Fifteen years ago, if I wanted to get a girl to read a comic book, I had to tie her down and threaten to cut her face with a broken bottle. These days it's not uncommon to see women in comic shops, playing games, and in general being geeks. This is as good as we've had it since the 1950s. To me, it's proof positive that the comic book culture is bigger than I've ever seen it in my lifetime.

Not surprisingly, everyone wants in on the action, including New York Publishing. A slew of books have appeared, including most recently, two (!) different encyclopedias about super heroes — one by genre legend Ron Goulart, at that. If you're reading this, I'm going to assume that you already know Aquaman's secret identity, and so you can give them a pass.

Instead, I'm going to talk about some titles that you may have missed and may not want to miss. As you'll see, some of us geeks have made good.

• The Rough Guide to Superheroes
  By Rough Guides
   
• Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society
  By Danny Fingeroth
   
• Give Our Regards to the Atomsmashers! Writers on Comics
  Edited by Sean Howe
   
• Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book
  By Gerard Jones