BLERD ALERT! Marly McFly Introduces The Cool World Of Lil Zook

Source: Marly McFly

The term “Blerd” — an amalgamation of the phrase “Black nerd,” just to get that out of the way — has come a long way in finding acceptance within the culture. For a long time Black people weren’t expected to embrace the world of peculiarity with the freedom of their Caucasian and Asian counterparts, from being a beast at RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons and The Legend of Zelda to hardcore fandom of cult sci-fi TV series like The X-Files and Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

The anime boom in America during the 1990s, particularly with the rise of Street Fighter, Pokémon, Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon amongst others, gave African Americans a bit more room to tap into their geeky side by way of gaming on a Playstation or catching cartoons on Toonami. As time has grown though, it’s almost become a rite of passage to be accepted into Blerd culture from all aspects of the spectrum — figurine collecting, cosplay content creating and Crunchyroll forum talks about the best Black anime characters all included in the mix.

That’s why we decided to to launch BLERD ALERT, a new digital hub with efforts to shed light on all things Black and nerdy! This week, we welcome renowned mural artist Marly McFly to discuss his new toon on the block by the name Lil Zook.

It’s worth nothing that Zook isn’t just a character. As Marly explains in the Kickstarter campaign that went live earlier this week, his animated cool little homie also stands as “a beacon of hope, a symbol of resilience, and a reminder that no dream is too big — no box is too confining.” He went on to add, “Lil Zook is a positive Black Latino street artist. Like myself, he is here to inspire children of color to break boundaries, embrace their uniqueness, and chase after their wildest dreams.”