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This Is What A Geek Looks Like

Arianna Coghill | September 16, 2019

Topics: anime, black youth, bryanda law, crystal healing, Culture, geek, gender, larissa orakunda, lauren grant, LGBTQ, lgbtqia, lizzo, megan thee stallion, my hero academia, nerd, people of color, quirktastic, race, Sailor Moon, woman of color

The creatives behind Quirktastic grew up without a space for black youth in nerd culture… so they made their own. 

“You’re not really the right race to dress up as that character.”

“You don’t really look like a geek.”

“Are you pretending just for guys’ attention?”

Lauren Grant has heard everything in the book. But together with Bryanda Law and Larissa Orakunda, she’s cultivated an inclusive space for geeks, nerds, and weirdos to freely be themselves with no judgement.

Quirktastic is a website dedicated to all things alternative, featuring articles, videos and quizzes on everything from anime to crystal healing. Beginning as a blog in 2014, Quirktastic has grown into a full fledged, LA-based media company.

Law’s goal when creating Quirktastic was to make an outlet that people wished existed when they were growing up quirky, alternative, and black.

Quirktastic team. LEFT: Chief Content Officer Lauren Grant. CENTER: Founder + CEO Bryanda Law. RIGHT: Editor-In-Chief Larissa Irankunda.

“There was no other site dedicated to creating black-business lists that cater to quirky black women, or anyone writing love letters to black men who play with LEGOs,” Law stated in a 2017 interview. “I wanted to be that site.”

Grant, a VCU Broadcast Journalism alum, joined the team in 2017, two days after leaving the worst job of her life. One of her best friends tweeted her Quirktastic’s call for writers. When she saw the website, it was love at first click.

“When I clicked on the website, I couldn’t believe that I had never heard of Quirktastic before!” says Grant. “Quirky black girls like myself were writing pieces that related to me, pieces I actually wanted to read not only from the perspective of a nerd, but from the perspective of being a woman of color.”

Grant has moved through the ranks and is now the Chief Content Officer of Quirktastic, producing all of their video and podcast content.

Grant has always known life as a geek. She first remembers getting into the culture at about seven years old, when her childhood friend Amanda introduced her to Sailor Moon, a popular Japanese cartoon and comic book about a group of magical teenage girls saving the Universe.

However, largely due to her gender and race, many people have looked at her interest with an air of skepticism.

“I wish I could say that it’s stopped, but even as someone who has worked in a geeky space for years, I still am hearing, ‘You don’t look like a geek.’” 

Photo via Quirktastic Quizzes

Even black female celebrities have recently come under fire for their interest in nerd culture. Rapper and singer Lizzo dressed as Sailor Moon for a concert. Megan thee Stallion did a photoshoot for Paper magazine as Todoroki, a character from the anime My Hero Academia, and has multiple mentions of anime in her lyrics.

Both celebrities, especially Megan thee Stallion, were accused of faking their interest in order to chase “clout” and exploit “real anime fans.”

This strict gatekeeping has been one of the greatest hurdles that the Quirktastic team has tried to overcome since relocating to LA. During many investor meetings and networking events, they keep hearing, “Well, you don’t really look like geeks.”

Quirktastic has made strides in creating a community for those who feel ostracized. With the creation of a friendship app and the hashtag #thisiswhatageeklookslike, the Quirk community has a strong emphasis on inclusivity.

“We give everyone a chance to shine, especially women, people of color, and the LGBTQIA+ community — but our platform doesn’t just cater to minorities like ourselves,” said Grant. “We don’t care who comes into our nerdy space, as long as you come in with empathy and respect… and often that’s all anyone, regardless of race, gender, or sexuality, wants.”

When it comes to advice for young black nerds who might feel alienated, Grant has plenty.

“Find your tribe! Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you don’t belong in this space. There’s room for all types of geeks! YOU are what a geek looks like!” 

Top Photo via Quirktastic

RVA Comics X-Change: Issue 19

Ash Griffith | May 14, 2019

Topics: American Gods, comics, Criminal, Die, Disney Hamlet, Nobody Is In Control, Paper Girls, RVA Comics X-Change, Sailor Moon, The Lion King, The Wild Storm

Happy Tuesday, comics fans! Welcome to yet another issue of your beloved little comics column that could on this shiny May afternoon. Today we are keeping it in the family as this week we turn to our editor at large, Marilyn Drew Necci, for her suggestions on comics to brighten up our rainy afternoons this spring. After that I bring back home into my own personal wheelhouse of Neil Gaiman, Disney, and Sailor Moon.

An issue of Comics X-Change without any mention of Avengers: Endgame? In my RVA Magazine? It’s more likely than you think.

On to the comics, friends.

This week we’re turning around to talk to our beloved editor-in-chief of RVA Magazine, Marilyn Drew Necci, for some recommendations. Growing up in a small Northern Virginia town, Drew flocked to gateway comics such as Captain America and Spider-Man before falling down the Frank Miller rabbit hole. We’ve all been there, am I right, ladies?

Drew is our go-to lady for music, especially of the punk variety, so it’s unsurprising that as she got older that sucked her away from comicland for awhile. Also unsurprisingly, that shows in some of her picks for us this week as well.

DIE v. 1: Fantasy Heartbreaker, By Kieron Gillen & Stephanie Hans

“DIE begins with a bunch of late-30s adults who all went through a traumatic event as teenagers, when they were sucked into a fantasy realm through a role-playing game created by their best friend,” sad Necci. “This comic is dark, for sure, and it deals with a lot of the miseries of adult life that fantasy readers are normally running headlong away from (if they’re even old enough to know about them in the first place). But as with all of Gillen’s work that I’ve read so far, this is purely excellent, and Stephanie Hans’s painterly art is the perfect complement to this pitch-black dark fantasy story.”

Criminal #5, By Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips

“Brubaker, who’s better known in comic circles for killing off Captain America and actually keeping him dead for quite a long time in Marvel Comics terms, is at his best with these pulp-noir stories of urban criminals in mid-20th century America,” said Necci. “Criminal‘s new run has focused on one-to-two issue stories, making it a great place to jump on. The next issue will be the first in what promises to be an extended arc featuring private detectives, manhunts, dangerous women, and one of Criminal‘s recurring ne’er-do-wells, Teeg Lawless. I’m so ready for it.”

Nobody Is In Control #1, By Patrick Kindlon & Paul Tucker

“I knew Patrick Kindlon as a singer first — he contributes his vocal talents to post-hardcore bands Self-Defense Family and Drug Church. When I discovered that he wrote comics for the left-wing indie Black Mask Studios (Occupy Comics), I jumped right in,” said Necci. “Basically, a young weirdo gets dragged down a rabbit-hole of society-wide conspiracies by a mysterious stranger — sounds like prime Kindlon, and I am here for that.”

The Wild Storm #23, By Warren Ellis & Jon Davis-Hunt

“The Wild Storm starts with a reimagining of characters and concepts from comics like WildC.A.T.S., Stormwatch, and The Authority, which Ellis worked on over a decade ago,” said Necci. “And now, The Wild Storm has taken all of this in a far more dystopian direction, as tends to be Ellis’s wont. That’s part of why I love him, of course — his comics work only really maps onto that of Alan Moore and Grant Morrison, the kings of dystopian British weirdness.”

Paper Girls #29, By Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, & Matt Wilson

“The fact that this series focuses on a quartet of 12-year-old girls who deliver newspapers on their bikes in American suburbia in 1988 hits home for me — in 1988, I was 12 years old myself, and also had a paper route,” said Necci. “But I never had one of my early morning hell-runs interrupted by a sudden alien invasion, that’s for sure. That’s what happens at the beginning of this series, and from there, it follows the four paper girls as they try their best to stay alive and keep their wits about them in a world suddenly empty of everyone they know, and full of what sure seem to be multiple warring alien armies.”

With Avengers: Endgame now in the rearview mirror, we can focus on my other favorite things in the world. At least until I exhaust those and go right back to talking about Endgame, again.

American Gods: The Moment of the Storm #2, by Neil Gaiman, P. Craig Russell, Scott Hampton, Jennifer T. Lange, Glenn Fabry

Part two of the comics edition of Neil Gaiman’s iconic novel continues this week, as the gods have a temporary truce amongst each other when one of their own passes. But for how long?

Disney Hamlet, Starring Donald Duck (Trade Paperback), by Giorgio Salati, Paolo De Lorenzi

One could make the argument that The Lion King is Disney’s original foray into the classic Shakespeare play… but that’s the next recommendation. Donald Duck takes his own crack at Yorick this week, but did he know him well? If you’re still emotionally distraught over the Avengers film that dare not speak its name, check this out to raise your spirits.

Disney The Lion King: Wild Schemes and Catastrophes (Trade Paperback) by John Jackson Miller, Timothy Green II, Alexandra Fastovets, Danilo Antoniucci, Jordi Escuin Llorach, Danilo Antoniucci, Julia Zhuravleva

Are you just like me and extremely excited for the live action release of The Lion King with Childish Gambino himself, Donald Glover as Simba? Cool, so that’s probably just the two of us. But lucky for you and me, we have this graphic novel to keep us entertained until the summer. Go us!

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Volume 4 by Naoko Takeuchi

The modernization of Naoko Takeuchi’s classic and iconic magical-girl franchise that revolutionized the genre around the world for generations is back and updated for 2019. Mako-chan on Tinder? Doubtful, but anything is possible!

What are you grabbing up in this post Thanos world, friends? Let us know what we should be on the lookout for!

Until next time.

RVA Mag Comix X-Change: Issue 4

Ash Griffith | October 16, 2018

Topics: Anthony Bourdain, Avengers, Exorsisters, Halloween Comic Fest, Hungry Ghosts, Richmond Comix, Sailor Moon, Shuri, Spider-Gwen, Strangers In Paradise

Welcome back, comic fans, to issue four of Comics X-Change! Your only bi-weekly, go-to news source for what’s happening in comics and pop culture. The weather is cooling down quick, which means it is finally the time for cozy fires and stacks of books to read under a thousand blankets.

This week I got to speak to Phillip Hills, owner of long running RVA staple Richmond Comix, on Midlothian Turnpike. Richmond Comix has been in the business for over 30 years, so I knew Phillip would have some of the best picks for us this week.

Exorsisters #1, by Ian Boothby and Gisèle Lagacé

This horror-comedy series is about “these two sisters who, for pay, will come and exorcise demons, or whatever kind of ghouls may be troubling people,” said Hills.

Shuri #1, by Nnedi Okorafor and Leonardo Romero

“It’s going to be about Shuri and her time in Wakanda and everything she does for her brother,” said Hills of this comic about the Wakandan princess, whose brother is Black Panther.

Strangers in Paradise XXV #7, by Terry Moore

“It’s a relationship book basically,” said Hills. Stranger Than Paradise deals with two women who are best friends, “and the trials they’re going through. It’s a little hard to explain, [but] it’s been going on since the 90s.”

GFFs: Ghost Friends Forever, by Monica Gallagher and Kata Kane

“An all ages book about a girl and her best friend — who is a ghost — and the adventures they get into,” said Hills.

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #1 by Seanen McGuire and Rosi Kampe

“Spider-Gwen is getting a new name to go along with the animated series — because you know, superheroes can’t always keep their name,” Hills said.

Avengers Halloween Special #1, by Jay Baruchel, Gerry Duggan, Laura Braga, and many more

“Marvel usually does a really good job with their holiday specials because they make fun of themselves, and keep it tongue in cheek,” said Hills.

A cool thing to note as well is that select stores will be having a Halloween Comic Fest on October 27th, which is like Free Comic Book Day, but Halloween and Horror themed. Naturally Richmond Comix will be participating, as well as Alpha Comics and Games, Third Eye Comics, and more. Call your local comic shop to check availability.

My recommendations for this week are short and sweet.

Hungry Ghosts, by Anthony Bourdain

While Bourdain is gone, his writing prowess remains with us in this graphic novel horror anthology just in time for Halloween. On a dark, spooky night, a group of international chefs sit around in a circle to play the game of 100 candles, while telling the story of ghosts and demons, and hoping they survive the game.

Sailor Moon Eternal #1, by Naoko Takeuchi

Yes, that’s right. Sailor Moon is back all over again, this time in yet another rerelease of the classic shoujo manga series. The books are larger, more beautiful, covered in holofoil, and updated for 2018. Does Usagi understand wifi? Probably not, but catch up on the series all over again just in time for Eternal #2, releasing in November.

With so much weather going on, at least there is enough to read these next couple weeks, and Halloween Comic Fest leaves us with great things to prepare for. Richmond’s Comic Con is even coming up in a couple weeks at Richmond International Raceway! Will you be there?

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