The Doctor is In: A Jock’s Guide to Comics
On alternating Tuesdays, Allan “Doc” Dorison operates on a specific part of popular culture.
Growing up in suburban New Jersey during the last decades of the 20th Century, there were big class distinctions between Nerds and Jocks. Not exactly like Revenge of the Nerds. No, the “Jocks” were the jocks, but the “Nerds” were actually the head bangers – metal heads who used to read comics, play D&D, and draw pentagrams on any and all available surfaces. We head bangers were not physically picked on, since we were a relatively big group and there was safety in numbers. However, we were mercilessly ridiculed. It’s all kind of funny looking back at things, in light of the recent success of many comic book movies. Now these jocks are spending their hard-earned cash on comics, so they can catch up on what they made fun of me for. I love it. Like the Nerds from those movies, I feel like I have my revenge.
But deep down, I always wish I could have sat down with a Jock and talked – carry on an actual conversation. School them in the Ways of the Comic Book. Although it’s a few years later, now may be that time to reach out and bring Jock and Nerd together under the banner of education. Yes, the Doctor is in, and below is the Jocks Guide to Comic Books. Read up; you will be tested.
