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.

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.

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.

The Week in Geek 8/26/15

So, This Week in Things The Nerd Sites Aren't Talking Nearly Enough About, Marvel just signed Ashley A. Woods, a woman of color. Now, it could very well be that this is in response to the somewhat deserved (and maybe not completely deserved) backlash they've received about not having as much black talent as they could. But honestly, a step in the right direction is a step in the right direction. And after seeing a sample of her work from Niobe, the comic she's doing with Rue from the Hunger Games, this is an impressive step in the right direction. I would direct you to more of her work, but apparently, her site is down due to all the traffic she's gotten since the announcement, so yeah, there's that.

And This Week In The Internet, anytime you feel down, any moment you feel as though life is giving you entirely too much burden to bare, watch this and I guarantee you will instantly feel better about your own bullshit. This happened for me. It will happen for you.

Also, This Week In Promoting My Own Shit, I was very happy to announce that my webcomic, Neverland: The Untold, is scheduled for its debut on September 15th. Katie Coats and I are unbelievably excited to be sharing this story with you guys. We promise to try and keep it as compelling as possible for you. The first story is unlike anything else I've ever tried my hand at. The website is just about finished, so thank you for all the email inquiries. We'll start building a database so I can keep you guys updated on everything including, events, new pages, fan art, etc. Thank you all for the outpour of support going into September. It means more to us than we can express. 

My review on David Walker's EXCELLENT Cyborg solo comic is up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. Feel free to read, comment, share at your leisure as always. You know the drill.

The Other Side of Representation in Comics

So, earlier this week, I was doing research online for what might turn into a Black Nerd Problems article sometime soon. And anyone who knows me or even follows me on Twitter or Facebook knows that my doing research on the internet equates to my finding a new awful inner layer of the internet that I never knew about before. Fortunately, I didn't quite find that but the past few months put me onto a new degree of naysayer geeks I didn't really know/acknowledge previously.

In this case, it's the New Marvel Defectors (that's not a thing, internet...it's just my term). New Marvel Defectors generally have a problem with the direction the company is taking in being more socially inclusive (more female characters, Black Captain America, Woman Thor, etc). The biggest complaint I hear is that Marvel's approach constitutes as lazy writing and that instead of repurposing existing characters to take up the mantle of an existing white superhero, they should just make new characters.

Now, let me first state that this IS AT LEAST HALF TRUE. Yes, the Big Two SHOULD be developing new characters and, mainly in DC's case, working a little harder to develop existing characters of color and non-binary characters. However, let's not pretend that this isn't something that's actively happening. There's been an all woman squad of X-Men in a series that's run right up until Secret Wars, I believe. Al Ewing had a great run on Mighty Avengers, a book about Luke Cage's Avengers team that consisted mostly of characters of color. All New Hawkeye is basically a buddy hero book that highlights Kate Bishop every bit as much as Clint Barton. And, of course, before that, Matt Fraction's Hawkeye basically splits up to two individual self sustaining stories, one with Barton vs. the Tracksuit Mafia, the other with Kate Bishop vs. Madame Masque. And of course, there's G. Willow Wilson's Ms. Marvel, which is a great look at identity, race and coming of age. The people that think original inclusion isn't happening just aren't looking close enough.

Second of all, even with creating new characters, it still misses part of the point of representation and what we're telling little kids (because sometimes, we forget that kids read this shit, too). I like Superman. I've liked Superman ever since I was a kid. My first example of what it meant to be a superhero was Superman. When I played Justice League with my friends, I wanted to be Superman. Once, a kid told me that I couldn't be Superman because he was white and I was black. I knew everything there was to know about Superman. I knew and lived by (or at least TRIED to live by) his ideals. But the kid boiled it down to mere skin color because that's all he knew. I'm not calling the kid racist, of course. For him, it was a matter of aesthetics although it speaks to so many levels of colorism.

Despite cynicism being trendy nowadays, the superhero is still hugely tied to the latter day mythologies of modern culture for now and for always. They are fables inextricably tied to the values by which we live, the hope we pass down from generation to generation. They link us. Sometimes, they even shape us. When you tell people to create new characters instead of breaking the gender/color boundaries of the existing franchises, you're telling a whole readership of children that no matter how much they look up to Captain America or Thor, being black or a woman or gay or whatever you are....means that Captain America will always be off limits to them on some level. You saying that a white person is allowed to take that character's place (as has been the case with Captain America, Batman, Daredevil that I can think of right off the bat), but never a black person or a woman. You're essentially chastising them for wanting to have the attributes of an awesome character that they really like.

Although some heroes' obstacles and outlooks on the world are undeniably linked and shaped because of their race, superheroes are not just men and women built on race. They're ideals, principles, morals and deeds. Yes, Static is an awesome superhero (who occasionally suffers from being in bad comics) and yes, he could stand to be built upon and really SHOULD be built upon, but Superman is a legend, an icon. As great a character as he is, Static is NOT Superman. Representation isn't just building a new foundation for an institution. It's about changing transcending barriers and rearranging the way we look at the old one.

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

Self Care and Shit Like That....

So, there's no entry for this week due to my a). need to decompress and take it easy (or at least easier than usual) as well as b). I need to work on the comic. By the way, for those of you who have been keeping up with such things, Neverland: The Untold is still actively being worked on. Kate has finished some pages that are simply gorgeous and I have the majority of the first story arc scripted. Really, the only thing that's still under construction is the website. Our greatly appreciated tech lady is hard at work getting the site up and running, so we should be ready pretty soon.

Until then, as usual, you can check out my reviews on Planet Hulk, Batman and Ghost Racers, all available on Black Nerd Problems.

Peter Pan from Neverland: The Untold

The Week In Geek 8/5/15

-So, Secret Wars is being pushed back AGAIN so it'll now be ending in October now. Man, I like this event a lot but for fuck's sake....I'd like it a lot more if Marvel wouldn't drag it along like this. DC and Marvel sometimes have a tendency to suck with these scheduling issues. DC shit the bed last year pushing Forever Evil back so far, rest of the books in the line had moved on past the event and basically gave away the ending. Now, with SW being delayed, there's so many moving parts in Hickman's story, the tie-ins have to be careful not to give away too much story. In truth, they wouldn't have so many problems with scheduling if they'd cut events like this in half. Marvel had the right idea when SW started off biweekly. Despite being so god-awful, at least Convergence got in, told its story and got out. Then again, considering Esad Ribic's artwork, it might just be worth the wait. 

-The Strain, the FX show based on Guillermo Del Toro's vampire apocalypse series, just got renewed for its third season. And despite my liking this show, I have no idea how that happened. I get that FX is doing its damnedest to stretch out this story with a little cinematic nuance and get the most out of the basic plot points, but Christ Almighty....it's the Vampire Apocalypse and the city's reaction to it is, at best, lukewarm. People feel completely comfortable, going to groundbreaking ceremonies, meeting in dimly lit parking garages, putting up "missing" flyers and flirting with cute latin girls in Indian food restaurants. So far, the most exciting plot points this season are a). the flashbacks of Abraham Setrakian Da Gawd and b). the Vampire Black Ops Team....and they just got snuffed out in stupid ass network television fashion, so that doesn't leave us much except the vastly underused Kevin Durand and Corey Stoll, Vampire Hunter which....umm, isn't all that exciting. The major problem is that in the era of existential horror/drama/misery porn like The Walking Dead where people can make the smartest decisions possible and STILL never have a single moment of happiness, it's getting noticeably hard to sit through a show where the characters seem to consistently make such awful decisions. I'm talking about the little stuff. They just stroll right into abandoned places, hardly ever clearing the rooms or even scanning them for vampires. Even Corey Stoll, Vampire Hunter's son, Zach is getting intensely annoying. But this is also a show where the high points maybe balance out the bad points, so it always ends up doing just enough of the right something to justify its continued existence. So, the result is an hour every Sunday where you keep hoping the good will start to actually outweigh the bad instead of just cancelling it out. But probably not.   

My review of this week's Ms. Marvel issue is up and available on Black Nerd Problems for your viewing enjoyment. As usual, feel free to read, like, comment and share as you see fit. You know the drill.