by Arturo R. Garcia | Originally posted at Racialicious
The Falcon is going to be the new Captain America! Great! But then what? Oh, you expected this to stick? History says otherwise. But there’s a potential problem ahead.
SPOILERS under the cut
Continue reading “The New Captain America Faces Challenges From Within”
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last few days, you’re probably aware that the folks at the House of Ideas have taken two huge steps in diversifying their roster of heroes. The publisher who famously put a black/Latino teen in the (Ultimate) Spider-Man tights and recast Ms. Marvel as a Pakistani American has taken to national TV to announce its latest foray in ensuring that superheroes actually look like the America they represent.
So faithful watchers of the daytime talker The View were treated to the announcement of a female Thor, and fans of the late night Colbert Report got tipped to Sam Wilson replacing Steve Rogers as Captain America. We might have our own thoughts on these developments later. In the meantime, our friend at ComicsAlliance Andrew Wheeler touches on a lot of things that came to mind for me.
Continue reading “What Avengers NOW Means for Marvel and Diversity”
by Jamal Igle
Unless you’ve been living under a rock or don’t read the book (which is probably a lot of you) DC’s Earth 2 series has introduced Val-Zod as a new “Black” Superman character [Ed. note: not to be confused with the Superman of Earth-23 from Grant Morrison’s upcoming Multiversity series]. Many have asked if Marvel can make a black Spider-Man, why can’t DC make Superman black permanently?
Well for one reason, like Earth 2 Superman, Marvel’s version of Spider-Man is also in an alternate reality, or have we forgotten that?
Changing Superman’s race only works in an alternate dimension because Superman is an established brand and has an established look. Every attempt to permanently change or alter him has failed because the people behind it don’t know the basics of marketing and public perception.
Here at The Nerds of Color, we’re always on the look out for spaces that not only shine a light on the lack of diversity in comics, but actually are doing something about it.
We recently learned about a new web portal that just launched a few days ago. It’s called Peep Game Comix, and its mission is to showcase the work of African American comic authors, artists, and publishers.
Check out their official press release after the jump.
Grant Morrison has been teasing it for years, but the epic Multiversity storyline will finally be hitting comic shop shelves later this summer. If you needed more proof, DC Comics’ The Multiversity graces the coveted front cover of the June edition of PREVIEWS, Diamond Comic Distributors’ monthly catalog of items it ships to stores, which will be available next week.
First envisioned in 2009, Morrison’s take on alternate universe versions of the Justice League will finally be told in a 10-issue series debuting in August. Though each issue of the series will take place in a different part of the Multiverse, it looks like the Superman of Earth-23 — who first appeared in Final Crisis #7 before having an Action Comics issue dedicated to him in 2012 — will be one of the breakout characters, as he is prominently featured on the cover (along with Captain Carrot, no less).
Take a peek at the PREVIEWS cover after the jump.
Continue reading “Superman of Earth-23 Will Lead The Multiversity“
It’s no secret that we love Captain America: The Winter Soldier here at The Nerds of Color. Heck, we even dedicated a whole week’s worth of posts to it, remember?
On twitter last night, the Eisner-nominated writer Jeremy Whitley strung together an epic series of tweets explaining why Sam Wilson — as portrayed by Anthony Mackie — was the best part of the whole movie. Notice he says “Sam Wilson” and not “Falcon.” Because while most folks were dazzled by Falcon’s CGI-enhanced flying combat scenes, Whitley dives deep into the man inside the suit.
With Whitley’s permission, we’ve edited together the content of his tweets into the essay below. If you want to see the tweets in their original form, head over to this Storify or just follow him on twitter.
Continue reading “Sam Wilson is the Best Part about The Winter Soldier“
Originally posted at BadAzz Mofo
There was that moment in 2008’s Iron Man, when Rhodey (Terrence Howard) eyeballs one of Tony Stark’s suits and says, “Next time.” Hardcore comic fans went nuts, because we knew that meant Rhodey would most likely return in a sequel, armored up as War Machine. Of course, Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle — no complaints on my part — and he did, in fact, suit up as War Machine in Iron Man 2. Cheadle donned a different suit in Iron Man 3, much to the surprise of some comic fans, and became Iron Patriot. It is difficult to convey the level of excitement I had — first, when Howard hinted at the promise of becoming a costumed superhero, and then when Cheadle made good on that promise. The only problem — at least for me — was that Cheadle never really got to be a superhero. Instead, he got to be a sidekick.
You would think that I’d have tempered my excitement when it was announced that Anthony Mackie would appear in Captain America: The Winter Soldier as Sam Wilson/Falcon, and to be honest, I did. And then the first images of Mackie in his exo-skeleton flying rig emerged. Then came the trailers. And though I did my best not to, I went nuts. Not just because the second Captain America looked to be better than the first — which it was — but because we were getting a black superhero.
Last week, while we were a little preoccupied with the idea of casting an Asian American actor as Iron Fist, Hollywood — as if on cue — once again proved cross-racial casting is really a one-way street and announced Girl with the Dragon Tattoo star Rooney Mara will be playing Tiger Lily in Warner Brothers’ upcoming live action Peter Pan adaptation.
Originally posted at BadAzz Mofo
Wake up world, Black actor Michael B. Jordan has been cast as Johnny Storm (a.k.a. the Human Torch) in the upcoming reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise. The hurricane of controversy, and all the requisite ridiculous and racist comments have begun, and will keep flowing, until, or course, the movie comes out, at which point people will go see it no matter how incensed or infuriated they are. And you know what? I don’t care if anyone is incensed, infuriated, or inconsolable about a Black actor being cast in a fictional role of a character that is known to be White. Really, honestly, and truly, I don’t care at all. That is not, however, going to stop me from addressing a few issues.
Continue reading “Why an African American Human Torch is Important, or Comic Fans are Kinda Racist”
Originally posted at BadAzzMofo
Now that Black actor Michael B. Jordan has been officially cast as Johnny Storm (a.k.a. Human Torch) in the new Fantastic Four movie, all the negative crap has started to spew (again). We’ve all heard the crap before: “Johnny Storm is white!!! That’s Like casting a white actor as Martin Luther King, Jr!” Well, dumbass racist, it’s actually nothing like that. Johnny Storm is a fictional character. Martin Luther King Jr. being played by a white actor would like… well… it would be kind of like this…
Continue reading “The Human Torch is Being Played by a Black Guy. So What?!?”
It’s no secret that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been pretty lilly-white since its inception. Aside from Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Don Cheadle as War Machine, the Marvel films heretofore have not featured very many heroes of color. That’s why so many Nerds of Color — including our very own Shawn Taylor whose advice on “How Not to Screw Up a Black Panther Film” is must reading, by the way — have been clamoring for a live action Black Panther for so long. Well, the rumor mill went into overdrive this week when Latino Review’s El Mayimbe sent out the following tweet:
A while back, Avi Arad stated “they” (I’m assuming Marvel Studios) had a “great take” on a Black Panther film, and follows this up with referring to the film thusly: “It’s like black Indiana Jones.” Really? A monarch of one the most technologically advanced societies in the world, not to mention that this society is in Africa — just how in the jolly green fuck can you relate this to Indiana Jones?
T’Challa is a king, a diplomat, a scientist, an athlete, a super hero… He makes Indiana Jones’ racist, plundering adventures obsolete. To make a great Panther he has to be regal and own his arrogance — not use his arrogance as a front for insecurities, a la Tony Stark. He doesn’t fail up like Indiana Jones. He strategizes and then takes chances. If T’Challa were in Raiders of the Lost Ark he would have just let the Nazis open the Ark and watched them all melt. He wouldn’t have engaged in all that unnecessary adventuring. The Black Panther is a character unto himself. He needs to be afforded the same care and consideration of the other Marvel-verse heroes and their various “phase” films.
