The Secret Comic Book Origins of the Nerds That Geek - Joel's Story: An Introduction

Written by Joel T. Lewis

​You might not believe it dear readers but I didn’t grow up reading comics. I know you probably imagine a tiny Joel swimming in a sea of old direct editions, fingers tattooed with ink from the oily, yellowing pages of Spidey, Bats, and Cap but that wasn’t the case. You would find elementary school Joel, complete with Obi-Wan Kenobi Lunchbox, walking along the fence of the school yard at lunch with his nose buried in a Star Wars Expanded Universe book, and you would be shocked to discover that he only owned 4 comic books. This is the story of those comic books.
           
They weren’t connected. They weren’t complete. They came from arcs that were halfway finished, only just begun, or concluded in 22 short pages. I’ve talked about my frustration with these comics before, and the thirst for continuity that resulted from these island issues, but it is only in the last week that I’ve been able to track down and read the issues that could fill in the gaps (shout-out to Comixology who’s recent sale, while dangerous, made tracking these issues down so much easier). Understand that these stories have been full of holes for over a decade in my mind and separate from the financial and logistical aspects of tracking down the physical issues, I was scared to fill in those gaps.
 
I never thought that these mysteries would ever be solved, and I had tucked them away as these mythic jigsaw pieces in my mind, understanding that I’d never see the complete picture. Throughout this rediscovery of my comic book origins, I discovered that a lot of my fandom flexibility, my perception of what certain characters were or could be was informed by these very issues. They’re a very unique, strange, and special collection of stories, and I owe a lot of my imagination, flexibility, and in a way my identity as a fan to these issues.
 
There is one thing that all these issues share, and I’m sure that it will not come as a surprise to learn that they are all Batman stories. This is the story of my secret comic book origin, the story of the comics that made me into the nerd that you know and love. 

---