It was recently pointed out to me that I never really revealed my own Nerd Origin despite asking all of the other contributors to do so. So in an effort to show solidarity with my fellow Nerds, I’ll talk a little bit about how I came to be a fanboy.

I’ve loved superheroes for as long as I can remember. I had a Batman birthday cake for my third birthday (and a Superman one the year before), not to mention countless pairs of Underoos, Mego figures, and other sundry superhero merchandise that would make Jordan Hembrough weep. The thing is, I’m not exactly sure why. It’s not like my parents were heavily invested in trying to transfer nerdom on to their children (you know, like what my fellow Nerd Parents and I are doing to our own kids). The only comics I remember my father reading were the old Lo Fu Zi ones he used to help me learn and understand Chinese. But whatever the source, I had the bug.

As much as I loved these characters, though, I was never really exposed to them in actual comic books. My Batman either lived inside the television — whether it was Adam West or the Super Friends — or in my imagination as I pushed my Super Powers Batmobile across the living room carpet. But I couldn’t tell you what was going on in the Batman comics at the time, and those formative years — 1985-86 — were smack dab in the middle of the comic book renaissance.

That said, there was one comic that changed my life irrevocably, and is the reason I consider myself a comic book nerd at all.

Continue reading “Searching for Candy and Comics, an Origin”