I absolutely understand what it feels like to have all these things you’ve spent years trying to tell people about and being ignored at best or made fun of at worst for them. And then all the sudden all these other people decide all these things are awesome and you feel a little pushed by the wayside. Trust me, I get it.

But I also think there’s room for all of us.

Does it make me less of a gamer because I’m more likely to buy Bejeweled 3 than Mass Effect 3? (My two favorite video games are Tetris — for the original GameBoy — and Street Fighter II, by the way.)

Does it mean I’m less of a comic book reader because I get more excited about Mara than I do Avengers vs. X-Men? Or does it make me less of a fan of film because I prefer Wong Kar-Wai over Steven Spielberg?

All of these things are personal preferences. And I absolutely think finding common ground in your interests and tastes with other people is important — it definitely is. But I don’t think that’s all there is. And to me, the more the merrier.

For instance, I would never tell my mom she wasn’t a comic reader. She doesn’t read a lot of comics, but she’s expressed interest in several of titles I’ve mentioned (and she was curious about R. Crumb’s The Book of Genesis before I brought it up). My mom may not be the sort who goes to the comic book store every Wednesday, but I think my mom is as valid of a comic book reader as someone who does.

Those girls who pick up the Twilight manga because they loved the novels? They’re reading comics, too. At best, maybe they’ll decide the like the medium and decide to seek out more comics. At worst, that’s all they’ll read. I don’t have a problem with that either way. Both are completely valid.

I get I’m absolutely lucky in that I get to hang out with knowledgeable comic retailers and creators. But for as many gaps in my knowledge that I admittedly have, none of these people have ever once made me feel stupid. They’ve maybe handed me books and said I needed to read them, but they’ve never made me feel inferior for not having done so already.

So all you geek girls that are maybe just starting out and are maybe dabbling in all these thing: I absolutely welcome you. I have plenty of comics and movies and games I am more than happy recommend. If you decide this isn’t your thing, that’s cool, too. I just hope you did get to meet some great people in the meantime, because ultimately, that’s what this is about.

(Image is Jill Thompson’s art for Graphittie Designs’ Sandman/Death/Delirium T-shirt, which I may or may not be wearing right now and may have or may not have since I was 16 … anyway, it’s appropriate enough.)

Lots of news outlets are writing about the mass of teenage girls excited about the Twilight movie. Now, I know, despite the name, the San Diego Comic-Con hasn’t been just about comics for a good long while. But all these teenage girls are there, excited about a movie based on a book that’s genre fiction (although, yes, vampires are an acceptably romantic and tragic form of genre fiction) and they’re at something that has “comic” in the name.

So where are the comics for these girls? Would they not read them? I don’t think it’s entirely a leap for a girl who graduated to Twilight from the Harry Potter books to pick up a comic. Yes, there’s manga, and maybe she does read that, but as far as American comics go, I think she’s pretty much being ignored. There is this huge, passionate audience that remains untapped.

Why isn’t anyone trying to get these girls to read comics? Because they will. I was, more or less, like these girls. (Some would go as far to say I’m still basically one of these girls, despite not being a teenager, but I suppose that’s a different matter.)

I’m sure some of these girls do read comics. But I think they deserve more.