Saturday, July 25, 2015

The Week In Geek 7/22/15

Okay, so this week, it was announced that Spider-Man is getting another series which means Marvel is one more Spider-Man title away from getting a free footlong at Subway. This time around, it seems like they're rebooting the web-head's past...again. Spidey, will follow a teenage Peter Parker in his early years of maintaining his secret identity while balancing high school and home life, remaining in continuity with the current Amazing Spider-Man series. On one hand, I get that Marvel has to have some representation of a young Peter in the comics with Civil War less than a year away. I also understand that Young Peter Parker appeals to a super bankable demographic and that it's coinciding with ASM without actually replacing it (which is the upside in this), but come on, guys....we've seen this A LOT.

I agree that, at his core, Spider-Man has always been a modern day fable about a man in manchild's clothing, one of the archetypes for a younger superhero trying to make the Clark Kent dual identity thing work. And at his core, he'll ALWAYS be that, but I gotta be honest here....the past few years since the big Brand New Day reset, even when it was somewhat problematic for the character, have turned out to be an interesting character study of a man who has always turned away What He Could Be for the greater good finally making manhood work. Doing yet ANOTHER look at Teenage Spidey feels like a bunt when Marvel could be swinging for the fences. I mean, the allure of Spider-Man is that you feel like you know him. I get the need for Marvel to shoot for young audiences, but another great thing about comics (when it's done successfully) is when you get to grow up with a character. I know plenty of guys who juggle dozens of hats in the pursuit of happiness and making it work. Peter Parker holding down a job, maintaining a start-up, dealing with additions to his family like his step-uncle (who is Spidey's great enemy's father) and being an Avenger? That's good reading. In fact, I could see a "Hard Day's Night" style mini-series focused on Peter trying to get some rest while balancing his dozen jobs but having to deal with his personal shit (friends trying to set him up on dates, visiting Gwen's grave, trying to get in touch with Harry who we haven't seen in years). It would be not too much unlike Matt Fraction's Hawkeye except Peter isn't even CLOSE to the train wreck Clint Barton is. But these are lofty goals that dare not stand in the way of Marvel aligning the comics with the Cinematic Universe. And as I mentioned before, the teenage series isn't overriding the one about grown up Spidey so it's not that big of a deal. But as far as characters go, looking back AND forward at him, Peter Parker has come a long way....and that's worth mentioning.

My comic reviews for the week on Cyborg and Uncanny X-Men are available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to like, comment, share...you know the drill.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Because I Got Shit To Do.....

Sorry, folks, no Week In Geek today. I have to catch up on getting the first Neverland story arc done as well as some stuff for Black Nerd Problems. However, feel free to get a look at my review for Planet Hulk which is currently available on BNP. View, comment, share...you know the drill.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Not Another Magic Negro Story

So, everyone who isn't at San Diego Comic Con has two big highlights in comics for the week. One of them was good, one of them was bad....both of them were Mark Waid's doing. Unbreakable, the one digestible film M. Night Shyamalan ever made, featured Bruce Willis as an invulnerable shmuck and at the other end of the spectrum, Samuel L. Jackson as the entirely TOO vulnerable intellectual. That's the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Mark Waid's varying work this week: Archie #1 and Strange Fruit #1. Archie turns out to be genuine, endearing and heroic in a way you didn't expect like Bruce Willis' character while Strange Fruit is a brittle and ill-constructed constellation of good intentions like Samuel L. Jackson's character at the end of the movie screaming, "I am not a mistake!"

In other words, Strange Fruit is sort of terrible. Let's start with the fact that it's an "African-American myth" created by two white men. Don't get me wrong. I'm a fan of Mark Waid and up until this week, had not read a single bad book from him. In fact, the fact that his name was on this book is the sole reason I even considered picking this up was because his name was on it. But even with that in mind, haven't we been down this road before? Wait...what am I saying? We go down this road all the time. We go down this road so often, we don't need GPS. We don't even street signs as markers. We can just say, "Turn at the mailbox next to the Sit n Sleep billboard." I would like to feel like we've entered a different era of intellectual property where the need for two white creators coming up with magic negro stories to make sure we're all on the same page about racism being wrong would be long past. Then again, I would also like to think the need for Jurassic Park movies would be long past as well....and yet here we are. Jurassic World is in theaters and Strange Fruit exists.


The basic premise thus far is that there's a big flood coming and the black people aren't working fast enough for the white folks' liking because racism. On the other hand, the black folks would probably work a lot faster if the white folks would actually help out but we know that won't happen because racism. Oh, and some black guy may or may not have stolen from his white employer, but he'll probably get hung somewhere throughout the series whether he did it or not because racism. The names are unimportant and the character development is even less important than that (I'm assuming this is the case because there is virtually no character development) because it is clear right away that the only character you're supposed to be focused on is Racism. In the midst of all this, a naked black man falls from the sky. He's super strong and takes no shit off of these white folks on horses. He then puts on a Confederate flag because dem white folk ain't gonna take kindly ta him walking around wit his swingin johnson all about. I want to be able to say that that this is Waid refurbishing the old Jewish "golem" myth for the Deep South, but we're not given any tangible indication that this story intends to go that heavy. So, essentially, what we're left with is a 1920's remake of The Brother From Another Planet or, as I like to call it, Not Another Magic Negro Story. 


But it's unfair to say that this is all Waid's fault. Artist J.G. Jones is every bit as complicit in this constellation of condescension as his colleague is. I wouldn't be able to accuse Issue #1's of trying too hard to be Eisner bait were it not for the final image of Naked Alien Black Guy's junk bulging through the Confederate flag, presumably symbolizing the white supremacist's implied fear of black phallus or some shit. I dunno. I don't really have any black dick jokes so, that's the best theory I can pry out of my guesses at Jones' logic. Worse yet, there's the rendering of the people of color in the book.


Note how the principal character (light skinned in this case and a couple others) in the panel is rendered in an attempt at photorealism while all the other people of color in the background are drawn in an exaggerated blackface style that makes the mural in the opening credits of Good Times look like the Sistine Chapel.
Now, let me stop here and say that I don't think this necessarily qualifies as intentionally "racist" anymore than white people who want to touch a black woman's hair without asking. However, the intent doesn't always absolve the result or make the action any less offensive. That said, intentions are basically the only thing this book has going for it, but even that has it's limits. We're past the point where a book simply pointing out that racism is wrong and giving us a splash page with a black alien in the nude ain't gonna cut it.


It's not enough for comics to point out that racism happened a long time ago anymore. Even if the endgame of Strange Fruit (fully realizing that it's only the first of four issues) is to craft a old school superhero myth along the lines of Truth: Red, White and Black, race relations and society's understanding of race relations have to evolve past handing out pats on the head for rehashing the basics. I could very well be speaking too soon since there's three more issues to go. For all I know, this book could engage us in twists and turns that question the way we look at the history of systematic racism in America. But I seriously doubt it.


My reviews for this week's issues of Batman and Archie are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. As always, feel free to like, share, comment at your leisure. You know the drill.


Saturday, July 4, 2015

The Week In Geek 7/1/15

So, this week, we found out that Ava DuVernay walked away from the director's chair for Black Panther. Sucks, but I have to appreciate when black talent has come up in the world to a point where they can turn down million dollar franchises deals at their peak. Allegedly, they "had different ideas about what the story would be." It's not really my job to guess, but I'd say this is another case of the suits at Disney/Marvel stepping on their talent's neck. I mean, we all saw Whedon's frustration with certain mandates in Age of Ultron. At this point in DuVernay's career, I could understand wanting to maintain a certain level of creative autonomy.


Also, Marvel revealed the full roster for their All New All Different Marvel lineup after Secret Wars wraps up. Wolverine's a woman, Star Lord's a woman, Ms. Marvel joins the Avengers and, yep, Captain America is still black. The weirdest backlash is about Spider Woman turning up pregnant. It's gotten to a point where fans are upset just for the sake of being upset. Jubilee spent the better part of Brian Wood's all female X-Men book as Mutant Vampire Juno with an adoptive baby that wasn't hers. Marvel spent ten solid years developing Luke and Jessica Cage's baby from conception to a toddler to a future where she grows up to be Captain America. Fans pick bizarre moments to decide they're upset about a book that, statistically speaking, they weren't reading in the first place. Also, all we've seen so far is a cover. Fans are actually judging books by their cover now. On one hand, it's understandable since comics are a primarily visual medium. On the other hand, we STILL DON'T KNOW the actual context of what the book's about. Even if you want to go off of the cover and claim it's a judgment of art, we all know that the art on the cover doesn't always reflect of artwork of the actual book, so even that's a silly way of making determinations on a book you haven't read. So far, I'm reserving judgment until I lay eyes on some actual pages.

No Black Nerd Problems reviews from me this week. Had to put the finishing touches on my scripts for Issues 2 and 3 of my upcoming comic. The website's under construction at the moment but we'll be up and running within the next few weeks. Happy Independence Day.