SCENE: Midtown Comics, East-side. A half-block-long line of stereotypical geeks, mostly male, and a smattering of normal-looking geeks, all male.

I like to believe I'm one of the latter.

There was a time when I would have felt extremely self-conscious in a situation like that, standing on line outside a comic book store waiting to get in for an author's signing. Being one, I'm obviously not dissing geeks in general, but stereotypes don't come purely out of thin air and there were more than a fair share of red-blooded, blue-balled, never-going-to-be-kissed geeks there.

Or is "dork" the more appropriate term?

I mean really. Do something to your hair. Wash it, at least! Get a second opinion on the t-shirt. Clean is a good place to start. Consider baggy jeans. Make eye contact with real people at least half as often as you do with Michael Turner's Supergirl artwork.

What's even more annoying, though, are the condescending looks from passerby as they realize we're all on line for a comic book store. Sadly, I recognize the look as the same one I gave all those people outside Tower Records last year, trying to get a glimpse of Madonna, so I only roll my eyes in response.

NOTE: Ladies, check the mirror honestly before looking down your nose at the guys (or girls) on line for the comic book store. Your superior attitude is merely annoying when you're something to look at but, when the only difference between you and the worst of the guys on line is that they read comic books, you might be better off asking for phone numbers than throwing shade. It'll ultimately be more productive than lying about yourself on Match.com...

Anyway, the signing had a better turnout than I expected so I ended up waiting on line for almost 45 minutes before getting my book, Whiteout: Melt, signed. Geoff Johns and Judd Winick were there but I was mainly interested in meeting Greg Rucka (Gotham Central and Adventures of Superman on my current pull list) to express my enthusiasm for Gotham Central and grabbed Whiteout: Melt off the shelf to have something for him to sign. Never heard of it before but that's the beauty of finding creators you like and discovering their non-Marvel & DC work.

I was disappointed they hadn't stocked any of his novels, though, which is what I was really looking for. Not sure if that was simply short-sighted or if it says something about the reading tastes of the average comic book reader.

On a loosely-related note, The Chronicles of Riddick was a lot of fun, arguably Vin Diesel's Conan. While he's definitely a little too crazy in love with his own gravelly voice, there's no denying the Riddick character, and his entire universe, has a whole lot of potential. Almost like Star Wars if Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Darth Maul were the same person, and George Lucas had more than one trick up his sleeve. Fun story, great special effects, solid supporting cast - some reviewers need to get over the simplicity of "Crematoria."

Tolkeinesque in its scope, it was a perfect bookend to Pitch Black's claustrophobic prologue, leaving plenty of room to fill in the space between with a couple of more sequels. Unfortunately, unless it significantly picks up the pace with DVD sales, the box office isn't exactly demanding a follow-up. :-(

Meanwhile, work has already begun on yet another Star Trek sequel, despite the last one bombing even worse than The Final Frontier.

Whatever.