Chicks Dig Comics

Chicks Dig Comics and I am one of them. I only recently discovered the beauty and awesomeness that is the graphic novel, but now that I have I glory in it; as do the contributors to this wonderful anthology. Part of a recent series of books dedicated to geek culture and the women who love it, Chicks Dig Comics is a collection of essays by female fans, writers, editors and authors. (There's a couple of interviews with male creators as well.) Like any essay anthology, some entries spoke to me more than others. Mutants by Marjorie M. Liu and The Captain in the Capitol: Invoking the Superhero in Daily Life by Jennifer Margaret combined to come closest to matching my own reasons for loving comics and superheros while Kelly Thompson's I Am Sisyphus, and I Am Happy highlighted some of the reasons that may have kept me from comics for so much of my life. But it wasn't only essays with which I personal experience with that spoke to me. Captain America's Next Top Model was a fun look at how a geeky fashoinista (one of the last adjectives I would use to describe myself) combines her two loves. Perhaps the essay that stuck with me the most was co-editor Sigrid Ellis' Kitty Queer, describing how Chris Claremont and the X-Men helped her discover and accept her sexuality.

And it's not just superheros. "Sandman", "FELL", "Vampirella", and manga all get their due as do many other comics. In the end, what this collection really does is show that there are as many reasons to love comics as their are comic fans. The fact that these fans all happen to be women makes it a must-read for geek girls everywhere!