Because let’s face it, your mom is a superhero. Here’s some of the company she keeps!
Raquel Ervin had only been a superhero for a short time when she found out that she was pregnant. Still a teenager, she stepped up and decide to have the child and be an awesome mother. She put her heroics on hold for a time in order to raise her son well, but soon returned and kept a beautiful superhero-mom balance. Hardcore. Besides, she named her son Amistad Augustus Ervin. Awesome.
———–
DC Superheroines Thunder and Lightning are the focus of a new series of short animated episodes airing on DC Nation’s Saturday animated shorts.
The short mini-episodes center around classic DC superhero Black Lightning and his two daughters Thunder and Lightning. Highlighting the daily details of family living, like sick days and sibling rivalry, the series is more like a family sitcom than a typical superhero action series. So far, only two shorts have aired, but we’re hoping for more! And maybe, with enough of a following, it could even get turned into a full-on series… It’s about time we got a Black family superhero sitcom on TV!
The shorts air on Cartoon Network, during DC Nation’s block at 10/9c.
Peep the latest short below, and try not to love it:
Released this past November, Ana Lily Amirpour‘s A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is probably the coolest film of 2014. Equal parts noir, romance, pulp, horrror and western, the film tells the stories of a host of quirky characters all connected to the Girl (portrayed by actress Sheila Vand), a young Iranian woman who rides a skateboard, dons a hijab, and preys on men. She’s a vamp in every sense of the word.
And if that doesn’t sell you on it, the trailer ought to. In black-and-white with an eerie, western-ish soundtrack, the film has a tinge of Tarantino and Rodriguez, with a bit more subtly. Though it’s in black-and-white, the images are so striking it begs for a comic book treatment. Thankfully, the creators seemed to think so too, and now you can buy the comic (see a preview here) and even a film-themed skateboard deck.
Like the Girl, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is its own unique creature.
Check it.
First, Miles Morales burst onto the scene as the new Spider-man in Ultimate Comics Spider-man, mixin’ it up with his half-black, half-latino heritage. Then, the oft overlooked interracial duo Cloak and Dagger got a romantic revival and joined Team Morales.
And now, we’ve got Silk — a brand new Asian American female superhero written by Robbie Thompson, probably best known for his work as a writer and producer for the TV series Supernatural.
AND not only is Marvel introducing this Asian American hero into the mix, but she’s even getting her very own series!!
A classmate of Peter Parker‘s, Cindy Moon was bitten by the same radioactive spider that bit Parker. However, Moon was then taken and hidden away by Ezekiel Sims for seven years, during which she honed and mastered her new powers. And now that she’s emerged with skills that rival Parker’s, she’s got a lot more than big bad villains to deal with.
Silk was first introduced as a character back in July 2014 as part of the Original Sin arc of The Amazing Spider-man, when Parker helped free her from her captivity.
The new series launch in February 2015 will make Silk one of two Asian American female superheroes leading her own mainstream series right now (the other being Ms. Marvel‘s Kamala Khan, a young shape-shifting Pakistani-American girl protecting Jersey from the big baddies).
Silk and Ms. Marvel are a breath of fresh air in an increasingly diverse, but still overwhelmingly homogenous, comic book industry. Until now, the X-Men‘s Psylocke and Karma have been Marvel’s most prominent Asian American female superheroes, neither of whom have led their own self-titled ongoing series (although Psylocke (aka Betsy Braddock) headed her own self-titled four-issue mini-series Psylocke from 2009-2010).
And then, of course, Psyclocke actually started out as a white British model before some crazy story line stuffed her mind into the body of a Japanese ninja named Kwannon, so… anyway….
It’s a beautiful thing to see more superhero ladies of color making their way to the covers of comics.
Silk promises to enrich the Spidey universe with a history tied closely to Parker’s own origin, and a whole lot of catching up to do. Peep the interview with Robbie Thompson over at Comic Book Resources, and support your heroes of color. Pick that ish up in February!
(via. CBR,
A spontaneous pre-ship day trip to the comic shop this Tuesday met me with the sad disappointment of seeing SO many issues of the brand spankin’ new Storm #1 still left on the shelves. After the shock wore off, I hunted down the clerk to make sure it wasn’t just a reorder. Alas… There are so many great reasons to pick up this comic right there on the cover — 
–the pretty by line boasts the inimitable Greg Pak who does good story… that stunning artwork that caught your eye, that’s the badass Victor Ibanez (and obviously dope colorist Ruth Redmond), who’s got mad cred for his work on Constantine, Ghost, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman… And of course, there’s STORM! — And once you get past the cover, the comic itself is pretty gosh dern amazing too. But hey if that’s not enough to get you to bust out that $3.99, maybe some of these reasons will give you the nudge.
Isn’t that crazy?! Though Marvel has stepped up with a bunch of female solo comics and female-led series, few of them are led by superhero women of color. Storm is pretty much the most popular Black Female Superhero in comics, and supporting the Storm series means supporting a more diverse comic shop shelf!
Just in case you missed the much cooler Storm of the 80’s or happened to not exist yet or blacked out for the 90’s animated X-Men TV series… just understand that Halle Berry (and/or whatever behind-the-scenes human is responsible for the criminally dry/boring/pathetic/kitschy misuse of the Storm character in the X-Men movies) fundamentally failed to grasp the very real awesomeness that is the Storm as portrayed in the comics. As for you who already know how much Halle Berry (et al.) has failed this character… Imagine an entire generation growing up on the Storm that appears in the X-Men films… With that kind of miserable reputation, the character will fade into oblivion faster than a “toad when it’s struck by lightning” … It’d be a sad demise for an omega-level mutant (seriously, what baffoon thought a badass powerful mutant’s “big” scene should be fighting a human toad?)
Aside from two 4-issue miniseries in 1996 and 2005 respectively, Storm has led the X-Men team many a time, but has never had her own ongoing solo title. Yes, yes, neither have a lot of the X-Men, but Cyclops, Wolverine, Bishop, Cable, even Sabertooth(!) and a few others, all had their own solo titles at one time or another. And as one of the most popular characters and the frequent leader of the X-Men, Storm’s time is way overdue.
Don’t even look up the stats, just go ask anyone to name as many Black female superheroes as they can, ten bucks 90% of those lists start (and many (sadly) end) with Storm.
And it’s about time we got the chance to dive into more of that. The daughter of an American photojournalist and a Kenyan princess of a witch-priestess tribe… growing up in Harlem and Egypt, where her parents eventually die in the Suez Crises…Surviving as a street urchin and thief on the streets of Egypt…Worshipped as a goddess in the Serengeti… Shacking up with Black Panther… The woman has had one seriously interesting life and Greg Pak is sure to draw on that rich history to do the woman justice. Storm #1 already has her evaluating the was she has changed since she’s joined the X-Men, which may hint at a potential back-to-the-roots direction for the comic*. In Pak’s interview with CBR, he proved he knows his Storm history: “Storm’s been a street thief and a goddess and a persecuted mutant and a queen. She’s seen it all, from every level, and isn’t always necessarily going to side with mutants first and foremost. So there’s the potential for some rich drama and conflict right there.” Can’t wait to see how it plays out!
A middle-class, half-Korean guy from Texas, Pak might not have much in common with the hero, but as he said in an interview with USA Today, ” Storm’s difference resonated with me — just by existing, she represented the idea that anyone could be a superhero, even me.” Pak has indicated a few times over the years how much he’s wanted to write a Storm solo comic, and who better to make it good than a geeky worshiper of Her Weathery-ness? Plus, holdin’ it down for the marginalized geekiness, he’s clearly an outsider geek:
When STORM #1 (or the female Thor or the black Captain America book) does well, more doors open. You and your dollars have the power. — Greg Pak (@gregpak) July 17, 2014
Now go get the damn comic.
———————— Corrected: We previously mentioned that Storm #1 saw Storm go back to her home continent. Thanks to the awesome Victor Ibanez, we can correct that, as the setting was actually Santo Marco in the Caribbean, not Africa.Last November, we had a chat with awesomely earnest indie creator Jacques Nyemb about his comic Not So Super, which turns a unique twist on the average-joe-gets-super-powers paradigm.
(Check out the interview to find out just how awesome we think Jacques and Not So Super are.)
Jacques’s delightfully quirky comics ideas and his gang of artists, letterers, and editors make up a talented team at the indie enterprise Not So Super Comics, and now they’re looking to print more of Not So Super along with first issues of several of his other equally unique comics (including This Bites, about the trials of a vegan vampire… Yep. Really.).
Peep the Kickstarter and support indie comics! Or at least watch the kickstarter video after the jump and see for yourself why we adore Jacques’s awesomely earnest nerderificness.
KRYSTALIN (aka Ruth Kristen Porter-Ogada) is one of the founding members of a future incarnation of the X-Men in 2099. In this future, the X-Men head quarters is in the abandoned Hoover Dam. Krystalin is one of the central members of the team, trusted with the most important missions by the head of the X-men Xi’an Chi Xan, and interacting with future incarnations of Spider-man and Archangel.
Born in Oakland, she is the daughter of a founding member of the Order of the Panther, a para-military force inspired by Wakandan traditions. When her father is killed and her brother is kidnapped by a group of radicals who disagree with the Panther’s doctrine, Krystalin single handedly defeats them and rescues her brother. Krystalin and the X-Men team later serve as protectorates of a refugee city in the crumbling nation called Halo City.
She can manipulate minerals in the air to form hard crystalline objects in any shape, she mainly uses this power to create powerful weapons. She first appeared in X-Men (2099) #1. After the series was cancelled she appeared as a small role character in 2099: World of Tomorrow where she uses her powers, drawing minerals and pollutants from the massively polluted air, to help rebuild civilization in the destroyed world.
a blog about video games and learning
It's Latin For Cookies
Pop Culture with a Different Perspective
Comics. Culture. Critical Thought.
NEW WORK
Podcasts, articles and news - talking comics and pop culture
1001 video games and beyond
Updated onThursdays
Indulge- Travel, Adventure, & New Experiences
