change my name and sell Viagra for 2.99.

In other news!

I saw Iron Man this weekend and I really liked it. I thought it was really well done. I am a "late bloomer" when it comes to comics and things of that nature. I was a tomboy growing up but I was an outside/sporty tomboy so I kinda missed out on the whole comic culture. I didn't really start to know or care about anything comic related until I started really hanging out with the boy that would become my husband. I walked into his room for the first time 7ish years ago and was assaulted by the hundred comics on his wall (not to mention the early 80's space wallpaper that looked like it was printed on crazy red and blue graph paper behind the comics). I was instantly fascinated and to be honest felt kinda sorry for my little empty, drab walls at home.

I am an avid reader and I always lumped comics in the category of magazines...and boy was I wrong. I would ask Mike about some of the covers that caught my eye and he would tell me the story. I got really interested in some of them and then he would start to tell me the "mythos" (some went back a good 30 years or more!) behind certain characters and stories. I was honestly floored. I had no idea comics were so enthralling. I liked that they could pack huge stories in a few pages and the tension could continue along book by book. My favorites started to become X-men because it was one where the ladies really truly kicked some major ass

and of course Batman. I've always liked Batman...but the Michael Keaton Batman I knew and loved paled in comparison to the stories Mike would tell me about. Having a contingency plan on how to destroy every member of the JLA in case they started trouble?! Kyrptonite gloves to beat the hell out of Supes?! Priceless. Then I read the Dark Knight and we started watching the animated series by Bruce Timm and I was friggin hooked. I would move to Gotham right this second if it were a real place. And I would start a gang with Ivy and Harley Quinn. Nah, screw it...it is my make believe story...I would be Harley Quinn.

Except I would take less shit from Joker.

Next came the HeroClix, and the trips to the comic shop, and the game where Mike would say the "super name" and I would have to figure out their real name. I know I sound like a dork when I talk about this stuff to other people but I don't care. Some of the most interesting conversations I have had in the last 10 years have been about comic stuff.

So, I saw Iron Man. And loved it! And I stayed after the credits and saw the secret part. And I cheered! And I felt a swell of pride when I cheered because I not only knew what they were talking about(which it seems few did)...I had his whole goddamn HeroClix team! And got the power attack bonus too, biyatch! And I gotta tell you, it feels good to be part of this dork nation. Even if I am a noob.
Clearly this last part is a rub to all of those English teachers that told me I couldn't start sentences with "and!"

And I am done.