Family is Everything in ‘Blue Beetle’

Hero origin stories can become a little formulaic — where the hero thinks of themselves as a “nobody” but through the power of his loved ones and emboldened by tragedy, they prevail. The thing is that these formulas work. Everybody likes seeing the little guy win. Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) as Blue Beetle is no exception. 

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NOC Review: ‘Blue Beetle’ is Genuinely One of DC’s Finest Films

Yeah. You read that right. And look, I know the bar seems pretty low. When your past three releases include Black Adam, Shazam: Fury of the Gods, and The Flash — one of which was sold as allegedly “one of the best superhero movies of all time,” when it actually was a complete mess of obnoxiousness and bad VFX — it may not seem like high praise. But genuinely and truly, Blue Beetle is actually a really terrific film.

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‘Blue Beetle’ Director Angel Manuel Soto Unleashes the First Major Latino Superhero

The Blue Beetle is landing on August 18! And while many out there may be unfamiliar with the character, let me just say, Jaime Reyes is awesome! This is a movie worth celebrating, not just because it represents the first major Latino superhero movie to hit theaters, but because it’s actually really very good, and one of the best cinematic surprises of the year! And we at The Nerds of Color were lucky enough to sit down with the clever maestro behind the film, director Angel Manuel Soto!

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New Motion Posters for ‘Blue Beetle’ Revealed

We’re getting closer to the big screen debut of Jaime Reyes folks! And with the release of Blue Beetle we are going to finally get the first Latino-led solo Hollywood superhero movie ever. That is a huge step for representation, and there’s no better, more charming character to do this with than Jaime!

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Hard NOC Life 286: Y Tu Namor También

This week, Britney, Keith, and Dominic are joined by Friend of the NOC, Catrina Dennis to break down the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer, and marvel at Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal’s ascension up the Disney ranks with Andor and Werewolf By Night, respectively. They also geek out over Daredevil’s appearance in She-Hulk and share what’s nerd poppin’ from Star Trek: Picard to Hocus Pocus 2 and “Super” Black Adam rumors.

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Carlos Pacheco Homages Superman in ‘La Borinqueña’ Variant Cover

Somos Arte just announced the third printing of La Borinqueña #2 will feature a variant cover illustrated by Carlos Pacheco — with colors by Emilio Lopez — that will be an homage to his iconic Superman #654 (2006) cover.

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Boss Fight Announces ‘La Borinqueña’ Action Figures

In news we would normally have covered coming out of Toy Fair (which was canceled this year), Boss Fight Studio just announced a line of La Borinqueña action figures. This is just part of the first launch of action figures inspired by the team of superheroes created by Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, the Nitainos.

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‘La Borinqueña’ Tackles Climate Change

In 2016, Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist and philanthropist Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez created La Borinqueña to drive conversations around the social, economic, and environmental crises affecting Puerto Rico. As a direct response to Hurricane Maria, he created our La Borinqueña Grants Program which has awarded $165,000 in grants to non-profit organizations across Puerto Rico.

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‘La Borinqueña’ Returns with Issue #3 and New Heroes

Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist and philanthropist Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez has released La Borinqueña #3, the long-awaited third issue in the creator-owned independently published graphic novel series. La Borinqueña #3 completes the first major story arc for Miranda-Rodriguez’s series with a new story with plot twists, revelations, and the introduction of the new superhero team The Nitainos.

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Just Breathe: Leslie Grace is the New Batgirl

Warner Bros. and DC Films have found the lead for their upcoming Batgirl film. After a series of names were leaked the other day, the studio just announced that one of the breakout stars from In the Heights, Leslie Grace, will be moving from Washington Heights to Burnside to take on the role of Barbara Gordon.

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Marvel Celebrates Miles Morales’ 10th Anniversary with Variant Covers

Like most folk, I’m not too keen on reminders of my ever-increasing age. But this one, well, it’s not too bad of a milestone reminder.

Miles Morales, Marvel’s best Spider-Man, debuted nearly 10 years ago! You read that right, it’s been almost a decade since Miles inherited the Spidey title from Peter Parker and immediately one upped the kid from Queens.

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‘Reptil #1’ Review: Meet The Family

It’s finally here! Reptil #1 finally hit comic book shelves last Tuesday, reintroducing fans to a longtime member of Marvel’s heroes gallery. Humberto Lopez, a.k.a Reptil, finally gets his own solo series, taking us deeper into the life of the teenage dino-shifting hero. But the emphasis isn’t on Beto’s life as a superhero. Amidst the disbanding of the Avengers Academy team and the world-changing effects of Kamala’s Law, writer Terry Blas takes on a personal journey for Beto — introducing us to several members of his family and delivering a comic proud to represent the Latinx community in a fresh, inspiring way.

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A Talk with ‘Reptil’ Writer Terry Blas about Marvel’s Shelf-Slashing New Series

Let’s admit it, we all went through weird, unexplainable phases as children. Some of us really loved cartoons, some of us collected Pokemon cards, and if you were like me, you were really into dinosaurs. Perhaps even a bit too much into them.

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A Hero on a Massive Scale: Reptil Slashes Through Marvel Comics in Late May

Imagine, waking up to find you have the ability to transform into any dinosaur you want. You could run as fast as a raptor, be as large as a T-Rex, or soar like a Pterodactyl (I know it’s not a dinosaur just roll with it). What sounds like the fever-induced dream of a child between the ages of 4-14 is every day life for Humberto Lopez, resident reptilian hero and Marvel’s next big thing.

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DC FanDome: ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ Cast and Producers on What to Expect in Season 6

Spoilers for Legends of Tomorrow Season 5 and some mild spoilers for Season 6 follow. Quotes have been edited for length and clarity. It’s the wackiest, one of the most beloved, and critically revered of all the DCTV shows. In a panel moderated by Chancellor Agard of Entertainment Weekly, most of the cast and some of the creative heads of Legends of Tomorrow, including Caity Lotz, Nick Zano, Tala Ashe, Jess Macallan, Matt Ryan, Amy Lousie Pemberton, Shayan Sobhian, Olivia Swann, producer Phil Klemmer, executive producer Keto Shimizu, and executive producer Grainne Godfree, the Waverider crew and more reflected on Season 5 and what fans can expect from Season 6.

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‘La Borinqueña’ Returns

At long last, the second issue of Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez’s La Borinqueña is finally available. Coming on the heels of the release of Ricanstruction: Reminiscing & Rebuilding Puerto Rico, a benefit anthology that I had the pleasure to be a part of1, Miranda-Rodriguez returns to continue the ongoing saga of Marisol Rios De La Luz and her super alter-ego.

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Can the New Black Canary Fix Arrow’s Problems?

Originally posted at A Latina’s Media Musings

Firstly, as an almost disclaimer of sorts, I’ve never been a fan of Arrow. Even in the show’s heyday of seasons one and two when it was praised and lauded as a great show and comic book adaptation. Though it bares moderate similarities to Green Arrow: Year One overall, it just wasn’t for me. However, I can look back on the show’s beginning seasons and see a clear pattern of character arcs that were leading to a greater picture. A picture that would create an adapted vision of the classic Green Arrow comics mythology.

Needless to say, that from season three onward, Arrow did not only continuously strive away from that proposed picture, but did so almost gleefully. It often felt at times that the show was more interested in using the brand names of “Green Arrow” and the original materials (or should I say Batman’s original materials) for the sake of hollowed out Easter eggs, than truly adapting them in interesting and creative ways. One of the best examples of this is the show’s depiction — and mishandling — of the Black Canary, aka Dinah Laurel Lance.

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La Borinqueña and La La: Heroes Worth Waiting For

When my oldest daughter was 3, we would sit together in her bean bag chair, turn off the lights, and watch the Justice League animated series. Here she learned about superheros and when she started becoming interested in comics, I wanted to make sure she read something that represented and looked like her so I handed her a copy of Araña. That was five years ago, and now she is 12 and is immersed in finding representation in what she reads.

It’s small stories like this that amplify the importance of diversity in literature and, in this case, comics. It is for that reason that the launching of Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez’s La Borinqueña comes at a much needed time.

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Diversity on Fire: Thoughts on the Return of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I would not fault anybody for not watching or liking Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. due to its hot mess of a first season. However, it has improved. Does it still have issues? Indeed it does. But with those issues comes the fact that it still remains one of the most diverse casts on TV. Though aside from showrunner Maurissa Tancharoen, I wonder what that diversity looks like behind the cameras. Anyway, now there is Gabriel Luna. With his head on fire. There was a lot of hype about the Robbie Reyes incarnation of Ghost Rider leading up to the season 4 premiere. By and large, it held up. Here are just a few points I remember and talked about with friends in person and via the internets.

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First Look at Gabriel Luna as Ghost Rider on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

One of the most buzzed about pieces of information to emerge out of San Diego Comic-Con over the summer happened when Marvel dropped a surprise teaser that revealed — some might say “confirmed” — that Ghost Rider was making his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut on ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this fall. And the All-New version of Ghost Rider, Robbie Reyes, is the one coming to the small screen. Now we know what Gabriel Luna is going to look like on the show.

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Hard NOC Live from SDCC 2016: Jai Nitz

Just in time for the world premiere of Suicide Squad this weekend, we are joined by comic book writer Jai Nitz, proud Kansan and creator of DC’s El Diablo, for our series of video interviews from the floor of San Diego Comic-Con 2016!

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