A Million Hundred Thousand Moms are angry

In a recent Facebook post, the conservative, retrograde, fundamentalist group One Million Moms (whose membership doesn’t seem to have a tenth of that number; of course that link is 3 years old, so maybe they’ve seen a tremendous surge in membership over the years) expressed their concern over an upcoming show from FOX, Lucifer:

FOX has plans in 2016 to air “Lucifer,” a new series which will glorify Satan as a caring, likable person in human flesh.

The series will focus on Lucifer portrayed as a good guy, “who is bored and unhappy as the Lord of Hell.” He resigns his throne, abandons his kingdom and retires to Los Angeles, where he gets his kicks helping the LAPD punish criminals.

At the same time, God’s emissary, the angel Amenadiel, has been sent to Los Angeles to convince Lucifer to return to the underworld. 

Previews of the pilot episode depict graphic acts of violence, a nightclub featuring scantily-clad women and a demon.

Based (loosely, some might say) on characters from DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint, Lucifer follows the titular character (played by Tom Ellis) who decides he is tired of running hell and sets up shop in Los Angeles as a nightclub owner who wants to combat his millenia-old bad publicity:

Rush actor Tom Ellis plays the title role in the series, which explores what happens when the Lord of Hell decides to quit his job and move to Los Angeles. While that aspect of the series remains true to the comic book series, the television character’s decision to help the Los Angeles Police Department catch criminals is a pretty major departure from the more heady subject matter tackled by his comics counterpart.

Ellis is joined in the cast by Chicago Fire actress Lauren German as the LAPD detective who’s strangely immune to Lucifer’s charms, as well as Spartacus actress Lesley-Ann Brandt as a demon in human form who’s allied with Lucifer. D.B. Woodside (24) plays the angel Amenadiel, who’s tasked with convincing Lucifer to return to his realm in the underworld that he abandoned.

While Gaiman introduced the DC Comics version of Lucifer that inspired the series, it was writer Mike Carey who authored the popular, self-titled Lucifer series that ran for 75 issues and was published from 2000 to 2006.

Here’s the preview:

The idea of presenting Lucifer as a character who wants to combat his bad image and even being ::gasp:: likable? Well that’s just plain appalling to groups like One Million Moms (who love them some petitions). Given the theme of redemption inherent to Christianity, you’d think a group of religious people would support the most Evil Being® in all existence (OMG!!!) working to become a better person. After all, if Satan can become good (or at least not as evil), that says something about the power of redemption. If the Lord of Evil* can become a better person (or at least try) despite all the evil he’s done**, then us lowly humans born into sin***, definitely have a chance to bask in the presence of the Lord for all eternity. Your mileage may vary, but for me, that doesn’t sound like a good way to spend all eternity. It sounds rather like torture. In any case, the theme of redemption appears to be prominent in this show, so OMM ought to quit their complaining.

But they won’t.

Because Satan/Lucifer/The Lord of Evil can’t be nice. He can’t be likable. He can’t be anything approaching a decent person. And good golly gosh, he can’t be redeemed****! Attempts to paint Satan in a positive light are wrong because they mischaracterize Satan, who is an Evil Being®. As an Evil Being® we all know that Lucifer does not have good qualities. Depicted properly, Evil Beings® endorse, support, and condone slavery, rape, and infanticide. Evil Beings® are possessed of a bloodlust that must be sated with the ritual sacrifice of animals. They’re also petty tyrants who demand that their followers worship them, or else! Eternal Torment! Lake of Fire! Cut off From Being With Them For All Eternity! They create laws and commandments that prohibit people from engaging in completely innocuous activities like eating shellfish, wearing clothing with mixed fibers, dancing, consensual sexy funtimes, gambling, and more. Oh, and Evil Beings® will go on genocidal temper tantrums when their creations don’t act as they should (so glad that most human parents dpn’t kill their kids when they act up).

Whew. I guess that means Satan is safe. He hasn’t done any of those things. Good thing too, because then he’d be an Evil Being®. So my advice to One Million Moms-aside from “you ought to call yourselves Tens of Thousands of Moms” or “Moms who believe in religious nonsense” or my favorite “Moms who start petitions over harmless things”-you ought to start petitioning churches to quit worshiping that God guy. Between Him and Satan, it’s pretty clear which one is Evil-and it isn’t the guy with an upcoming tv show on FOX.

*Man, I love randomly capitalizing letters

**Or said to have done, bc honestly, I think Satan gets a bad rap

***Remember kids, sin is a fictional concept inherent to one particular strain of religion (out of thousands). Like other religious concepts, there is no basis in reality for this concept, so don’t get all confused thinking it applies to real world actions

****So sayeth One Million Hundred Thousand Moms

A Million Hundred Thousand Moms are angry
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This looks SUPER promising

In 1985, DC Comics published the maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths. The purpose of the 12-part story was to streamline DC’s continuity, which stretched back to 1938 and involved multiple versions of characters from a near-infinite number of parallel universes. At the time, DC’s head honchos feared their history was an impediment to new readers and sought to eliminate multiple versions of characters and [what they thought were] confusing-and at times, contradictory-histories, by eliminating one of DC’s central concepts, the multiverse. In DC’s fictional universe, the multiverse consisted of an infinite number of parallel realities occupying the same space, but vibrating at different dimensional frequencies. The maxi-series saw the introduction of the Anti-Monitor, a being of immeasurable power who sought to annihilate every universe in the multiverse, leaving his home realm-the anti-matter universe-the only reality in existence. His efforts were opposed by his positive matter analog, the Monitor, as well as scores of heroes (and villains) from across multiple universes and timelines. In the end, the Anti-Monitor was destroyed (though he got better when the multiverse was later recreated), but his goals were largely achieved. Not only did he destroy all but 5 universes of the multiverse, but he had a significant role to play in the events that caused the DC Universe to be rebooted. In the wake of this reboot, only one universe existed and in fact, the multiverse was retroactively eliminated from the official history of DC’s fictional universe. Thus, in the history of this new universe, there never was a multiverse (making CoIE one of the few comic book stories I’ve ever read that retconned itself). Despite its flaws (and there are several), Crisis on Infinite Earths is near and dear to me-for two reasons.

Reason #1- My introduction to DC Comics happened in the midst of the Crisis. If I recall correctly (I was a wee child at the time, so my memory may be off a little), the first DC comic I ever owned was Crisis on Infinite Earths #3.

The cover to Crisis on Infinite Earths #3

I was sucked in. Who were these characters? What were they doing? What mysterious force were they battling? For all that these questions enticed me-contrary to the beliefs of DC management, this new reader wasn’t turned off or confused by multiple versions of characters or parallel Earths-the answers to my questions eluded me for years because I wasn’t able to make regular trips to the convenience store (back then, comic books were available at local 7-11’s or Circle K’s). I was able to make it back to a convenience store to buy Crisis on Infinite Earths #7. Which leads me to the second reason CoIE is dear to me.

The cover to Crisis on Infinite Earths #7

Reason #2- In issue seven of CoIE, the heroes from multiple Earths (and one or two from the future of one Earth) learn the history of the multiverse as well as the existence of the Anti-Monitor and decide to launch an assault on his base in the anti-matter universe.  Despite the presence of Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, the Ray, Firestorm, the Earth-1 Wonder Woman, the Earth-2 Green Lantern, the second Dr. Light, Jade, Lady Quark, Martian Manhunter, Pariah, Wildfire and Mon-El (of the 30th century super teen team, the Legion of Super-Heroes), Supergirl, and the Supermen of Earth-1 and 2, the heroes quickly come to realize their foe possesses power on a scale they were not prepared for. The Anti-Monitor possessed sufficient power to not only engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Superman of Earth-1 (who was able to move planets), but to actually hurt him. Indeed, he even rendered Superman unconscious at one point and likely would have killed him, were it not for the timely arrival of Superman’s Kryptonian cousin, Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl.

Supergirl gave her life to save not only her cousin, but the lives of untold numbers of sentient beings in those universes that still existed. This was not a case of a female comic book character being fridged. Supergirl’s death wasn’t used to further the story of her cousin or any other male character. Her actions in this issue were character-driven and served to further the story’s plot. This was her story. Moreover, she died heroically, saving not just one, two, or three universes, but 5. When I read this story back in 1985, I was 9 years old. Be it Marvel or DC, 9-year-old me was unfamiliar with comic books. My understanding of the characters in CoIE #7 was limited to what I read in that comic. And yet that comic affected me so much that I cried.

I was in tears because Supergirl-a character I knew very little about-heroically sacrificed her life so that countless others could live.

I’ll be 40 at the end of this year. Even though I’ve read thousands of comics in the years since 1985…even though I’ve read comics that were written far better than any issue of CoIE (including #7)…even though Superman’s cousin from Krypton has been reintroduced to DC’s fictional universe…this issue still brings tears to my eyes. Composing this post and re-reading the above pages brought tears to my eyes.

So yeah, there’s a spot in my heart for Crisis on Infinite Earths. Especially issue #7.

And that’s all due to Supergirl.

It is because of this love for Supergirl that I am excited at the upcoming series from CBS. I’m even more excited about the series after watching the recently released trailer and if you’re as big a fan of Supergirl as I am, you will be too.

Things I like:

  • First and foremost, I love, Love, LOVE the way ‘Kara’ is pronounced (car-uh). It’s how I’ve always pronounced her name and I disliked the pronunciation of ‘Kara’ in the CW’s Smallville (care-uh).
  • Despite reminding me of Meryl Streep’s character in The Devil Wears Prada, I enjoyed the portrayal of Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart). She provides a nice contrast to Kara.
  • I like that the show’s creators chose to cast a black man in the role of James ‘Jimmy’ Olsen, because Hollywood has a poor history of representation of African-Americans.
  • I like the chemistry between Kara and her sister. Despite the fact that Kara is literally from another planet, it’s clear that she and Alex have a strong-and friendly-bond.
  • The humor. At least in the trailer it feels like its, I dunno, earned. I don’t really know how to put it, but I’m turned off by traditional sitcoms and big-screen comedies. So often, they try too hard to be funny (or use way too many grade-school level jokes)
  • I’m going all caps here bc this is a biggie-KARA’S FIRST DISPLAY OF HER POWERS IN PUBLIC WAS AN ACT OF HEROISM! This is important bc in the atrocious Supergirl movie, she publicly used her powers for the first time to fend off sexual harassment (and most likely an attempt at sexual assault). Male heroes almost always get to debut heroically, and I’m glad to see that Melissa Benoists’ Supergirl gets to do the same.
  • I wondered how the writers were going to handle giving the moniker ‘Supergirl’ to a grown woman. I’m still not completely comfortable with it, given the infantalizing nature of referring to a grown woman as a girl, but I did like Cat Grant’s rationalization. And it’s not like Kara named herself. Perhaps in time, she’ll come to formulate an argument as to why she shouldn’t be called SuperGIRL (feel free to use mine)
  • I like that she doesn’t keep her identity a complete secret and I’m curious to see if the writers will address her attempts to keep her identity under wraps.
  • I like the idea that the ‘S’ is the El family’s coat of arms (for those who prefer it to mean ‘super’, there’s no reason it can’t have both meanings).
  • The special effects look amazing.

One minor gripe is the indiscriminate use of her powers against normal humans. Kicking a gunman through a concrete wall would likely leave them with serious back problems, if not outright breaking their back. Does she understand the extent of her powers and the potential harm she could bring to the humans she seeks to protect? Here’s hoping this is a plot point the writers plan on addressing.

But really, that’s a minor gripe in an otherwise excellent trailer. If the show can live up to the promise of the trailer, Supergirl will be on my must-watch list.

Supergirl  will air Mondays at 8pm (EST) beginning in November.


In honor of the show, here’s a fantastic piece of artwork by Mike Maihack:

This looks SUPER promising

The Fabulous Art of Jenny Frison

I just happened upon a post over at Bleeding Cool highlighting the alternate covers for Spider-Gwen #1. Among them was one image that really stuck out to me:

That alternate cover is by artist Jenny Frison. More of her lovely work can be found on her DeviantArt page. Here are a few more examples of her awesome art:

The Fabulous Art of Jenny Frison

Pushing forward

According to Merriam-Webster, diversity is defined as “the quality or state of having many different forms, types, ideas, etc”. A diverse workforce, for instance, is one in which you find people of varied backgrounds and with varied physical qualities. For many, diversity is thought of in terms of race or sexual orientation, but it goes far beyond that. According to Loden and Rosener, there are two main dimensions to diversity. Within the primary dimension are unchangeable characteristics, such as race, age, ethnicity, physical qualities, sexual orientation, and gender (the last one is changeable however–gender is not an innate quality of an individual, it is a social construct; despite the fact that one can change their gender, that is no basis for the discrimination or oppression of trans people and if you think it is, you are a shithead). The secondary dimension consists of those qualities that are not inherent. These more malleable characteristics include parental status, religious beliefs, income, education, and military experience (via Arizona.edu; source: Loden, M, & Rosener, J. (1991). Workforce America!: Managing Employee Diversity as a Vital Resource. Homewood , IL: Business One Irwin.)

That’s what diversity is, but why is it important? Why should it matter that queer people desire better representation in comic books? Why does it matter that this years Academy Award nominees were a sea of white faces? Why are people so happy that the next Ghostbusters movie will feature an all-female cast?

Other people matter. That’s why.

For too long the message from society has been that the only stories that matter, the only experiences that matter, are those of male, European-American, cisgender, heterosexuals (MEACHs). That is not true. It has never been true (though many people think it is). Recognizing that all humans have dignity and that we all matter means that our stories matter. Our histories matter. Our experiences matter. Maybe they don’t matter to MEACHs (though certainly there are many in that group who value the lives, stories, and experiences of others), but the world doesn’t consist of, nor does it revolve around that group. Unfortunately, for too long in USAmerica, almost everything has catered to the desires and wishes of MEACHs.  The overwhelming majority of movies produced by Hollywood have reinforced the idea that the only people who matter are MEACHs. Our politicians have been and largely continue to be predominately MEACHs. For a long time in this country our workforce was dominated by MEACHs. The protections of the government were extended only to MEACHs for much of our history. In effect, the message sent by U.S. society is that unless you were a cisgender, heterosexual, white male, you did not matter.

Thankfully, that is changing.

Hollywood for instance, is beginning to see that there is market for and money to be made in movies featuring women.

THR reported Aug. 2 that Sony wants to launch a female-led reboot of Ghostbusters from Bridesmaids director Paul Feig. Two days later, the studio said it is targeting 2017 for a woman superhero film set in the Spider-Man universe. Marvel Studios, whose Guardians of the Galaxy lured a 44 percent-female audience on opening weekend (the biggest share of any Marvel film) is said to be close to greenlighting a Black Widow pic forScarlett Johansson. And The Expendables producer Avi Lernersaid Aug. 4 he wants to shoot a female spinoff Expendabelles in 2015 (Sylvester Stallone says he wants Sigourney Weaver to star).

Even as U.S. box office is down about 18 percent this summer, women and girls are driving some of the biggest success stories, including Maleficent ($727.5 million globally), The Fault in Our Stars ($263 million worldwide) and Lucy(a $43.9 million U.S. opening). They follow female-fronted smashes The Hunger Games and Frozen. “It used to be people would look at the success of individual titles and look at them as being the exception to the rule,” says Columbia president of production Hannah Minghella. “But I don’t think we can think that way anymore.”

Of course there is resistance to Hollywood’s diversity initiatives. The Manosphere (helpful glossary here) is filled with whiny, entitled douchenozzles.  These people (largely MEACHs) weren’t happy to hear about an all-female Ghostbusters movie.  While some tried to mask their sexism behind complaints like “Hollywood is ruining our childhood” and “what about nostalgia” and “women aren’t funny, how can they be Ghostbusters”, it’s plain to my eye, that they are really whining because they aren’t the only ones being catered to any longer.

“Our childhoods”. Really? As if your childhood is magically going to be retconned and your memories will be wiped. Your childhood still remains the same. The movie you watched as a kid hasn’t changed. Your memories haven’t changed. Nor will they. So stop your whining you spoiled, petulant brats. The world does not revolve around you.

Diversity in Hollywood can be seen in the upcoming Aquaman movie, featuring Jason Momoa in the title role. In the comic books, Aquaman has always been a MEACH (just like the target audience), but Momoa is Hawaiian (Kanaka Maoli to be exact).  When the Aquaman movie hits in 2018, children and adults of Hawaiian background will get to see themselves represented on the big screen, something that is, to say the least, quite rare. Not only that, but they’ll get to see themselves represented in a heroic manner.  This-diversity-is a good great thing and Momoa is excited, not just for himself, but his kids:

“It’s awesome as an actor to know what your future is going to be because I have children and I’ve busted my ass to put food on the table,” he says. “It’s awesome knowing that I’m going to be in Justice League because my son is the biggest Batman fan and my daughter loves Wonder Woman. It’ll be cool for them to see me in something because they’re not going to be watching Game of Thrones or Red Roadanytime soon, but now they can see Daddy kicking ass in IMAX.”

Momoa joins fellow ass-kickers The Rock and Vin Diesel as a new breed of ethnically ambiguous action hero. As a Hawaiian, it wasn’t easy for Momoa to break into Hollywood.

“I’ve had to bust ass to be in this industry. A lot of things are very black and white,” he says. “Aquamanis especially cool because being a Kanaka Maoli—being Hawaiian—our Gods are Kanaloa and Maui, and the Earth is 71 percent water, so I get to represent that. And I’m someone who gets to represent all the islanders, not some blond-haired superhero. It’s cool that there’s a brown-skinned superhero.”

Yes, it is cool. In large part because it will show that heroes can come in all races and ethnicities, not just European-Americans. This is only one step, however.  Other important steps: Cyborg, starring Ray Fisher, due in 2020 and Black Panther, featuring Chadwick Boseman, in 2017.  Four examples do not, of course, magically make Hollywood more diverse.  Beyond superheroes and beyond increasing the on-screen presence of People of Color, women, and other minority groups, Hollywood needs more Black, Asian, Latino, and female directors, screenwriters, producers and more. Then there are the supremely underrepresented groups in Hollywood, like trans people, people with mental or physical disabilities,  More. More. More. Don’t stop until Hollywood accurately reflects USAmerica, rather than just MEACHs.

The comic book industry is another area in the United States that needs to diversify. Traditionally the domain of MEACHs, mainstream USAmerican comics have diversified somewhat over the last 15 years. There are an increasing number of women creating comics. There are an increasing number of female-led comic books (for instance, Marvel currently produces Thor, Angel: Asgard’s Assassin, Storm, the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Ms Marvel, Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Spider-Woman, Spider-Gwen, Silk, and an all-female team of X-Men; She-Hulk and Elektra were cancelled recently).  Despite this, things in the land of USAmerican comics are far from perfect, and one young girl recently decided to express her dissatisfaction with DC Comics:

The letter reads:

Dear DC comics,
My name is Rowan and I am 11 years old. I love superheroes and have been reading comics and watching superhero cartoons and movies since I was very young. I’m a girl, and I’m upset because there aren’t very many girl superheroes or movies and comics from DC.
For my birthday, I got some of your Justice League Chibis™. I noticed in the little pamphlet that there are only 2 girl Chibis, and 10 boys. Also, the background for the girl figures was all pink and purple.
I remember watching Justice League cartoons when I was really young with my dad. There are Superman and Batman movies, but not a Wonder Woman one. You have a Flash TV show, but not a Wonder Woman one. Marvel Comics made a movie about a talking tree and raccoon awesome, but you haven’t made a movie with Wonder Woman.
I would really like a Hawkgirl or Catwoman or the girls of the Young Justice TV show action figures please. I love your comics, but I would love them a whole lot more, if there were more girls.
I asked a lot of the people I know whether they watched movies or read books or comics where girls were the main characters, they all said yes.
Please do something about this. Girls read comics too and they care.
Sincerely, Rowan.

This letter expresses the feelings of many comic book fans.  A DC Comics rep responded on Twitter:

Despite the advances made in the comic book industry (which, btw, is more than just Marvel and DC; I focus on them because they are the Big 2 publishers and put out the vast majority of comic books on the racks), there is still a long way to go and the bigwigs at Marvel and DC are not the only ones who realize this.  BOOM! Studios founder and CEO Ross Richie says he wants to help push comics forward:

It’s Keith Giffen’s fault. I keep telling people that he talked me into it in a dive bar on L.A.’s west side. But the truth is that I started this company out of the spare bedroom in my apartment because I couldn’t believe the guy that created Rocket Raccoon thought I could do it. Maybe we could bring something to comics that hadn’t been there before?

I’ve loved comics since 1976. I never thought I’d publish them. Sure, I’d worked with giants of the field, including Barry Windsor-Smith, Howard Chaykin, Jim Starlin, Walter Simonson, and others too numerous to mention, when I was a young marketing turk at Malibu Comics 20 years ago. But me, publish comic books? You’re crazy.

So it’s 10 years later now. Comics publishers don’t often make it that far, do they? We should do a victory lap right now.

But who wants to look backward when there’s so much more cool stuff around the bend?

Let’s talk about the future.

Have you ever had a friend that shared a lot of your interests, but they didn’t read comics? You gave them Watchmen, you gave them Y: The Last Man, you gave them X-Men. But nothing stuck. They liked the idea of comics, but there wasn’t a comic book that felt like it was made for them…

Let’s go make that comic book for them. Together. As fans, as creators, as retailers, as the press, as publishers. All of us. Let’s talk about how we can allPush #ComicsForward. Because comic books should be for everyone.

We know where we’ve been—our favorite eras, our favorite characters, our favorite runs. We already know all of that. I’ve got a garage full of Silver, Bronze, Copper, and Modern Age comics and I love them.

But the medium of comics has never been more on the forefront of driving pop culture and as fans of this art form, we have a rare opportunity to take that interest to the next level and embrace an entire generation of potential fans who don’t read comics right now.

We can make a new Golden Age.

At BOOM!, we’ve carefully selected new projects in 2015 that we believe will help Push #ComicsForward. These projects will take on risky subject matter, introduce new characters from diverse backgrounds, and debut a swath of new creative voices to the industry.

Just in the first few months of 2015, we’ve launched a gaming-inspired humor comic in Munchkin, two projects that tackle the complex climate in the Middle East with Burning Fields and The Realist, five series with unique female leads (Curb Stomp, HaloGen, Cluster, Help Us! Great Warrior, and Giant Days), a period crime project (Hit: 1957), and an original graphic novel about the cutest crabs to ever start a revolution (The March of the Crabs). And we’ve only just begun. But this movement isn’t just about BOOM!, it’s about all of us. We’ll be devoting a ton of our time and energy in 2015 to work with the press, conventions, and social media channels to keep the conversation going.

If you know me, you know I’m the “Challenge Accepted!” guy. If there’s a problem that hasn’t been solved or a project that seems insurmountable, I’m the first one to jump in. This is a big challenge, but I want you to join me in taking it on.

No one thought comics targeted at All Ages was viable until KaBOOM!. Now it’s the norm. No one thought an all-female cast of characters with an all-female creative team had a shot in the Direct Market—until Lumberjanes. And who would have guessed that an oversized limited series like Memetic, starring a hearing-impaired, gay college student and a blind, African-American general about a meme-induced apocalypse, would garner rave reviews? We did.

If you believe comics are great just the way they are, this isn’t for you. If you think superheroes are the only kinds of stories worth telling in comics, this isn’t for you. But if you want to see everyone reading comics—your aunt, your co-workers, your niece, your boyfriend, that kid down the street—let’s Push #ComicsForward in 2015.

Together.

ROSS RICHIE

Founder & CEO

BOOM! Studios

This is the type of thing I want to see more of, and not just from the comic book industry. Not just from Hollywood. I want to see greater diversity everywhere. Not just for me, as a gay, black male. I want to see women represented better in society. I want to see Asian-Americans granted more prominence. I want to see the lives of Latinos treated as if they have value. As if they matter. I want to see trans people recognized as human beings with rights, and I damn sure want to see greater representation of them. Everywhere. Because they matter. That’s the lesson to be learned. Everyone matters. Not just male, European-American, cisgender, heterosexuals.

Pushing forward

Comics, from the big-screen to the small-screen

“Look. Up in the sky.”

“It’s a bird.”

“No. It’s a plane.”

“No. It’s…

Melissa Benoist!”

Once she was one of the female leads on the FOX show Glee. Now, thanks to a recent deal with CBS, Melissa Benoist’s career is looking up, up, and away (yes, I’m aware that I’m stretching said catchphrase darn near the breaking point…sue me), as the actress has been cast in the lead role for the Supergirl pilot:

Based on the characters from DC Comics, the project, from Warner Bros. TV and studio-based Berlanti Prods., centers on Kara Zor-El (Benoist). Born on the planet Krypton, Kara Zor-El escaped amid its destruction years ago. Since arriving on Earth, she’s been hiding the powers she shares with her famous cousin, Superman. But now at age 24, she decides to embrace her superhuman abilities and be the hero she was always meant to be.

Written by Greg Berlanti and Ali Adler, the project went through an extensive casting process, with several young actresses testing for the lead. Benoist had been consistently in the mix, first alongside Claire Holt and more recently considered along with Elizabeth Lail.

* * * *

In yet another Shoop-approved example of racebending, Mehcad Brooks has been cast as Jimmy Olsen in CBS’ in-development Supergirl series.  Like the racebending of Iris West in the CW’s The Flash (in the comics she was white), Olsen will be the love interest for the title character, though it’s unknown if he’ll be pursuing Supergirl in her superhero identity or in her secret identity.

It looks like the new TV Olsen will retain the character’s status as a photographer — here’s the description from Variety: “Jimmy, based on the DC Comics character, is an attractive photographer at CatCo, the media company where Kara Zor-El works, as an assistant to Cat Grant, (yet to be casted). Recently, Jimmy has been living and working in National City, though the reason is still a secret.”

Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Jimmy Olsen is one of the most iconic and enduring supporting characters in comic books, and has been a part of other media adaptations of the Superman mythos from the beginning — the character was introduced in the radio show “The Adventures of Superman” in 1940, and debuted in comics a year later. Jimmy Olsen has been portrayed numerous times in film, television and animation, and has headlined his own comic on multiple occasions, most famously the “Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen” series that ran from 1954 to 1974.

* * * *

Wave bye bye to Halle Berry, James Marsden, and Famke Janssen as Storm, Cyclops, and Jean Grey in FOX’s popular X-Men franchise.  Say hello to Alexandra Shipp:

Shipp will play the weather manipulating mutant Storm.

Tye Sheridan

Sheridan is set to play the optic blast wielding field leader of the X-Men, Cyclops.

and Sophie Turner!

Turner will play Jean Grey, an Omega-level mutant with powerful telepathic and telekinetic abilities.

The three new actors are set to star in the next installment of the popular franchise, X-Men: Apocalypse. Due in 2016, the movie also stars Oscar Isaac as the main villain, Apocalypse (somehow, I don’t think he’s going to look like this).

* * * *

Going back to the source material, director of ‘The Crow’ remake plans a brutal and emotional film

“It’s still early days on that, but what I can say for now is that I’m a huge, huge fan of both the first film and James O’Barr’s graphic novel,” Hardy said. “I was obsessed with The Crowwhen I was growing up. When I heard about the remake, what I thought could be very interesting today, 20 years later, especially with this whole Marvel Universe that’s happened, is that the Crow always stood as an outsider to me. I kind of felt he would be the right character for me if I got the chance to do it. And now that I have gotten the chance to do it, I’m very much going back to the graphic novel, particularly looking into the illustrations themselves as much as the story, and picking out all those beautiful ideas and details that haven’t really been used yet.”

Hardy also intends to create a tone with the film that reflects the original movie and comic as well as the current comic-based movie marketplace.

“I also want to open the story up in such a way that the Crow is now part of a world where there are the Marvel movies and the Dark Knight movies,” the director said. “I intend it to be incredibly emotional and brutal, and all the things you’d want from a Crow film. I want to make a movie that I would have wanted to see, as a huge fan of The Crow.”

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FOX wants a small-screen X-Men series

EXCLUSIVE: Earlier this month, Fox entertainment chairmen Gary Newman and Dana Walden told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour that they were hoping to revive The X-Files and 24. Now, for the first time, the network is also confirming that it’s kicking another popular franchise to bring to primetime: X-Men.

Newman tells us that negotiations are under way to develop an X-Men series, inspired by the comic book series first published in 1963 and subsequent mega-hit film franchise (which has included seven movies, starting with X-Men in 2000.)

But here’s the slight complication: While sister production company 20th Century Fox controls the film rights to the X-Men characters, the comic itself is owned by Marvel, which is based at rival Disney. A live-action TV series requires Marvel’s blessing – and that has led to some delicate talks.

“It’s in negotiations,” Newman confirms. “We’re cautiously optimistic, we had a good meeting with them. That will not be on a fast track creatively. This is just the deal, now we have to find the creative.”

Because they’re focusing on deal points first, there’s no writer and no firm concept yet (although there’s been online speculation that it might revolve around the X-Men spinoff comic series X-Factor.) Because it will take time to develop, Newman doesn’t think a show would be ready before the 2016-2017 TV season.

Any deal for 20th Century Fox TV to wade into the Marvel waters will require deft negotiating because Marvel is busy ramping up its own TV presence, starting with ABC’s current seriesAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter. Next up, Marvel is producing the four Netflix seriesDaredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage, plus the miniseries The Defenders.

But talk of a potential X-Men series has been swirling for some time. Simon Kinberg, who wrote the 2014 film X-Men: Days of Future Past, told Collider last April that he thought an X-Men TV franchise was inevitable: “We’re still in this place of figuring out what the future of the franchise will be, but when you look at S.H.I.E.L.D. to some extent and what Marvel is doing now withDaredevil and other shows on Netflix, it makes sense to tell some of these stories in TV.”

Last fall the website Bleeding Cool revealed that the X-Men development was real. But this is the first time Fox has confirmed that it is pursuing a deal for the show, and that indeed it would be for its own network.

This would actually mark a return of the X-Men to Fox: The network’s now-defunct Fox Kids block aired an animated X-Men series from 1992 to 1997.

20th Century Fox first acquired the film rights to the X-Men franchise in 1994; the studio also holds the rights to Marvel’s Fantastic Four. Other studios with rights to Marvel properties include Sony, which remains the home to Spider-Man. But under Disney, Marvel has been reacquiring film rights to many of its characters, including Daredevil, which was previously at 20th.

It’s no surprise that Fox would be interested in bringing the X-Men to television. The network has found success this season with Gotham, a Batman origins series from DC Comics and Warner Bros. TV. As programmers contend with more competition, pre-sold titles are seen as having a marketing leg up. And there’s no question audiences love the X-Men: According to Box OfficeMojo, the seven X-Men movies have collectively grossed over $1 billion in theaters. Contributing to that draw has been Hugh Jackman, who stars in most of the films as Wolverine (a.k.a. James “Logan” Howlett).

Comics, from the big-screen to the small-screen

YouTube fan creates awesome trailers for movies that will never happen

YouTube user and comic book fan Alex Luthor has a penchant for creating unique movie trailers. Through a melding of movies, television shows, video games, and even unseen TV pilots, Luthor has created trailers for comic book movies that will probably never be produced by Warner Bros. or Marvel Studios. Still, that makes me appreciate the effort he took to create believable trailers like the following:

Marvel vs DC

Avengers vs the X-Men

and his most recent video, which pits the heroes of the Marvel and DC universes against a powerful force:

YouTube fan creates awesome trailers for movies that will never happen

Shattering unconscious biases

More than once in my life I’ve had someone remark “I didn’t know you were gay” or “There’s nothing gay about you. I’d have never guessed.” Statements of that nature reflect the biases about gay people held by that individual. There is no visual characteristic defining all gay people. We’re not a monolithic entity all acting the same. We are human beings with a diverse background and beliefs who express their sexuality in a variety of ways (with some choosing not to express their sexuality). Being surprised that I’m gay or saying there’s nothing gay about me is saying “Your expression of sexuality does not comport with how I think gay people act” (it’s also treating heterosexuality as the default). It’s that thinking right there that needs to be challenged. Gay people don’t “act” in any specific way that would allow someone to recognize their sexuality (just to be clear, I’m talking about engaging in everyday activities like going to the gym, the grocery store, or interacting with employees on the job. I’m not talking about holding hands with a significant other, kissing them, or otherwise acting in a way that signals one’s sexuality).

I’ve also had some personal experience with implicit racial biases. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told “You’re so well-spoken” or “You are eloquent”. Rarely have I heard those words directed at others, so what made me so special? For years, that question lingered at the back of my mind. Then I learned that many people hold unconscious beliefs about black people, and one of those beliefs is that African-Americans don’t speak correctly. While I’m not entirely sure what speaking correctly means, I know it involves enunciating words and speaking clearly (to be honest, I suspect it’s a criticism of black people for not speaking like white people). Here’s the thing though:  all black people don’t speak the same.  Shocker, I know.

It’s implicit biases like those above that need to be shattered so that people can come to view TBGL people, women, and People of Color as people, rather than a collection of stereotypes. In a recent post, I wrote about the importance of diversity initiatives in combating racial stereotypes. One of the suggestions I had was for Hollywood to cast more PoC in non-stereotypical leading or supporting roles. Whether a live-action movie or television show or an animated series, presenting People of Color in a positive role can help shatter unconscious racial stereotypes. What type of positive role?

How about a wealthy globe-trotting black woman who becomes a superhero after acquiring a mystical amulet that allows her to channel the abilities of any animal on the planet?

It looks like DC’s team of TV heroes is growing by one more: Vixen. According to KSiteTV CW a Vixen animated series which will debut this fall on its digital-only channel was announced by the CW at the Television Critics Association event Sunday. The project is being headed up by Arrow‘s Marc Guggenheim, and will reportedly be tied into the DC television continuity shared by Arrow and The Flash.

Originally created back in 1978 by Gerry Conway and Bob Oksner, Vixen is primarily known as a team member of books like Justice League and Suicide Squad. In current comics continuity, she has been a member of both Justice League International and the main Justice League team. She’s made several appearances in various DC animated shows, from Justice League Unlimited to Batman: The Brave and the Bold and even a cameo in Teen Titans Go!.

Guggenheim explained to CBR that the series is initially planned for six episodes, and will be set in Detroit as a homage to the Justice League in the 1980s. The writer/producer said Vixen will be an origin story with heavy magical elements, in constrast to Arrow being crime-based and The Flash being science-based. Arrow writers Brian Ford Sullivan and Keto Shimizu will be joining Guggenheim on Vixen, but said the voice-casting of the title character hasn’t been finalized. Guggenheim did say that The Flash‘s Grant Gustin and Arrow‘s Stephen Amell would voice their own characters in the animated series.

While I envisioned more roles for People of Color on the big or small screen rather than digital (I worry that a digital-only series won’t reach many viewers, but I really don’t have anything to base this feeling on), this is still a step in the right direction.

Shattering unconscious biases

A silent night in Gotham

Over the last few years, artist Mike Maihack has written and drawn a series of comic strips involving Batgirl and Supergirl.  Apparently, this one is the last for a while. I haz a sad.

Look at that. Bats is a big ole softy.

A silent night in Gotham

The Fabulous art of Kevin Wada

DC’s Captain Marvel (or Shazam as they call him now). He looks more like Captain Marvel Jr. to me though.

You can check out more of Kevin Wada’s excellent art at his Tumblr.

The Fabulous art of Kevin Wada

The Fabulous Art of: Lee Bermejo

Professional illustrator and artist Lee Bermejo has worked on many Marvel and DC comics.  His work is nicely detailed and has a rough, rugged look.  I quite like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fabulous Art of: Lee Bermejo