Dating for Geeks: Single Players

by - 3:00 PM


No Marvel or DC on the blog today. No, I decided to throw something new in the mix. You see, I'm Dutch and no matter how American I may sound when I speak English, Dutch is what I am and I am freaking proud of that. So instead of verbally freaking out over some big shot American comic like I usually do, I thought I'd introduce you to one of my favorite Dutch comics ever: Dating for Geeks.

Dating for Geeks is different than all the other comic books I've reviewed, and that's not just because it's Dutch. This one is different because it's published every day in a newspaper. What you see here is the compilation of all the comics that were published in the Metro from January 2014 to, well, a few months later. I'm really bad with dates and that kind of stuff, but it comes down to this: Single Players is were it all started.


There is no one storyline to follow here. Instead, you get about four of them. We see Jasper try to find a date with help from Yvon, who works at a dating agency. We follow Jeff, who tries to pick up women with the worst pick-up lines ever. Then there's Edward and Renee, a geeky couple who just moved in together at the start of Single Players. Towards the end we meet Claire, who has way too much in common with this blogger and can't seem to find a guy. But the most surprising character of all is this one: the author and artist himself, Kenny Rubenis! It's a slice of life comic, and a good one too! All of these characters are huge geeks, so you'll see plenty of jokes about whatever fandom floats your boat. If you're a geek, you'll love them. If you're not a geek, you'll still love them.  Okay, Jeff is kinda icky, but you can't like them all.

True love is giving her full control over the remote control on Valentine's day!
My favorite characters have also become my favorite geek couple of all times: Edward and Renee. If I ever get a boyfriend again, this is what our future will most probably look like. #GeekRelationshipGoals and all that stuff, though I'm in reality much more like Claire, sadly forever alone and dateless.

"He hasn't seen the new episode of Game of Thrones yet."
"Renee, where are you? It's dark and full of spoilers here!"
One of the comics strongest points is how relatable it is. I'm not just saying that because I'm a geek who fails miserably at dating. I'm saying it because this one, right here, this scenario literally happened to me when I went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier in theatres - around the same time as this comic was published in the paper!
Translation:
"Pffff, why do superheroes always have to take off their masks?"
"Yeah, they never do that in the comic books! Why do it in the movies then?"
Fangirling is universal I think ;P
"Oh yeah. That's why".
The cool thing about this first book is that you can see the artist's style develop. You see characters change a little here and there, you see them turn into the characters you know so well now. It's like getting to know a good friend even better.

The artist has a very cartoony style, which I like. It's simple and clean. Simple and effective. It's also a unique style - you'll recognize these characters anywhere!

Apart from the comics that have been published in the paper, there are also a few extra illustrations here and there to break things up. Some are cute, some are funny, all of them are awesome.


I've read many comics in many papers, but none of them have ever been able to convince me to actually buy the book. Dating for Geeks has, for the simple reason that it's never failed to make me smile. I like the art, simple and pretty much perfect as it is. I like the jokes and I definitely like how it celebrates geek culture in my tiny country that's not always big on showing your geeky side. I see a lot of myself in this comic, and it makes me happy.

Dating for Geeks will always have a special place in my heart for one more reason: I started reading the comic when I started college. Every morning I'd pick up a paper when I arrived at the subway station and pretended to read it on the train to college, though all I really paid attention to was this tiny three-panel comic. Happy memories right there. I hope the comic book will make you happy too if you ever get the chance to read it.

x Envy

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17 Fellow Ramblers

  1. It's great that these have a special place in your heart- and I love the reason as to why!

    Thanks for sharing this with us, Envy!

    Steph
    www.socialspying.com

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    1. Thank you for commenting Steph! It's nice to have a little something like a comic that makes me happy for small reasons when I'm feeling blue :)

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  2. This sounds like such a cute little comic! I love the style of the illustrations

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    1. It's really cute, but not too cute if you know what I mean. The style is just great. Simple but awesome :D

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  3. This comic sounds so amazing. I don't read comics but the way you talk of them has inspired me to read one��
    Another brilliant post xx

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    1. Thank you so much! It really means a lot to me when people tell me they're tempted to pick up a comic book because of something I wrote!

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  4. Oooh, none of the comics that are published in American newspapers are worth reading, so I'm a little jealous that you have this! And that Game of Thrones one made me laugh -- I'm always up for a good Melisandre joke about spoilers! There's a webcomic I like called Questionable Content, and like this, you can really see the art style evolve in the first couple of years. I never thought of it as getting to know the characters before, but YESSS that's exactly what it's like!

    xx
    Emily
    emilyhallock.blogspot.com

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    1. We have a few really good ones, but our comic books aren't as good as yours so I'd say we're even! The Game of Thrones comics in this series are always on point. The only ones I like better are those in which Marvel jokes are made.
      I'm going to google that webcomic, maybe I should look into that type of comics as well. I think a characters grows along with the way its drawn :)

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  5. This looks so funny I love reading the comic section of the news paper, though they're never as good as these x
    Sophia x http://sophiawhitham.co.uk

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    1. Newspaper comics is what we're good at here :) This one is by far my favorite though

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  6. This comics sounds so interesting. As I was just reading further and further, moving from one line to another one, I wanted to read this more and more❤

    Do they publish it online or I can buy it and do they have this comics in English?

    Kate
    https://limbria.blogspot.com/

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    1. I'm so glad you liked to read about the comic! I do know that it's published on Facebook every single day, so if you can't get your hands on a paper you can still follow the comics, but it's all in Dutch. I don't think there are plans for a translation (yet)...

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  7. Reminds me of this other comic series I know of about geek and lonely etc etc

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    1. That one had a slightly different approach to this stuff and this one isn't really about being lonely

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  8. I need to read more comics. I've been getting into Ghost World, recently.
    www.thelittleenigma.blogspot.co.uk
    TUMBLR: @thelittleenigma
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    TWITTER: @lydiaenigma
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    1. I have to admit I've never heard of Ghost World, but I'm going to look into it. I'm running low on material for these posts!

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