Fake Geek Girls

There have always been attacks on "fake geek girls," but recently some comics professionals have joined the battle. Which makes sense, because fights with imaginary women who don't wear many clothes is a big part of that industry. Although that doesn't explain artist Tony Harris (Starman, Ex Machina) waking up and thinking "I make my living drawing comics, so I'd better call the guys pathetic losers and the girls whores. That way I can concentrate on my true fan base: the invisible Zorblaxians, aliens free from gender who talk through the fillings in my teeth!" Harris posted a long Facebook rant decrying the cosplayers and the pathetic men they prey on, and used a detailed number scale to explain exactly how "hot" these women really were.

via Wordballoon
This guy decided to explain hotness to people.

The Evil of Costumes

Harris' argument is that these fake geeks are psychic vampires, sucking up the attention of nerds.

"... the thought of guys pleasuring themselves to the memory of you hanging on them with your glossy open lips, promising them the Moon and the Stars of pleasure, just makes your head vibrate."

Harvesting the imagination of other people masturbating in order to power a psychic vibrator has to be the worst supervillain plan ever. He assumes that someone painstakingly crafting a character costume can only be doing it for men who like that character. He directly states that wearing a costume that a man might like implies the offer of sex. If he ever discovers swimwear, he'll have to be banned from beaches. The idea that a woman might like the costume, or anything, simply doesn't occur to him.

"And here it is, THE REASON WHY ALL THAT, sickens us: BECAUSE YOU DONT KNOW SHIT ABOUT COMICS, BEYOND WHATEVER GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH YOU DID TO GET REF ON THE MOST MAINSTREAM CHARACTER WITH THE MOST REVEALING COSTUME EVER."

He complains that some of them looked up the costume instead of memorizing all the stories. It's almost like comics have a visual component! As an artist, you'd think he'd know that. But after that rant, I'm not convinced that he remembers to breathe without a writer reminding him to.

Judging the Fake

The idea of standing in judgment over other fans is insane. You can't own geekdom. You enjoy it. That's what it's for. The only arena where your enjoyment can triumph over someone else's is martial arts, and comics trivia knowledge is the exact opposite skill set. The only comics person who gets to judge everyone in revealing clothing is Dredd.

2000 AD
Yo, Harris, THIS is what comic book artists do.

There Is No Such Thing as a "Real" Geek

The Internet is stuffed with idiots decrying fake geek girls. Fighting against fake geeks is like fighting against unicorns: You're an asshole, and even if they were real, your stated goal is trying to kill something wonderful. More people liking things you like is a good thing. If you're actively trying to keep people out of your hobby, you don't have one -- you have an excuse. You're not celibate because of your chaste devotion to Green Lantern. Using Iron Man's armor as an excuse to avoid people is the most tragic thing I've ever heard, and it was designed to be a defense mechanism.

Marvel
Stark uses it for the opposite function.

Let's Talk About Whores

According to its advocates, "whore" is a great word. And they're right because it's useful. It's like a hazard sign for other people: you instantly know to avoid the person using that word without exposing yourself to too much of their poison. Comics writer and commentator Dirk Manning reposted this meme ...

via Dirk Manning. Original source unknown but an asshole

Geeks Aren't a Minority

Many man-child warriors take a defensive tone about these "invaders," but you don't get to claim that you're a minority when The Avengers made more money than a dozen countries this year. Video games have midnight launches reported in the news. There was a struggle against geekery, and the geeks won. We won so hard that our only complaints are about Hollywood making billion-dollar movies of our stuff too fast.

DC, Warner Bros
Damn them for making such awesome stuff about our favorite things!

Bringing up gender in comics fandom should be like mentioning your favorite ice cream flavor during a football conversation: irrelevant, and revealing you to be a child. Except children can still like comics without being assholes about it.

The Tragedy

The tragedy of territorial geeks is that they found the wonderful world of fantasy, then missed its point. Some people really are the stereotypical geeks, escaping socially awkward childhoods by finding funner things to do. I was the last picked for football, was occasionally thumped because people found it funny and can talk for a full hour about my favorite Doctor Who original novels. Only that last part still affects my life, and it's awesome. But some people escaped into a world without bullying, and instead of thinking "Great," they thought, "My turn."

Getty
"Back off, noob, there's only ONE Harry Potter/Where's Waldo? mashup expert in THIS house."

You can't be a better fan than anyone else anymore. Memorizing issue numbers was always useless, but in a world with Wikipedia, it's outright embarrassing. The whole point of liking things is to enjoy them. More people means more fun. Even if you're a total sociopath, more people in your hobby means more products for you to enjoy. And if you want to turn it into a fight, someone who likes a character and creates a costume is actually closer to the comics creators than someone who just likes the character.

If you base your self-esteem on how much of a fan you are, neither of those words really apply to you.

Luke also studies Sexual Martial Arts and mocks The 6 Worst Motivational Posters Every Made By Man. He has a website, tumbles and responds to every single tweet.