On a Wednesday afternoon, the Comic Outpost on Ocean Avenue is buzzing. Wednesday is the day when most retailers unveil the new issues for the week, and about six or seven guys are milling around the shop, crowded by new issues and action figures. The speakers in the corner are trembling under the heft of a Metallica riff. At the counter, a customer is asking Gary Buechler's opinion.

"You know, I really wanted to hate this one, but I couldn't," he says abruptly, slipping an issue of Black Panther into a plastic sheath. "There, is that a good enough review for ya?" he laughs.

The men in line at Gary's shop are not "geeks" by any stretch of the imagination. They're normal, baseball-cap, baggy-sweatshirt, five-o'-clock-shadow dudes.

For years, the stock character of the nerd has involved high-waisted pants, comically large eyewear, and a crippling fear of the opposite sex. Today, it's hard to tell that character ever existed. One look at Gary tells you that most comic book enthusiasts these days are actually pretty, well...cool.

Countless movies based on comic book franchises have proved worthy summer cash cows over the last decade. Starting with X-Men in 2000, and reaching a creative pinnacle with this summer's The Dark Knight, more and more average Joes are hitting the Cineplex and shelling out ten dollars for movies based on books that were once considered social suicide.

"I was into comic books and music, which is something you'll find in a lot of these guys," he says, motioning to the empty store. "They're both things that are really easy to get geeky about."

The new generation of geek has also developed a figure. "I'm a pretty bad anime fan, I have to admit", says Ashley Campbell, giggling sheepishly into her chai latte. Ashley is the facilities coordinator on the board for Fanime, the biggest anime convention in Northern California. "I get so busy with planning the convention that I can't keep up anymore." Fanime has garnered a massive fan following in the last ten years, growing from 1,500 to 15,000 attendees.

"It's gotten far more gender-balanced over the years," she says. Believe it or not, it started off as mostly men. "I think, at least when it comes to anime, it's more acceptable for guys to be really geeky about it, not just, you know, a normal geeky." But as word gets out, and with cable channels like Cartoon Network beaming in anime late at night, more and more women are showing up, and showing up in costume, despite the unavoidable wardrobe malfunctions. "The biggest problems we have is...slippage," she says, waving a hand over her chest. "Or maybe costumes that are a little, um, sheer in the bottom regions."

Ashley, who grew up watching Sailor Moon in Hawaii, has a great sense of humor about what she does. She is cute and giggly, with hair the same shade of blonde as Marilyn Monroe. The only thing about her presence that might give her away as an anime fan is her cartoonish style--a pink pleated skirt that billows out from her waist and knee-high boots over dark stockings seem ripped right out of the pages of manga. She follows almost every statement with a sheepish laugh. She knows she's a geek, but she's not ashamed. And with 50,000 attendees sharing her interest in anime, the modern nerd can't possibly be quite as nerdy as he--or she--used to be.

"My customers, they actually want to read the books; get involved in the story. We don't get a lot of kids in here," says Gary, just as three boys in school uniforms come barreling through the front door.

On a Thursday morning at KSFS studios, James Kincaid and the crew of The Best Damn Nerd Show are in a heated debate, casting roles for comic book movies slated for release in the future. "I just don't think she's that attractive," spits guest host Jeff Budd when someone suggests Angelia Jolie as Catwoman.

The Best Damn Nerd Show doesn't stay nerdy for the entire hour-long slot--there are tangent discussions of pro wrestlers, of troubles with their girlfriends, of how terrible My Bloody Valentine: 3D was, and how host James ended up seeing it in the first place. It's a pretty macho place, within a nerdy context.

The world is much safer for nerds of all types these days. They have lives, they have girlfriends, and they've established little enclaves for themselves where they can let it all hang out.