Not So Secret Origins III: Smalerie Edition
The Red Menace and Cartoon Sara have already taken their turns to tell the tale of how they met the other ladies and how they as individuals discovered and fostered their love of comics and all things geeky. Well, brace yourselves, kiddies, because I am up to bat.
The Path
My love for comics came much later than the other ladies. While they were reading comics, I was still busy studying Disney trivia and getting my comics knowledge through cartoons and movies. To be fair, I loved those cartoons and movies, but if it didn’t happen in Batman: The Animated Series, I didn't know about it. And for a long time I was quite content to leave it that way.
Then my teens hit and thanks to a friend, I discovered Sailor Moon and manga. Other than the occasional borrowing of my sister’s X-Men comics, this is really where it began. I subscribed to MixxZine and splurged every now and then on some trades. But the real damage was done (in a good way) when I found myself out of college, living with Tiny Doom, and falling for a guy who loved comic books. I still tell my guy that one of my favorite things about our early dates was when he would take me out to dinner and tell me superhero origin stories over burgers.
The Ladies
I’m not sure how much I have to add to the stories of meeting Cartoon Sara and The Red Menace. So I think I will just add some color commentary to their narratives.
The Red Menace was already friends with Tiny Doom before we got to know each other. It was really thanks to her razor sharp wit and exemplary participation at book club that we started chatting more. Book Clubs provide wonderful opportunities to go up to someone and say things like “That point you made about the role of [blank] in [blank]? YES!!! I was worried that I was the only one who wanted to talk about that!”
As Cartoon Sara wrote, we met during Muppet Trivia. Long story short, she destroyed that night and I made a beeline for her after the event was over. Girl might as well have had a target on her back. Someone who knew that much about the Muppets was going to be my friend, even if it meant creating some crazy friend-making scheme involving sock puppets and large amounts of crayon shavings. Thankfully it didn’t come to that.
Now last but certainly not least, Tiny Doom. What can be said about Tiny Doom that hasn’t been yelled from the tree tops by drunken pygmy marmosets with nervous conditions? She’s my sister and our origin story goes like this – I woke up one morning and she was there. Years later, I feel pretty lucky to call her not only my sister, but also my friend.
Oh and as a quick little extra, that dog with me in the banner at the top of the page...that would be Mokey. She and I met at a dog adoption event when the rescue neglected to bring the dog I had asked them to bring. Instead the gentleman who ran the transport suggested we take a look at a certain little dog he had been working with. This dog had been recently adopted by a woman and returned in less than 24 hours because the dog had been too "aloof." For some reason, Transport Guy thought that The Boy and I were just the right people for her. The Boy fell in love with her right away. She and I were both apprehensive at first, but a few weeks of proper meals and scritches fixed all that real quick. Oh, and changing her name from Tikki to Mokey didn't hurt either.
And that my friends, is pretty much how it all went down.
Before I close this post, I just wanted to share an exciting exhibit hosted by our friends at the Nave Gallery in Somerville. They are currently seeking entries for a juried exhibition all about Doodles. If you are an artist and interested in submitting your work, you can check out their Facebook page here.