Ok, this post is a little late, but surely there’s never a bad time to celebrate girl geek realness in your local hood, right? Last weekend I attended my first ever All Star Women’s Comic Book Club Meet Up at 1000£ Bend, and even though that was almost a week ago, I want to share the love now.
For the uninitiated, the All Star Women’s Comic Book Club is a monthly meet-up of local girl geeks from Melbourne who love to read comics. As their Facebook page aptly puts it, ASWCC is a group of women who love comic books and meet monthly to chat comics and make new friends. Neat. Eager to get in on the fun, I braved the treacherous hike from outer the suburbs of Melbourne to the CBD (“downtown”, for my American readers) to join the group last Saturday. My trek was well worth the traffic rage.
Inside, I was met by the buoyant chatter of nearly 100 girls and the beaming face of one of the ASWCCs founders and a plate of melting caramel slice. I could get used to this. I grabbed a piece of the delicious slice and sheepishly wandered through the cavernous back room where the meet-up was hosted until I found a spare seat. As any geek knows, strangers become friends quickly in this scene and it wasn’t long until I was chatting excitedly with the other four girls at the table. We covered a lot of territory, including the latest episode of Agent Carter and the contents of a slew of comics that had been strewn on the table, including Matt Fraction’s ODY-C, Kelly Sue De Connick’s Bitch Planet and that months feature comic, Relish, by Lucy Knisley. Can you guess which one I brought? (Hint: I am #NonCompliant).
Not only did I get to spend a decent hour getting my geek on with some amazing new friends (who recommended a TON of new comics and tv shows, thanks ladies), but the meet-up also featured an art wall and a craft table. The art wall was full of fan art of the monthly feature comic and attendees could vote on their favourite to help the artist win a limited ASWCC prize pack, including an awesome ASWCC t-shirts (WHAT!). But my favourite activity at the meet-up was without a doubt, the craft table, where Cazz, one of the ASWCCs founders and blogger extraordinaire on NerdBurger showed people how to make DIY felt donut brooches. WITH SPRINKLES. I can’t even. But I did. And here’s what happened:
My excitement over this brooch cannot be underestimated. As you can see, I went a little mad pimping my photos with unnecessary embellishments. The brooch deserves to be honoured with frou-frou, dammit. It makes me feel hungry, accomplished and girly all at once. An excellent combination in any circumstance so long as there are pink frosted donuts nearby.
After a full two hours of girl geek realness, I left feeling happy, energised and fabulous (because, THE DONUT). I can’t say how much I love the fact that this group exists. In a climate of worsening sexism, internet harassment and social isolation, the All Star Women’s Comic Book Club Meet-Up is exactly the kind of warm embrace geek culture needs right now: a safe, social space for girl geeks to share their passion, have fun, connect meaningfully with like-minded people and MAKE SICK BROOCHES. I highly recommend this event to all my local geek girls. The women running ASWCC are friendly, approachable and inclusive; all the traits I have long associated with fellow geeks.
The date for this month’s meet-up is yet to be confirmed, but 1000£ Bend will be hosting again and the feature comic is The Wicked and The Divine, trade #1 by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie and Matt Wilson. Fans of Neil Gaimain’s American Gods will be interested in this story, where every ninety years twelve Gods incarnate as human pop stars. Interested? So am I. Want to talk about it with some awesome geek girls? Grab a copy from your local comics dealer and I’ll see you later this month at the meet-up.
For now, thanks for the good times, ladies. It’s been swell.
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