Tag: Blackness

Marvel, Television32 Comments

Luke Cage on Netflix: Sweet Christmas in Autumn

Shawn Taylor

[Note: minor spoilers throughout.]

Let me be upfront and get this out of the way, I love Marvel and Netflix’s Luke Cage. I love it for the way it is shot. I love it for the unparalleled beauty of the soundtrack. I love it for its color palette. I love it for its hesitancy and awkwardness. I love it for some of the struggle-performances. But what I love the most about it is how black it is.

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Guest Post, Movies11 Comments

TIFF Review: The Birth of a Nation

Guest N.O.C.

by Joelle Monique

In watching The Birth of a Nation I was a little destroyed. There’s so much to unpack. Nat Turner is a legendary figure in the Black community — a former slave who removed his own shackles. It’s a story I’ve wanted to see on screen for a long time. The reviews out of Sundance were huge. Then, news of Nate Parker rape charges and acquittal broke. I debated a long time about whether or not to cover the story when I came to TIFF. Eventually, I decided that a film this prominent and this culturally invested couldn’t be ignored. I have mixed feelings about what I saw. I’m going to take it slow.

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Comics, School of Hard NOCs10 Comments

Representation Is Heavy (But It Matters)

Shawn Taylor

[Featured image by: Menellaos]

Several weeks ago I had the singular pleasure of substitute teaching for a course in the California College of Arts M.F.A. in Comics program. Yes, you read that correctly. There is an M.F.A. in comics. Where was this X number of years ago when I was on my Higher Ed journey?

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Music, Sci Fi7 Comments

Cindi Mayweather: Behind The Music

Dennis R. Upkins

Originally published at Black Sci-Fi.Com in June in honor of Black Music History Month and LGBTQ Pride

“I imagined many moons in the sky lighting the way to freedom.”

She is one of the most the critically acclaimed musicians out today. Between her successful albums, films, award nominations and collaborations with everyone from the late Prince to First Lady Michelle Obama, one thing is certain for Janelle Monae; her rising star is only getting brighter.

But who is Janelle Monae?

While researching the chanteuse, I uncovered a most profound discovery. Everything we thought we knew about Monae is a complete work of fiction. For starters her name isn’t even Janelle Monae. It is an alias and part of her cover. In actual fact, Monae’s true identity is Cindi Mayweather; an android from the future.

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Conventions, Hard N.O.C. Life, Interview3 Comments

Hard NOC Live from SDCC 2016: John Jennings & Damian Duffy

The Nerds of Color

This January, Abrams Books will be publishing a graphic novel adaptation of Octavia Butler’s classic novel, Kindred. At San Diego Comic-Con, we had the opportunity to talk with the creators behind the graphic novel, John Jennings and Damian Duffy — collectively known as J2D2, as they were signing galley copies of the book!

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Conventions, Fandom6 Comments

What Fandom Can Learn From Onyxcon

Dennis R. Upkins

So this past weekend Onyxcon returned to the ATL. Sadly, I wasn’t able to make it but I was there in spirit celebrating with my fellow Wakandans.

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of attending with a couple of friends including my fam Kiyra and my date, J.

Suffice it to say, I scored with plenty of swag and spent quite a bit of cash. It’s all good as I’m all too happy to support black businesses. As I chatted with my peeps, something struck me as odd. I’ve been to plenty of cons over the years, as both a guest and an attendee. I’ve had some wonderful experiences, and I’ve had some less than pleasant ones.

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Fantasy, Gaming, TableTop15 Comments

The Creation of Kaya, Magic: The Gathering’s First Black Woman Planeswalker

Monique

On August 3, I was excited to unveil a project I’d been working on for nearly a year. I had been working with Magic: The Gathering to produce a brand new character; a character who is a biggie for their Planeswalkers cast of characters. Kaya, Ghost Assassin has made history as the first black woman Planeswalker, and I’m honored to have been a part of her creation.

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Books, Guest Post, Literature

To Black Parents Visiting Earth: Letter #2 (#WeHaveDiverseBooks)

Shawn Taylor

In line with the book review I posted yesterday, I thought this piece by my wife (Janet Mendoza-Stickmon) over at Mutha Magazine would be the perfect companion.

As parents of color, especially Nerdy Parents of Color, it is so difficult to find books that reflect our children’s racial and cultural backgrounds, as well as other aspects of their social realities. Please read this, as well as Letter #1, to see some of the strategies we’ve taken to address this and other issues affecting our Children of Color. Continue reading “To Black Parents Visiting Earth: Letter #2 (#WeHaveDiverseBooks)”

Conventions, Hard N.O.C. Life1 Comment

The Most Diverse San Diego Comic-Con in History

The Nerds of Color

For the second year in a row, The Nerds of Color found our way to San Diego Comic-Con. This time out, we were joined by multiple crews repping in sunny Southern California! To look back on all that went down last weekend, we’re joined by returning champ Constance (@ConStar24) who was covering the Con as Black Girl Nerds’ TV editor, as well as Robyn (@robyn_ravenclaw) from Black Girls Nerd Out and Laura (@lsirikul) whose writing can be found on Nerd Reactor, Legion of Leia, and other sites.

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Movies28 Comments

Love For Leslie Jones

Dennis R. Upkins

I’ll say this much for the new Ghostbusters film, it’s staying true to the spirit of the franchise. Apparently.

Just as Ernie Hudson got thrown under the bus and treated like garbage during the release of the original Ghostbusters film, Leslie Jones is enduring the same crap in wake of the reboot.

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Guest Post, Marvel8 Comments

Who is Marvel’s Blaxploitation Luke Cage Comic Even For, Exactly?

Guest N.O.C.

by Charles Pulliam-Moore | Originally posted on Medium

Recently, Marvel sent out a press release teasing Cage –  an upcoming Luke Cage solo comic to be written and illustrated by Genndy Tartakovsky with inks by Stephen DeStefano.

The series, Marvel explains, takes places in late ’70s New York City where the “shoes are big, bottoms are belled and crime is rampant!”

Apparently Tartakovsky’s Cage is meant to be a send-up(?) of the era’s wave of Blaxploitation, which wouldn’t be so much of a problem were it not for the decidedly problematic art style the book it set to have:

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Guest Post, Video Games1 Comment

‘Pokémon Go’ and Choosing the Blackest Joy

Guest N.O.C.

by Lauren Bullock | Originally posted at Black Nerd Problems

As you might expect, it begins with a selection of starters: today, do you choose fuming rage, crushing grief, or helpless fear? Perhaps you feel all three. Or none. Being Black in America is not just some game that anyone can control, after all.

As a Black Nerd it’s impossible to ignore that in the same week that we gained Pokémon Go, arguably one of the most anticipated games of the year, we lost Alton Sterling and Philando Castile to police brutality (who in reality are part of an even longer list of murders by the police this week alone). Once again the debates flare up between distraction and self care, between what people “should” be talking about or feeling at any given moment. But if Pokémon taught me anything, it’s that there is always another option than the “starters” you’re given, and sometimes this, too, is its own revolutionary act. I’m talking about allowing ourselves to sometimes choose Black joy. No, the Blackest Joy.

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Books, Movies, Sci Fi11 Comments

Why No Octavia E. Butler on the Screen?

Shawn Taylor

Hello All,

I am in no way presenting that being adapted for the screen is a measure of success. I am exploring why someone as beloved, talented, and influential as Octavia Estelle Butler hasn’t been presented on television, or projected 50 feet tall in a movie theater. Here is an excerpt of my explorations:

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Interview, Movies7 Comments

It is Complicated Being a Negro in the Digital Age, Son!

Shawn Taylor

I watched Kevin Wilmott’s (co-writer of Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq) Destination: Planet Negro (D:PN) twice. The first time I viewed it, I sat for fifteen or twenty minutes after it was over. I had no idea WTF I saw. Was it 21st century minstrelsy? Was it heavy-handed social commentary? Could it have possibly been that ever elusive (and also commonly misidentified) true satire? If it was satire, what was it satirizing? Was it riffing on 1950s science fiction and paranoia film tropes? Inter and intra-racial animus? The Black church and back to Africa movements? I needed to watch it again.

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Gone Too Soon, Sports6 Comments

Rest in Power, Ali

Dennis R. Upkins

Pugilist, champion, leader, prophet, husband, father, excellence. Muhammad Ali earned many titles. But only two words adequately define him: The Greatest!!

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Art, Music2 Comments

Night of the Waking Astronomer

Dennis R. Upkins

Being stuck in Nashville — proud home of country music, the Confederacy, and the Klan — I don’t go out often. To be more accurate I really don’t go out ever. For me to emerge from my Batcave of Solitude, there had better be a good reason. A very good reason.

This past Friday there most certainly was a reason for me to venture out into the wasteland known as the Music City. Comic book artist, rock musician, Jane-of-all-trades, Renaissance Woman, fellow Atlanta native, and the epitome of Black Girl Magic, Afua Richardson, announced on social media that her band, Waking Astronomer would be in town performing at the Exit In.

She already had me at “Afua Richardson would be in town.”

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Cosplay7 Comments

10 Black Cosplayers You Should be Following on Social Media!

Valerie Complex

Originally posted on The Anime Complexium

If you were to google “cosplay” or “cosplayer,” you will see a lot of great costumes and beautiful cosplayers, but maybe one or two that are Black. In addition, you will have a hard time finding a list featuring black cosplayers as well. Not saying these lists aren’t out there (it’s possible I missed something on the search), but I searched through pages and pages of the search term and came up fairly empty.

Before you even think about this being some type of division because the word “Black” is in the title, let me stop you right there. Cosplay isn’t about race, it’s about being yourself and having fun. On this very site I have interview all types of cosplayers. Unfortunately, media dictates what is “popular” or aesthetically acceptable. So let go of any pre-conceived notions that this is about division, it is not. This is about celebration. This isn’t a list of who is at the top or the best. This is about highlighting some of the great artists that have been making waves in the cosplay community. Trust, this is the first of many lists highlighting cosplayers of color.

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Fantasy, Movies14 Comments

How Gods of Egypt Adheres to Racist Fantasy Rules

Monique

Gods of Egypt is a mess. You can look at the myriad of reviews trashing it and see it for yourself. Heck, you can look at the trailer — or its box office receipts — to see how much of a joke it is. Have you seen such bad CGI in the modern era? But even more insidious than the CGI is that the film went out of its way to cast white actors in an ancient Egypt-set story. This is the second film within two years that showed audiences a white Egypt. You might recall how spectacularly Exodus: Gods and Kings failed.

Technically, Gods of Egypt had all of the ingredients necessary to make a fun “swords and sandals” fantasy. It’s a fantasy that’s not just set in ancient Egypt, but involves gods and goddesses interacting with their human subjects. Who wouldn’t want to see Ra and Horus get into it on the big screen? But where the film’s team went wrong is that they treated it like a “traditional” fantasy. What’s a traditional fantasy, and why was that the wrong approach? Let’s find out.

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Anime, Guest Post, Manga12 Comments

Black Masculinity as Performed in Japanese Visual Media

Kendall Bazemore

by Kendall Bazemore

Japan has long produced visual media that has captivated readers and viewers for decades. Manga and anime are two classic mediums through which fantastical worlds and profound characters come to life. Of all the hundreds of thousands of characters that exist in these worlds, there are a handful that share a close resemblance to African Americans. Though these characters are not always explicitly identified as black, they are heavily coded as black or Afro-descended. The aesthetic of black coded characters in anime and manga reflect the same ideologies of black males in U.S media and society. Popular series like Naruto and Samurai Champloo both use tropes of black males and demonstrate common ideas about their masculinity and how they are read by others. Hip hop is the vehicle through which Japan understands American blackness which manifests itself in various ways in Japanese media.

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Movies11 Comments

The New Ghostbusters: Should I be Afraid?

Shawn Taylor

So… The trailer for the new Ghostbusters film hit today. I am a really big fan of the original first film, and I enjoyed the much misunderstood second. I was really looking forward to this reboot. The new (all woman) cast looked stellar. I love the idea of an all-woman ghostbusting squad. I think there are opportunities for a completely different type of humor that would be a welcome relief from the smarmy, white guy charm of the original two films. I damn near broke my tablet trying to watch it.

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Television2 Comments

Let’s Talk About Police Brutality: A Black-ish Recap

Edward Hong

On last night’s episode of the ABC comedy show black-ish, the sitcom took a big chance and dedicated an entire episode on police brutality, racism, and the effectiveness of the American justice system. Although I only catch an episode of this show every now and then, I was made very well aware of this particular episode for some time because of its decision to center this episode on such heavy topics. And boy, it did not disappoint.

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Guest Post, Television30 Comments

Three Reasons Why #Richonne is a Black History Month Gift

Monique

Originally posted at COLOR

Hip hop hooray, Richonne (Rick and Michonne) is now officially canon in The Walking Dead! And, as luck would have it, such a development has happened in one of the most hallowed of months, Black History Month.

This didn’t go unnoticed by many on Twitter:

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Fantasy, Literature5 Comments

A Special Tribute to Toni Morrison

Dennis R. Upkins

So last week Literary Phenom, Nobel Prize Winner, and Black Excellence Personified Toni Morrison celebrated her 85th birthday. This woman has been a guiding light for me both as a speculative fiction author and as a human being.

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