Reblogged from The Eburne Chronicles:

A neighbor on my block has a Confederate flag hanging from his porch.                     I find it deeply offensive, but there seems to be a “don’t fuck with me, I won’t fuck with you” understanding between us that keeps the peace.   As a person from a big city, I’ve seen my fair share of racism and to be sure the North isn’t immune to it.  If you believe certain people in Philadelphia, young black children seem to have an adverse effect on the chlorine levels of public pools and apparently …

The 7th, and final, issue of Mark Millar’s most recent creator-owned comic-book was released last week. You can read my reviews of the previous issues here:

#1, #2, #3, #4, #5 & 6

So, this issue picks up where the last one left off. Ormon, the little monkey who is actually an agent of Satan, has transformed the school bully, Sharpie, into Superior’s arch-nemesis Abraxas, a big man in some high-tech armor. And Abraxas is smashing up buildings, demanding that Superior shows up to fight him. Tad Hamilton, the actor who played Superior shows up and tries to bluff that he’s really Superior, and scare Abraxas away, but it doesn’t work. Luckily Simon decides it’s worth giving up his soul, in order to save everyone, so he become Superior again, and saves Hamilton from getting killed, and then starts to fight Abraxas. Then Ormon turns into a villain called The Annihilator, a giant skeleton monster, and joins the fight. Superior battles both for several pages, managing to knock out Abraxas, and then he blasts The Annihilator, who turns back into Ormon. But Ormon is still happy about how he finally managed to get a soul for Satan, something he hasn’t been able to do for 500 years, and that it was just in time because if he hadn’t bought a soul by midnight, he’d be dragged to the deepest pit of Hell.

Then Maddie Knox shows up and point out to Ormon that if Simon is now permanently Superior, and Superior the character is immortal, then Ormon will never have a chance to get Simon’s soul. So then Ormon is dragged back to Hell, and Superior turns back into Simon, and goes back to his parent and to his old school, where he is a lot happier now. Superior is then mourned across the world, as everyone thinks he died. And Tad Hamilton is now, once again, a huge movie star, signed to make 5 new Superior movies. The book ends with Maddie taking Simon and his friends to see the newest Superior movie, and we get a shot of the screen, with “Superior” re-enacting the final scene from some of the Superman movies, where he flies above the Earth and winks @ the audience. The similarity is driven home, by a dedication to Christopher Reeve and Richard Donner.

So, what’s the final verdict? Much like Millar’s recent high-profile creator-owned series, Kick Ass and Nemesis, I feel that there was a great concept here, that didn’t live up to its promise. Millar’s execution of this idea is lacking in several areas. In this particular issue, my Suspension of Disbelief was tested several times. In the beginning, Simon’s parents seem to take the news that he is Superior with surprising ease. We don’t even see any reaction from them. The fight between Superior, Abraxas, and Annihilator takes up multiple pages, we see building getting smashed, huge explosions, and buses and planes getting tossed around, yet the actual violence seems toned down. We see people running, but there’s no sense of urgency. A few times we see people watching the fight and cheering Superior. @ the end, we see the funeral for Superior, but no mention of the what must have been thousands of people who were killed during the fight, not to mention the billions in property damage. Somehow, Simon’s school remained unscathed, as did all his friends, so he could have his happy ending.

And I wondered how did Tad Hamilton happen to get to Abraxas so quickly? He just happened to be in the area? And then how did Maddie Knox make it right into the center of the big fight, among all that destruction, she somehow managed to safely get through all that, and get right up to Superior and Ormon?
It makes no logical sense, other than, that’s where Millar needed the character to be, so he put them there. That’s very weak writing. And even the ending, just seemed too convenient. In a way, I suppose that it’s better than what I would have expected, with Simon’s heroic sacrifice, being willing to sell his soul in order to save all those innocent people, redeeming him in God’s eyes, allowing him to keep his soul. But it’s still pretty weak, and something Ormon should have known. But, then again, Ormon seems extremely ineffective anyway, he’s the power to give this incredible power to Simon, and to to Sharpie, yet he was somehow unable to convince anyone else to sell their soul for the past 500 years. I’d bet that a whole lot of people, even those who were not handicapped, would sell their soul for in exchange for becoming an extremely powerful superhero. So that doesn’t add up either.

And the redemption of Maddie Knox still doesn’t ring true for me, after the way she was originally introduced and written in this series, as a fame-hungry reporter, willing to even use sex to get a story. Now she’s suddenly had a epiphany and is a good person. I don’t buy it. And, as expected, the issue continues with the unnecessary foul language. Near the end, @ the movie premier, Simon’s friends are checking out Maddie’s ass, and wondering if he’s banging her. Despite Millar’s repeated claims that this series would have a different vibe than his other work, it read like the same stuff he’s been doing since Wanted, with violence and cursing included, just because he could include it.

And the issue contains a 6-page preview of Millar’s next series, Supercrooks, which also features the cliched violence and bad language that Millar’s fans seem to love, but I am totally bored with, so I’ll be passing on that. In my opinon, Millar does his best work on corporate-owned characters, where he’s reigned in by editors. When left to his own devices, he just goes overboard too much.

So, in the end, I must give this series Two Thumbs Down.

Showing off a new original sci-fi character that I came up with last year, like Tiberius Chang, and Starship Captain Stormalong. I didn’t have a clear image in my head, so I contacted a couple of artists and asked them to draw “an Asian woman in a futuristic space suit, with a name-tag that said CHEN on it”, and then let them go with it. I think I may have also asked for them to draw her with a ray gun, too, but I don’t recall. The first image I got back is the above one, from Joshua Covey. That man knows how to draw sexy women, and this is no exception. The only slight problem with it was those HUGE BOOBS. I mean, just being practical, I don’t know many Chinese women who are naturally built like that. But I guess I should have been a bit more specific in regards to body type. So I just asked him to remove the name-tag, and darken her skin a little. So I can still say she’s Asian, just maybe she’s Filipino, or Cambodian, or East Indian, instead of Chinese. I also asked him to change the suit colors, based on another image I saw on his Deviant Art profile. And he did another awesome job:

I still haven’t figured whom this character will be, or what her story is. But I’ll get to it.

The other artist I commissioned was Keith Howell, who came through with this image:

I really liked that. So then I sent it to another artist, Mauricio Vargas, and asked him to draw the same character.

And then I got a bust-shot, from Daggerpoint, whom I told to draw without the space helmet on, and showing her long hair.

I eventually decided to go in a different direction, with the look of the character, so I won’t be using these. But I still consider it money well-spent.
Check the links for each artist, if you’re interested in your own commission. You won’t regret it.

Dang, for a bloke who calls his site “iBLOGalot” (& I still can’t believe that domain wasn’t already taken when I tried to register it), I sure don’t seem to be blogging a lot, lately. Here it is, Jan. 22, and my last post was Jan. 11. That’s no good. Don’t you hate it when Real Life Stuff gets in the way of precious blogging time? Well, I’ve got a bunch of reviews that I need to post, but first let me just sort of look back @ some recent stories that have been in the news.

So, Beyonce gave birth to a girl, and Jay Z may or may not have vowed to never use the word “bitch” in any of his songs again. When I first saw this reported through Facebook, my initial thought was, I hope he and Beyonce have boy next time, then maybe he’ll stop using the word “nigga” in his songs, too. I was (mostly) joking, but I do think that the reactions I was seeing were interesting. Many people seems to still want to criticize Jay Z, pointing out that he already had a mother, and then a wife,, both of whom are just as female as his new daughter, so why didn’t he have this revelation before? I suppose that’s a valid point but, on the other hand, if it were true, that would still be a good thing, wouldn’t it? So, some folks may not reach enlightenment until a certain event happens to them, in this case it’s the birth of his daughter, that’s better than nothing. Richard Pryor didn’t come to the personal conclusion that it was wrong to use the aforementioned word “nigga” until he famously visited Africa, later in his career. I could argue with that and say why’d he have to go across the world and see Black people in another country before he made this decision? But, really, that shouldn’t matter. But, back to Jay Z, if he were to make that vow, I’d want to know if it would just be a personal choice, or would he try to convince other rappers to join him? Would he forbid the artists he’s signed to his own label from using it on their records? Would he not records songs with other artists, like Kanye West, who use that word? If he really took a stand, I’d be more impressed. But, either way, I still like Jay Z (as I’ve said before).

Everyone online was talking about the Stop Online Piracy Act last week, with several websites shutting down for a day in protest. I’m a bit torn on the issue, as I due firmly believe in free speech, and I like the freedom of information that the internet brings, but the characterization that I see of this as “the big greedy corporations trying to silence the little guy” seem simplistic to me. Maybe this particular bill was a bit of an over-reach, but I don’t think many of the crusaders want to admit that online piracy is a problem. I mean, personally, I someday hope to make a living as an author, but I’ll never be able to do that if everyone just reads my books for free. And I’ve seen this happen far too many times, as I’ve participated on multiple message boards and blogs over the past 10 years or so, whenever the issue of piracy comes up, people will go out of their way to justify stealing content. Full disclosure: I will confess that I have illegally downloaded music and movies before. But I know it’s wrong. I admit that. What I hate are the people who refuse to admit it, and don’t think they’re doing anything wrong. There are far too many people who seem to think they have a right to get stuff for free. Or they’ll say something like, “I never would have paid for it (whatever it is they’ve illegally pirated) anyway, so they’re not losing money from me.” Which is just a ridiculous argument. But I don’t have the energy trying to argue with people like that anymore. It’s too depressing to see that sense of entitlement in action.

Everyone’s also been talking George Lucas’s movie RED TAILS, which premiered this weekend, and seems to be doing well. I’m glad, but I can’t help but feel a little guilty that I really don’t have any interest in going to see it @ the theater. See, I happen to have a lot of online friends on Facebook and Google+ who happen to be Black folks that are either professional or amateur (or aspiring) actors, actresses, writers, artists, producers, models, or just some way involved in the entertainment industry. And they’re all very excited about this. And it’s become like a racial cause, that all Black people must support this movie, to show Hollywood that quality Black films can be successful. But…I’m just that interested. As I said on person’s profile, in my defense, this isn’t the type of movie I’d go see even with an all-White cast. I’m not a big WWII buff. I didn’t go see Saving Private Ryan or Pearl Harbor, either. I mean, I am interested in the topic, I watched an old cable movie called The Tuskegee Airmen years ago and enjoyed it, but just not enough to pay to go sit in a theater and watch it. Frankly, few things get me to the theater lately. I just no longer enjoy the experience. I’d rather just wait until a movie comes on cable, or sometimes I even buy the DVD, and then watch it @ my leisure in my home. So that’s why I plan to do with Red Tails. But, again, I do hope it does well, @ least makes back its budget, because I would like to see more good Black films getting made. But I more genres, not just comedies or dramas, or standard action films. I want sci-fi. If this were about The Tuskegee SPACEMEN, I’d be all over that.

Hmmm…that’s not a bad idea. Don’t anybody steal it! It’s mine! I’ll have to get to work on that soon…

Speaking of buying DVD’s, yesterday I was skimming through Amazon, and decided to buy the Ghost Rider film on DVD. I found a cheap used copy, for under $5, so I went for it. Nic Cage is one of my favorite actors (2nd only to Neil Patrick Harris, of course), but I’d never read any Ghost Rider comics, so I wasn’t really familiar with the character, which is why I never saw the movie. Then today, about 11am, I switching channels on TV and Ghost Rider is about to come on! So I quickly cancel my order on Amazon, which luckily hadn’t shipped yet, and started to watch the film on TV. Man, that sucked! I didn’t even finish, I turned it off about half-way through. So I’m definitely glad I saved some money on that one.

I noticed from my blog stats, that my various Rick Olney posts have been getting a bunch of new hits lately. Tracking back, I see that some folks have been busy spreading the word about his various behavior, as it’s been posted more than once across Blogspot, Tumblr, Typepad, Posterous, WordPress, & Twitter, which is good. The more folks that are made aware of him, the less chance he has to cheat anyone in the future. I no longer feel comfortable participating in the thread about him on the Gail Simone Forum, as feel that several of the participants have lost track of the real purpose, and are little too interested in talking about and commenting on Olney himself, instead of just keeping aware of his scams, but I do like knowing that I’ve done my part to get the information out there.

I also noticed that my old blog about Cindy Roldan as been getting new hits. Since I’ve switched blog url’s twice since I originally posted that, I’m glad if any friends or family of hers are still able to find it and read it.

But the biggest news I’ve missed is in regards to politics. Apparently, I spoke too soon in my blog about Mitt Romney, when I remarked how lucky he’s been and how his opponents have self-destructed. Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina GOP Primary.

Newt. Gingrich.

NEWT F***ING GINGRICH.

Seriously. This is ridiculous. Y’know, some of my best friends are Republicans (or @ least identify as “conservatives”), but if anyone actually wants that man to be President, you’re a moron. I can’t believe any sensible person could hate President Obama that much, that they’d be willing to put this maniac in the White House. I don’t support Romney, but I could accept him as President. He may be a flip-flopper who will say whatever he has to, in order to get elected, but he ain’t bats**t insane. So that’s something. But I guess that anti-Mormon contingent in the GOP is still pretty strong. Oh well.

And, to make matter worse, A Judge in Georgia is ordering the President to appear in court to prove he’s an American citizen. Unbelievable. This nonsense is still ongoing. Y’know, for 3 years the Birther Movement was shouting “If he has nothing to hide, why doesn’t he just release his birth certificate?” So he finally did, and they STILL don’t believe it! Let’s face it, nothing will satisfy them. And we all know what this is REALLY about, don’t we? And I’ll bet you anything that the judge in this case was appointed by a Republican. If they really try to force the President to personally respond to this, it will be open season. Every yahoo in every “red” state will be filing suits, from now until Nov., just to tie him up and keep him from campaigning. If anyone needs to have their citizenship revokes, it’s these Birther idiots. Frak ‘em all.

Just my opinion.

(AP)LAS VEGAS – A judge in Las Vegas on Friday gave Floyd Mayweather Jr. until June 1 to turn himself in to serve a 90-day jail sentence for his guilty plea in a domestic violence case, allowing the undefeated boxer to meet contractual obligations for a Cinco de Mayo fight against an as-yet unnamed opponent.

Minutes later, Mayweather, 34, was seen driving a new white Bentley Mulsanne out of a nearby parking structure with at least one other person in the car. Mayweather posted photos of a new Bentley this week on his Twitter account, along with separate posts of photos of himself with his children and himself serving people at a food line. The car has a base price of about $290,000.
READ MORE

Pardon my language, but this is straight-up BULLSHIT! For the record, I am a fan of Floyd Mayweather Jr., as a boxer. I’ve got a standing bet with one of my co-workers, that if Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao ever do finally fight, that Mayweather is going to win (but I’m only betting $5, because I think it’s highly possible that Pac-Man could win), so I’d love to see that fight happen, but that shouldn’t be given precedence over a jail sentence.

I don’t give a damn if he’s got contracts signed to fight, and if there’s an “economic benefit” to the city if he fights. Maybe he should’ve thought of that before he put his hands on his baby-mama. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. If this was someone like me, you can bet that my broke-ass would be in jail right now, but the multimillionaire celebrity gets a pass? What does that say about our justice system? Sheesh.

Must be nice, being part of the 1%, right Floyd?

So, over the past few days, I’ve been seeing commercials for this new sitcom starring Rob Schneider called ROB. The premise? Schneider plays a White man who marries a Latina (who, it should be noted, as is the case with many sitcom couples, it WAY too attractive for him). And, apparently, the whole concept of the series is to see how this White man gets along with her family. Hilarity ensues as he makes multiple racial jokes about the differences between Whites and Hispanics.

For Pete’s sake, it did just turn 2012 a couple of days ago, right? I’m not imagining that, am I? Or we actually still in the year 1982 or something? Seriously, in this day and age, THIS is what a major network thinks is funny?

Okay, I admit, I could be unfairly prejudging it (that’s why I put “racist” in quotes). It does co-star Cheech Marin, who is hilarious and, actually, I have enjoyed seeing Schneider in various things over the years, but, COME ON. I cannot get past this idiotic and cheap premise. It just sounds like a huge step backwards. So count me out.

ROB debuts Jan. 12, @ 8:30 on CBS
May it die a quick TV death.

So, tomorrow (or today, depending on when I actually finish this) the Republican Presidential Primary season officially begins, as voters in Iowa hold caucuses to vote for whom they think the GOP nominee should be. Mitt Romney, who had a strong performance in the 2008 primaries, entered this race last year as the presumptive front-runner, yet he has had a hard to connecting to the base (ie The Far Right) of the GOP, and gaining any real enthusiasm. It’s as if most of the people who support him do so by default, just because they’re desperate to get rid of President Obama, and they think that Romney can beat him, but they’re not really motivated by Romney himself. And that’s why we’ve seen the up and down polls with the rise (& eventual fall) of several other candidates. The base is just looking for someone to excite them.

What’s clear, to any objective observer, is that Romney has, so far, been running a fantastic campaign. He stays on message, doesn’t fumble his words, & he has an answer for every criticism you can throw @ him (he answers may not always be believable, but @ least he has an answer). So far, he’s biggest mistake was when he challenged Rick Perry to a $10,000 bet in one of the debates, which his critics were able to pounce on and make him look as if he’s out of touch with middle class Americans. I’ll admit that wasn’t the wisest move, but compared to Rick Perry’s infamous brain-fart, that’s not so bad.

And that’s the other thing Romeny’s had on his side: great luck. First his biggest competition on the Right side of the GOP, Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, refused to run this year, and so did his biggest competition on the Moderate side, Mike Daniels and Chris Christie. So he’s basically got the moderates all wrapped up, while the Right has pushed several candidates against him who have all either simply failed to catch on (like Michelle Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, and Rick Santorum,), or they’ve self-destructed on their own (like Herman Caine, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich). So all Romeny’s had to do was sit-back, and not screw up.

Of course, he does have one major weakness, @ least in regards to the GOP base, and it’s something he can’t do anything about: his religion. Mitt Romney is a Mormon. Many fundamentalist Christians do not consider the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to be a “real” Christian church, and even less devout Christians think of LDS as a cult. And, because of this, many simply don’t trust. I have to say that this is extremely unfair, in my opinion.

First, let me state that, for the record, I am not endorsing Mitt Romney for President, and am not saying that anyone should vote for him. I’m just saying that if you’re not going to vote for him, it should be because you don’t like his policies, not because you don’t like his religion. His religious beliefs (like those of every other candidate, and every other citizen) are his own business.

Look, I’m not expert on the Mormon faith. I own a copy of The Book of Mormon, but never really got around to reading it past the first few pages. But, yes, I saw the infamous South Park episode, so I know that religion has some rather…let’s say UNORTHODOX doctrine, especially in regards to Joseph Smith and how he founded the church, but so what? All religions are kinda wacky when really look @ them. C’mon, virgin births, talking serpents, resurrections, etc. Are the beliefs of Mormons really so much worse?

One of my friends said that Romney’s continued belief in the teachings of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church, made him question Romney’s judgment, and his ability to make rational decisions. But, again, I just think that’s wrong, since you could say the same about every other candidate. Unless you can PROVE to me that anyone else’s religious beliefs are 100% true. But nobody can do that.

I say, if you really think his religion is a good measure of his character, then why not look @ how he has behaved during his life? The man has been married to the same woman since 1969, and raised 5 sons, all of whom, I think, went to Ivy League schools. So, as far as I can tell, as a person he is a pretty swell guy. And if his religion is part of what made him this way, then that’s good enough for me. Actions speak louder than words. There are plenty of people who proudly proclaim a belief in some other “mainstream” version of Christianity, yet act like horrible people. Romney seems to practice what he preaches, so to speak. So his religion should only matter if he was running for Pastor of the United States, but he’s not, he’s running for President of the United States. So, the relevant question is, is he qualified to do THAT job? And that’s up for you (yes, YOU) to decide. Again, I’m not endorsing him, there are plenty of reasons not to vote for him, if you don’t want to, I just don’t think his religion is one of them.

Just my opinion.

I’ve blogged about my love of Star Trek before, so when I heard about this documentary, I just had to get it. William Shatner (Captian James Kirk) hosts this documentary where he interviews the other actors who, like him, played Starship Captains in various Star Trek TV shows and movies. What I like most about this film is that I originally expected it to be a series of interviews, where he sits down with one actor and interviews him, then switches to the next, and so on. Done that way, it would be effective, but that could easily be done on a TV talks show. Instead, Shater switches between he various actors, talking to each for a little @ a time, keeping the film moving forward.

It begins with Shatner traveling to Sir Patrick Stewart’s (Captain Jean-Luc Picard) home in England, then he goes to meet Avery Brooks (Captain Benjamin Sisko) in Princeton, NJ. Then Shatner meets Kate Mulgrew (Captain Katherine Janeway) in New York, Scott Bakula (Captain Johnathan Archer) @ a ranch in Los Angeles, and then, finally, Chris Pine (Captain James Kirk), in Culver City, CA. He spends a few minutes with each in the beginning and then returns to each one several times throughout the film, as Shatner also visits a few Star Trek conventions and interacts with fans, and shares details of his own background.

The thing that’s most surprising is what a natural interviewer Shatner is. I know he’s hosted his own interview show before, but I never watched it, so I didn’t know. But he is very good @ it. He doesn’t read from any notes while talking, and it’s not set-up like a formal interview, it’s just like you’re watching him having a regular conversation with each actor. Everything flows naturally, they put their guards down, and really open up. We see Shatner and Bakula riding horses together, Shatner and Brooks sitting @ the piano, and Shatner and Pine playfully arm-wrestling each other on a public street. Overall, the least amount of time is spent with Pine, which is understandable, since he’s the newest actor in the bunch, who doesn’t have as much of a resume. But with the rest, you definitely get some fascinating insights into who they are. Scott Bakula started as a singer, and said that he still considers himself a singer who acts, rather than an actor who sings, and Avery Brooks is a tenured theater professor @ Rutgers University. I didn’t know either of those facts.

What’s most touching is how every single one of them, including Shatner, lamented the effect that Star Trek had on their personal relationships. Shatner, Brooks, Bakula, and Stewart all got divorced during the course of their time on TV, and Mulgrew was a single mother and said that her two, now-grown, children refused to this day to ever watch an episode of Voyager, because they resent the way it kept her away from them while they were younger. Stewart almost breaks into tears when he talks about the failure of his two marriages. It’s very touching.

The documentary also includes some brief discussions with other Star Trek alumni, including Jonathan Frakes (William Riker), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Rene Aiberjonois (Odo), and Connor Trinneer (Charles “Trip” Tucker III), as well as from Gene Roddenberry’s former assistant, Richard Arnold (who reveals that Roddenberry had to be convinced that Stewart, who was not his first choice, was right for the role of the new captain on The Next Generation). Jerri Ryan and Sally Kellerman make brief appearances too.

Overall, this is great documentary, and must-see viewing for any self respecting Trekker. Two Thumbs Up!

The Black Terror is a superhero that exists in the “public domain,” which means that the original copyright and trademarks have expired and so anyone can use the character. For the past few years, Dynamite Comics have been utilizing him, and several other public domain superheroes, in various books, including the Project Superpowers miniseries’, and in his own series. This is another take on the character. I have been anticipating this book ever since I first read about it last August on Bleedingcool.com, and then an interview with the writer, Eric M Esquivel on Ghettomanga.com in Sept. After several delays, the book finally came out last month, and I just received my copy.

The story begins with the Blackest Terror being interviewed on a popular TV news show, in front of a studio audience. This is despite the fact that it is mentioned that he is currently wanted for questioning in over a dozen crimes, including the murder of two police officers. So you’d think this would be an extremely risky move for him. The host is White, as are most of the studio audience, and Blackest Terror acts very hostile for the duration of the interview. The host asks for his “secret origin,” which Blackest Terror then reveals. He was doctor, operating a small free clinic, providing health care to those who couldn’t afford. Apparently, although he says he did this to benefit “his” community, he set it up in a White neighborhood, as we see a crowd of Whites with signs like “Negro go home” protesting outside his clinic. One night, three young White men were beating up an elderly Black man, who was on his way to the clinic, when the doctor confronts them and viciously attacks (& possibly kills, it’s not made clear in the book) the three men. And it was that night that he chose to adopt the persona of The Blackest Terror and become a vigilante.

As I read that part, I couldn’t help but thinking that was a lot of personal information for him to be revealing on live television. Even without saying his real name, that was more than enough for any detective to figure out whom he really is.

Anyway, the books continues with the interview, and some more dialog about why being a “superhero” really means. It’s revealed that since Blackest Terror’s debut, several other Black vigilantes have sprung up around the country, and the world, as well as one Native American vigilante, the Bronze Terror, and Blackest Terror considers himself a revolutionary, just the first of many more to come. Then, the book flips out, as Blackest Terror pulls out a gun and the Black weatherman on the news show, a man named Al. Blackest Terror accuses him of being a tap-dancing Uncle Tom, gets Al to admit that his real name is Kumali, and that he changed it just to get a job in the news, and then forces him to shoot & kill the TV host.

THE END

I had to read this book several times to see if I was missing something, because it felt like I was. I don’t know what, but something. I suppose that part of the problem is my own preconceived notions. Based on the cover art, and Esquivel’s comments about superheroes being “revolutionary”, I was expecting something closer to Garth Ennis’ Punisher or The Boys, filled with action-packed violence, but it didn’t really go there. The sequence with the 3 White men certainly filled that void (and was beautifully drawn by artist Ander Sarabia), but most of the book was dialog. That’s not to say that a “talking heads” comic can’t be entertaining, I’ve read many over the years, but when you’re an independent black & white comic featuring a mostly unknown character, I think you need to make sure you can really pull that off. And I don’t think Esquivel quite managed it here. I could feel that he had some kind of message that he wanted to across with this book, but I’m still not quite sure what it was. And the logistical problems, that I mentioned earlier, bugged me. Such as, this wanted criminal appearing on a live TV show, and revealing clues about his identity, and then forcing a man to commit cold-blooded murder on live TV. It just left me going WTF? I know that with comics we often need to suspend our disbelief, but this was pushing it. Maybe if this were the first issue of a miniseries or ongoing the ending would have worked better, because I could assume this was heading towards a logical conclusion but, as it stands, it’s a just a one-shot, with no promise of future issues.

So, unfortunately, I can’t give this book a thumbs up, @ least not on the story, although, again, I will emphasize that the artwork is great. No complaints there.

MOONSTONEBOOKS.COM/BLACKESTTERROR#1

Captain Alfred Bulltop Stormalong was an American folk hero and the subject of numerous nautical-themed tall tales originating in Massachusetts. Stormalong was said to be a sailor and a giant, some 30 feet (9.1 m) tall; he was the master of a huge clipper ship known in various sources as either the Courser or the Tuscarora, a ship so tall that it had hinged masts to avoid catching on the moon. READ MORE

I first heard about this character from Keith Howell, years ago. So when I got the idea to re-imagine the character as a sci-fi starship Captain, Keith is the one I commissioned to draw it. And I think he did an awesome job. So then I also ordered a drawing of John Henry, as Stormalong’s First Mate.

Later, when I can afford it, I plan to pay Keith to draw some of the rest of the crew. I’m thinking the rest will be aliens.

This is a sci-fi character that I’ve created. The basic idea was to come up with my own Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon-type of character. A throwback to the old swashbuckling space opera heroes of the old days. I came up with the name based on Tiberius Chase, which was going to be the name of the lead character (and ancestor of James Kirk), in a proposed Star Trek movie called Star Trek: The Beginning that was never produced. I always liked the sound of the name. However, I’ve also always thought that most sci-fi, including Star Trek, is a little too…how shall I put this…WHITE. Seriously, no matter how far you go into the future, sci-fi movies, TV shows, and books, usually have the human population being predominately White, which was doesn’t reflect modern population stats. So, when coming up with my own sci-fi characters, I emphasize people of color. So Tiberius Chang is half Chinese/half-Black, raised on a colony on Mars by his two gay fathers.

The first image is by Keith Howell. Whom I later hired to draw another image. I just told him I wanted Change in an action pose, with his helmet on:

The tentacles were his idea. Pretty cool. I also commissioned a color image from Celina Hernandez:

And here’s an image I got from Mauricio Vargas

Forty, and still fabulous!

9 CINDY MARGOLIS

She’s Milf-tastic!

8 LISA LOEB

I think whomever invented the word “adorkable”, had her in mind.

7 SARAH SILVERMAN

Funny is sexy

6 MILA KUNIS

I only recently came to appreciate her. She grew on me over the years.

5 EMMANUELLE CHRIQUI

Didn’t always like her character on ENTOURAGE, but I always liked looking @ her.

4 PATTI STANGER

What? I know she’s a bitch, but that’s what I like about her! She doesn’t take crap from anybody!

3 RASHIDA JONES

She’s half-Jewish and half-Black. What an awesome combination.

2 RACHEL WEISZ

Mrs. James Bond is totally hot.

And number one, by far, on the list is…

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1 KAT DENNINGS

No contest. She’s hot. It’s funny, but I totally didn’t even notice here in the movie THOR. But once I saw her on 2 BROKE GIRLS, I was mesmerized. That’s one of my favorite TV shows right now.

From Wikipedia:

Tinnitus (play /tɪˈnaɪtəs/ or /ˈtɪnɪtəs/; from the Latin word tinnītus meaning “ringing”) is the perception of sound within the human ear in the absence of corresponding external sound.
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I’ve got it. I’ve had it for quite awhile now, maybe 14 years or so. It’s hard for me to describe what the sound is. Best I can say is to ask someone to remember a time they’ve ever been in a really loud night-club, or rock concert, and remember that sound in their ears right after they went outside. Well, that’s what it’s like for me, except it never wears off. It’s just always there.

Apparently is very common. I remember once when I mentioned it in a status update on Facebook, I got several replies from people saying they had it too. I’ve done some reading on it and I’m luckily in the majority of sufferers, about 70%, from whom it’s not overwhelming. The buzz is always there, in the background. Most of the time I don’t notice. While I’m @ work, or out in public, there’s all the other noise that around. It’s only when I’m alone, like when I’m in bathroom @ home, or in my room when I turn everything off, or when I’m driving with the windows rolled up in my car and no radio on (I never play the radio in my car, anymore). Like, this morning, as I was driving to work, I was aware of the sound. But I’ve read about some people who have it where it’s so bad it’s overwhelming, just loud noise 24/7, where they can’t sleep. That sounds awful.

And the thing is, there’s no cure. No treatment. Once you have it, that’s it, you’re stuck with it for life. And though I know it could be much worse, it does bug me sometimes. I think about the fact that I may live another 40 or 50 years and I will NEVER experience the joy of total silence again. Bummer.

So consider this a public service announcement to anyone who bothers reading this. Be careful of your hearing. If you must work around loud noise, then get earplugs. Also use earplugs when you go to a rock concert. Don’t blast your music super loud while in your car. Be careful with the sound on your ipod or other MP3 player if you use the earplugs. Protect your ears, please.

She was there with her boyfriend, aka The World’s Luckiest Man, Nick Loeb

He looks like a nice guy but, damn, he’s a republican. Oh well, I can’t hate. I wish I were him.

Photos taken from JUST JARED