I know this is on the heels of me complaining about how expensive books are getting. I'm kind of a hypocrite okay? But there have been announcements that not only is there a new Black Panther comic coming, but a new Power Man and Iron Fist book as well?! It's like Marvel is writing to ME.
I will give them credit because they have talked about trying to be more diverse with their creators. They are walking the walk.
Let's turn this back to me, so I can gush about how excited I am about my three of my top five favorite marvel characters, as detailed in my previous post.
I'll start with the top, Black Panther. With his appearance in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War movie and his upcoming solo movie, I knew it was only a matter of time before Black Panther would grace us with is own solo title. That is just the way Marvel works these days. Synergy between the comics and movies, sometimes to an annoying effect. Here it was an inevitability that I am happy that has come to pass.
What makes this story even more amazing is who they got to write the book. I don't want to go off on too much of a tangent here, but for me growing up, it's always tough to read a book about a black character that is written by a white writer. In the seventies, these books were filled with a whole lot of jive talk that really didn't reflect the characters. Just because you heard it in a movie or know one person that talks like that, does not mean we all talk like that. Comics are read by many people, some of them young, and this just reinforces negative stereotypes. It's why I had such a hard time coming to grips with Luke Cage in the nineties. All I could think is that we all don't speak like that. The dialogue comes off as cartoonish and hollow.
Anyways, sorry, it is just a pet peeve of mine. This recent iteration is written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, a journalist at the Atlantic. You can read this write up on him and this particular story here. It feels me with hope that someone who has a genuine passion for this project will be writing this tale. However, I will hold judgement until an actual issue has come out. It could be terrible for all I know. Right now, he's saying all the right things and I couldn't be more excited.
Then there's the recent announcement that there will be a new Power Man and Iron Fist book. Now the seventies/eighties iteration of these characters speak to the kind of problem I spoke about earlier with how they were written. However, there was always something that interested me about the buddy cop paring of a black guy from the streets of Harlem with a rich white guy raised in a mystical Chinese city. Maybe I just love the pairing of contrasting characters.
This is another title also has diversity in it's creators. Both David F. Walker and Sanford Greene are African-American. Like Black Panther, this book was probably created because there are Netflix shows coming. SYNERGY.
Don't let my cynicism fool you, I'm very excited about this book as well. I run hot and cold with Sanford Greene's art, but he's clearly a fan and is looking forward to work on this book. I'm glad that Marvel is making strides with diversity. Pair this up with the continuing Ms. Marvel book (written by G. Willow Wilson), the "Totally Awesome Hulk" book written by Greg Pak and you can see at least Marvel is trying to make inroads to following up on their promise.
Sorry if I got on my soapbox a little bit, but I just wanted to share some of the passion I have for books like this. I realize there are many books out there from smaller publishers, but I like what I like. I mean, I did say these were some of my favorite characters after all.
I will give them credit because they have talked about trying to be more diverse with their creators. They are walking the walk.
Let's turn this back to me, so I can gush about how excited I am about my three of my top five favorite marvel characters, as detailed in my previous post.
I'll start with the top, Black Panther. With his appearance in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War movie and his upcoming solo movie, I knew it was only a matter of time before Black Panther would grace us with is own solo title. That is just the way Marvel works these days. Synergy between the comics and movies, sometimes to an annoying effect. Here it was an inevitability that I am happy that has come to pass.
What makes this story even more amazing is who they got to write the book. I don't want to go off on too much of a tangent here, but for me growing up, it's always tough to read a book about a black character that is written by a white writer. In the seventies, these books were filled with a whole lot of jive talk that really didn't reflect the characters. Just because you heard it in a movie or know one person that talks like that, does not mean we all talk like that. Comics are read by many people, some of them young, and this just reinforces negative stereotypes. It's why I had such a hard time coming to grips with Luke Cage in the nineties. All I could think is that we all don't speak like that. The dialogue comes off as cartoonish and hollow.
Anyways, sorry, it is just a pet peeve of mine. This recent iteration is written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, a journalist at the Atlantic. You can read this write up on him and this particular story here. It feels me with hope that someone who has a genuine passion for this project will be writing this tale. However, I will hold judgement until an actual issue has come out. It could be terrible for all I know. Right now, he's saying all the right things and I couldn't be more excited.
Then there's the recent announcement that there will be a new Power Man and Iron Fist book. Now the seventies/eighties iteration of these characters speak to the kind of problem I spoke about earlier with how they were written. However, there was always something that interested me about the buddy cop paring of a black guy from the streets of Harlem with a rich white guy raised in a mystical Chinese city. Maybe I just love the pairing of contrasting characters.
This is another title also has diversity in it's creators. Both David F. Walker and Sanford Greene are African-American. Like Black Panther, this book was probably created because there are Netflix shows coming. SYNERGY.
Don't let my cynicism fool you, I'm very excited about this book as well. I run hot and cold with Sanford Greene's art, but he's clearly a fan and is looking forward to work on this book. I'm glad that Marvel is making strides with diversity. Pair this up with the continuing Ms. Marvel book (written by G. Willow Wilson), the "Totally Awesome Hulk" book written by Greg Pak and you can see at least Marvel is trying to make inroads to following up on their promise.
Sorry if I got on my soapbox a little bit, but I just wanted to share some of the passion I have for books like this. I realize there are many books out there from smaller publishers, but I like what I like. I mean, I did say these were some of my favorite characters after all.
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