N.O.C. One-Shot: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II on Being Black Manta in ‘Aquaman’

This Friday, James Wan’s superhero epic Aquaman opens in theaters all across America. To celebrate the film’s opening, our intrepid movie reporter Mike Manalo got a chance to sit down with Aquaman’s arch-nemesis, Black Manta — portrayed in the film by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II!

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Hard NOC Live from SDCC 2016: Bernard Chang

This year at San Diego Comic-Con, we took Hard NOC Life on the road and spoke to numerous comic professionals on the floor of the San Diego Convention Center. We’ll be posting these interviews all week.

Today, we kick things off by going one-on-one with Bernard Chang.

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N.O.C. One-Shot: Whitewashing in Black and Yellow

As reported by The Hollywood ReporterFresh Off the Boat star recently caused controversy after likening studio attempts to make Scarlett Johansson seem “more Asian” to the practice of blackface. In this One-Shot, the author of that article, Rebecca Sun, and #OscarsSoWhite creator April Reign join Keith to discuss the problematic nature of that analogy and why it’s important for non-black people of color communities to reach out rather than co-opt.

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N.O.C. One-Shot: Lexi Alexander on Why Effie Brown is a Superhero

UPDATE: The full conversation with Lexi is now available here.

HBO’s hit documentary series Project Greenlight has been a trending topic on twitter since its season debut featured Matt Damon “whitesplaining” diversity to producer Effie Brown. In an outtake from our forthcoming Hard NOC Life interview with Lexi Alexander, the Punisher: War Zone director explains how Brown’s experience on the show is indicative of how women of color are treated in the film industry and why Effie’s critics are just exposing their white privilege.

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N.O.C. One-Shot: Why Wanting Diverse Comics is Not Enough

#WeNeedDiverseBooks is a powerful hashtag and message. But we can’t just want these books. We have to support the ones that are already out there too. The latest One-Shot from Shawn Taylor (@reallovepunk) gets at some of the reasons why.

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N.O.C. One-Shot: Batman v Superman and What’s Wrong with DC Movies

Stay tuned for a longer conversation between Keith, Raymond, and Jordan Calhoun, from Black Nerd Problems, about all things Daredevil. In the meantime, the trio took a moment to discuss the Batman v Superman trailer and what it portends for DC’s Cinematic Universe.

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N.O.C. One-Shot: Green Lantern Ruined the DC Cinematic Universe

In this outtake from last week’s Hard N.O.C. Life with William Evans from Black Nerd Problems, Keith and N’Jaila get him on a rant about the 2011 Green Lantern film and how it ruined the nascent DC Cinematic Universe it was … Continue reading N.O.C. One-Shot: Green Lantern Ruined the DC Cinematic Universe