Cognitive Dissonance, Video Games1 Comment

An MLK Exhibit Came to ‘Fortnite’ and We Had a Lot of Questions

August 27, 2021August 27, 2021 Jamal Michel

Epic Games partnered with TIME Studios to bring players an exhibit commemorating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s in Washington, D.C. The timed, 20-minute virtual experience takes place inside the sandbox builder Fortnite Creative and arrives in time for the 58th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The biggest question following the reveal of the event was, of all virtual spaces, why Fortnite?

Literature, Movies, Television

Ava DuVernay’s Collection of Work is Necessary Viewing for Students and Educators Alike

January 14, 2021January 14, 2021 Jamal Michel

Six years ago, I was student teaching in Durham under the graduate MAT program at Duke University and was well on my way to perhaps the most fulfilling, demanding, and emotionally draining career path in my life. I like to think I accidentally ended up at the front of the classroom — senior year of high school saw my required community service hours stack up until I could go nowhere else last minute, aside from my neighborhood mosque. As presumptuous as it was, the imam still agreed to have me on board teaching elementary Arabic.

DC Comics, Hard N.O.C. Life

Episode 100: Behind the Scenes at ‘DC in D.C. 2018’

January 19, 2018May 8, 2020 Hard NOC Media

Over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend in the Nation’s Capital, Warner Brothers and DC Entertainment held the first ever “DC in D.C.” event, bringing together the stars and creators of television and comics to celebrate and honor the diversity of the DC Universe’s superheroes. We also finally announce a Patreon and ask you for your support!

Continue reading “Episode 100: Behind the Scenes at ‘DC in D.C. 2018’”

Guest Post2 Comments

To Black Parents Visiting Earth: Letter #6 on Time Benders in a New Era

December 16, 2016December 16, 2016 Shawn Taylor

Hello Fam,

This is a guest post from my wife, Janet Christine Mendoza Stickmon. It is a little off from what we usually cover but in these times, it is a very necessary read.

Continue reading “To Black Parents Visiting Earth: Letter #6 on Time Benders in a New Era”

Art, Comics, Conventions2 Comments

Celebrate Black Comic Art From Coast to Coast

January 16, 2015January 16, 2015 The Nerds of Color

Get ready. This weekend is going to be a huge one as our very own John Jennings has organized two comic art festivals on either coast that will celebrate Black comic art and artists with day-long events featuring panel discussions, film screenings, and more.

Festivities kick off in New York City on Saturday, January 17 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture for its third annual Black Comic Book Festival. The scene then shifts to San Francisco on Sunday and Monday for that city’s inaugural Black Comix Arts Festival — which John announced in October. Both events are free and open to the public.

Continue reading “Celebrate Black Comic Art From Coast to Coast”

Movies4 Comments

Oscars 2015: All White Everything

January 15, 2015January 15, 2015 Keith Chow

We try not to stray from the geek-o-sphere too much here at the NOC, but it’s kind of hard to deny that the one pop cultural topic that’s taking up all of the oxygen is the announcement of the 2015 Academy Award nominations, and the near 100% shut out of people of color in all the major categories¹. The most egregious of these snubs was the almost complete dismissal of Selma. The Martin Luther King biopic was pretty much a lock for multiple noms for most of awards season but only managed a Best Song and a (token) Best Picture out of the deal. Star David Oyelowo and director Ava DuVernay were left on the outside looking in.

And if you need a direct connection back to the nerd world, Oyelowo provides the voice for the Star Wars: Rebels baddie Agent Kallus and Topless Robot wants DuVernay to direct a Marvel movie (something the director isn’t opposed to, by the way). So there.

Continue reading “Oscars 2015: All White Everything”

Marvel, Origins, Poetry5 Comments

Calling All Mutants: An Open Letter from Professor Mex

February 5, 2014February 19, 2014 Professor Mex

I was caught making ice sculptures while wearing my X-Uniform in 5 Pointz, Queens, and someone asked why I would risk exposure.

I wear my X-Jacket when outside of the Academy to empower myself, and to remember that being mutant is a global phenomenon — our gifts, largely and widely, will go unrecognized as our existence is fundamentally iconoclastic in an otherwise conformist world.

I especially wanted to visit the 5 Pointz Academy after having been painted over white.

Continue reading “Calling All Mutants: An Open Letter from Professor Mex”

Comics, Marvel, Movies9 Comments

Magneto Was Right

September 18, 2013June 17, 2021 J. Lamb (Snoopy Jenkins)

“The X-Men are hated, feared and despised collectively by humanity for no other reason than that they are mutants. So what we have here, intended or not, is a book that is about racism, bigotry and prejudice.”
—Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont, 1981

Call me Quentin Quire. Magneto was right.

Comics1 Comment

Wednesday Comics: Remembering the Dream

August 28, 2013February 4, 2015 Keith Chow

Last week, we discussed a comic that won’t be in stores for another couple weeks. Today, I wanted to look at a book that actually hit stores two Wednesdays ago. Eventually, we’ll use the Wednesday Comics feature to talk about a comic that actually comes out on the same day as the column. But it would have been remiss of me to ignore the fact that today marks the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech. In honor of this milestone anniversary, Top Shelf Productions recently published March: Book One, the first of a trilogy of graphic novel memoirs written by Congressman John Lewis in collaboration with co-writer Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell. After being released on August 13, the book has already reached #1 on the New York Times‘ list of best selling graphic novels.