Cartoonist Jamar Nicholas has made the scene with his autobiographical comic from the 90’s, The Jamar Chronicles, and his online comic strip Detective Boogaloo. These days, he’s got a new and quite unusual project going: the Fat Wonder Woman blog, in which a number of comics creators reinterpret the classic DC superhero in a… fuller-figured context. I spoke with Nicholas about what this is all about.

PCS: So what made you want to do a blog with pictures of a fat Wonder Woman?

Jamar Nicholas: A few years ago, I was sitting around with one of my best pals in and out of comics, the legendary Mike Manley, and we were just noodling around on scraps of paper, sketching, just chewing the fat, and what I seem to be good at is randomly putting things together and making them funny. So on one of these occasions, I asked him to draw a fat Wonder Woman, and he obliged. I inked it, and it was pretty good! I think I subconsciously got the idea from Dave Cooper’s Wonder Woman story for that Bizarro [Comics] DC indy [creators] anthology a while back, and I always thought that Dave and that concept was great. Soon after, I had a theme sketchbook and started asking my cartoonist pals to drop a sketch in it. They were all awesome!

As the book started to fill up, people started saying that it would be a great idea as a blog. At first I relented, probably being selfish, but I broke down and created the BBWW blog, and it’s been very, very popular. Who knew?

PCS: What was the range of reactions to the creators to whom you posed this idea?

JN: There was really no “range” - you know how cartoonists are - we’re all a little off-kilter, and we think anything that’s different is great. Well, at least the guys and gals I hang out with. Everybody thinks it’s super, or disturbingly funny - everything good. There was no shock of “desecrating icons” or disgust, if that’s what you may believe. I think only fans act like that. To us it’s just something neat to draw.

PCS: Obviously the female figure has been idealized to a tremendous extent in comics throughout history, especially in superhero comics. Do you see what you’re doing with this blog as a reaction to the more extreme examples of the hyper-sexualized, hyper-exaggerated images of women we’ve seen in recent years?

JN: I think part of the fun for me is seeing comic fans react to the art on the blog. What I’m finding out is that some, usually younger fans, find it repulsive, because they have this ideal about ‘perfection’ and anything that doesn’t fit into their self, or media-made box is rejected. I remember when I was a teenager and I had those girly posters from the Spencers on my wall, but now, In the real world, you find that most of that is make-believe, and you learn to understand that real women have believable, real-world shapes and curves. Wonder Woman is, for all intent and purposes, is supposed to be the ideal woman. It messes with some people, I guess, that the ideal woman doesn’t have to look like a Gold’s Gym rat. That’s really the thing that throws everybody off - WHY fat wonder woman? I read on somebody’s message board, “What’s next? Fat Batman?” Yeah, no. That’s not nearly as intriguing, and doesn’t hold the same weight, pun intended.

PCS: Not as intriguing for you to do or for you to see someone else do?

JN: A picture of a fat Batman or other male superhero is funny ‘ ‘Heh, Spider-Man is fat. He let himself go.’ You don’t think anything else about it. But with this Wonder Woman thing, depending on how it’s done, can be flipped to show that there’s pride there - something ELSE. You get that from the interest that the blog has received. The other guys can go eat cake.

PCS: Would you call it empowering?

JN: Empowerment would be a great way to put it. But as viewed on the blog, the artists sometime take their images to a not-so-nice light, so I can’t say that everyone is striving for the same result - but it is one I believe in.

PCS: As a male, do you find drawing a fat woman more aesthetically pleasing than drawing a physically fit woman?

JN: I think being trained in a way by reading mostly mainstream comics, it’s hard to NOT draw muscle-bound people, and the real stretch is trying to not fall back into that. It’s much more appealing to draw something that’s different. I’d rather not draw that way, and if you’re familiar with my stuff, you know I don’t.

I’m a big, big fan of Dave Cooper, and I think he draws the most interestingly disturbing-slash-appealing girls. I think I like the emotion that comes out of images that ask you to look deeper into your own psyche - to ask yourself, “Why does this drawing make me feel funny?” I’m pretty sure it’s a different feeling looking at a Bloodgirl Dagger-Claw comic vs. a Dave Cooper painting.

September 2006 Blacklights

Checkmate #6 (DC). Amanda Waller brings back the Suicide Squad.

Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #4 and LSH: Death of a Dream (DC). Ken Lashley does all the art on Flash and some of the art on the Legion trade.

Snakes on a Plane #1 & 2 (DC/Wildstorm). I recently read an interview with Samuel L. Jackson which helped put this bizarre phenomenon called Snakes on a Plane in some perspective. He said, among other things, that he was more interested in making entertaining movies than so-called ‘important’ ones, and that people get enough drama in real life and could stand some fun and escapism in the movies they see. After reading about the opening weekend screenings of this summer’s most unlikely action film, and seeing how this particular moviegoing experience has become the modern-day equivalent of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, I’m inclined to understand his point of view. I have not seen it yet. I never got caught up in all the hype leading up to its release, and while it’s amusing to see Fandom Assembled dissect this movie and its box-office performance up and down the Net, I doubt I ever will see it. Call me a snob if you like. I have my tastes and other people have theirs.

Chuck Dixon calls upon the skills honed, no doubt, in writing Way of the Rat in penning this adaptation.

The American Way #8 (of 8) (DC/Wildstorm). Final issue of what has been a very enjoyable mini-series. Written by John Layman with pencils by Georges Jeanty.

Ant #9 (Image)

Emissary #5 (Image). This is getting to be a pretty decent book. I liked the way the Emissary learned how to express himself better in issue two.

Occult Crimes Taskforce #3 (of 4) (Image). Co-written by Rosario Dawson.

Spawn #162 (Image)

Beyond #3 (of 6) (Marvel). Written by Dwayne McDuffie.

Black Panther #20 (Marvel). Written by Reggie Hudlin. See my thoughts on the wedding arc here.

Blade #1 (Marvel). On the occasion of the premiere of the Blade TV show in June, I did a ‘Blade Week’ at my blog, in which I talked about and/or posted to links about the Wesley Snipes films, the comics, and the show itself. As a result, there’s not too much more I can say about Blade here that I haven’t already said there except this: if this new series is gonna be integrated more fully into the Marvel Universe, that’s fine, but at the same time I hope it doesn’t lose its horror roots. With the unexpected success of Robert Kirkman’s Marvel Zombies mini-series, we’ve seen that horror can still be done within the context of the MU; the one doesn’t have to preclude the other. I hope series creators Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin don’t forget that. Click here for preview pages.

Civil War: X-Men #3 (of 4) (Marvel)

Heroes for Hire #2 and Daughters of the Dragon: Samurai Bullets TP (Marvel)

Nextwave #8 (of 12) (Marvel)

Stan Lee Meets Spider-Man (Marvel). Face front, true believers! Olivier ‘Can-Do’ Coipel provides the scintillating sequential scenery for this monumental Mighty Marvel one-shot, part of a series of equally pulse-pounding one-shots, in which The Man Himself, Smilin’ Stan Lee, teams up with your favorite Marvel heroes! It’s history in the making! Nuff said!

Adrenaline #1 (of 8) (A Wave Blue World Inc). This new publisher has been kind enough to provide the entire first issue of this new mini-series free at their website, and after having read it, I can safely say that I think you should give it a try. The protagonist is this African doctor who runs afoul of the heir to a television empire who fancies himself a world traveler and adventurer, and he presents her with an unusual opportunity to raise money for her medical facility. Good dialogue, decent artwork, well-paced story and a heroine you can easily root for. Can’t ask for too much more.

Yenny #7 (Alias)

Gold Digger Annual 2006, Gold Digger Max Pocket Manga V1, Gold Digger Super Poster Mania, and Fred Perry’s S-Guild (Antarctic). Story and art by Fred Perry.

CVO: African Blood #1 (IDW). Talk about your high concepts ‘ this book is about vampires working for the government fighting worldwide threats. Some people might question the logic in using operatives that can only function when the sun goes down, but hey, it’s comics! Anything’s possible, right? Right… Anyway, CVO has been around for awhile, from what I’ve seen at the IDW website, and in this new title, the team heads off to Africa to look for some magic thingamabobs or something. I’m uncertain if this is a mini-series or not but it probably is; the webpage for CVO doesn’t definitively say, nor does the original solicitation.

The Anubis Tapestry: Between Highlights HC (Komikwerks). I almost wasn’t gonna include this, but I figured I should at least mention it. It’s an illustrated novel written by animator Bruce Zick that draws upon African mythology and throws in some other crazy fantasy/pseudo-horror elements as well. Apparently the titular tapestry is one of those all-powerful doodads the ancient Egyptian gods created while they were getting high on hashish or whatever, that can eff things up big-time if it falls into The Wrong Hands. White protagonist of course, so all this kooky primitive stuff won’t seem quite so intimidating. Forgive me if I sound a little snarky; I’m sure this’ll be somewhat decent and all, but it seems like there are already so many stories throughout history, from the Phantom to Tarzan to every mummy movie ever made which appropriate African culture for white audiences. Rarely do you ever see this kind of story with an actual black protagonist. The best example I can think of in recent years is Gregory Walker’s Memnon series of books. (In comics, there’s also Robert Roach’s Menthu.) So I can’t get too excited about this Anubis book unless I was convinced it was nothing less than mind-blowing. And it doesn’t look mind-blowing.

Rosen Graphic Biographies (Rosen Publishing Group). And now, six fun facts about the six people who are the subjects of this series of graphic novel biographies:

You probably know that Muhammad Ali (nee Cassius Clay) won the heavyweight boxing championship in 1964 with an upset victory over Sonny Liston in Miami Beach. Ali trained for the fight in the Fifth Street Gym, where among his many visitors included the Beatles. He taunted and jeered Liston throughout the days leading up to the contest, including the weigh-in on the day of the fight, calling him an ‘ugly old bear,’ but it was nothing more than calculated showmanship, designed to get under the champion’s skin. Less than 9,000 fans were in attendance at the Miami Beach Convention Center (among them, Rocky Marciano and Joe Dimaggio) to watch the 8-to-1 underdog take the title from Liston, and afterwards, he announced his name change from Clay to Ali as a result of his joining the Nation of Islam. Over 40 years later, this fight is still regarded as one of the greatest moments in sports history.

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a book about the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, Stride Toward Freedom, in which he described the segregation within the buses. If you were black, you’d pay your fare in the front and then reboard the bus in the back. Often times, black passengers would have to stand over empty ‘whites only’ seats even if there were no white passengers. Also, if all the ‘whites only’ seats were occupied, any additional white passengers could kick out black passengers seated immediately behind the white section. King, of course, went on to become a pivotal figure in the bus boycott, which lasted 13 months until the Supreme Court forced the Montgomery Bus Company to integrate its buses in November 1956.

Nelson Mandela was a superhero! Well, sort of. In 1944 he co-founded a splinter group of the African National Congress because he and his cohorts believed the leadership at the time wasn’t up to the goal of national emancipation for South Africa. He would go on to become a major leader in the fight against apartheid, but in 1960, the ANC was outlawed, and the next year he was forced to go underground after publicly challenging the ruling regime to either adopt a more democratic system of law or expect a mass general strike. During this period he was separated from his family and had to adopt a number of aliases in numerous places, always one step ahead of the police. For this, he was referred to as the Black Pimpernel, a riff off the Scarlet Pimpernel, the title character from the book about the French Revolution. Whether he wore a cape and mask is unknown.

Many consider Exodus the definitive Bob Marley album. Indeed, Time named it the best album of the 20th century, one which includes the classic reggae songs ‘One Love,’ ‘Jamming,’ and ‘Exodus.’ It was recorded after a failed attempt on Marley’s life in December 1976. Six armed men took shots at Marley, his wife Rita, some of their children, and his manager in their Kingston, Jamaica home. There was speculation that it may have been politically motivated, possibly even carried out by the CIA. A week after the shooting, Marley and the Wailers would perform at a music festival in Kingston, and one of their great anthem songs, ‘War,’ was very much directed at the CIA. Exodus was recorded the following year and would go on to spend 56 weeks on the UK album chart.

Rosa Parks was involved in the civil rights movement, and activism in general, long before her fateful bus ride. After finishing her high school studies in 1933 (she was forced to drop out in order to care for her grandmother and mother), she succeeded in registering to vote after three attempts. In 1943 she joined the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP and served as volunteer secretary, a position she would hold for the next 14 years. (Her husband Raymond was also a member.) At one point she worked as a housekeeper and seamstress for a liberal white couple who helped sponsor her at a Tennessee education center for workers’ rights and racial equality. Three months after the murder of black teenager Emmett Till at the hands of whites, she was at a meeting in Montgomery centered around how to respond to this and other recent murders.

A USA Today article from this past spring talked about the deification, so to speak, of Oprah Winfrey. Apparently there’s this growing movement, if one can call it that, in which the celebrated talk show hostess is looked upon as not just a savvy businesswoman and influential media figure, but as a spiritual leader and moral conscience for many people. The article at the link goes into more detail.

Earthlight V1 (TokyoPop) and Firestorm the Nuclear Man #29 (DC). It’s been a pretty good year for Stuart Moore. His run as writer of Firestorm has begun to get some serious notice (even if DC STILL hasn’t put out a trade paperback yet ‘ makes you wonder what they’re waiting for), and now he’s entering the world of manga with this new title called Earthlight. It’s set on a lunar colony, with the focus on a small group of teens. The central character is a kid named Damon whose father is the new head of the colony. Plus there’s all sorts of political turmoil back on Earth that affects things on the colony. You could say it sounds a bit like Deep Space Nine from Jake Sisko’s perspective. Based on what Moore’s doing on Firestorm and what I’ve seen of his writing elsewhere, on books like Para, I think this could be good. Moore’s specialty is hard sci-fi, and he has said in interviews that the work of Robert Heinlein, especially his teen novels, was a major influence on Earthlight. As someone who favors more multi-cultural outer space fiction, this sounds like it’s exactly up my alley, so I’m gonna make a leap of faith and name this my Buzz Book of the Month. I think this has a strong potential to appeal to all kinds of people. Wanna know more? Check out this interview with Moore about Earthlight.

Jamal Igle pencils Firestorm; Brian Stelfreeze does the cover.

Seven: Gluttony #1 (of 7) (Zenescope). The Gift writer Raven Gregory kicks off this anthology of horror stories inspired by the David Fincher film.

I don’t think I mentioned the new Astro City: Samaritan one-shot. That got by me, but don’t let it get by you because it’s really good. It’s a Samaritan story, but the focus is on his nemesis Infidel, a centuries-old sorcerer who has fought Samaritan so many times that they’ve reached a d’tente of sorts. As usual with an AC story, it’s as much about the character as it is the story, and Infidel is a fascinating super-villain, with a specific worldview shaped by his experiences and the intelligence to operate on a near-cosmic scale. Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson once again make it all look easy. Pick this one up ‘ and don’t forget to keep an eye out for Book Two of Astro City: The Dark Age this fall.

Geoffrey Thorne is a sci-fi writer, mostly in the field of Star Trek novelizations, crossing over into comics, and his new title The Red Line looks like a winner. It’s not too far removed from the Astro City paradigm, actually: set in a city full of superheroes, the story focuses on a girl in a neighborhood mostly overlooked by the heroes ‘ that is, until a big fight blows her way and she accidentally acquires a weapon of immense power. What she does with it next is the basis for the series. Very solid dialogue and characterization, with decent art. Give it a try ‘ and look for his Star Trek: Titan novel next summer!

Till next time…

2006 will be halfway over by the time you read this, so let’s take this month to look back on what we got in the realm of black comics so far and what we should expect down the road. Overall, I’d have to say it’s been a good though not great year so far. Some work has really jumped out at me and gotten me excited, but not a lot. I’ve made a few wonderful discoveries, talent-wise, and been disappointed by quite a few others as well. Still, I remain hopeful that more gems will be uncovered. (Keep in mind that there are a few titles I haven’t gotten to yet, like Lance Tooks‘ The Devil and Miles Davis or the new issue of Brodie’s Law).

Stagger Lee is without a doubt the year’s best black comic to date. The true-crime aspect of the story is the main focus - creating a narrative based on what little is known about the life of the real Stagger Lee, and that alone is fascinating. The creators, however, also sprinkle in short pieces, mostly humorous, about the history of Stagger Lee in song, a history which is just as interesting. Beautiful artwork and strong dialogue and storytelling, this is dynamite stuff. Congratulations to Derek McCulloch and Shepherd Hendrix for putting this out.

By contrast, Public Enemy is perhaps the biggest disappointment so far. I explain why in my blog. It’s not even as if I expected it to be that great a book, but given the rap group’s long history of eloquence on the microphone, speaking out about the issues that matter most to the black community, to see them reduced to being just another misunderstood superhero team is not what I had hoped for. The book could get better, but I honestly don’t hold out much hope for that. (Click here for preview pages from PE #0)

David Bircham and Daley Osiyemi’s Brodie’s Law left a huge impression on me after picking it up at the New York Comic-Con. The British duo hooked up with Markosia Publishing this year, only the company has gone through some serious financial restructuring since. Let’s hope that the changes have been to D&D’s benefit and that their awesome crime book will take off, because these guys are ready for the big time.

Eric Jerome Dickey has done an outstanding job with the Storm mini-series; better than I could have anticipated, and David Yardin’s art is a revelation. I cannot wait to see how the collected hardcover edition does in the bookstore market this fall. Marvel absolutely must not forget the black bookstores; they will provide the biggest litmus test in how well the black audience - particularly the black female audience - takes to this book. This is something I plan to examine in closer depth in my blog when the hardcover is released.

Reggie Hudlin has so far handled the wedding storyline in Black Panther ably, for the most part. I have been most impressed with his willingness to let BP and Storm, these two near-iconic heroes let their hair down, figuratively speaking, and behave like old lovers reunited instead of paragons. I think it’s important to make that distinction.

I admit I haven’t been following Firestorm all that closely since One Year Later began, but from what I have seen of it, Stuart Moore and Jamal Igle continue to impress. Jason has indeed become much more confident in the use of his powers, and while I do think there is some merit to the belief I’ve seen expressed that Jason has inherited too many of his predecessor’s trappings (the puffy-sleeved costume, Professor Stein, Lorraine, college, etc.), he still seems to me like he’s his own man.

Other highlights: Doug Braithwaite has been the unsung hero of Alex Ross’ Justice maxi-series, which continues to pull strong numbers and has gone back to press on more than one issue, which should give you some idea of the demand for this fully-painted Justice League tale… One screenwriter, John Ridley, has put together a superb period superhero mini-series in The American Way (with Georges Jeanty), while another screenwriter, Kevin Grevioux, has gotten his line of books at Alias off to a flying start… Luke Cage and Jessica Jones had their baby and tied the knot… Fred Perry celebrated fifteen years of the manga action comedy Gold Digger… The two major black comics conventions, in Chicago and Philadelphia, both had good years; you can read about them by going through the archives of my blog… And the American release of Jean-Pierre Stassen’s Deogratias, A Tale of Rwanda brought this moving and poignant story the wider audience it deserves.

New talent? There’s been quite a bit to go around. Earlier this year you got to meet Mark Page of the all-ages fantasy comic Kana’s Island. I’ve mentioned cartoonist Masheka Wood here before; look for a huge interview with him and his fiancée and fellow cartoonist Mikhaela Reid in my Comic World News column this month. The team of Robert Garrett and Patrick David has gotten off to a nice start with their futuristic martial arts epic Galtow. And while neither of them are new exactly, both Steven Walters and Robert Roach have been getting noticed with their respective books, Suburban Folklore and The Roach. Plus, with the launch of the black online comics web site Paradigm, one can check out even more new talent.

Things to look forward to: the Black Panther/Storm wedding finally happens this month in Black Panther… Dwayne McDuffie’s new mini-series Beyond debuts this month, as does the latest volume of the Bluesman graphic novel… A new Blade series is on the horizon, with industry legend Howard Chaykin illustrating… A graphic novel biography of Malcolm X is due this fall… Mat Johnson has a new Vertigo mini-series forthcoming… The big Captain Africa/Purge crossover, Crimson Seed, is coming (and if you picked up the ashcan preview at ECBACC, you have a pretty good idea of how beautiful this will be when it’s completed)… Big changes have already begun for Steel in DC’s weekly mega-series 52, and they’re only gonna increase… The Boondocks comic strip will come back from hiatus this fall (no official release date on Season 2 of the animated series yet)…

…and sometime soon, we hope, we PRAY, Kyle Baker will finish Nat Turner!

Comic-Con International is this month, and once again, I’ll follow the proceedings in San Diego as it pertains to the black comics and creators in the Glyphs blog. Also, as I said, look for my interview with Masheka Wood and Mikhaela Reid in my Comic World News column this month. These two do excellent political cartoon work and they’re just beginning to take off, and they both have a lot to say about the way of the world right now, so don’t miss that. Also, look for an interview with Candorville creator Darrin Bell in Glyphs this month.

July 2006

Perhapanauts TPB (Dark Horse)

Robin: To Kill a Bird TP (DC). With some art by Damion Scott. Look for him in a new series from DC this fall.

Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre #3 (of 3) (DC). Final issue.

52 Week 12 (DC). Inked by Rob Stull.

Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #2 (DC). Art by Ken Lashley.

Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #27 (DC). Pencils by Jamal Igle. That’s an awesome Brian Stelfreeze cover, isn’t it?

The American Way #6 (of 8) (DC/Wildstorm). Story and pencils by Ridley & Jeanty.

Occult Crimes Taskforce #1 (of 4) (Image). Hmmm… what to say about Rosario Dawson? Not much, really. She was alright in Sin City, I guess, though I hated the movie. Interested to see what she’ll be like in Clerks 2, even if she is in what looks like a rather unglamorous role.

I know; I’ll talk about her role in Rent. Yes, sports fans, that’s right - I’m a fan of the long-running Broadway musical. I remember when they were still offering reduced-price tickets that you had to wait on line all day for. That’s how I got to see it. I went with my friend Travis and friends when the original cast was still performing and we got seats in the third or fourth row, so we could see it all. As you probably know by now, Rent is a modern-day version of La Boheme, set in Manhattan’s East Village during the late 1980s, give or take. It’s about a year in the lives of hipster artisans being threatened with eviction from their squat by one of their own who sold out and now wants to develop a high-tech studio space with the help of his rich girlfriend. It’s also about love and loss in the time of AIDS, and how living can be braver than dying.

Dawson’s character, Mimi, is at the heart of the story’s love triangle. A nightclub dancer, she meets Roger, a musician living in the same building as her, and though she’s attracted to him, she’s ashamed to tell him that she has AIDS. (Of course, Roger is in the same situation himself.) To complicate things, she has a history with Roger’s ex-roommate Benny, the guy who’s now trying to build his super-studio.

Rent the film was fairly different from Rent the musical, even though most of the original Broadway cast reprised their roles. The timeline is different, for one thing. Act One takes place in a single night, Christmas Eve, in the musical; in the film it’s stretched out a few days. Some songs are taken out, including the bittersweet “Without You,” a Mimi-and-Roger song (that actually appears as a deleted scene on the DVD). Bits of dialogue and/or monologue that are sung in the musical are either spoken in the film or removed altogether. Some changes I could deal with, but others I didn’t care for. They’re the kind of things a fan of the musical would notice but not someone who’s never seen it. I thought Benny was shortchanged significantly in the film. He’s not as critical a presence as he is in the musical, and Taye Diggs, who’s a strong singer, didn’t come across as such here. Overall, I didn’t hate the film version, but all the changes stuck out in my mind and I couldn’t get past most of them.

Dawson, as I said, was very good. The role of Mimi is meant for a soprano, but Dawson sings at least a half-octave lower (at least to this untrained ear). Some songs, like “Out Tonight,” are definitely in a lower key than on the original Broadway cast album. Even though I didn’t feel much chemistry between her and Adam Pascal (one of the original cast members), who played Roger, she made the best of her end. Maybe seeing her in Sin City made me think she couldn’t pull off the role of an ingenue (Mimi’s supposed to be 19), but I was able to suspend my disbelief once I got used to seeing her as Mimi. I guess I’d recommend seeing Rent the film, but don’t see it after you’ve seen the musical, which is way better.

Dawson is co-creator of this supernatural crime mini-series and is the model for the protagonist. Is it any good? We’ll see.

Bomb Queen: Woman of Mass Destruction TP (Image). Story and art by Jimmie Robinson. Look for a special crossover one-shot with Jim Valentino’s Blacklight character next month.

Ant #7 (Image)

Emissary #3 (Image). The first issue wasn’t bad. I detect a slight Bendis-like influence in the writing (back when he was still relevant); by focusing on the large cast of characters and heightening the mystery of who the Emissary is, the story feels like it’s taking its time, which is okay for now. Emphasis on FOR NOW.

Do I want the identity and origin of the Emissary to be kept secret, based on what I’ve seen so far? I’m not sure yet. The writing is sharp enough that I believe the series could be sustained this way, but I also can’t help but want to know what his deal is, especially if this title plans to explore the ramifications of a super-powerful humanoid who happens to resemble a black man. So I really hope we don’t get too much decompression here. You wanna keep who the Emissary is a mystery; fine. Then at least give us a story that moves in all directions and keeps us thinking. So far, the creators - Jason Rand, Juan Ferreyra, and Clayton Brown - have done that. (A word about the art - generally good, but if you look carefully at the Emissary on the cover, you’ll see that not only does he have man-boobs but he’d have to have a neck like Plastic Man…)

Spawn #160 (Image)

Beyond #1 (of 6) (Marvel). The good news: Dwayne McDuffie is writing a new mini-series for Marvel! The worrisome news: it looks like a Secret Wars rehash starring Spider-Man, Giant-Man, Wasp, Venom, and a bunch of D-listers. Huh? I wish I could be more excited about this, but I’m not. Still, I’ll give the first issue a look, simply because it is McDuffie. His Fantastic Four one-shot last winter was well done, and him writing comics again is a Good Thing.

Black Panther #18, Marvel’s Greatest Comics: Fantastic Four #52, Storm #6 (of 6), Black Panther by Jack Kirby V2 TP (Marvel). The wedding is here at last. It’s a Civil War tie-in. I doubt anything can top last month’s Civil War-related bombshell, but stranger things have happened. (For the record: I’m both repulsed and intrigued by it; I think it’s the worst thing The Character in Question could have possibly done to himself, yet Joe Quesada claims they’re not only gonna run with it for awhile but they will not resort to a deus ex machina restoration. He’s got brass ones, give him that much.) BP written by Reggie Hudlin, Storm written by Eric Jerome Dickey.

Civil War: X-Men #1 (of 4) (Marvel). Please don’t explain Bishop’s convoluted time-travel origin to me; I don’t care about any of it. All I need to know about the character I learned during the short-lived but exquisite series District X, written by David Hine, who’s also writing this mini-series. Here, Bishop will apparently be at odds with Cyclops over the Registration Act. Who will join his side? How will the X-Men deal with the situation? Do I even care? Eh… I guess I’ll take a look at this, since Hine is writing Bishop again.

Nextwave #7 (of 12) (Marvel)

New Avengers #22 (Marvel). A Luke Cage solo story set during the events of Civil War. Look for a second Essential Luke Cage volume next month.

The Vindicators #0 and Alius Rex Book 1 (Alias). A pair from writer Kevin Grevioux for older audiences.

The Blackbeard Legacy #3 (Alias). Flipped through issue one and the art was an absolute turn-off. I didn’t expect the protagonist to look 100% like Traci Bingham, but they look nothing alike. The hyper-stylized and ugly-looking cartoon art doesn’t help.

Public Enemy #1 (American Mule). I listen to hip hop radio at work. It’s not by choice; hip hop is the preferred music in my office by an overwhelmingly wide margin (with Spanish-language music being second), so I’m hopelessly outvoted. (One time I put on the local classic rock station here in New York and I was met with befuddled expressions by co-workers who couldn’t grok Pink Floyd or David Bowie.) I certainly have nothing against hip hop as a genre - the problem is with hip hop radio.

New York has two competing hip hop stations, Power 105 and the infamous, often controversial Hot 97. Each one claims to be tops and each one claims to be the most representative of their chosen musical genre, but the way they define that genre is remarkably narrow. Both stations essentially play the exact same music - a small selection of whatever their corporate masters determine to be hip at the moment, played again and again and again ad nauseum. A given single on either station can and often is played every other hour. Yes, that’s right - every other HOUR. At least.

What’s worse, however, is the fact that both stations claim to represent hip hop and R&B, yet almost never play songs by its greatest practitioners. As of this writing, Prince, Janet Jackson, LL Cool J, Reverend Run and DMC, and oh yeah, Public Enemy, all have new albums out now and I have yet to hear any of them played on either station. These aren’t exactly obscure artists here; these are legendary singers and rappers, the ones who helped shape hip hop and R&B over the past quarter century. How can any radio station that claims to number one in this genre ignore new music (or even old music) by these people? How can any hip hop radio station have so narrow a focus? And how can its listeners willingly accept this format?

I recently read a book called Yes Yes Y’all: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade. It’s a fascinating look back at the genesis of the genre as told by its pioneers: Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash, Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, and many, many more. The differences between then and now far outweigh the similarities, and while I’m certainly not so naive as to think that this era could be recaptured again in the future, I certainly believe that the musicians and producers and disc jockeys and program directors and record executives could learn a great deal from it. Essential reading for anyone who cares about hip hop…

…unlike issue zero of Public Enemy, which kinda sucked.

Gold Digger #76, Gold Digger: Throne of Shadows #3 (of 4), Gold Digger: Tangent #2, Gold Digger Color Remix 4-pack, Peebomanga Pocket Manga V1 GN (Antarctic). Story and art by Fred Perry.

The Damaged #1 (A-10 Comics). MD Bright of Quantum & Woody and Icon fame (among other fine comics) illustrates this new series which sounds like another Rising Stars riff based on the solicitation.

Killer 7 #1 (Devil’s Due). A re-release, so you won’t remember that it’s behind schedule.

Bluesman V3, V1, V2 (NBM). I’ve written about this series of graphic novels here before - I know because I went through my archives and checked. So you don’t need me to give you another hard sell on it. If you’ve read it already, you know it’s primo material; if you haven’t, well now’s your chance to catch up so you can read the brand new third volume in the series, which is my Buzz Book of the Month. While you’re at it, go take a look at the Bluesman web site.

Have fun in San Diego!