deerstalker
https://blacknerdproblems.com/black-defender-review/
I’m always a fan of stories about heroes and villains: how they come to be, their lore, and the choices they make that define who they are. As a comic book consumer, it’s easy to get familiar with stories of Superman, Spider-Man, Static, Transformers, and so on. Finding new stories though, that’s what’s really exciting to me. There are many comics and graphic novels out there, not with the usual big publishers waiting to be discovered. Which brings us to Black Defender, created by writer Dr. David Washington with illustrations by Zhengis Tasbolatov.
The Black Defender graphic novel gives us a look at the stage being set for a battle of good and evil taking place in Dale City. We meet Dr. Chris Withers, an orphan turned military man. We learn that by the age of 23, Chris had excelled in the special forces field. He is a decorated soldier that left the service in order to find knowledge, and that knowledge lay within the fields of social psychology and sociology. It’s not often we see a comic book character leave the military life for these types of fields. It’s not a flashy choice but one I found that separated Chris Withers from the usual hero story. It is stressed that Chris is a self-made man: earning his fortune through his consulting firm through good old fashioned hard work.
When we get insight into Chris’ work in sociology, there’s a great scene of him breaking down white privilege when questioned about it by a white man asking how can he benefit from it when he is poor. I thought this was such a smart way to slide in the lesson that white privilege isn’t just about economic standing but a difference in the process. We then see Chris comparing it to male privilege. I appreciate Dr. Washington being able to seamlessly work in that lil Ted Talk into the story. Now, when we talk about characters that steal the spotlight, it has to be Crystal Withers, Chris’ wife. We learn about Crystal’s background in reporting in Afghanistan. It’s Crystal’s reporting that kicks off the story as she looks further in the Black girls that have gone missing in Dale City.
Dr. David Washington does a great job of showcasing the main case of the disappearing girls as the main mystery. While also pointing out the discrepancy between when the Black girls go missing and there’s little to no coverage, or they are portrayed as possibly gang related. Yet, when the white girls go missing, we see there are enchanted humans that get involved to find them and in one case their issues like DUIs, aren’t focused on. I really enjoyed this portion of art imitating life. The further Crystal goes to get answers the deeper the danger gets for her and Chris.
Zhengis Tasbolatov does a great job illustrating both the wonder and danger of Dale City. We hear about the enhanced heroes at the beginning of the book and don’t get their reveal till shit comes down. What we do see a lot of is the frustration that Crystal and the community are facing with the police. Tasbolatov does a good job balancing that uneasiness with Crystal’s interaction with the police. While on the other side of the Dale city, we see the science booming with Dr. Alicia Johnson and the project she’s working on. Tasbolatov depicts Alicia as the representation of the sci-fi aspect of the Black Defender graphic novel. Alicia is a medical prodigy with a biomechanical engineering doctorate by 17, then CEO at the age of 21.
Tasbolatov also gives Dale City’s settings a mixture of pretty and gritty that works for the setting. A huge part of that feeling is provided by the menacing threat in the shadows named Overlord. I don’t want to spoil what happens, so I will just say there is a powder keg being set up for all these characters that is at play: between Chris, Crystal, Alicia, the police, and the enhanced heroes.
There’s a point where everyone and everything comes to a head. I will say you can tell Dr. Washington is having fun with this series. However, I do wish there was more time given for certain characters to shine like Crystal and Alicia without Chris. Aside from that, Black Defender gives us the classic reluctant hero stepping onto the scene to make a difference for those that fall within the cracks.
Now, just in case graphic novels aren’t your thing. There’s also an animated movie of Black Defender coming in 2026! You can get this story how you want it, on page or on the screen!
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The post ‘Black Defender: The Awakening’ Brings a New Hero to Center Stage appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
I’m always a fan of stories about heroes and villains: how they come to be, their lore, and the choices they make that define who they are. As a comic book consumer, it’s easy to get familiar with stories of Superman, Spider-Man, Static, Transformers, and so on. Finding new stories though, that’s what’s really exciting to me. There are many comics and graphic novels out there, not with the usual big publishers waiting to be discovered. Which brings us to Black Defender, created by writer Dr. David Washington with illustrations by Zhengis Tasbolatov.
The Black Defender graphic novel gives us a look at the stage being set for a battle of good and evil taking place in Dale City. We meet Dr. Chris Withers, an orphan turned military man. We learn that by the age of 23, Chris had excelled in the special forces field. He is a decorated soldier that left the service in order to find knowledge, and that knowledge lay within the fields of social psychology and sociology. It’s not often we see a comic book character leave the military life for these types of fields. It’s not a flashy choice but one I found that separated Chris Withers from the usual hero story. It is stressed that Chris is a self-made man: earning his fortune through his consulting firm through good old fashioned hard work.
When we get insight into Chris’ work in sociology, there’s a great scene of him breaking down white privilege when questioned about it by a white man asking how can he benefit from it when he is poor. I thought this was such a smart way to slide in the lesson that white privilege isn’t just about economic standing but a difference in the process. We then see Chris comparing it to male privilege. I appreciate Dr. Washington being able to seamlessly work in that lil Ted Talk into the story. Now, when we talk about characters that steal the spotlight, it has to be Crystal Withers, Chris’ wife. We learn about Crystal’s background in reporting in Afghanistan. It’s Crystal’s reporting that kicks off the story as she looks further in the Black girls that have gone missing in Dale City.
Dr. David Washington does a great job of showcasing the main case of the disappearing girls as the main mystery. While also pointing out the discrepancy between when the Black girls go missing and there’s little to no coverage, or they are portrayed as possibly gang related. Yet, when the white girls go missing, we see there are enchanted humans that get involved to find them and in one case their issues like DUIs, aren’t focused on. I really enjoyed this portion of art imitating life. The further Crystal goes to get answers the deeper the danger gets for her and Chris.
Zhengis Tasbolatov does a great job illustrating both the wonder and danger of Dale City. We hear about the enhanced heroes at the beginning of the book and don’t get their reveal till shit comes down. What we do see a lot of is the frustration that Crystal and the community are facing with the police. Tasbolatov does a good job balancing that uneasiness with Crystal’s interaction with the police. While on the other side of the Dale city, we see the science booming with Dr. Alicia Johnson and the project she’s working on. Tasbolatov depicts Alicia as the representation of the sci-fi aspect of the Black Defender graphic novel. Alicia is a medical prodigy with a biomechanical engineering doctorate by 17, then CEO at the age of 21.
Tasbolatov also gives Dale City’s settings a mixture of pretty and gritty that works for the setting. A huge part of that feeling is provided by the menacing threat in the shadows named Overlord. I don’t want to spoil what happens, so I will just say there is a powder keg being set up for all these characters that is at play: between Chris, Crystal, Alicia, the police, and the enhanced heroes.
There’s a point where everyone and everything comes to a head. I will say you can tell Dr. Washington is having fun with this series. However, I do wish there was more time given for certain characters to shine like Crystal and Alicia without Chris. Aside from that, Black Defender gives us the classic reluctant hero stepping onto the scene to make a difference for those that fall within the cracks.
Now, just in case graphic novels aren’t your thing. There’s also an animated movie of Black Defender coming in 2026! You can get this story how you want it, on page or on the screen!
Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here! Follow us on BlueSky ,Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram!
The post ‘Black Defender: The Awakening’ Brings a New Hero to Center Stage appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
It’s hard to imagine some of our most beloved films with different actors. But in another timeline, Jodie Foster became Princess Leia in Star Wars. And in yet another timeline, Sam Raimi cast Jake Gyllenhaal as Spider-Man. Now, thanks to a TikTok circulating from the Academy Museum, which we came across via Deadline, we’ve learned which big-name stars might have played some of the roles in the original Home Alone. And some names that director Chris Columbus and the film’s producers were looking at in 1990 might genuinely surprise you.
Instead of Catherine O’Hara, the Home Alone producers were looking at several other bankable names to play Kate McAllister, Kevin’s distraught mother. Kirstie Alley, then starring in Cheers and Look Who’s Talking, was at the top of the list. So was Candice Bergen, who was the lead in the popular sitcom Murphy Brown. Susan Sarandon was under consideration, but it’s unknown if the producers ever made an offer. She likely would have been busy making Thelma and Louise at the time. Rocky Horror and original Pennywise Tim Curry was also on the shortlist for the role Joe Pesci would ultimately play, adding to his already legendary resume of credits.
The most surprising name on the list might be none other than Jimmy Stewart, who starred in a different iconic Christmas movie decades earlier, It’s a Wonderful Life. He was looked at for the elderly neighbor who saves the day at the end. Apparently, his agent showed interest, but the producers cast Robert Blossom in the role instead. More than likely, this came down to budget, as Jimmy Stewert surely didn’t come cheap. Would Home Alone have been different if these other actors were playing alongside Macaulay Culkin? Who can say? But it’s an interesting glimpse into what might have been.
The post HOME ALONE Casting Notes Show Who Almost Starred in It appeared first on Nerdist.
I first found out about Jay Jurden from his appearance on the X of Words podcast, where he was talking about X-Men. Jay’s passion and social commentary on the X-Men let me know that this man is a top tier nerd. I then found out that they were also a comedian. So I followed their social media. Glad to say, it’s one of the best choices I’ve made. It’s one thing to give social commentary on the X-Men through a Black queer lens but to be able to do that on stage nightly in New York’s comedy scene, on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, writing for The Problem with John Stewart, and Marvel is a whole other thing to have accomplished. Jay Jurden been out here workin’, and now we get to see him work his debut comedy special Yes Ma’am.
Jay Jurden opens his set by talking the blue dot cities he’s stopped in for the comedy tour so far. Then, he informs the crowd on what a blue dot is. “It’s a liberal city inside of a conservative state. So a fun place, inside of a not so fun place. It’s, just think, a prostate becaaaaaaause what is America but a prostate? And I believe that’s a poem by Langston Hughes.” We see Jay temp check the crowd with that joke, and realizing that it’s his type of crowd he then talks about meeting the best people that reside in blue dots. “They’re kind of backwoods but also kind of progressive. So they say things like, ‘My gun is non-binary *cocks shotgun* is non-binary, and it’s also polyamorous so both of y’all can get it. And y’all, that was my experience in Austin [Texas].”
And there, just that quickly, Jay Jurden hits the audience with two jokes like jabs to leave them reeling. It feels almost ‘blink and you’ll miss it,’ but what I love about Jay Jurden’s comedy is not only the speed and rhythm of his performance, but the complexities he stitches them with seamlessly. Jurden checked the audience with jokes mixing in the social climate at the moment, Black literature, and then maneuvering progressive stances from ignorant people’s point of view. To me, that’s how you fucking comedy. With just the opening lines, Jay Jurden let’s the viewer know he’s not just a seasoned veteran but a master of his craft. Watching Jay Jurden perform, he has this uncanny ability to switch the point of view depending on the topic. He’s able to work a crowd as a narrator, a storyteller, or a conversational friend. I know that may seem like what all comedians do but I’d argue, some can only do one of three and that the best have mastered all three. Jay Jurden is without a doubt a grandmaster and innovator of captivation.
I’m always invested and interested in how performers move on stage. My go-to comparison would be that of a fighter. Some comedians pace back and forth, like the audience is an opponent they need to hunt down. Others are completely still, as if they’re a counter puncher. Allowing the audience to get close to them so they can strike a joke from an angle the audience isn’t expecting. Watching Jay Jurden perform, you realize, he doesn’t move like a fighter. He moves like a gunslinger, and not only that, he’s the quickest draw this side of Mississippi. I don’t mean like ten paces, I mean this walking the crowd down shooting from the hip. Jay Jurden’s pace is the perfect amount of fast. My favorite line was when he said, “Homophobia is real. I recently had to deal with homophobia and by that I mean I did not get my way. So, I was walking in Harlem. Imma be honest, I was prancing.” I fucking lost it. Jay Jurden’s set makes you feel like you’re watching him in the wild west, stand in the middle of a shoot out at the center of town, and just nail every single shot with no fear or hesitation.
This man is a sharpshooter. The pace and cadence feel like he’s nailing so many targets with a single joke or theme. But when he stays on a theme, it’s like he’s emptying the clip into a specific target. Perhaps a better way to put it would be like as my friend and fellow poet Caroline Rothstein once said, “You use the stage like an instrument.” Watching Jay Jurden move not only physically on stage during his Yes Ma’am special, but weave through different themes, he picks different topics and plays them masterfully. This makes me think of him in this instance as more as a maestro. He’s taking all these themes, topics, social commentary, and jokes and puts them together into one large orchestra.
For me, the biggest take away during this comedy special: it felt like Jay Jurden was giving a blueprint on comedy. Jay is very vocal on the craft online which I appreciate. In an era where we see comedians online relying heavily on punching down and saying they’re censored, Jay Jurden’s Yes Ma’am serves as a beautiful reminder that comedy isn’t making fun of people. It’s making light of the situation that people go through or experience and finding a way to uplift the oppressed. It’s being able to find silver lining. Jay talked about himself being bi, about his husband, then about the queer community. He doesn’t do it by punching down. He literally says, “I will never make fun of anyone who currently has it worse than me politically or socially. So per that logic, I don’t make fun of lesbians because lesbians can fight. Oh, my god! You ever been kicked by a pair of Doc Martens? You make that mistake once.”
Jay Jurden makes light of situations and cirumstances in a way that uplifts people that are being shitted on constantly by society. It really seems like a majority of comedians have forgotten how to do that part of the art form. I’m always glad to see Jay online calling out comedians on this, and then in his comedy special, he is showing motherfuckers how real comedy is done.
You can see Jay Jurden’s comedy special Yes Ma’am streaming now on Hulu.
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