Nerds, Comics and Podcasts Oh My!

Every morning I wake up, get ready and walk about half an hour to work, and every time I walk I listen to podcasts. This is my routine. Most people listen to music, but not me. I don’t have a song on my iPhone, only podcasts. So the other day when I was walking to work and picking out what podcast I wanted to listen to, I realized that there are a lot of nerdy podcasts out there. I feel that podcasts allow the nerdy conversations to have a free voice. There are no producers, or marketing teams telling the writers to tone down their nerdiness like television or movies. The forum is open to go as deep into nerdom as the podcaster wants. It is also a cheap and easy way to get your message out. You don’t need hair, makeup and wardrobe, there is no expensive camera to buy and you don’t need to hire a guy to run it (obviously the better the equipment the better the sound, but it’s not necessary). The same is true of YouTube; the masses can now express themselves to the world and voice their opinions and the best part…a lot of it is about comic books!

Nerds really seem to be the ones flocking to podcasts, both to listen to and to create. You can listen to podcasts about comic books and nerdy things all day. Podcasts bring the chit-chat of the local comic book store to anyone who wants to listen. I always find it interesting when I find a small comic podcast from another city, like Texas; I love listening to stories and experiences of comic stores and cons from a different city and country.

Podcasts are also getting more popular because of celebrities. Like any good media, it isn’t popular until celebrities jump on it. The reason I got into podcasts was because of Kevin Smith and the show Jay and Silent Bob Get Old. I am a big Kevin Smith fan, so one day I decided to download one of their shows and I was hooked. I would walk down the street listening and laughing to myself, but it wasn’t enough. I would listen every spare minute I could, but they would only post once a week and I needed more! I started asking friends for podcast suggestions and I would use the search bar in iTunes. Now I have a regular group of podcasts I download every Thursday. First there was Jay and Silent Bob Get Old, and then I started listening to the Comic Book Daily Podcast, Comic Culture (even before I started writing here). Then came Rooster Teeth, creators of Red vs. Blue, a video series whose main characters are the avatars of Halo. The hosts yell and abuse each other a lot so this one is very funny. Now I also listen to The Nerdist which has very interesting nerdy celebrity guests and my favourite segment, “host fulls” which is when the hosts just sit and talk with no interviews. I recently added Gamers with Jobs to the download list which is a show where they talk about all different kinds of games, but like normal busy people, they don’t have all the time in the world to sit and play these games. Besides my regular repertoire, I love to pick up random small podcasts. So, if you have any suggestions of podcast I should check out please leave a comment below.

If you aren’t into podcasts yet but you are into comics or anything nerdy, I would suggest checking them out. There are lots to choose from thanks to their increasing popularity and are great for the gym, walking, or even cleaning. Plus, unlike music, you are actually learning about comics while you listen, and I think that’s pretty awesome!