'Nuff Said: American Graphic Media

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 ...

neo Jonathan Gayles' White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in American Comic Books has been picked up for distribution by California Newsreel. I'm flattered to get a mention in this interview on Left of Black.

California Newsreel - WHITE SCRIPTS AND BLACK SUPERMEN: BLACK MASCULINITIES IN COMIC BOOKS

Brenda Starr, the groundbreaking female reporter created in 1940 by Dalia (Dale) Messick, is coming to an end. Starr was a standout female character in the Golden Age of comics. Yet, her success was the result of her popularity as a syndicated newspaper cartoon strip, not as comic book property. Messick created the character for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate and despite resistance from the editors, the character resonated with readers. While initially not appearing in the Chicago Tribune, it was relegated to a Sunday supplement, by 1945 Brenda Starr had a daily strip and was one of the most popular characters in the Sunday paper. In that same year, the character made its first cross media appearance in a movie serial, Brenda Starr, Reporter starring Joan Woodbury. By the 1950s the character appeared in over 200 newspapers nationwide. The character's popularity is noteworthy because in an era where women were expected to suppress their career aspiration and return home after Wo...