Unapologetically Black "Cuz we are original..."

The struggle to find Black independent comic books today can barely be called a struggle. The struggle perhaps is getting Black readers to give Black independents a chance. That chance often is by way of webtoons, kickstarters, Indygogo, and the like. Yes, there are numerous places where one can consume independent Black comic book material, However, it has not always been that way. In 1992, Alonzo Washington, an activist and Black nationalist created Omega7, a Black comic book publishing company. One of the first titles from that company was a book called "Original Man". Washington not only was the publisher but he was also the writer on the book.

Original Man is a success story. One does not need to address numbers to make this statement. However, it does help that the book initially after being marketed to churches, bookstores, community events, etc was a huge success and demand for Omega7 titles grew beyond his focus group. Alonzo Washington, however, had a vision to do a book that would be a game changer. What is noteworthy about Original Man is that it is a book that steers clear of comic tropes. Instead issue #0 focuses on the protagonist, Mikal Wayne Luxor and his embracing of his role as Original Man. The story reads in the vein of Afro futurism with a level of consciousness that speaks to the writer's desire for readers to relate to the protagonist. In one particular panel, Mikal is speaking with a woman. He invites her to a theater that specializes in ancient plays. The name of that play is called "The Meeting". This Easter Egg is a nod to the play entitled "The Meeting" by Jeff Stetson. This is a play about a "meeting" between Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.

Washington drops tid bits in the story letting the readers know who this material and character in particular is for. Though this a book that takes place in the far distant future, some of the content expresses explicitly that Original Man is indeed a "title and a position" that African Americans had been denied to lay claim to. The story itself is science fiction. The antagonists, a race of aliens called Cyrogians claim themselves to be the "true rulers of the universe". They seek to be worshipped as the case is many times with oppressors. The book is filled with action and moves easily along in its story telling. Please google Alonzo Washington and Omega7 to read indepth about the journey in publishing a book for Black people. The struggle was real and we must understand that there would be no Black Sands Entertainment without Omega7.

In short, Original Man is a book for Black people who are unapologetically Black because as the old school hip-hop rap group Original Concept puts it "Cuz we are original". -Richard J Wright

Stop Pulling my Chain!

It is 3:26 am and I'm in front of this computer. In the background, the movie Master of the Flying Guillotine is playing. While I am sure that my dear wife appreciates her husband taking time away from snoring in her ear; I am somewhat irritated from lack of sleep. Yet, the partial reasoning for that lack of sleep consists in the nagging feeling I am having about a certain superhero, Black Lightning.

Black Lightning is a superhero character created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden and was first published in 1977 by DC Comics. He is without a doubt my favorite Black superhero in comics. This character is one of DC most powerful metahumans and for some reason or another, he is not valued enough in my humble opinion. His first appearance which is his own self title is very affordable and is barely even considered a notable key. I do not understand why that is. To make a comparison of sorts, I look at a contemporary at Marvel comics, Luke Cage. Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 came out in 1972. This particular key is more respected because it was released 5 years earlier and is coming upon its 50th anniversary this upcoming summer.

Both characters were created and founded in the 1970s Black exploitation era but what is puzzling to me is that a book that is 5 years younger, Black Lightning in this case gets viewed a certain way for whatever reason. Let me be honest, DC has never been the best promoter of its Black characters. It has way more Black characters than Marvel comics, but for whatever reason, many of them languish in DC comics purgatory.

So, you may be wondering why is there an issue? Why am I up writing about a Black character that hardly no one checks for? Isabella for his merit has written a few volumes of the character and later iterations have improved with time. The character recently recieved an upgrade in the power department but it has not translated into a modern self titled run. Instead, my man is a team character. He seems to only get any significant run in team books, Batman and the Outsiders in particular. However, Black Lightning deserves his own on going title. Now, DC may think otherwise but they are not respecting my mind. How is it that a character gets a show on the CW but not have a comic book run at the time? Now the CW is not my favorite network but the Black Lightning show was really entertaining and was around for four seasons. That show could have been a promotional tool for DC but the empty suits at DC clearly think otherwise. I am frustrated with DC and their lack of investment regarding Black Lightning because it just makes sense to promote and expand this character in a story line. Thank goodness for John Ridley giving Black Lightning his just due in his writings for The Other History of the DC Universe.

John Ridley gave Black Lightning fans a shot in the arm with his take on the character and his history in the DC Universe. I did not agree with everything he wrote but I did agree with about 85 percent of it. It was as if Jefferson Pierce aka Black Lightning was tired of being misunderstood and overlooked and he wanted to set the record straight. Such an impassioned book deserves a follow up. (ie, ongoing title). However, instead they playing my man like a b-side. It has been like this too for a long time. The character Black Vulcan in the Superfriends television show was supposed to be Black Lightning instead. Drama between Isabella and DC messed this up. This could have set up Black Lightning in the pop culture mainstream as far as cartoons and even merchandising. However, it was not to be. I have seen comic book fans reference this character and it burns me up because I know that Black Vulcan is a Black Lightning knock off that gets love on the strength of that Superfriends television. The only reason they have not tried to promote Black Vulcan in the comic book medium is because any self respecting comic head would not and cannot take this character seriously for canon and creative reasons.

Batman and the Outsiders latest run was written by Bryan Hill. It was a great run but it irritated Tony Isabella to the point where he did not like the direction Hill was taking Black Lightning in regards to his relationship with his former wife. It was one of those things where the creator may have intentions for a character but do not consider that the character itself may mature or develop or evolve. Why continue to tie a man to an ex-wife? It is not his modus operandi so what gives? Isabella is entitled to state his feelings but he hasn't wrote on the character in a long time so, there's that. Just recently Jefferson Pierce is being or should I say was being featured in a new DC comic book entitled, 'Dark Knights of Steel'. It is seemingly an elseworlds story written by Tom Taylor. In short the book is 3 issues deep and they gave my man the Yeoman Johnson treatment. Just google Yeoman Johnson and Boomerang. You will get my meaning. The book in and of itself is a good read so far. Yet, I was a little bothered by the latest developments. Its a like my guy can't catch a break even an elseworlds story.

Yet, there maybe a ray of hope. Screenrant.com just dropped an article of late talking about how Black Lightning will be an inspiration for a thousand years in the future. The book itself entitled "Justice League vs. Legion of Superheroes' details the accomplishments of Black Lightning and his family. That is great and it is a good look. I am not mad at it. However, I stand on the square that demands DC comics create a new run for Black Lightning. I like my guy in team books but I would like to see him in the modern day with a new book. In that new book, I want you to expand the rogues gallery. I want a Black writer, point blank periodt. Stop playing with me DC. Black Lightning comic book fans deserve a dope comic book. Black Lightning belongs on my pull list. Stop pulling my chain! -Richard J Wright

The Spook Who Sat by the Door

Forgive me but I'm going to fire some shots at the upcoming What If story featuring Miles Morales. Now I get that it's a What If story and all that. I think What If books are cool. Its nice that Marvel is bringing them black, I mean back. However, this is low hanging fruit. Now to be honest, I'm really not a Miles Morales guy. Truthfully, in my most gangsta opinion, he's Marvel's version of Static. (sorry guys, you see Miles Morales, I see Virgil Hawkins) Please do not get me wrong, I respect Miles Morales and I do think he can be a better Spiderman than Peter Parker. Yet, it is still too early to even approach that claim. Please give the guy a real rogues gallery complimentary to Peter Parker Spiderman and I might put Miles on my pull list. Miles Morales has been around now for 10 years and he's not going anywhere. I'm not mad about it. I'm determined not to start a YouTube channel and complain about how terrible comics are even though I keep reading, reviewing and buying them) I'm not even on some gatekeeper canonical stuff. I just think this is a money grab for Marvel. Miles makes money. Facts. However, this book makes no sense Marvel; unless you just being greedy Marvel. Listen kinfolk, Mickey's pimp hand is strong and last time I checked nobody is knocking down the house that Mickey built. Do not let that cute castle you see at the beginning of Disney films fool you. No. The real castle looks like a fortress complete with barbwire and a moat filled with hungry alligators. It makes Castle Dracula look like a 4 year old's doll house. Now, while this is going on. A Spiderman movie just hit the theaters with no Miles Morales in sight. No first appearance, no cameo, no end credit scene. Now that's pimpin'. Get all the Peters together and have a kumbuya moment, shed some tears, add a few bad guys and cats are like, "Miles who?". Of course, the Blerd or Black comic community was let down. Niggas always medal in the victim of White Supremacy olympics. Bammas was all on ebay getting their Ultimate Fallout 4s ready to get some serious coin.

Weeks and weeks of anticipation. Blerds ready to get their Miles Morales cosplay on. Yep. Except. Marvel goes Marvel. Which can only mean one obvious thing,

Now it has been weeks since the New Spiderman movie made its debut right in the middle of the Omnicron Imperial Fleet. Darth Fauci is in shadows with more variants than a Marvel comic book. I just heard that it passed Black Panther for number 5 on the all time list. (sighs). Yeah its a lot fecal matter to go around on this one. . "But hey don't worry Miles Morales fans we got a What If story for you guys. Its a dope story too coming out in March 2022. Right after Black History Month!" [man, you can't make this up]. So the word is that Miles gets injected with the Tuskegee Syphillis experim... (oops sorry guys, wrong paper) I'm mean the super soldier serum and becomes all swole in the nose and lips. (man... Marvel is all in!). I wonder what the story is about other than that. I do have a story idea for Marvel though.

How about Miles Morales, the token becoming a Captain America the token and then recruit a bunch of young Black brothers and train them to start the revolution we have been talking about for several decades. We don't have reinvent the wheel. All we gotta do steal the idea from Sam Greenlee's book. The Spook Who Sat by the Door. The book is about a CIA operative who is a token. He is simply there for the appearance of diversity. Kinda like Miles you could say.

The lead character Dan Freeman secretly is a Black nationalist and uses his top tokenized position to train freedom fighters in a nutshell. So I figure since we got a token Black Spiderman in a What If story playing tokenized Sam Wilson Captain America, he might as well go all out start the next revolutionary war. We can get a somebody to stream Gil Scott Heron's "The Revolution will not be Televised" on continous repeat. He can go find Triathlon's tailor and get out of those Black, Blue and White threads for the Red, Black and Green.

Then he really do something heroic and cancel all student loan debt and smash every known copy of Sir Francis Scott Key's National Anthem and commission Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, Kirk Franklin, and Common perhaps to create a new anthem. Sorry old heads, James Weldon Johnson's "Lift every voice and sing" aint gonna cut the mustard in this revolution. Yeah, put that What If story out and title it "What If the Token Captain America was really Black, like fareal fareal Boots on the ground, RBG Black?" or for cosmetic purposes, "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" -Richard J Wright

We Are One

Alright you old school heads, I'm going to need to cue up and play Maze featuring Frankie Beverly's song "We Are One" for this one. Listen, in the spirit of Joe Biden declaring if you don't vote for me, "You aint Black!" Im going to go on record and say if you don't have any Maze on any of your listening devices, platforms, a CD, a cassette, vinyl, or a 8-track you aint Black! Anyway, I digress.

Happy New Year! Today is the first day of the year and with that comes a lot of hope and expectations. We all fantasize about the potential and the exciting things we want to do in our lives. It is not a bad thing. However, I kinda want us to go into our community common unity bag on this one. Simply put, I just finished reading Robin issue #9 and it was one of the best issues in this run. The run itself is dope but this issue stands out for sure. The message in the issue is one of being united. It is an issue about recognizing in life you need help. One of things that we have to do as a community of comic heads who champion Black superheroes and our history is to recognize the importance of getting assistance when needed. I know many of us like to think we know it all. We read a comic or two and dudes want to be professors in this thing of ours. We need each other pure and simple. Folks can act like they don't need nobody. Yet the truth does not require you to agree with it. I have often said, "call it what you want as long as I can call it what it is". If you know anything about Damien Wayne, you know he is very arrogant and does not believe anyone can beat him. Kid has a healthy sense of swag in this regard. Yet, he finds himself at the end of his wits and it takes a friend to remind him of some very sobering things about life. We need help.

You can try to go alone in this big wide world and you may find a little success but like my man said in 'Mahogany' "Success aint nothing without someone you love to share it with". We are better together than apart. We have to recognize that. There is nothing we cannot do if we work together in the spirit of unity. Our community as a niche might be considered small in the thinking of some but if it is not a giant robot in our eyes, it will die before it has a chance to grow and be everything it can be. So let celebrate the power of unity.

Let us not be concerned who outside can come to the cookout. For once, lets think about us together at the cookout and come up with a master plan. Already! -Richard J Wright

The Kwanzaa Effect (Imani)

The seventh and final principle of Kwanzaa is called Imani, which in Swahili means faith. It states that we who are to follow this principle are "To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle." In order to do what the principle is asking of us, we have to believe in it. No pun intended. You will only do what you believe. It is hard to say you believe in something and not practice it. However, life and relationships are complicated. However, no matter the issue or situation, your principles should help guide your thinking. In and of itself, faith is a spiritual practice. Faith goes beyond the realm of logic and reasoning sometimes. The thing about Imani is that the principle wants us to invest with our heart into our people and our struggle. It asks us to put our confidence in parents, our teachers and our leaders in general. That is a tall order which stands to reason why this is the seventh and final principle.

Jefferson Pierce aka Black Lightning of DC comics is a Black Superhero that believes in his community and the people in it. How do I know? Well, for starters he's one of my all time favorite characters. In addition, he is apart of the community itself. He was an athlete and a teacher. He took it upon himself to deal with a gang called the 100 and their chief boss Tobias Whale. Black Lightning had a personal stake in the community. He had a friends and he still cared for his ex-wife Lynn who was a school teacher herself. Black Lightning patrolled the neighbor aptly called Suicide Slum. It was interesting in that Black Lightning had issues with Superman because he didn't care for the hood. John Ridley wrote extensively about this in issue one of the book The Other History of the DC Universe. The logic behind Ridley's perception of Black Lightning is flawed from this standpoint. We cannot rely on people outside of the community to take care of the community. Superman didn't live in Suicide Slum, so why would he patrol there when he lives in Metropolis? It is up to us to believe in our cause and the people that the cause helps. Its not on "Big Blue" as Black Lightning calls him in issue 5 of Volume 1 of Black Lightning. They team up and take down the bad guys in this issue. While it can be said that "it takes all of us" to work together and keep peace. We must be mindful that our community is best served by the people in it and not those outside. That is one of the reasons relationships with law enforcement has always been questionable. We must have faith in our selves. Sometimes we as a people have a low opinion of ourselves. It is this mindset as to why so many people leave our communities and never return to them. Sure we can brag and boast how we love the hood and grew up in the hood but do we care about the hood. Do we help our people? Do we believe that our struggle is righteous and we can be victorious? I learned a long time ago that a pair of lips will say anything. If we are going to uplift the community it is going to be us who have to do it. Black Lightning isn't the most powerful superhero and he barely registers even among Black comic book readers. Most know of him because of the WB show. However, Black Lightning has been around since 1977 and was considered a Black exploitation charcter. He is not the most popular character. He does not wow you with his skills. He is not as smart as Micheal Holt. I pay that no mind because beyond the mask wig and jive talk is Black man who cared about his people and put his body on the line to save it. That is in the spirit of Imani. Somebody cue up that Four Tops song, "Are you man enough?" from the Shaft in Africa Soundtrack. Harambe!