{"id":95,"date":"2008-06-24T07:00:40","date_gmt":"2008-06-24T11:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/?p=95"},"modified":"2011-08-21T22:58:54","modified_gmt":"2011-08-22T02:58:54","slug":"new-geek-shirt-a-personal-history-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2008\/06\/24\/new-geek-shirt-a-personal-history-lesson\/","title":{"rendered":"New Geek Shirt & A Personal History Lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SecretI recently got a new geek-related t-shirt I thought I would share.\u00a0 This one I picked up from Kohl’s.\u00a0 I absolutely love the image, especially the bit across the top, “#1 in a Twelve-Issue Limited Series<\/em>“, just like the comic featured. I wish it wasn’t on dark gray, it makes the colors look muted.\u00a0 But otherwise I love the shirt.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons I like this shirt so much is my own personal connection to the “Secret Wars<\/a>” comic series.\u00a0 When I was in sixth grade, I was the victim of peer pressure.\u00a0 “Peer pressure in sixth grade, surely not?!?!”, you think astonished.\u00a0 I know… shocker (read as sarcasm).\u00a0 I had just started a new middle school and was still getting to know my new friends (including Ravenface<\/a>).\u00a0 During lunch one day, they started talking about all these fantastic sounding characters from some comic book I had never heard of.\u00a0 I was really only familiar with a few Marvel characters; mainly the ones who appeared in the “Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends<\/a>” cartoon.\u00a0 When I acknowledged that I didn’t know many of these characters, my new friends pounced on me as all sixth graders typically do when they see weakness in a fellow classmate.\u00a0 “You don’t know what Secret Wars is?!?!?!”\u00a0 “You don’t know who Galactus is?!?!?!”\u00a0 “Everyone knows who Magneto is, don’t they?”\u00a0 And so on…<\/p>\n

So there I was, an eleven year old outcast.\u00a0 I felt ridiculed and incompetent.\u00a0 Surely there must be some way to redeem myself.\u00a0 And then the answer appeared before me…\u00a0 I was in the local convenience store (Sing store for us Tallahassee folks) getting some candy and an icee.\u00a0 I happened upon the comic book rack and staring me in the face was “Secret Wars” issue #2.\u00a0 A big bold image of Magneto on the cover.\u00a0 I immediately purchased the comic and devoured the information.\u00a0 I refused to be the butt of my sixth grade\u00a0class.\u00a0 So from there forth, I made sure to buy all the issues of “Secret Wars”.\u00a0 I even paid the painful sum of $5 for a back issue of #1 (considering cover price was $0.75, that’s a hefty mark-up).\u00a0 In order to prepare for any unexpected, yet vitally important sixth grade conversations, I started to buy other comics also… a little Uncanny X-Men here… a little Marvel Saga there…<\/p>\n

\"Secret<\/a><\/p>\n

And that’s how it begins.\u00a0 A life long addiction… all because of sixth grade peer pressure.<\/p>\n

I blame Ravenface… a.k.a. Ravenface, the pusher.\u00a0 DAMN YOU, RAVENFACE!<\/p>\n

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Tell the world about ONCE UPON A GEEK:<\/h3>