I Just Woke Up

Howdy, hello, and salutations.

It’s been . . . too damned long since I’ve talked to you guys at BFMC, and a lot of it has to do with personal issues on the other side of the screen. There have been some dark times lately, but for the first time in a long time, I’m feeling pretty groovy. I’m losing weight, finally understanding where I want to go in this complicated relationship I’m in, getting back into my art and writing, creating some great things, and working on projects I’m not ready to reveal quite yet. In all, I’m stronger than I look.

Also, I’ve been trying to find my place in the whole Black Comic Fandom. Being shunned, scoffed at, and muted by the creator of #BlackComicsMonth for stating a differing opinion about shows all while questioning my blackness was the moment that broke me. That, and the dogpile that followed, kind of hurt too, but I’m a big boy. There’s also this weird belief that Black creators must only work on Black characters. That seems limiting, counter-productive, and counter-progressive. It’s almost like those who believe that wants to keep creators in a creative ghetto of sorts, and that’s no way to be. 

I mean, can’t I enjoy Black Panther, Storm, Luke Cage, Bumblebee, John Stewart, Vixen, Cyborg, Monica Rambeau, Misty Knight, Miles Morales, Ironheart (fourth picture), and Naomi McDuffie even though they all had White creators? In the same light, can’t I enjoy Kyle Rayner, The Question, Plastic Man, Superman, Batman, or other mainstream titles and characters who aren’t Black but written and drawn by Black creators? I can’t enjoy a show like Craig of the Creek, which doesn’t have a Black creator but has a predominately Black cast, and a show like OK KO! Let’s Be Heroes [second pic courtesy of Cartoon Network], which doesn’t have a Black cast of characters but does have a Black creator? According to some, no.

So, yeah, screw that ashy crowd.

I want to celebrate both Black comic creators and Black comic characters. I’m all for GOOD representations of the African diaspora across all mediums, including comics, including both the characters and the talent behind them. I love to showcase creators like Anthony Piper (whose Trill League just got picked up to become an animated series on Quibi), Nilah MacGurder, Sanford Greene, Jamal Campbell (the artist behind DC’s Naomi and Far Sector [third pic]), Afua Richardson, Ashley Woods, Jon Gray, and Khary Randolph among so many as well as writers like David Walker, N.K. Jemisin, Eve Ewing, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Mildred Louis, Chuck Collins, and others. I’d love to talk about more animated projects that caught my eye, like Wesley T. Louis’ The Mighty Grand Pinton (top pic). Black folks are still creating comics and so much more, and it’s a pretty awesome place. 

That’s the thing about loving a medium like comics. There’s no real way to enjoy them, just as long as we do. Opinions tend to differ. I know there are people that don’t like sites like BFMC. I’ve gotten a few hecklers now and then, but you know what? That’s cool. I’ll just keep on presenting these characters and creators to audiences that don’t know about them. That’s my mission here.

I don’t know what the next several months or two will look like in the future of this site, but I’m making it a mission to become more active here in 2020. 

If you like what I do around this site, do you mind helping a brother out? I don’t ask for much, but considering I’m a freelancer due to the fact that I’m currently a caregiver, funds are low and I can’t do a lot of things I want to do. I’m going to be fine, but if you could help, I’d greatly appreciate it. 

Amazon Wish List:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2AMUWUOGE5QG1?ref_=wl_share

PayPal:

http://paypal.me/nemalki

I promise I won’t bombard you with this kind of message monthly. I just needed to put it out there. 

If you know any indie creators who need love, I’ll showcase them here as well. The more, the merrier. Let’s have fun again!

And now for your viewing pleasure, Legend of the Mantamaji, based on the Glyph Award-winning comic created by Eric Dean Seaton.

Enjoy! 

The creator of Yume and Ever and Foreign, you’ve probably seen her works at DC, Marvel, Papercutz, and, recently, Archie. Talented beyond compare. Been a fan of hers for years ever since I saw her stuff at deviantArt. She’s a breakout star ready to explode on the industry. Support her works. 

And visit Alitha’s main site too, http://www.ariotstorm.com/

So, Vocal Minority . . .

That’s what we are, huh?

Folks that feel the mainstream comics industry is broken and tends to avoid/ignore/discredit characters and creators who are people of color, women, LGBT, and disabled as well as feel that reasonable, rational complaints are too often dismissed? 

Folks who are considered “other” by the aging traditionalists who are struggling to keep the status quo thus ensuring traditional comics will die when they do and feel any normalizing of comics is “catering to the PC crowd.”

We’re the “vocal minority?”

Let’s make some noise then.

To The Readers of BFMC and Beyond . . .

You're going to read a lot of . . . comments in the coming days and weeks about the latest Marvel announcement. 

Welcome to "post-racial America," boys and girls, whatever the hell that means. I'm seeing it as a period where people could say the most ignorant, bigoted things about minorities because they can and then complain when people call them on their BS. 

It's an interesting period to say the least, especially when it comes to a medium I love, comic books. 

Representation matters. We all know that, and it's always good for future generations to see more characters who look like them. Heck, it's good for folks in OUR generation to see more characters who look like us. 

The folks that'll complain about Sam Wilson becoming Captain America or Calvin Ellis and Val-Zod being the Superman in their established universes think that a Black face shouldn't be there. They'll immediately cry that this is "political correctness" or that Marvel and DC are "appeasing social justice warriors" or some other nonsense. They'll even say this is nothing but a sales gimmick that'll be "corrected" by the time the next movie comes out. Perhaps. Perhaps not.

The thing is we could confront these folks or we could just let them stew in their tears. The internet's a vineyard, and it's whine season.

Don't let them take away your joy.

These are new stories. New adventures with new takes on familiar legacy characters that people never expected to see.

Would it be nice to see some minorities contributing some stories and putting their touches on the new mythology? Absolutely, but right now, beggars can't be choosers.

Still, enjoy the diversity. And don't feed the trolls.  

If you've ever wanted to get into drawing some of your favorite characters or you just want to learn the basics and hone your skills, do check out the library of tutorials created by Evan Burse. 

A lot of amazing work from this talented animator and cartoonist, so check out Cartoon Block on YouTube.,

You know, you say a creator's "a good guy who said something stupid," and you'll get people punching you in the throat about it claiming that you're wrong and pretty much stupid for saying it.

It's funny though. Gerry Conway was one of three guys who was on that media panel at the TCA media circus. The other two were Todd McFarlane and Len Wein. One created Spawn, one of the few non-legacy Black characters to be the lead character of his own book, and the other created some of the greatest X-Men characters, including Wolverine and Storm. And yet in still folks all over the internet, including Mr. Willis, decided to attack the guy who made the "Comics follow society, they don't lead it" comment that was at the head of the article that started this whole firestorm towards a dude who's largely retired from comics mostly because he felt mainstream comics are so backwards-thinking.

Mr. Willis pointed out that Mr. Conway's the guy who killed Gwen Stacy even though that decision was an example of "comics by committee" (John Romita and Marvel publisher Roy Thomas also contributed to that decision, but if Marvel loyalists claim that the writer wasn't important when Jack Kirby single-handedly created the Marvel Universe, why would they think the writer had any real solo power back then as well?) largely because Marvel didn't want a married Peter Parker  and they also pointed out his role in the creation of The Punisher, who was originally intended to be a one-shot villain in one book before the powers-that-be decided to put him in more books and transform him into a hero.

It's strange that nobody's attacking Mr. McFarlane for his comments about the lack of diversity in comics when he was the only dude on the panel in a position of power to bring more diversity to comics considering he owns a production company that bears his name whose books are published at the comic company he co-founded, Image Comics. But what does he know? His biggest creation was a hell-based character whose last acts was more or less a suicide that turned him completely evil.

And unlike McFarlane and Wein, Mr. Conway's the only guy who bothered to clarify his comments openly and candidly on Twitter including the context in which the original question was asked. He acknowledged that he said something stupid and apologized for them, and unlike so many people around these parts, I'm more than willing to give him the benefit of doubt and listen to what he said at face value. I know and  have followed Mr. Conway over the years, and I know he's a good guy. He just something truly stupid and actually apologized for it.

He's only human.