'Nuff Said: American Graphic Media

The new trailer is out today!  Excited?

An Avenger for All Seasons: Captain America, Identity, and the US Experience

What did you think of the Captain America: The Winter Soldier trailer?   Of course, as superhero scholars we can detect a complex interplay between the different eras of Captain America in this film.  Unlike his first outing, Captain America: The Winter Soldier relies heavily on the contemporary stories from Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's Captain America . Lauded by fans and critics, Brubaker and Epting's Captain America run featured the return of Bucky, believed dead for decades, as (spoiler alert) the Winter Soldier.  Considered sacrilegious by some the storyline revived interest in the classic character.  At the same time, Brubaker's story tapped into a long established tradition in the pages of Captain America, deep engagement with political intrigue.  A steadfast patriot, Captain America offers writers a chance to reflect on that era's political climate. The result have been classic stories in the 1970s and 1980s that force the ultimate symbol of...

I love the epic feel to this trailer. The Wolverine is merging elements of western and samurai mythology.

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Another great clip from Iron Man 3.  Tony Stark easily channels a techno-gunslinger vibe in this film. In many ways, the contours of the story we have seen harken back to a core element of Iron Man's appeal. He is a lone hero (similar to a gunslinger) on a redemptive journey. He is making up for past wrongs by protecting a community he once threaten. Given Stark's role as a weapons designer, we can expand that framing to cover the entire world.  After seeing Tony Stark at the center of all things Marvel Cinematic Universe, IM3 signals a return to hero gunslinger mode so familiar to the U.S. audiences. Could international audiences see shadows of the United States' post-1945 journey in Tony Stark?   

Marvel Comics has released details of a new storyline featuring Thanos. This is not a surprise. It will coincide with Marvel Studio activities featuring the Guardians of the Galaxy. What does surprise me is that the new release got coverage in USA Today .  Coverage from "mainstream" media of a new mini-series announcement  is an indication of the synergy linked to superhero comics. We assume that independent comics, always a space for creativity are more cool. DC and Marvel Comics, firmly controlled by corporate media giants are, in the best case scenario, fodder for next blockbuster.  Still, the relative success of Marvel versus DC over the last few years has more to do with the legacy of independent comics than corporatism.  As far as I can tell, Marvel hasn't hired a writer who was not already established in the independent comic world in more than a decade.  Names like Brian Michael Bendis , Matt Fraction , and Jason Aaron published indy comics befor...

Is there anything new in these ads? These spots are basically based on what we have already seen. Questions abound driven by plot speculation across the web.  Case in point,  is Tony using Extremis to move the armor in spot 2? I can't be sure and anyone who read the comic book knows the Extremis transformation merged part of the armor with Tony's body. Are we seeing this in the tv spots? This seems to be a modular assembly and not a biomechanical interaction. The armor "working at the speed of thought" aspect so crucial to the Extremis story could be on display or it could be something else.     This reflects a bigger ideological question. Will the audience want to see Tony Stark become part machine? The danger posed by science changing our bodies is a major theme in science fiction today. Will this anxiety inform Iron Man 3 or will The Mandarin as Bin Laden be enough? If the goal was to make me (and you) curious, Marvel Studios is doing...

The Avengers was a great movie. While excessive descriptors are sure to come, this essential truth might be loss. The Avengers is an action movie, thus it suffers from its summer movie mass audience mission.  Yes, the Avengers has massive special effects, and unlike some recent 3D efforts, I think the Avengers used the 3D for the benefit of the film, not simply to drive up ticket prices. Yes, the film has great cast.  The actors did an excellent job, Robert Downey, Jr. has found his stride as Tony Stark/Iron Man, and I think Scarlett Johansson really evolved the Black Widow as a character. Mark Ruffalo' Bruce Banner/ Hulk provide a nice counterpoint to Tony Stark/Iron Man and Whedon smartly put the two together.  Jeremy Renner did a great job as Agent Barton (never really got called Hawkeye...exactly. Like much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, his take on Hawkeye has more to do with Marvel Ultimate Comics than the classic Silver Age Marvel, but that point is ...

'Green Lantern' is opening. Does it appeal only to white American males? Green Lantern is the second major cinematic superhero coming to audience. As my comments indicate, I think Green Lantern represents a problematic perspective. While other comic characters are born with powers (mutants in the X-Men) or are supernatural beings (Thor), Green Lantern differs from other characters because he is picked to serve as a representative of law and order. While many can be dismissive because it is a summer film, we should also examine the story we tell about ourselves.

David Liss , the new writer for Black Panther: Man Without Fear, was kind enough to grant me an interview a few weeks back. Just in time for Black History Month, the interview is available at Brink Magazine . Many thanks to William Rosemann and Arune Singh at Marvel Comics for their assistance (including the image you see in this post). Race and/in comics resonate with contemporary culture. If you have caught the first two issues of Liss' run, you recognize he has incorporated an understanding of post-colonial theory into this run of Black Panther. In some way, the run represents a return to the Black Panther as seminal black figure in Marvel Universe. Black, not African-American, thus the Panther's perspective is that of an outsider divorced from baggage of African-American cultural placement in the United State experience, but is linked to it by the persistence of race based thinking. Like President Obama, the character of T'Challa (the Black Panther's real name...

'Black Panther' Movie Returns To Development With New Screenwriter The news that Marvel Studios is pushing to develop a Black Panther film is good news. Still, given the complicated nature of the Black Panther as a character, there is a long way to go before we will see a successful Black Panther live action feature. As I have suggested in other venues , having exhausted established characters, producers of superhero films must develop lesser known characters. The Black Panther, the first black (not African American) superhero is a natural choice. At the same time, race and power questions connected to the character will create barriers to success. By his very nature however, T'Challa (the Black Panther's real name) personifies a rejection of western colonialism and calls into question the European legacy in Africa. Any film that is true to character must strike a careful balance of celebrating the African autonomy represented by the character and playing to the tr...

Cloak & Dagger (2010) #1 cover by Mark Brooks | Marvel Images | Downloads & Extras | Marvel.com The return of a Cloak & Dagger solo series is a good thing, but it also gives me a moment to reflect on C&D's place in Marvel comics. Cloak and Dagger's 1982 appearance coincides with Ronald Reagan's conservative revolution taking hold. There are many elements of the Reagan revolution that bear examination, but the legacy from the "war on drugs" continue to affect us today. The explosion of crack cocaine and the gang culture related to it had a powerful effect on American cities. While many people don't remember, the origin of Cloak and Dagger was very much a reflection of this societal concern. Tyrone "Ty" Johnson (Cloak) and Tandy Bowen (Dagger) met as runaways in New York. Experimented on by criminal trying to create synthetic heroin, they were given superhuman powers. Not surprisingly, they were retconned to be mutants (the d...