Because, Apparently, I'm Cool

So I was reading the latest issue of Esquire magazine this morning--you know, because I'm hip and chic and I like to keep up with trends such as what the latest $800 Ferragamo's look like.

Well, that, or maybe because this weekend I really needed change for a $50 bill and Esquire was the closest thing to me that didn't have a Jonas Brother on its cover.

Either way you look at it (and just so we're clear on this--in my head, I look like Indiana Jones and I'm a professional wrestler in my spare time), I found myself hopelessly trying to find an article--nay, a single word--in the entire magazine.

Seriously, this thing is all ads.

It's all ads of people who look nothing like me (since I look like an early-1980s Harrison Ford, mind you), wearing ridiculous and expensive hats and collars and pointy, uncomfortable-looking leather things on their feet. (Unlike me, since I'm wearing a timeless brown fedora, and pulling it off flawlessly.)

But when I did find an actual article, I was immediately struck by how big of a dork I actually am. The only thing in the whole magazine that caught my eye was the answer to some inane poll's inane questioning about what women will put up with when it comes to their men.

Of course, the question that got my attention had to do with comics.

And it went something like this: "Do my comic books count toward my knowledge of art and culture?" And the results were as follows: 57% said, "Yes, it's like understanding another universe."

And, no, that's not me trying to be funny. That was the actual answer. And, no, the important part of that question was not the favorable-towards-comics answer. The important part of that question was the question itself, and its existence in a magazine with an ad for a $550 duffel bag.

You know, for your $300 socks.

If Esquire is acknowledging the fact that comics aren't this strange thing that only fringe members of society read and enjoy and leave scattered about an apartment, then we as a fan base are really making strides.

Yes, of course comics rule the day at the box office, but that doesn't necessarily mean that people are reading the actual books. But this tiny little blip of a question and answer in Esquire, and I don't know about you, but I feel a little bit cooler already.