Hypothetically, it’s probably safe to say that a panel with the name “Do Geek Girls Exist?” immediately conjures images of many a scantily-clad Comic-Con goil — and not just in the minds of guys. (One of the most glorious discoveries of this convention was that things really really aren’t so hetero anymore.) Of course a male CC- attendee’s reaction is perfectly explainable: there’s that pesky inner-adolescent that we really never outgrew — that and the fact that it’s all those other CC fanboys are more to blame for putting out countless pictures of fangirl/half-naked Leias and Sailor Moons and Harley Quinns. Thus I am still haunted by the ghosts of Comic-Con past, despite the fact that this year was when I actually got my CC cherry popped. But tonight, at the Geek Girls Exist panel, we had a bunch of brainy broads, and what Marv from Sin City might very well affectionately label “dames to kill for” if he wasn’t so much a big huge lug but a big huge nerd.

But to get to the point, it was Grrl.com guru Bonnie Burton who stole the show, who’s also made her name as the official administrator and Jedi Master for the Star Wars.com Blog. She pretty much just runs the entire goddamn site. She also happens to be funny as shit and a viable argument against Christopher Hitchens’ (somewhat understandable) essay Why Women Aren’t Funny. Some of the other hotties on hand included Marian Call, whom, with the help of a few great blues riffs, floored fanboys with her rendition of an old Elmer Bernstein song. Other girls that had the boys drooling: Sarah Kuhn, author of One Con Glory; lovely geek Jill Pantozzi, author of Has Boobs, Reads Comics, aka the greatest blog title in history; and Kiala Kazebee, writer for io9, which is probably the best sci-fi/pop-culture site on the net.

Then there was Veronica Belmont, Technology and Gaming-Centric video host of Qore and Tekzilla — who gets perhaps the most geek points of all for selecting certain characters from a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine/The Next Generation crossover as her favorite heroes, which even left the horniest of fanboys going “Waaa?”

This was what Comic-Con was about. Geeks meeting together in a big board room to talk about comics and Science Fiction and any kind of geeky stuff that had inspired them. The girls talked about their various projects, answered questions about their history — some of which were more interesting than others — while I got used to Bonnie’s quips and kept hoping for more. Her reference to an orgy with Stormtroopers nearly ignited a standing ovation. Also on hand were Kari Byron of Mythbusters, and Morgan Romine, founder of Ubisoft’s all-girl gaming team The Frag Dolls. Though not what I expected, it was a nice surprise. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of pics of half-naked dames from the 2010 Comic-Con coming anyways.

Words by Jeff Nau.  Photos by Zoetica Ebb