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Sean Mack: Creating Art All Black People Can Relate To

This year has been very heartbreaking for the Black community, and it’s imperative that we not only support the Black artists who continue to use their work to make their and our lives better, but who also want to contribute to the resurgence of our community. Those who want to share light. Those who want to tell stories with their talent, to open the eyes of the masses.
So support we shall!

Name, Age, Hometown:

Sean Mack, 27, Saginaw, Michigan

When did you start drawing (or when did you begin to take drawing more seriously)? What made you start drawing, and why do you continue?

I’ve been drawing since I could pick up crayons, really. I’m not sure what started it really. I just loved to draw things as a kid. Ghostbusters. Ninja Turtles. I drew in notebooks, walls, all that. My folks told me they think I got the creative side from my grandmother because she was into arts and crafts so that may be where it stemmed from. I continued because it was something I loved to do. I wasn’t really into much of anything else like sports and all that jazz. I just loved to draw.

How would you describe your main (if you have many) drawing style?

I’d say it’s a melting pot of a lot of things that influenced me as I was growing up. Comics, animation – both American and Japanese — and life mostly. It’s not based on realism, but I try to keep a feel of it at least in my art somewhere.

Do you practice discipline, where you draw even when you don’t feel like it, versus drawing when you want?

Yeah definitely. There’s plenty of times I’ve basically forced myself to draw when I didn’t have the energy to. I may not draw every day but it’ll be enough time for me to not get rusty and lazy with things.

What are some of your favorite pieces you’ve created? Your least favorite?

My favorite so has to be the work I did with C.J. Johnson on his graphic novel KOBK (Killed Or Be Killed). I think I love it because it was basically challenged me to get out of my comfort zone and because I never really did a full graphic novel before. My least favorite? I’d had to say one of the first freelance jobs I had. It was for the producer duo from England and it just didn’t go down great at all, haha.

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Read more from Cynthia Franciillon at Black Girl Nerds

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Is ‘Arrow’ Making John Diggle’s Character Stagnant?

Three seasons into Arrow, we’ve seen Felicity Smoak turn MVP, Roy Harper’s evolution into Arsenal, and Sarah Lance die, become a hero and die again. We even saw the rebirth of Thea Queen when her hair went Legend of Korra, Book 4 and she morphed into fierce-Thea over a summer abroad. In the time it took you to learn the three-man weave at basketball camp, Thea learned to turn off physical pain and sword fight trained assassins. How unaccomplished does that make you feel? Now take all those feelings of ineptitude and multiply them by 55 episodes, and you might have an idea how John Diggle feels.

Diggle began as a promising character of color in the series, asserting himself as someone uninterested in “being anyone’s sidekick.” A 40-something ex-Special Forces with hero-diesel build? And he says he’s no one’s sidekick? Arrow had me going on that one. They had me going, that is, until it took under half a season for him to become just that. Not even a particularly useful one either – whenever Ollie excludes him on missions he sits back at headquarters and dreams of being appreciated. “Maybe I’ll get a code name soon,” he thinks to himself, looking up at the salmon ladder. “Or a mask. A mask would do.” It’s embarrassing. On the list of respectable sidekicks, John Diggle’s name falls somewhere under Kimmy Gibbler, Memphis Bleek, and Tails.

He’s strictly there for diversity purposes at this point – they couldn’t get rid of him so they turned him into Cole from Martin, where every time he talks about his job for a mission, everyone yells, “You ain’t got no job!” His presence onscreen solely to say things like “You’re not seeing straight on this one, Ollie” every 18 minutes. The frustrating part is his character had such promise at the start of the show, although let’s be clear – he was never written as Ollie’s equal even in season 1, and the way he was the punch line of Ollie’s daily shenanigans sneaking away in season 1 while Diggle facepalms and says “aw, shucks” was borderline offensive. Heaven forbid we break with the norm and have an interesting Black character that helps Ollie out as an equal. He was always the goofy and hapless counterpart opposite Ollie’s hero-ness, but essential enough to each mission to keep us believing in his utility on the team.

Read more from Jordan Calhoun at Black Nerd Problems

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Comic Girl Highlight: Pantha

Real Name: Rosabelle Mendez
Alias: X-24
Publisher: DC Comics
First Appearance: “New Titans #73” (February 1991)
Affiliation: Teen Titans
Superpower: Enhanced agility and strength, razor-sharp claws, cat’s-eye vision, skilled fighter, escape artist, healing, super hearing, super sight, super smell and super speed

Pantha was a student at NYU (New York University) who studied to become a veterinarian. She was kidnapped by Maxwell Lord and sold to the Wildebeest Society. Rosabelle was used for research and experimented on and as a result was created as a hybrid feline by the Wildebeest. Several experiments were conducted including X-24. When Rosabelle escaped, she decided to plot her revenge against the individuals who performed experiments on her. According to Comic Vine, Pantha was created by Marv Wolfman and Tom Grummett. She appeared first in “The New Titans #73” as a shadow and fully in “The New Titans #74.”

During her plot for revenge, she was at odds with Deathstroke many times. Deathstroke has become more familiar with many of us as a popular villain on the hit CW series Arrow. Under the codename Pantha, she later joined the Teen Titans, but at many times was at odds with her teammates. According to Wikipedia, she later teams up with her old allies when Cyborg, now with an entirely new level of power, threatens the entire Earth. The Justice League of America showed up also and a series of mistakes led to the entire team fighting. Pantha took on Catwoman, but neither side won as they were interrupted by blasts from Orion. Baby Wildebeest himself was subdued by Superman.

When the “Infinite Crisis” occurs, she joins another team of Titans in addition to Doom Patrol and Justice Society of America. JSA includes a previous comic girl featured in this spotlight by the name of Crimson Avenger. Pantha has feline-like strength that possesses super human strength, agility, speed, reflexes, and leaping. She also has razor sharp claws on her hands and feet that are able to cut through steel and used to crush into stone walls. She also has a slight healing factor that allows her to recover from minor injuries almost immediately.

During the “Infinite Crisis,” an altercation takes place between Pantha and Superboy Prime. In the battle, Superboy accidentally kills Pantha and he also slaughtered Baby Wildebeest.

In the “Blackest Night,” which was a Titans crossover story, Pantha is resurrected as a member of the Black Lantern and ready for battle once again with the Titans. Sadly, her body is destroyed and permanently disintegrated. Fans of the Teen Titans TV show may remember Pantha’s stint as a wrestler and wears a wrestling mask. Her debut was on the episode Calling All Titans.

Source: Jamie Broadnax at Black Girl Nerds

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South Side Chicago Author Helps Give New Life to Afrofuturism and Caters to Blacks Interested in Sci-Fi, Fantasy Literature

As Afrofuturism continues to grow in popularity, one author from Chicago’s South Side is helping the movement take shape and offering a guide to sci-fi and fantasy newcomers.

For quite some time it seemed like the vast, imaginative worlds of sci-fi and fantasy arts had room for everything except for Black people.

Even today, as more comic book creators and sci-fi filmmakers make conscious efforts to boost diversity in their works, Black actors and characters often receive less than warm welcomes.

That’s where Afrofuturism comes in.

Afrofuturism is a term that describes the harmonious blend of science fiction and fantasy with aspects of Afrocentricity.

Afrofuturistic works not only aim to entertain, but they also hope to provide insightful critiques of racism and re-examine historical events.

While the term was not coined by Mark Dery until he published his essay “Black to the Future” in 1992, Chicago author Ytasha Womack was always living her life as a proud Afrofuturist.

The culture left such a substantial impact on the Chicago native that she began penning the book “Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture” after she graduated from Clark Atlanta University.

She graduated from the HBCU back in 1997, but it wasn’t until 2013 that Womack’s revolutionary book would hit the shelves.

The book was created as a bit of a launch pad for Blacks who were new to the sci-fi, fiction universe but always had an interest in it.

“A lot of my friends from college were really immersed in these ideas,” Womack said, according to DNA Info. “But when they graduated they didn’t know what to do.”

Womack hopes her book will help address that problem for many other Black people interested in sci-fi and fantasy works.

In addition to serving as a launch pad for Afrofuturism newcomers, the book will also aim to be a sort of history book for the sub culture.

Womack said she hopes the book is able to “preserve the movement for future generations,” DNA Info reported.

Since her book’s 2013 release, Womack says college students and professors have been constantly reaching out to her and now the book is being used to help educate students on a variety of topics including feminism and African diaspora.

The Afrofuturism book came after she wrote another book in 2010 titled “Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African American Identity” and just before she released a fictional novel titled “Rayla 2212” in 2014.

The book follows the life of a woman named Rayla who lives on a former earth colony 200 years in the future.

“The idea [of Rayla] became really compelling when I was writing the Afrofuturism book,” Womack said.

Both of the works were contributing factors that helped inspire the Race in Space Conference at Duke University in October of 2013.

The conference combined science fiction with science fact and allowed seasoned researchers to give more insight about the possibilities of more advanced space exploration.

Afrofuturism has also been used to help get more Black students interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers.

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A 1992 Speculative, Critical Race Tale Brings Up Relevant Questions in Current Times

“The Space Traders,” a short science fiction story by late law professor and civil rights activist Derrick Bell, imagines a day in the year 2000 when thousands of ships carrying an advanced alien race arrive in America. The aliens offer clean nuclear energy, technology, bail-outs for all the banks, and other benefits, in exchange for only one thing – to take all African-Americans back to the aliens’ home star. “Space Traders” first appeared in Bell’s 1992 best-selling collection, “Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism,” a book of essays and short stories exploring the persistence of racism in America. The short story was adapted for television in 1994 by Trey Ellis and Reginald Hudlin for an episode of Cosmic Slop, a three-part HBO anthology series highlighting POC-centered science fiction. Described by Ellis as “a sort of Afro-Twilight Zone,” the episode was even introduced by P-Funk front man George Clinton.

Interestingly, the story received renewed interest during the 2012 presidential election, when the TV adaptation of the story and a video of young Barack Obama hugging Professor Bell fell into the hands of conservative, right-wing news sites. Bell, a former mentor of President Obama, was accused by conservatives of using the story to race bait and incite paranoia, while also suggesting that Obama is racist by association.

Watch the Space Traders episode below and read the original story by Professor Bell

Rasheedah Phillips is a Philadelphia public interest attorney, speculative fiction writer, the creator of The AfroFuturist Affair, and a founding member of Metropolarity.net. She recently independently published her first speculative fiction collection, “Recurrence Plot (and Other Time Travel Tales).”

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Top 11 Graphic Novels and Comics Of 2014 All Blerds Should Read

This year has been blerd-tastic as creators of color have made their mark on the publishing scene. It feels like each week hot new books are hitting virtual and IRL bookshelves. If you haven’t been able to keep up, no worries—here are our best picks for graphic novels created for, by or starring people of color from 2014, as presented by Terreece M. Clarke at LifeSlice Media.

Chew

CHEW by John Layman and Rob Guillory

The 8th volume in a long-running, award-winning series, Chew is drawn by Black artist extraordinaire Rob Guillory. Anthony (Tony) and Antonelle (Toni) Chu are fraternal twins. Tony is Cibopathic, able to receive psychic sensations of the past of anything he bites into or ingests. Toni is Cibovoyant, able to flash onto a vision of the future of any living thing she bit into or ingested. After Toni was murdered her brother Tony vowed to catch her killer with her help.

Legend of the Mantamaji

LEGEND OF THE MANTAMAJI BOOK ONE & BOOK TWO by Eric Dean Seaton creator, Brandon Palas -illustrator, Deron Bennet – letterer, Andrew Dalhouse – colorist

A Black superhero not of the Marvel/DC universe with its own history and characters? It’s true. Television director Eric Dean Seaton [Undateable, Austin & Ally, That’s So Raven, Reed Between the Lines, etc.] gathered an all-star crew to bring the first two volumes of his first graphic novel “Legend of the Mantamaji” to life. The Legend of the Mantamaji series tells the story of Elijah Alexander, a successful, brilliant, handsome Assistant District Attorney with a huge ego who discovers that all of the African legends his mother read to him when he was a child are true and that he is among the last of an ancient race of magical warriors sworn to protect humanity. As he discovers his heritage, Detective Sydney Spencer is hot on the trail of a super secret street gang behind an increase in crime and an increase in the demise of other gangs. Superheroes, science and plot twists combine in this action-adventure.

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10 Black Celebrities Who Have Expressed Their Love For Anime

Kanye West tweets about best anime films

 

Chris Brown watches anime

Chris Brown

In a vlog series he put out just before releasing his Fame album back in 2010, Brown expressed his love for video games and cartoons and explained that he always has to have the channel tuned to shows that create “fictional worlds.” Later in 2012 he got more specific with what kinds of cartoons he watches, revealing that he loves watching Japanese animes. Over the years he has revealed which animes he watches the most, including Dragon Ball Z and Astro Boy and he was even spotted out and about wearing a One Piece shirt.

Kanye West tweets about best anime films

Kanye West

Most people won’t be surprised that the rapper thoroughly enjoys his fair share of anime based on his incorporation of unique cartoon animations in his own works. He confirmed his love for anime when he took to Twitter to debate those who said Spirited Away was better than Akira. “No way Spirited Away is better than Akira… NOOO WAAAY…sorry was just looking at a youtube of top 10 anime films,” he tweeted.

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Every Blerd Will Be Proud of the ‘All-New Captain America’

Nerd moments and proud Black moments alike make me happy. But proud, Black nerd moments make me do parkour flips in my living room like Roy Harper in CW’s Arrow.

If anyone who hadn’t read comic books before came up to me asking what they should start with, “All-New Captain America” is on the short list I would give them. (The independent, mind-bending stuff comes later. I don’t want to scare anyone off too soon.) It’s not too far from the MCU that everyone’s familiar with and it explains itself enough where you have no problem catching up.

The best thing about this issue, besides a Black Captain America, is … nothing.

The symbol of American freedom and defense is now a Black man. Even with the current strength of racial tensions in America, this makes me forget about it all for 10 minutes or so.

The best thing about Sam Wilson, formerly known as Falcon, as Captain America is that he’s still learning how to hold down the mantle and is underestimated by everyone, including himself. He goes out of his way to prove himself and bear the weight of the massive chip he has on his shoulder. Something everyone deals with at some point.

Due to overcompensating, Cap makes rookie mistakes. His natural skill and years of training help him work his way through. And when that isn’t enough, he gets a strong Black woman to help him out.

The flashbacks of Sam’s upbringing are still very appropriate but should start to disappear as the series goes on. For right now, it’s a great tool to use for those unfamiliar.

Source: Keith Reid-Cleveland at Blacknerdproblems.com

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Marvel Confirms ‘Halo: Nightfall’ Star Mike Colter Will Play Luke Cage in ‘A.K.A Jessica Jones’

Marvel confirms Jessica Jones cast

From the video game-inspired world of Halo to the comic universe of Marvel, Mike Colter will take on the role of Luke Cage in Marvel’s A.K.A Jessica Jones, scheduled to air on Netflix in 2015.

Colter is certainly no stranger to taking on fantasy driven worlds as he is currently starring in the Xbox Originals series Halo: Nightfall as Jameson Locke.

His newest role, however, will have him starring alongside Krysten Ritter as both actors will attempt to bring the story of Jessica Jones to life.

Jones is the super-powered heroine whose life changed after she was in a car accident that left her doused in chemicals.

Jones went into a coma but when she awoke she eventually realized she had super powers.

As Luke Cage, Colter will be playing Jones’s super strong husband who was once locked up for a crime he didn’t commit.

Luke Cage casting confirmed

Cage’s unique experiences create several emotional layers to the character and showrunner Melissa Rosenberg says she has faith that Colter will bring that to the life.

“Mike embodies the strength, edge and depth of Luke Cage,” Rosenberg, who is also the executive producer, said, as reported by Marvel.com. “We’re excited to have him bring this iconic Marvel character to life.”

It’s an important role for Colter as he will essentially be introducing the mainstream media world to Cage.

“Fans have longed to see Luke Cage and in Mike we’ve found the perfect actor,” said Jeph Loeb, Executive Producer and Marvel’s Head of Television, as reported by Marvel.com. “Viewers will get to meet Luke Cage in ‘Marvel’s A.K.A. Jessica Jones,’ and experience why he is such an important super hero in the Marvel mythos.”

With comic book-inspired films and shows reaching an all-time peak in popularity, now is as good a time as any to release the Jessica Jones series.

Of course, many blerds might argue that this is about more than just adding another comic book adaptation success to Marvel’s resume.

This is yet another project by the comic giant that will bring diversity to the gang of Marvel super heroes in mainstream media.

It’s a mission Marvel has been pretty adamant about after casting Black actor Michael B. Jordan to take on the role of the traditionally white character Johnny Storm, known best as the Human Torch.

Then there was also the announcement that The Falcon will take over as the new Captain America, marking the first Black Captain America in the comic’s history.

This was a particularly important portrayal of a Black character, according to Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Axel Alonso.

During a recent interview with CBSN Alonso explained that, “the significance of an African-American man dressed in red, white and blue is not lost on the public.”

“It’s caused a lot of interesting debate, but this is the world in which we live,” Alonso added.

Marvel has also made other serious shakeups to boost diversity by introducing a female Thor and a Pakistani-American teen as the new Ms. Marvel.