Following up on my article chronicling the history of Batman, and noticing how many people know about this character but not about the creation, I got to thinking about the rise of geek culture in general. When I was a kid, I loved superheroes, Star Wars, Power Rangers, all of that sort of thing. I dreamed of going to San Diego Comic Con, because I thought that was the only place you could go to meet celebrities and people working in the comics industry. I saw the first Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie on its opening weekend, read comics whenever I could, and would wake up early just to catch the repeats of Batman: The Animated Series. Needless to say, I've been a geek for a while now.

In the time between sixth grade where I was asked, “Why did you go see Iron Man 2? That's like a little kid's movie!” and senior year when Captain America: Civil War was released and I had to keep quiet about the comic series it was based on, geek culture became mainstream. In middle school, people knew me as that kid that liked Star Wars, and nobody should like Star Wars because it's a series made for kids (everything was “made for kids” in middle school apparently) – but these same people ran out to see The Force Awakens when that came out in December. I've been asked where to start when it comes to reading comics. I like to think it was in those few weeks after the first The Avengers movie came out in 2012. The nerds – we all knew going in that this was going to be amazing. The people who we dragged along, the people who went and saw it when it started breaking records – they were brought into this world. There was a time where it wasn't “cool” to say you were nerdy. Now it's not even a problem. I said I was a geek once in seventh grade, and a teacher said “no you aren't.” I had to explain that I call myself one, not because I'd been bullied into doing so, but because I am aware of who I am.

I have attended Boston Comic-Con for almost three years now. The first year, the crowd was so big that the fire department threatened to shut it down. I was caught up in the Torchwood Reunion Panel Incident of 2014, where almost 500 people were crowded in a very small lobby at the base of a staircase. Luckily, I was towards the front of the mob, but still – so many people trying to work their way forward, just to see two actors talk about their time on and off screen during the show's run. Ten years ago, there wouldn't be that many people trying to get into a two-person reunion of a sci-fi series. The second year, the staff implemented new crowd control measures, as the amount of attendees increased. Panels were on a ticket system. It was there that I met Stan Lee – I had to buy my ticket in advance, and they sold out within a matter of days. And now, just under a month until I go back for the three-day convention, they are already saying this could be one of their biggest ones.

Geek culture has become part of the regular, mainstream collective mindset. The popular kids who would make fun of the guy playing Pokemon now are spending hours wandering around their neighborhoods to play Pokemon GO. Superhero movies make over a billion dollars at the box office. There was a massive movement to keep spoilers from Star Wars: The Force Awakens from people who hadn't seen it, so they would be surprised when they saw the film. The Walking Dead is one of the biggest television programs on the air right now. For as long as I can remember, I've been part of this small group of like-minded people. I never cared if it was “in” or what people thought about my referencing of pop-culture.

As these aspects of a once looked-down-on culture are coming to the light, the general public is beginning to see the geeks as just regular people like the rest of them. And we are, really. We just dress up in costumes to go spend a weekend with others dressed in their own costumes. That's who we are, and we're staying that way, even if this public interest disappears.