Saturday, September 19, 2015

The Week In Geek 9/16/15

This week in Douchebag Theory...Bill Maher has reached a brand new level of douchebaggery not seen before on his show, Real Time. Last night, Jorge Ramos was subjected to possibly one of the fiercest panels of jackasses Maher has ever had in one episode: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Presidential Candidate and presumed human George Pataki and MSNBC's resident rabid attack dog, Chris Matthews. On the topic of Ahmed Mohamed, the 14 year Muslim student who was arrested for bringing a clock to school, Cuban recounted a story of talking on the phone with the boy and telling the panel that he sounded apprehensive when asked to recount the events that led to his arrest, claiming his sister was feeding him answers and instructions. First of all, are we really surprised that a 14 year old boy didn't have a press kit and prepared statements in the event that his racist teachers had him carted off for showing off to his engineering teacher. I, myself, have been a performance poet, but at 14 years old, when speaking to people, I had to be told not to stutter and speak clearly almost constantly. It's not that unreasonable that a child might be uncomfortable talking about his evening in baby booking. Furthermore, Cuban himself stated that the boy showed the thing to three other teachers throughout the day who thought it was completely fine before Miss McFreakout decided to "contain the situation." So, now, suddenly the kid is supposed to have a prepared explanation outside of "it's a clock" for the one teacher who lacks a basic grasp of context clues? Bullshit.

Maher claimed that white privilege doesn't factor into the incident, but the fact that he, a rich white male, was attempting to justify detaining a Muslim child essentially "because ISIS", claming that the onus was on him behave within the parameters of his administrators' suspicions....is precisely white privilege. The bomb squad wasn't called, the police didn't report the situation to Homeland and the school wasn't evacuated, so it's safe to assume that outside of "it looks like something someone put together at home", there was no reason to believe that anyone involved had any serious concerns that Ahmed's project was a credible threat. What Maher and his circle jerk of white privilege didn't seem to understand was that, at the end of the day, the possibility of a bomb threat wasn't the issue being handled. A Muslim child was.

This Week In Keeping Hope Alive....It seems that previous reports that production for Pacific Rim 2: Maelstrom were exaggerated. Guillermo Del Toro is still turning in a budget and a script for the film in a matter of weeks, but he's filming another project in between if the studio gives him the greenlight. So, relax, folks. Hopefully, we'll still be canceling the apocalypse next year. 

This Week In Self Promotion....The day has finally arrived. My webcomic, Neverland: The Untold is finally launched as of this past Wednesday. The outpour of support has been overwhelming, humbling and exciting all at the same time. Several hundred views in the first day, 100 likes on the Facebook page....if I didn't know any better, I'd say you people were looking forward to this comic as much as we were looking forward to releasing it. It hasn't even been a week and it's already been an amazing experience. So, if you haven't already checked the website out, please do, leave comments, subscribe to our email updates. We've got a lot of good stuff coming and we're eager to show you what we've been working on. 



My comic reviews for Tokyo Ghost and Star Wars are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. Feel free to like, comment and share at your leisure. You know the drill.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

The Week In Geek 9/9/15

This Week in Fan Appreciation....Praise the comic gods. Bitch Planet returned at long last after a lot of delays and scheduling issues. Though the ending had some readers pretty fucked up in their feelings, the real attraction that deserves discussion is the letter column. In addition to a lengthy blog-type entry from Kelly Sue Deconnick, there was a pretty legit essay on victimhood from a GQ writer. Last week, Grant Morrison's series, 18 Days, included a letter column that included an essay from the Supergods author himself on the differences in the Eastern superhero myths and the post 9/11, militarized superhero films of the West. And, of course, there's Brian K. Vaughn's always engaging, charming "To Be Continued" section at the end of the Saga. It's probably the only time I've ever heard of a fan proposing to his girlfriend via an editorial section in the back of an indie comic before Saga came around. Guys, letter columns are starting to matter again. It was really just a matter of time, too. In the era of social media, readers like knowing the creators are accessible. It maintains the feeling that they're grounded. They also help to build the foundation, a watering hole for the fan base, if you will. And it's funny that the best letter columns seem to come from creator owned books. As much as I like Marvel and DC, the indie stuff seems to be vastly more adept at keeping an open line of communication with the fans. 


My comic reviews on Batman and Planet Hulk are up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Like, comment and share at your discretion.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

The Week In Geek 9/2/15

So, This Week In Black Girl Magic, Netflix casted Simone Missick to play (very likely) Misty Knight in Marvel's Luke Cage series. The fact that Misty Knight is going to be in this show at all makes this one a promising venture....though I'm not counting on it being as awesome as Season One of Daredevil. But I'm more than open to being proven wrong. Luke Cage is also a great character that's overdue for another upgrade in visibility, so the show deserves a win.

This Week In Geeky Non Stories That People Lose Their Fucking Shit Over....Force Friday is a thing that happened. Basically, it was the first big reveal of the new toy line for the upcoming Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens. Now, I won't talk about the fact that most toy retailers were so vastly understocked, fans almost started an uprising at their local Toys R Us. I won't talk about the fact that an 18 hour live stream of people taking toys out of the fucking box is easily one of the most psychotic thing I've ever heard of since the first Saw movie was in theaters. No, I'm going to talk about the questionable nature of some of these toys like this fucking thing, for instance....
Look, I'm really excited that Gwendoline Christie is involved enough in the plot to merit her own toy. I'm just as glad that they're bringing back the voice changer face masks like the Darth Vader ones they had when I was a kid. But I don't feel like kids want toys that say generic shit like "On my command, fire" or the ever iconic "Submit your blaster."
On the other hand, this is unbearably cool. It's highly promising when you go in expecting a few toys to get you hyped for what is already the most hyped movie of the year (short of Age of Ultron) and come out with a droid that could very well be the future of robotics to a certain degree. Voice commands, personality, intuitive app controls? Sign me up! Disney is pulling no punches for this ad campaign! And it's not even Fall yet.
My review for the week on Thors is available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing pleasure. Feel free to like, comment and share as you see fit.