Maybe We Don't Have to Be THAT Hard On Marvel

So, the story lately in the comic world has been how The Big Two's sales are down lately and everyone has their various opinions on why that is because fanboys. It's pretty much standard operating procedure to howl endless platitudes about how mainstream comics are coming to an end as we know it or whatever. The main complaint is that DC is changing their characters too much, and "he doesn't look like MY Batman" and basically everything change averse readers over 40 would whine about no matter what. And honestly, things over there aren't as bad as comic retailers would have you believe. I mean, Batman is still going strong, Superman is shaky but Superman has been shaky since before the New 52 reboot and Green Lantern has a strong premise going but Robert Venditti is just no Geoff Johns. Also, Justice League, Midnighter, Doctor Fate and Black Canary are all really strong titles that are just not getting enough press because it's cool to hate DC.

The complaint that bothers me the most actually comes from Marvel readers, though. Now, granted...it's only fair to say that Marvel DID kinda shit the bed by launching their rebooted universe before finishing the event that causes the the universe to be rebooted in the first place. And it was a bit annoying that Secret Wars was an 8 issue event that started in early Spring 2015 and didn't end until early 2016, but this All New All Different Marvel isn't as gagworthy as people are making it out to be. The main gripe seems to be that the House of Ideas seems to be throwing way too many titles at the wall to see what sticks. But the truth is THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING. A year ago, the complaint was that they were so busy gender/race bending old characters, they weren't focusing on pushing existing non binary characters. Now, we have them trying out books like "Silk" (which is, in fairness, bad....last time I checked, anyway), The Ultimates, an almost completely non binary team of Avengers, David Walker writing a Power Man/Iron Fist team up book to get readers acquainted with the former Heroes for Hire before their respective Netflix shows debut. These are things that deserve mention. G. Willow Wilson's writing on Ms. Marvel has easily been some of the best in the business, redefining the superhero genre for young millenials. All New Hawkeye, though aiming a little higher than Matt Fraction's strictly everyman approach, has maintained its status as a fun, sometimes heartwarming character study of a guy who's good at being a hero and not as great at being a person. Bendis is doing compelling work on Invincible Iron Man, depicting a less morose Tony Stark trying his hand at having a normal life while facing abnormal problems. And I shouldn't even have to explain the importance of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

It's easy to get caught up in the problems, but it's important to mark the interesting things happening over at Marvel right now because there's a reawakening of the confidence in the industry to try some different things that run the risk of sucking. Or we can just go back to have ten X-Men titles and five Wolverine books. I know we all love that shit. Just thinking out loud. 

My comic review of David Walker's Cyborg is up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment.

The Week in Geek 11/17/15

This Week In Superhero Television....Jessica Jones premiered this Friday as part of the Netflix division of Marvel's Cinematic Universe. Of course, I haven't finished the series because it's 13 episodes and my geek devotion only goes so far in one day, but thus far, it rates as "pretty damn good." There have been attempts at recapturing the feminist narrative feel we got from Buffy (some of them, unsurprisingly, from Joss Whedon), but few have actually succeeded. Now, I'm not saying that Jessica Jones completely succeeds. It's not quite a perfect show and it definitely does not surpass Daredevil (because Daredevil didn't have too much of the burden of selling other possible properties), but if I had to make a list of shows that rate alongside JJ, it would probably rate in the top 5 above maybe Agent Carter. The ways the series differs from the Alias comic series are basically either minor or necessary for television, but they create so many layers for modern day gender politics and themes. From Jeri Hogarth being the catalyst for a toxic relationship or Jessica Jones herself being victimized in an abusive one, modern day womanism is alive and well in this show.

I mean, who better to play Killgrave, a somewhat charming man who is driven by his need to control everything and ends up remorselessly hurting everyone he allegedly cares about....than David Tennant, the guy who played the Tenth Doctor, a somewhat charming man who is driven by his need to control (or fix, as it were) everything and ends up hurting people he cares about.

Also, the whole thing's got me excited to see Luke Cage's show. Mike Colter is playing a very layered version of Cage. The whole hardened "Shaft with superpowers" deal works well with the version Brian Bendis established in the comics back in 2000, but it's nice (necessary, in fact) to see characters of color with multiple dimensions, who are taken out of their comfort zones while still not compromising their principles. And Luke Cage is nothing, if not a man of principle.

All in all, this makes for an excellent piece of standalone superhero noir as well as a fantastic addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Plenty of replay value.

My review for the week on The Mighty Thor is available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. And don't forget about my weekly webcomic with Katie Coats, Neverland: The Untold, which updates weekly. Feel free to like, comment, share and spread the word as you see fit.

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....

Masque #CaptainPhasma #ForceFriday #StarWars pic.twitter.com/y6H1xdt25k

— David Popineau (@davidpopineau) September 3, 2015

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.

It's Just Hair, Folks....

Mighty Avengers is a very special treat and if you're not reading it, you're missing out on some damn good reading with a lineup mostly comprised of heroes of color. If someone had told me I'd be reading a comic that builds on the Blue Marvel's story in such a compelling way, I'd have laughed right in their face. For all the fanwhining about a lack of focus on diversity and gender politics, this title (and some others) is one that breaks a lot of those rules.

One of my personal favorite things about this book (other than Luke Cage) is the addition of Monica Rambeau. Every once in a blue moon, someone finds a decent venue to bring her back and this is probably as good as premise as any. She's one of these characters that has basically had her entire history built upon being "that hero that's quietly been around for years." One major complaint has been Spectrum (as she now calls herself) now appearing with relaxed hair after most of the character's lifespan being her with either a fro or locs. One comment I read even went so far as to say that Marvel had "whitewashed" her (which, by the way, is ABSOLUTELY NOT what whitewashing means).

You know, as a nerd of color, I tend to get excited about and welcome when "our" issues are addressed in comic culture. That's an enormous part of why I signed on to work at Black Nerd Problems. However, there are a couple of issues that get way too much airtime from the Black Blogsphere I prayed would not creep into comics. Chief among them is the "natural hair vs. permed hair" wars. Extreme "natural" ideologues shout down the people who perm their hair and those who perm their chastise the "naturals", believing them to be elitist. This argument is older than many of us realize and, to my great disappointment, isn't going anywhere any time soon.

Now, we're not going to talk about that because I don't have the time or the energy this week to open myself up to yet another brand of trolling. We WILL talk about the merits of attaching such a debate to a fictional character.

Spoiler Alert: There are none.

It's the same problem as I've explained previously about Superman. Once you begin inventing values for a character (which, often times, means you're attaching your own) because they can't speak for themselves unless the writer makes it so, you start internalizing the narrative you've had a hand in creating. And it's a rather flawed narrative. I mean, as far as I can tell (and you're free to correct me if I'm wrong), I've never read a comic in which Monica Rambeau said anything that would leave me to believe she stood on either side of the natural/perm argument or that she even acknowledges it at all. I mean, Luke Cage used to have an afro, he shaved all his hair off and I don't remember there being any backlash about that.

Then again, it's best to not get me started on the strange double standard forced upon women, fictional or otherwise in nerd culture. That's a whole other post

Honestly, I think making Monica/Captain Marvel/Photon/Spectrum's hair was a fiercely bold move on Marvel's part. Because if you want to accurately depict people of color in your medium, you have to capture all sides of the spectrum realistically. Some of us stand fierce to certain hairstyles, some of us use our hair to make statements, some of us just don't give a shit. But like Monica, ALL of us can't, won't, and shouldn't be defined completely by our hair. Because it's just hair.

The Cyborg Problem

Some of you...many of you, I wager...have probably noticed my Facebook and Twitter pages have lately been full of Cyborg "shade" and wondered why I have it out for this character in particular.

I went to sleep to @letsgetfree13 shading Cyborg & I woke up to the same. This may have been one if the best follows I've made recently.
— Felonious Donk (@PhaxSimile) March 2, 2014

Well, I was with some friends a week or two ago watching Justice League: War, DC's latest bastardization of their New 52 material. I'm not going to into why I didn't particularly enjoy the movie or the source material it was based on. That's a whole other post. I mentioned how I didn't like Cyborg being placed on the Justice League roster for one simple reason.

Cyborg is the epitome of why DC's black characters (except Green Lantern John Stewart) just don't work.

Let's take a real look at Victor Stone. There's not much to set him apart from anyone else in the Justice League. Think about it. What exactly can he do that the League needs that any of the other members can't already do? Strength? Well, that's pretty notably what Superman and Wonder Woman are for. He has a laser cannon for an arm? Green Lantern's magic wishing ring can do that plus anything else he can imagine. He can hack into computer security systems? Let's face it. DC has made Batman so annoyingly omniscient, he can hack/break/punch/think his way into virtually ANYTHING on Earth. Flash, Aquaman and even Shazam have villains tailor made to combat them and offer a significant challenge to be overcome. Name a Cyborg villain. I'll wait.

The ONLY thing that actually makes Cyborg stand out is being black. Now, let's look at his actual character development. Thus far, in the New 52 continuity, the only defining personality trait anyone can nail down is "I'm so sad that I have a metal face." Granted, tragedy isn't a new plot device or anything. After all....Batman. But there are other layers to Batman. He's meticulous, calculating, disgustingly rich, gets laid on Earth more than Captain Kirk ever did in space. Despite being a well documented loner...he's kind of a surrogate father, too. Cyborg is just really, really sad about his metal face despite being having all kinds of cool superpowers. I'm not even going to go into the possible undertones that could be assumed about the fact that only thing DC seems to be able to do remotely well with black characters is tragedy.

(This was the same problem DC had with Hal Jordan in the Green Lantern movie. These are sad times. People are sick, people are broke and someone's trying to shoot up a school or shopping mall every other week. If you have a character with a magic wishing ring or super robot powers, nobody wants to read them whining about it for 26 pages.)

With all that in mind, I repeat: the ONLY thing that separates Cyborg from the rest of the Justice League is the fact that he's black. So, when they put him on the roster, it's blatantly DC coming across as stuffy old white guys trying to condescend to readers, showing them how "down" they are by putting putting a black person with no standout qualities other than blackness next to Superman. Remind you of anyone?

Yes, that's right. Cyborg is quite literally DC's "black friend."

The sad thing is they really do mean well. It seems like they're trying to do for Cyborg what Marvel did with Luke Cage in 2000 by upgrading his character from the superhero version of Chef in South Park to what has basically turned out to be Shaft with superpowers (if he were played by Ving Rhames ten years ago). The only problem with that is Marvel does shit like that well.

Before ever becoming an Avenger, we saw Cage evolve and shine in top notch books like Alias and Daredevil (it probably helped that Brian Michael Bendis has sort of a man crush on Luke Cage). I know Luke Cage. He's is the summation of guys like my best friend and my father, an old school man of stoic conscience with pretty old school methods to superheroing and isn't always entirely sure he's supposed to be a husband and father, but sucks it up and does it anyway.

For all the complaints about her being underused (even though she's at the forefront of at least two successful X-Men titles I can think of), Storm is a pretty fleshed out character herself. She's a woman who owns her mutant powers and has always sort carried herself like royalty even before marrying (and divorcing) the Black Panther. Her history is so extensive, we've seen her overcome claustrophobia. Whether you like her character or not, you know Storm. You can repeat this with Black Nick Fury, James Rhodes, even the Falcon at this point, really.

Now, name three personality traits, defining moments or quirks about Cyborg, Mister Terrific, Black Lightning, Bronze Tiger or Aqualad (who, in fairness, was AWESOME in Young Justice). Villains? Motivations? Memorable "Real Hero" moments? Go ahead. Try. I'll wait.

Putting black characters like this on a Justice League roster for black's sake isn't giving them the respect or recognition they deserve. Taking them seriously and actually writing them is. That's why I don't take Cyborg seriously. Then again, I could be wrong.

(By the way, I've left John Stewart and Static...and even Static's cartoon got a little condescending...out of my analysis because those were two characters made awesome ONLY because of the late Dwayne McDuffie, who took advantage of post 9/11 sentiments by focusing on John Stewart's military background, almost making it a superpower in itself.)