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One of the greatest Captains in Star Trek history will return to our television screens this year….only he won’t actually be in Starfleet anymore? That seems to be the prevailing theory surrounding Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who is coming back for an all-new series all his own on CBS All Access sometime later this year, once again played by Sir Patrick Stewart. Forget being commanding the starship Enterprise, it doesn’t look like Picard will be in charge of any Starfleet ship this time around.
In today’s Nerdist News, we go over the possibilities of just where Jean-Luc could be some twenty years after Star Trek: Nemesis, and how it all ties into previous canon. With the first details about this new show now coming out, mostly via interviews with series producer Alex Kurtzman and from Jonathan Frakes, who played Picard’s “Number One” Will Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation, a picture of just what the finally years of the 24th century look like are beginning to form.
When Frakes was asked about the Picard show in an interview with Deadline, he said “Patrick isn’t playing Capt. Jean-Luc Picard this time, he’s done with [that phase of his career in] Starfleet in this show. That’s about the only thing I do know about the show.” So are we talking Ambassador? Admiral? 24th century Indiana Jones-style archaeologist? Bitter recluse, so disappointed by his failures that he’s retreated into a secluded part of the galaxy like Luke Skywalker? Oh boy, be prepared for a lot of angry YouTube videos if that turns out to be the case. We just hope that Stewart somehow manages to bring on his buddy Ian McKellen for some kind of role. Romulan adversary maybe? We’d be so here for it!
Images: CBS
So in deference to the title of this blog drop, I really can't imagine a more auspicious time to mark the return of Milestone Media. But where exactly is Milestone "2.0" post co-founder, Reginald Hudlin's '15 interview, when he openly discussed a relaunch of Milestone Media Group, along with surviving co-founders Derek Dingle and Denys Cowan? More formally, DC Comics announced the development of "Earth-M" within their multiverse, which would be a housing imprint for the earlier Milestone characters in addition to more current ones, and that a few "Earth-M" titles would be published yearly, as well as one-shots and a miniseries. No further developments were alluded to until October '17, when it was announced that Milestone would be returning in 2018 with five titles, including Milestone (featuring Icon and Rocket), Duo (based on the character Xombi), a new Static series and two other new titles: Love Army and Earth-M. We are actively pursuing an interview with Mr. Hudlin and I'm sure he will be able to assuage our audience of any concerns about whether or not this mighty company will be coming back into the fold.
Putting aside any speculations concerning the delay for this relaunch (a lawsuit filed by the estate of late co-founder, Dwayne McDuffie or DC/Warner bureaucratic red tape), it would be unconscionable if Milestone were not able to reemerge considering the zeitgeist has never been this "ripe" for a minority themed comic book company. Back in '93, I'm not sure if one could succinctly state that there was a codified "blerd" or nerds of color community that could be activated as a quantifiable consumer base. Without a doubt, Milestone was ahead of its time with even conceiving, better yet, successfully publishing, multicultural characters that tapped into similar socio-political themes that are still capturing headlines in current news periodicals. What I don't want to see from a Milestone reunion is a "let's get the band back together" approach to a now new millennium imprint. The characters, at some level, have to be overhauled.....please no Liefeld-esque aesthetics that were the rage in the 90s. Case in point, check out Marvel's wardrobe update for Hyperion (different company...but still)-
Out with the Old-
And J. Michael Straczynski's more modern version, courtesy of the Supreme Power graphic novel series-
Adding further insult to injury, this is how Milestone's sepia toned version of Hyperion, Icon looked since his last run of publication-
The world, along with the expectations and tastes of the comic book audience has changed vastly since '93. Not only do we have a publishing industry that is being bolstered (ok...we can debate this but it should be) by multi-billion dollar franchise films but now anyone who has seen a superhero film (perhaps to our chagrin) professes to have "nerd" bona fides. And unfortunately during Milestone's nascent stages, oftentimes (white) industry insiders pejoratively referred to the imprint as comics "for blacks." Fast forward twenty five years and now we have a country (yes even when factoring in this nationalistic Trump era) that is more multicultural, more nerdy and purportedly more politically woke. This might be the most successful year to date for crossover "blerd" product that appealed to all strata globally after the billion dollar box office Black Panther juggernaut hit earlier in '18.
And to compound matters even further, there are countless social media platforms, websites and podcasts (ahem, Afronerdradio, notwithstanding) devoted to nerd culture primed for Milestone's return. Image Comics, which started out a year before Milestone and had their fair share of insider creative and financial difficulties, have weathered their storms and now occupies a 10% market share in the comic book publishing sphere. Starting in 2009, Image began to greatly expand both their genre of comics it publishes and the types of creators attracted to the publisher, ushering a period of critical acclaim. Among its award-winning series, are Morning Glories, The Manhattan Projects, Saga, Chew and Fatale. But back to Milestone.....imagine kick ass cover art:
That, my friends, is not a photo but a penciled photorealistic piece created by Nigerian artist, Arinze Stanley. In order for many of these minority themed comic companies to work, they pretty much have to operate like a story boarded film enterprise (which is what they are). We need to see not just stories about capes but also magical kingdoms (Black Hogwarts!), traditional science fiction, romance, detective noir, horror, period stories, spy thrillers, alternative historical fiction......and the beat goes on. I'm crossing my fingers. Am I asking for too much? Or is it 2018-19 and Kweli-TV, DC Universe, Brown Sugar and Netflix are my options. You tell, me.
As we move ever closer to Disney’s The Lion King remake it looks like the company is excited to expand the lore of their iconic property into other mediums. We can exclusively announce they’re heading to the realm of graphic novels with Dark Horse’s Disney The Lion King: Wild Schemes and Catastrophes. The book will be written by John Jackson Miller with an artist yet to be announced and will be an anthology style book with different stories about Simba and his friends.
According to Dark Horse’s official press release The Lion King: Wild Schemes and Catastrophes will take readers on an adventure through the epic world of the movie. “Journey through Pride Rock and beyond in four stories focusing on Simba as a cub. Young Simba learns being king is not as easy as he would like to believe, fan-favorite duo Timon and Pumbaa find themselves in a peculiar situation, take a trek with young Simba and Nala on a path unknown, and share in the wise words of the one and only Rafiki.”
With anticipation for the live action adaptation growing, it makes sense Disney would want to build on that while introducing a new generation of fans to the property with a brand new kids comic, especially as Dark Horse and Disney have a deal which sees the comics publisher put out licensed young readers comics based on the Mouse House.
Disney The Lion King: Wild Schemes and Catastrophes is out on June 4, 2019, and is available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, TFAW, and at your local comic shop.
Images: Dark Horse, Disney
