3 Quick Questions

When will this drop?



What were they thinking?



Was this the coolest series or what?

Sheer Genius

Preview Pilot Season Genius #1

Pilot Season: Genius #1 (W) Marc Bernardin, Adam Freeman (A)Afua Richardson (COV) Afua Richardson Alexander, Hannibal, Napoleon, Patton. What if the greatest military mind of OUR generation was born in strife, surrounded by violence and combat since birth? When the gauntlet is dropped, the question isn’t “How did 17-year-old Destiny Ajaye unite the gangs of South Central into a killer army and declare war on the LAPD?” No, the question is, “Can anyone stop her?” From the minds of writers Marc Bernardin & Adam Freeman (The Highwaymen, Monster Attack Network) and innovative illustrator Afua Richardson (Half Dead), Genius is a book that will have readers talking for months to come. Full Color 32 pages $3.99 pilot issue

Click here for interview

Click here for preview

ICONIC Return

Two opinions on the return of Milestone Comics after a decade



"I specifically stayed away from saying that,(minority characters) because that’s not what it’s about. There is a depth to these characters, there is an awareness to these characters, there’s a strength in personality, and there’s great development in these characters. When you have characters like ICON, Static, Hardware, the Shadow Cabinet...these are great characters and great concepts in their own right. This isn’t about a diversity issue – this is about bringing great material into the DC Universe, and being able to add value to everything that we do. "
Dan Dio DC Comics interview



"I believe this is a huge mistake that will, over time, work to the detriment of these characters instead of their benefit. By losing the uniqueness that made them stand apart from the crowd, the Milestone heroes will, sooner or later, become as far removed from their roots as the Marvel family is now."
The Glyphs article

The Return of Milestone

Static - co-created by Dwayne McDuffie, the fan favorite writer of DC's top-selling "Justice League of America" - will be joining "Teen Titans" as an active team member.

The supercharged hero is arguably the former DC imprint's most recognizable character thanks in large part to the animated series, "Static Shock," that ran for four seasons from 2000 to 2004.

Late Saturday night, McDuffie, one of Milestone's co-founders, also confirmed for CBR News that two of his most popular creations will appear in his next arc of "Justice League of America," beginning in #27.

"You will definitely see Icon and you'll definitely see Hardware," revealed McDuffie. "And the Justice League will be going up against Milestone's Shadow Cabinet too."

Icon is an ageless alien stranded on Earth, who possesses the abilities of superstrength, superspeed and flight while Hardware, is an alias for Curt Metcalf, an inventor who battles crime with his high-tech gadgets.

Along with "Static" and "Blood Syndicate," "Icon" and "Hardware," were amongst Milestone's first launch of titles in 1993.

Shadow Cabinet has been dubbed "the JLA as run by the CIA."

As for Static, McDuffie said, "He's a 15-year old fanboy, who has ended up with superpowers. And he has decided to be a superhero because that's what you do when you get superpowers. He's just like any of us if we got superpowers."

"And despite everybody asking him all the time," quipped McDuffie, "he's not related to Black Lightning."

Most of Milestone's heroes are based in the fictional Midwestern city of Dakota.

A city, according to McDuffie, that has always been planted firmly in DCU.

That being said, McDuffie couldn't say how the two worlds eventually collide in terms of DCU continuity, but did say that question would be answered in the months ahead.

"There is something a lot more complicated going on from the point of view of all the characters in the DC Universe," said McDuffie. "The city of Dakota has always been there. There's something else going on but that won't play out for quite sometime."

He did confirm the 'complicated something' has nothing to do with Grant Morrison's "Final Crisis."

McDuffie said he is thrilled the two companies were able to make this announcement today.

"We're really excited to see it happening. These are great characters. I think we found a way to make them a good fit in the DC Universe. It's a good fit for both companies and for both sets of characters and I think the fans are going to be really pleased."

He also confirmed DC and Milestone had been talking about this deal for 'about a year.'

"Both sides hoped we could pull it off," said McDuffie. "There is a lot of complicated stuff both contractually and creatively. We had to come up with stuff that made sense to both sides but we finally did.

"And it really is going to be great for us to have our characters be in books that are so well known and alongside Superman, Batman, etc. And we are going to add a bunch of exciting, new, young characters to the DCU. So everybody wins."

Black Panther on BET

The Black Panther is coming to BET, I'm not that fond of the art (couldn't you guys have talked with the folks over at the Boondocks) But its a success because BP is coming to the screen

Here the creators discuss the project

Keith Knight launches “Knight Life”

By Alan Gardner

United Media is launching a few feature by Keith Knight entitled The Knight Life on May 5th. The political and satirical feature is described as tackling “contemporary issues like consumer culture, bacon, the media, race, family and everything else, gently mocking the minutiae of daily life with self-deprecating humor, honesty and goofiness.”

“Keith Knight became one of the most successful alternative weekly cartoonists in America by drawing honest stories in an honest style everyone can enjoy,” says Ted Rall, Acquisitions Editor for United Media. “The Knight Life moves his amusing take on the autobio genre to the next logical level-a daily strip that hearkens back to the days when the comics were funny, but updated for 21st century weirdness. Lively, smart, relevant, personal and witty, The Knight Life is an essential addition to any comics page in need of more laughs.”

Keith has twice been awarded a Glyph Award (2006, 2007) and the 2007 Harvey Award for Best Comic Strip (for “The K Chronicles”). He creates “(Th)ink,” a weekly comic panel, and is a frequent contributor to Mad Magazine and ESPN The Magazine.

Bayou

An Amazing story
South of the Mason-Dixon lurks a strange world of gods and monsters born of years of slavery, civil war, innocent blood, hate and strife. The daughter of a poor black sharecropper, Lee Wagstaff, joins a blues-singing swamp monster name Bayou on a southern odyssey through a mythic combination of depression era Mississippi, African mythology and American folklore in order to rescue her childhood friend and save her fathers life. click here to seeBayou

The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury

One of the most exciting characters written in comics, smart, beautiful, smart, tough and did I say smart

Click here to read writer Brandon Thomas interview

Click here to see the Miranda Mercury site

The (cartoon) art of living black

By Randy Myers

Staff writer

Article Launched: 01/27/2008 02:58:20 AM PST
Are black cartoonists given short shrift on the comics page?

A group of eight illustrators think so, and they're asking the public and newspaper editors to do something about it. On Feb. 10 -- in the thick of Black History Month -- a group of eight cartoonists will run the same cartoon, a move that challenges editors to not confine black strips into one particular category.

Darrin Bell, a UC Berkeley grad and cartoonist, pens two daily strips, "Candorville" and "Rudy Park," and says comic syndicates understand there's a need for diverse voices. The stumbling block comes with editors, he said.

"I haven't seen more than a handful of newspapers anywhere in the country that have more than two minority strips," Bell said in a release. "It's as if there's a two-strip maximum in most papers."

Got a point there.

The action has fueled a lively debate, but no matter what comes out of it, one certainty exists: It will encourage readers to look closer at the work of black cartoonists. Here, then, are a few standout comics and graphic novels written by and/or about African-American

Click for more

Black Cartoonists Plan Feb. 10 Comics-Page Action

By Dave Astor Published: January 08, 2008 3:00 PM ET NEW YORK At least eight African-American cartoonists plan to take part in a Feb. 10 comics-page action to draw attention to the way their strips are perceived and purchased. "Many editors and readers consider different 'black comics' to be interchangeable," said "Candorville" cartoonist Darrin Bell. This, he told E&P today in a phone interview, is among the reasons why many papers run only one or two comics by African-Americans and other creators of color -- no matter how many strips and panels are in their comics sections. But, Bell said, comics by black cartoonists are obviously as different from each other as comics by white cartoonists are different from each other. "Some are political, some are about friends, and some are about family," noted Bell, who organized the Feb. 10 action along with "Watch Your Head" cartoonist Cory Thomas. (Both are syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group.) For the action, the cartoonists will all do a version of one of Thomas' comics. The theme and writing in each strip will be similar, though "we're all plugging in our own characters," said Bell. The idea is to satirically protest the erroneous notion of many editors and readers that comics by African-American creators are interchangeable. What might the action accomplish? "I hope editors will start allowing minority cartoonists to compete for all their comics slots, not just one or two slots," replied Bell, whose 2003-launched "Candorville" strip runs in 60 to 65 papers. The cartoonist -- who also does the "Rudy Park" comic with Theron Heir for United Media -- further noted that strips by African-American cartoonists are enjoyed by many white readers as well as black readers. Bell said he's not sure the Feb. 10 action should be called a protest, noting that black cartoonists face a problem nowhere near as serious as, say, New Orleans residents still without housing after Hurricane Katrina. But it's still a problem. "It's like a weather forecast of mostly sunny with patches of racism," Bell said wryly. The action will be publicized beforehand by media stories, press releases from one or more syndicates, information on creators' Web sites, and in pre-Feb. 10 comics. Bell, for instance, plans to do a related strip for Feb. 3. Eight cartoonists have agreed to participate at this point, according to Jerry Craft, who tipped E&P off to the Feb. 10 action today. Craft ("Mama's Boyz"/King Features Weekly Service) said the eight include himself, Bell, Thomas, Steve Bentley ("Herb and Jamaal"/Creators Syndicate), Charlos Gary ("Cafe Con Leche" and "Working It Out"/Creators), editorial cartoonist Tim Jackson, Keith Knight ("The K Chronicles"/self-syndication), and Steve Watkins ("Housebroken"/Tribune Media Services). At least two other cartoonists were interested but could not participate because their Feb. 10 comic deadlines had already passed. (Sunday strips have to be done far in advance.) Of the more than 200 comics distributed by major syndicates, perhaps 15 or so are done by cartoonists of color. Why Feb. 10? Bell replied that the date is near the Feb. 14 birthday of renowned black cartoonist Ollie Harrington (1912-1995). Craft, after being interviewed over the phone, subsequently e-mailed this comment: "I think of all the different genres of comic strips, African-American cartoonists get pitted against each other the most. For many papers, it's like the Highlander syndrome where 'There can be only one!' "I hope to live long enough to see the day when I no longer hear of how 'Mama's Boyz' is 'like Curtis or The Boondocks.' With that said, it's great to be involved with so many talented cartoonists who unfortunately share the same fate. Hopefully one day that will change."

FIle under Can't Wait

Thanks GMAN film Blog

Prepare 2 B Astounded

MR. ATOMS! MRS. ATOMS! SISTER ATOMS! KID ATOMS, JR!

They’re the world WHACKIEST superheroes!
While on vacationing in Nevada in the early 70’s they took a wrong turn down a desert highway and wound up driving into a nuclear test site during an experimental atomic bomb test. Unfortunately, the bomb explodes and the Atoms are bathed in a shower of nuclear radiation.
But something strange happens… Instead of killing them, the radiation from the experimental bomb mutates them into something more than human. It gave them powers and abilities far beyond mortal folks.
But who in their “right mind” wants to risk life and limb to fight aliens, monsters and megalomaniacal super-villains? Not the Atoms Family! Join the hijinks and the misadventures of the Atoms Family and learn how NOT to be super-heroes!

Characters designed by Javier Giangiacomo Story

Click here for more

Comics in the Class Room

Comics in the class room is created by Scott Tingley, an early years teacher in the New Brunswick (Canada) public school system

His site includes k-4 level plans -lesson plans for teacher BUT most can be easily adapted for older students:

- Language Arts -

Developing good word choices - I developed it for use with Write Traits and uses a comic strip as an important part of the plan.

-Using Comic Strips to Teach the Use of Quotation Marks

-Using the “Silent” comic Owly to inspire creative writing

-Pre-reading - Using the “Silent” comic Owly to teach using picture cues to create meaning in reading

'Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow

A Review of 'Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow' May 28, 2007
Having had too little time to devote to novels the past few weeks, I've been bingeing on graphic novels -- short ones. While eating a bowl of cereal Sunday morning I read Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso (Hyperion, 2007). Already I'm itching for December to arrive, bringing this book with it. That's how anxious I am to put it in the hands of all customers at or over the age of 10. Contrary to what its title might suggest, this graphic novel is not so much about Satchel Paige as it is about the miserably harsh conditions of life for blacks living under the divisive Jim Crow laws of the American South. Narrating the story is Emmet Wilson, a fictional Alabama sharecropper who once scored a run against the legendary pitcher of the Negro Leagues. Permanently benched due to injury, he now picks cotton under the watchful eye of two vindictive white landowners who would just as soon root for a team called the "Yankees" as show any kindness toward him and his son. Much of the plot hinges on the tension that builds along the racial divide in Emmet's town, but its black and white residents do share one thing in common: an awestruck regard for the pitching talents of Satchel Paige. It's his eventual appearance on their hometown field that brings this story to a heady climax and a powerful conclusion.
Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow is the second book Hyperion has published in collaboration with the Center for Cartoon Studies. Their first joint venture, Houdini, The Handcuff King by Jason Lutes and Nick Bertozzi, was an entertaining and interesting look at one particular stunt in the life of the world's most famous escapologist. I enjoyed Houdini, but not half as much as Satchel Paige. Sturm and Tomasso's collaboration is the real thing: a compelling narrative, a strong voice, solid illustrations, and the perfect pacing to move the story along but keep you, in places, on the edge of your seat. At less than 100 pages, it's a short read, but in the time it'll take you to complete it you'll feel the range and strength of emotions it would take most prose writers twice as long to convey. The last four pages of the book offer detailed notes on what's contained in the story's panels, helping to account for some of the real-world events that informed this story's fictional one.
I love this book. I love its deeply human message and I love the window on American history that Sturm and Tommaso are opening for their readers. Through it we see just how much the sport of baseball and one of its stars meant to a generation of blacks who were barely allowed to play the game of life, let alone win at it.
Posted by Alison Morris on May 28, 2007

Ghetto Done Write

The Boondocks is not a series that I watch (for obvious reasons) but with this episode the writer blended the elements of pop culture, anime and edgy storyline together excellently

Blokhedz Animation - Official Trailer (not Ghetto)

Animation done Right for and by lovers of hip hop, the promise of this series is incredible

Ghetto Man Part 2

Another superhero only more soulful

Ghetto Superman

Even when they thought it was funny, it was still insulting

Dion Floyd's Urban Sprawl

Iceburg™	This is a comic series I can't wait to buy Created by Dion Floyd, Kevin L. Patrick and Maurice Robertson. The year is 2250. It is 140 years after the Net Wars of 2110 took its toll on the world's economy especially the American region. Soon afterwards 'Neo America' formed an alliance with Japan and together they created the first international city called 'Sanctuary'. Sanctuary was to be a Utopian city government that all cities worldwide would use as the template for their restructuring. An new law enforcement agency, Munipol, was put in place to serve and protect this next generation of civilization. The Sewer or Outer Sanctuary, lies directly in the wasteland on the outskirts of Sanctuary. It's riddled with the poverty, organized crime, and all things that have no place what is to be the city of the future. Caught in the turmoil created in forging a New World Order are: a seductive African ninja and two determined Munipol Officers determined to find her first. Urban Sprawl Conceptual Artwork by Pat Presley. Urban Sprawl Character Designs by Mshindo Kuumba I. Click here for More info	Naima™

Alive & Well

In this interview BET president and writer Reginald Hudlin gives an update on the Black Panther