Growing up reading comic books or deliberating whether alpha-male James T. Kirk or Earl Grey fanatic Jean Luc Picard was a better Starfleet Captain was not “popular” at the start of the new millennium. Nerdom in the past was really an esoteric avocation, and now geek life is becoming trendy in Austin and across the country.

By Bri Thomas Clad in Star Wars costumes and Super Mario Bros. tees, comic-lovers and gamers gathered together Oct. 25-28 for Comic-Con 2012. Held in the Austin Convention Center, the event hosted its...