The United States of Jed

Ya know, I've almost started a blog about 4 times a year for about the last four years. Am I marking my territory? Is this basically virtual scrap booking and I have truly turned into the soccer mom I feared I might? Or is it an attempt to further unite two of my many personalities?

Well for now, lets just go with all of the above.

Hi, My name is Jack Flash. Not really, my real name is Jed. Well technically that isn't true either, but this blog is about connecting just two of the many "me's". I've got an online life. Not one of those second life lives, I am not WEIRD. Ok, I am weird, just not in caps.

There is a place on the interwebs called Comicbookresources.com. (CBR) On this little oasis in the cold dark net is a place I've made a home. Or at least part of me has. So I guess around 2003 I started lurking on this Message Board about comics. I don't remember why I started actually posting, but around 2004 I did. Ever since then, well Jack Flash was born. Jack is a lot like me, well technically, I don't want to give away too many secrets (cuz really what would a super-hero be without a secret identity), he is me. I try to stay true to who I am, but Jack is a LOT more sociable. He makes small talk look easy. He knows his comicbook shit and isn't afraid to speak his mind. He's alot of the good that is me. Just more chatty, especially with strangers. Maybe that's the true gift of the net, it allows folks to be who they really could be if things like social paralysis (in my case) didn't hold them back. Sure, the anonymity of the net allows for certain folks to be basic fucktards, but it also allows folks like me to speak without the encumberance of awkward social settings.

So on CBR, there is a place called the X-Boards, it's basically a place for folks to come and discuss the Marvel Comics under the umbrella of the X-Men and their ilk. The X-Ghetto if you will. Hear that sound? That's the sound of loads of comic book fanboys across the universe who are possibly reading this shaking their heads slightly and tsking with dissaproval. Which is fine. But it doesn't mean that they aren't fanboys all the same. The X-Books have a "You're what's wrong with the industry" reputation among the main community that is the comic geek. Which again, is fine, in fact I am glad to be a part of what's wrong with the industry. I revel in it. Anyway, on this board, there is a thread called X-Cresence. It's a kind of catch all community thread in a board that is mainly focused on X-men comics and this place is more specifically home. It's good and welcoming and full of interesting folks. Ok, at it's best it's those things, 9 times out of 10, it's decent and not overtly hostile and has some folks that I wouldn't throw into traffic. Alright, sometimes it sucks, but doesn't every place. Especially one you consider to be home. Anyway, I have met folks there that I consider friends. In fact, some of the folks on there are really good friends. Even if I haven't met them, which I know sounds and feels odd at times. I think the casual reader would also be astonished at the amount of gay men who read comics. Pre-Internet, I thought I was the only one, but in fact, with the X-Men in particular, there tends to be a 50/50 split of gay folks to straight. Maybe it's something about the allegory of mutants being born different and hated for those differences. It's powerful in it's simplicity.

So hi, I'm Jack Flash. I read comics and love under-dog "throw away" comic characters. I also love the indy books that nobody else notices. and life is particularly good. So hi, I'm Jed. I'm a gay dude with a long term boyfriend and a job that is alright. I'm raising my sons to own their geekdom like a badge of courage. I have an obsession with music from my youth and like reading memoirs and satirical humor. I can also dance like a champion especially for a chubby white boy.

So in short, Howdy, from all of me, or at least some of me.