[vladvasiliu]

I was never into comics, but the impression I get is that many "actual nerds" were. And that's something that was clearly visible from the outside.

And since everything nowadays seems to be about surface-level signaling, cultures get represented by whatever is most visible.

So, for "actual nerds", that is comic books, I guess. Nobody will pay attention to what those comic books were (no idea if there were any of the "non-slop" kind). People spending hours poring over some math/physics/other textbook in their homes or libraries weren't exactly visible to the others. They were just the "pasty weirdos".