Geek culture has become mainstream in recent years. While elements remain obscure, properties from comics, movies, TV and video games now permeate popular culture. This is largely due to the nostalgia of 25-40 year olds who grew up with these interests, as well as new generations being exposed from a young age. Conventions like Geek'd Con in Shreveport celebrate geek fandom and provide an intimate experience for fans to meet celebrities in the genres. The rise of geek culture is viewed positively for allowing self-expression and community for interested people of all backgrounds.

1. H
ave you ever seen a Goku and a
warrior princess engage in conversa-
tion with a Halo Spartan? Chances
are, you may not know what these
terms refer to. If so, you are in the
minority in 2016. Though there still
are obscure elements to it, “geek”
culture has spread to the masses and
has been mainstreamed to the point where it seems like a
new movie, cartoon, or network television show based on a
comic book character comes out every week.
Moms suddenly know the true identities of Kylo Ren and
Captain America. Grandparents watch their grandchildren
play video games and learn about the latest anime (a term
that covers anything animated). And dads, well, they all grew
up with this stuff: games and comics and gadgets, but it is to
the point now where geeks are being given their proper dues.
“Geek culture has always been around,” said Geek’d Con
talent coordinator Dakota Lawrence. “I would say, especially
By Terry Hanley
Rise of
the Geeks

2. in the last five years, it has really become
mainstream. When I first started in this
industry, I was an exhibitor at these shows…
From working with different celebrities,
meeting them and learning the business from
other show promoters.”
According to Lawrence, there has been a
large shift to the mainstream in the last five
years, which it is due to a generational trend.
“I think a lot of it has to do with my
generation, your 25-to-40 year olds who
have the nostalgia factor. So much of the
80s had geek culture involved. In the 90s
you had the geek culture involved. And all of
that has become mainstream now, and with
comicons and things like that the industry
has changed,” Lawrence said. “This is what
actors used to do when they did not have
a gig, when they were between acting jobs.
And that has shifted the entire business
where you can go to an event now and see
Chris Evans. Or see Chris Hemsworth. Or
see some of the main stars of Hollywood.
And I think that a lot of that has to do with
a shift in the fandom being more open to this
kind of thing. Where you had geek culture
always as a subculture, now I think that it’s
become cool to be geeky. It’s become cool to
be alternative, where it was shunned before.”
In its second year, Geek’d Con 2016,
taking place at the Shreveport Convention
Center from Aug.19-21, will celebrate all
things geek culture. Geek’d Con creator Greg
Atoms said that the first mention of having
a comic convention in Shreveport surfaced
while he was interviewing for his current
position as brand manager for Townsquare
Media in November 2014.
“When I came to Shreveport for the first
time, it was during an interview process for
my current position,” Atoms said. “The live
events team here at Townsquare Media sat
me down and said ‘What type of events have
you put together before? What could you
bring to the table?’ And this was in Novem-
ber 2014 and one of the only things flying
out of my mouth was ‘I’ve done a comicon
once.’ I thought their reaction would be
humorous or sarcastic, but it was one of
“I think a lot of it has to
do with my generation, your
25-to -40 year olds who
have the nostalgia factor.”
Kathy Najimy
Jennifer Lynn Warren

3. interest.”
The convention Atoms, a self-professed
comic book enthusiast, was part of was
Cherry Capital Con, or C3, in Traverse
City, Mich. it started in 2009 and has since
evolved into Cherry Capital Comicon.
According to Atoms, when he arrived in
Shreveport in January 2015, he had put the
idea of a comic convention in the back of his
mind, but he was approached by the Town-
square live events manager to see if he could
make the convention happen. He said that
he found another comic convention sched-
uled in the area and decided to take a step
back, but the idea regained momentum after
the previously schedule event had passed.
“After that event had taken place, there
were a lot of people in the community that
were upset at the way that it transpired and
how the event actually went and there were
a lot of people who were asking for, clamor-
ing for, saying things like ‘I wish Shreveport
could just do it right.’ That’s where we
stepped in and said ‘You’ve already laid the
groundwork for this, let’s just do it and see
what happens,’” Atoms said. “From that
point it took off and it got way bigger than I
think anybody involved was planning during
those first conversations.”
According to Atoms and Lawrence, atten-
dance estimates from last year’s convention
topped 12,000 guests through the turnstiles.
Lawrence said he thinks that Geek’d Con
will continue to build on last year’s success.
“I think that we are going to continually
see it grow because of the fact that the first
year attendance turned it into the second
biggest comicon in Louisiana, second only to
Wizard World New Orleans,” said Lawrence.
“We were trying not to put ourselves on that
level because we are not there yet, but when
doing the guest list, it is a representation of
everything, to where you are going to have a
little bit of the wrestling community, you are
going to have a little bit of the comic book
community, a little bit of the iconic commu-
nity with people like Elvira and Tara Reid
and then representing local people, like Pruitt
Taylor Vince.”
Pruitt previously taught in the theater
department at Louisiana State University
in Shreveport. Then he went on to Holly-
wood and became an Emmy Award winner.
Another Geek’d Con guest, Jennifer Lynn
Warren, worked in movies filmed in Shreve-
port and is currently shooting for American
Horror Story in New Orleans.
“So, it (Geek’d Con) brings a little of that
Louisiana flavor, as well,” Lawrence said. “At
the end, it is a representation of everything
Elvira
Tara Reid

4. geek culture.”
Geek’d Con also will bring out local
cosplayers Jessy Broughton and her boyfriend
Tripp, both age 30. Broughton, who goes
by the moniker Cayne the Creator, is the
lead creative designer at UberGeeks cosplays
Team UGC, based in Bossier City.
According to Broughton, she and her
boyfriend were leery of cosplay and conven-
tions at first, when a friend tried to lure them
into the cosplay culture.
“Looking back on it, it was going to
happen at some point,” she said. “We are
both really into anime. And we are both big
gamers,” she said. “[We like] superheroes.
We completely indulged in every aspect of
fandom, with the exception of cosplay. The
first time we did [cosplay], we were hooked.”
Broughton, a seamstress by trade, now
spends her spare time creating suits of armor
and steampunk suits. She says that although
a lot of elements of the culture are becoming
more mainstream, there are some areas that
face negative perceptions from the public.
“The stigma is still there, and I hate to
say that,” she said. “It’s coming away from
cosplay, but there are other facets of fandom,
such as the furry fandom, that have a com-
pletely bad wrap… So there is still a stigma
there. But cosplay is a fantastic place to just
exist. As an adult you are constantly judged
on what you are doing. Who you are talking
to. How much money you make. But for
some reason, when you dress up like a Halo
Spartan, nobody cares what your day job is.”
Excalibur Comics, Cards, & Games owner
Chris Zepeda thinks the rise of geek culture
is due to the accessibility of comics to every-
one.
“Over the last several years, we have seen
a larger percentage of ‘regular’ people get
into comics that had not been interested in
the past,” Zepeda said. “I think a lot of it is
due to the diversity of the product. There
are a lot more different types of comics and
different genres. It’s not just all superhero
stuff. More people are getting involved and
interested because there are comics about
things they are interested in, whether it’s
other genres like science fiction, or fantasy,
or crime, there are a lot of autobiographi-
cal comics that people do, slice of life-type
things. There are comics for just about any
kind of taste.”
Zepeda had a booth at Geek’d Con last
year, and said they had a lot of families come
through their booth, from grandmothers and
grandfathers and “everyone in between.”
Hobbytown also had a vendor booth and
owner Brian Masters said it stayed busy on
Saturday from the time the doors of the
convention opened until the time it closed
that evening. He said the only time they saw
a dip in visitors was during the times special
guest panelists were speaking.
Jennifer Lynn Warren, actress from
American Horror Story: Coven, will be one of
those panelists this year. She said conventions
benefit fans by allowing them to be a part of
the fantasy that Hollywood creates, and that
guest panelists get to the chance to meet and
speak to true fans.
“I love getting to meet the other guests I
will be working with and meeting the fans
who are creative in what they bring you to
sign,” she said. “And are familiar with your
work you are less known for.”
Larger events, like Comicon International
and Comicon New York, provide a platform
for big stars of the culture to connect with
fans but on a less intimate scale.
“I prefer the events where you can actually
see that person,” said Atoms. “Last year,
what was great about our event was that you
had a lot of these celebrities. The guests were
comfortable because you did not have that
WW (Wizard World) or CCSD (ComicCon
San Diego) mentality. They felt comfort-
able coming around the table to hug, take
pictures, and embrace the community, which
is something that you cannot get at those
bigger events. So we want to try to keep that
as best we can, too.”
Whether your geek-out is wrestling, build-
ing models, anime, gaming, or comic books,
Geek’d Con 2016 will have something for
everyone under the geek culture umbrella.
Lawrence said he is proud to be part of a
grassroots effort, and that he thinks the cul-
ture is strong in the Shreveport area.
“People overlook Shreveport a lot when it
comes to community events, when it comes
to the culture in Shreveport,” he said. “That
is one thing I have never quite grasped or
understood, but I think that if you can get
the people of Shreveport behind something,
it will be successful. And I think that Geek’d
Con last year was definite proof of that.”
Geek’d Con
WHEN:
6-9 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 19; 10 a.m. to
7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 20; 11 a.m. to
5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 21
WHERE:
Shreveport Convention Center,
400 Caddo St., Shreveport
COST:
Friday Pass $5; Saturday or Sunday one-day pass $15;
weekend pass $20
*Passes for kids under 12 are $5 every day
of the convention.
For tickets call 318.688.1130, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday-Friday or stop by 99X Studios, 6341 Westport
Ave., Shreveport.
GUESTS INCLUDE: Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson, Tara
Reid, George Perez, Kathy Najimy, Pruitt Taylor Vince, John
Hennigan, Brian O’Halloran, Tate Steinsiek, Azure Parsons,
Lucha Underground’s Catrina, James C. Leary, Josh Martin,
Chris Rager, Cosplay Chris, Jennifer Lynn Warren, Kimberly
Dunaway, Roland Paris
*Autograph costs vary per panelist
For more information, go to www.geekdcon.com

6. Josh Martin has worked as the voice of Barney the Dinosaur, Majin Buu
from Dragonball Z, and Yosaka from One Piece. He currently can be seen
performing as MCA with the Beastie Boys tribute band Rhymin’ N Stealin’,
which he has done for the last seven years. The self-professed wresting geek
talked to SB Magazine about his experiences in voice-acting, his return to the
convention scene, and coming back to his hometown area.
Q & A with
Josh Martin,
voice actor
Photo credit:
Carey Stinson Photography
Pruitt Taylor Vince

7. SB: How did you get your start in acting?
JM: I was in three comedy troupes. I moved over to Dallas
in ’94 after I graduated in ’93 from Haughton High School and
I went to acting school. I came over here to get an agent and
to get into acting and I found out pretty quick that I wasn’t
going to get an agent or any acting jobs until I had gotten out
of school and done some acting, so me and my friends that were
in school and had similar senses of humor decided we all liked
Saturday Night Live, In Living Color, Whose Line is it Anyway?, Weird
Al, all that kind of stuff. It was improv, but we were doing more
blue, rock ’n roll, hedonistic, loud, offensive comedy. But it was
live and we played at a restaurant across from SMU, so we got
a lot of young college kids, and it was right up their alley. It was
fun. We had a good time.
SB: How did you transition into voice acting from comedy?
JM: Oddly enough, like I tell everybody, they should
follow my path and do comedy in the back of a Mexican
restaurant where you will get discovered like I did…I was doing
a character called the Pillsbury Homeboy…So I redid some
raps, the most popular one I did was Snoop Dogg’s Who Am I
(What’s My Name?) and recorded it in the voice of the Pillsbury
Doughboy. I was doing that at the time and two of my friends
in the troupe, Mike Mcfarland who does [the voice of] Master
Roshi on Dragonball Z, as well as some other characters, he
was doing Master Roshi already…and Chris Rager, who does
Hercule, we have been friends since ’95. We were roommates,
so we were in all the troupes together, and Chris (Rager) had
gotten the part of Hercule, and the director Chris Sabat came
to a comedy show and saw me doing Pillsbury Homeboy. When
the part of Majin Buu came up in the series, he thought it
sounded like I might be a good fit. He said they were having
some problems finding someone to fit…and it was my first gig in
’01, and here I am.
SB: Have you ever been to any of the bigger conventions
such as Comicon International in San Diego?
JM: Not really. Score Entertainment had a card game out
for Dragonball Z, and at the time they were trying to promote
it. They had a Humvee skinned in Dragonball Z decals. They
drove it all around the country, and they would fly out some of
the actors to each city to do events. I did San Diego then and I
had no idea how big of a deal it was. I knew what it was, but I
was just randomly there. I just got back into the scene this last
year. We’ve had children. And I have been taking care of them,
taking them to school and stuff. They are still young, but they
are more manageable. The timing is right to get back into it.
SB: How does the large-scale convention experience compare
to the smaller-scale experience like Geek’d Con?
JM: I haven’t done Geek’d Con. This will be my first year,
and I am stoked about doing it because I did Realms Con in
Corpus Christi [Texas] and they had over 10,000 and I am
excited about doing another one like that. I have been told that
Shreveport Geek’d Con had a good turnout last year. It’s cool
coming back because when I grew up in Haughton, none of
that stuff was around in ’94. That is why I left. Not specifically
because there was no anime because I didn’t know anything
about anime until I got into it. There was no film, TV, nothing.
SB: What do you look forward to the most coming back to
your old stomping grounds?
JM: It’s cool. It’s interesting. All of my friends from high
school, they’re old and have kids and they are not into it, so I
do not see them. I get to see a whole new group of people in
Shreveport, and that is cool, too.
SB: What do you think about the mainstreaming
of geek culture?
JM: The cliché that the geeks are running it is true, because
everything is running on technology these days … If you don’t
know computers, you have to rely on a nerd. And nerds like
Game of Thrones, and video games and cosplay and Dungeons
and Dragons, and that is just how it is. I think it’s cool, and
it is fun to see at the conventions. And I use the term ‘nerd’
loosely because I am one as well. It’s cool to see guys hanging
out that normally would not get out of their house, but they are
having fun around other people that are like us. Everyone is
comfortable. If you don’t have horns sticking out of your head
people look at you funny. So, it’s cool.

8. AlienWare ––
A gaming computer
distributor
Beta – Software released
to the public for the purpose
of testing for bugs, crashes,
errors, inconsistencies and
other problems
Blob – A Binary Large
Object which indicates some
larger amount of data other
than simple text, usually
stored within a database
CGC – Comic Guarantee
Corporation, the go-to
company that grades and
slabs comics, giving them a
condition rating based on
their judgment
Cosplay – A
combination of the words
“costume” and “role play”;
a performance art in which
people dress up in costumes
and accessories to represent
a character from a video
game, movie or other
medium
Crossplay – A
cosplay term that describes a
person dressing as a character
of another gender (e.g. a
female Darth Vader)
Easter Egg –
Programmers embed these
in code for experienced
hackers to find; also applies
to movies, TV Shows and
gaming
Furry –– A type of
cosplay in which people
dress as animals, with
anthropomorphic features
GUI – Graphical
User Interface
Linux – A free and open-
source PC operating system
created in the early 1990s
Noob –– A person that
is inexperienced and lacks
knowledge of a subject due
to being new to it, such as a
card game or video game
Replication ––
Meticulous cosplay that
involves getting every
minute detail of a costume
right, down to the screw
Slabbing –– Having a
comic professionally graded
and encased in an un-
openable hard plastic shell
Geektionary