ESSENCE CELEBRATES ITS MILESTONE 15TH ANNIVERSARY BLACK WOMEN IN HOLLYWOOD AWARDS HIGHLIGHTING “The Black Cinematic Universe” AS IT HONORS STARS NIA LONG, AUNJANUE ELLIS, QUINTA BRUNSON AND CHANTÉ ADAMS
THE STAR-STUDDED RED CARPET EVENT WILL BE HOSTED BY ACTOR DAMSON IDRIS AND WILL TAKE PLACE ON THURSDAY, MARCH 24TH, IN BEVERLY HILLS, CA
ESSENCE’S OSCAR WEEK FESTIVITIES TO CULMINATE WITH ITS 3RD ANNUAL HOLLYWOOD HOUSE EVENT TAKING PLACE ON FRIDAY, MARCH 25TH
BOTH EXPERIENCES WILL STREAM ON ESSENCEStudios.COM and ESSENCE.com
(March 2, 2022) New York, N.Y.—ESSENCE, the leading and only 100% Black-owned media, technology and commerce company at scale dedicated to Black women and communities, announces its slate of honorees for its milestone 15th anniversary ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards. As one of Hollywood’s most highly coveted events during awards season, ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood recognizes the extraordinary achievements of the industry’s most inspiring Black women who are helping diverse Black stories to be told. Taking place on Thursday, March 24th, at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, CA, ESSENCE will mark this momentous occasion by highlighting “The Black Cinematic Universe” and honoring luminaries: actress/producer/director Nia Long (You People), Oscar-nominated actress Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard), actress/comedian/creator Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary) and actress Chanté Adams (A Journal For Jordan.) This year’s star-studded affair will be hosted by actor Damson Idris (Snowfall.) Additional talent to be announced soon.
Since its inception in 2008, the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards have honored some of the most cherished figures in the industry. This year’s star-studded affair will be commemorated in ESSENCE’s March/April print issue (on newsstands now), which recognizes 124 power players and creatives across film, TV and streaming, and in a special digital split-cover issue highlighting each Black Women in Hollywood honoree.
ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood will be aired as a virtual experience on Monday, March 28th, from 7-10 P.M. (ET) on ESSENCEStudios.com andESSENCE.com. ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood issponsored by Disney’s Onyx Collective and Warner Bros Television Group.
“We believe Black women are the CEO’s of home, community and industry. For a decade and a half, ESSENCE has spotlighted and honored the Black women who curate and shape Hollywood and the entertainment ecosystem from a variety of roles and positions. We are proud to again commemorate their achievements at our signature awards luncheon and throughout the year,” said Caroline Wanga, ESSENCE CEO. “This year—as we highlight the Black Cinematic Universe—our four honorees collectively exemplify multigenerational strength, influence, impact, and power in the tapestry of the honorees that preceded them and the honorees yet to come. We look forward to celebrating their achievements in unity with the 31 million Black women that call ESSENCE home and the communities they represent.”
“Honoring breakthrough moments, emerging talent and cinematic legends have always been our guide when choosing our Black Women in Hollywood honorees,” says Cori Murray, ESSENCE Deputy Editor. “This year—our 15th anniversary—we proudly continue celebrating actresses championing for authentic portrayals and diverse storytelling across film, television and streaming. Much like our theme, the Black Cinematic Universe, the power in our presence is infinite.”
In addition, ESSENCE’s Oscar week activities will culminate with its third annual ESSENCE Hollywood House, which will be held on Friday, March 25th. ESSENCE Hollywood House was developed to provide compelling and engaging live content aimed at sparking meaningful conversation and action to drive more inclusion in Hollywood, as well as to provide an opportunity for Black creatives—aspiring and established—to educate, collaborate and empower one another with a purpose. The experience will feature thought leaders, industry stakeholders and members of the creative community including actors, directors, writers, showrunners, studio heads and others who will lead a curated schedule of interactive conversations, virtual panels, masterclasses, fireside chats and more. It will be featured on ESSENCEStudios.com and ESSENCE.com on March 29th. ESSENCE Hollywood House is sponsored by Disney’s Onyx Collective & Warner Bros Television Group.
ESSENCE.com is giving fans exclusive access to the style and substance of Black Women in Hollywood by live streaming all of the red-carpet action, including interviews with the stars, starting at 11:30 a.m. PST/2:30 p.m. EST.
Stay tuned to ESSENCE.com for highlights and behind-the-scenes access to the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood and ESSENCE Hollywood House. Follow us Twitter and Instagram @essence #BlackWomeninHollywood.
For more details on the 2022 ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards, visit ESSENCE.com/BWIH. ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood and ESSENCE Hollywood House are produced by ESSENCE Communications, Inc.
The post ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards Announce Honorees – Nia Long, Aunjanue Ellis, Quinta Brunson, and Chanté Adams appeared first on The Nerd Element.
Writer: Shea Fontana / Artist: Celia Moscote / Boom! Studios
Getting Dizzy #4 is the final issue in the series and what a strong final issue it was. Dizzy’s friends rally around her after the Negatrixes threatened to overwhelm her, and we get to partake in a time-honored tradition of watching the power of friendship defeat the forces of evil. That part isn’t really a spoiler, that’s just how the genre works. The exact specifics are though, so I’ll leave those for you to witness firsthand.
All that said, Fontana does an excellent job wrapping up all of the narrative threads. We’re still very much anchored in Dizzy’s point of view, and we get a lot of wonderful sequences from her perspective about all of the important people in her life. This results in a very strong close to the series. The exposition is efficient and effective, and there is a clear love for the characters and what they represent. There are some flashbacks, some quirky action sequences, and all-in-all, some great narrative beats that warm the heart.
Moscote’s illustration in Getting Dizzy #4 help embody that same warm, and the opening pages are just an emotional tour de force that show the characters at their finest. They also benefit greatly from the wonderful colors from Gloria Martinelli and expressive lettering from Jim Campbell. The slightly larger than average comic is filled to the brim with all of the tropes that make these types of stories sing, and the conclusion left me with a smirk on my face.
While the series still has some wobbles here and there, the complete collection makes for a great read, and the story and themes will be appreciated by the target audience in full. This is the perfect story to get teenage readers into comics and also general nerdy things by association. It has that exact type of bubblegum pop energy that puts a smile on your face when you’re done, and it’s worth checking out. I hope that Fontana and Moscote get to spend more time in the universe in the future.
9.2 “Roller Blades” out of 10
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The post Getting Dizzy #4 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Afronerd Radio can now be heard LIVE courtesy of Apple Music/Itunes
Greetings to all of our supporters and longstanding Afronerd Radio followers. It's that time AGAIN, so buckle up per usual for our Sunday Grindhouse broadcast; a sonic trek through the "Blerd Multiverse" airing tonight at 6 p.m. eastern on the BTalk 100 internet radio network. Listen to your "gamma-irradiated" AFROnerdist hosts as they unravel this week's topics a la Mike Tyson Mysteries: more historical anecdotes and thoughts about Black History Month as it comes to a close this final weekend; a recent Forbes piece posits that hashtag slogans like #BlackGirlMagic and #BlackExcellence might be doing more harm than good by preaching "Black exceptionalism" to the AA community; a White Columbia University professor is suspended from his position as head of the school's psychiatry department over a peculiar (and racist) tweet commenting about model, Nyakim Gatwech's dark-skinned complexion;
Our thoughts concerning the recent and deadly Russian-Ukrainian conflict and how media, ethnic differences, and dueling political ideologies might be leading the globe toward WWIII; And what about Afro-Ukrainians who are trying to exit the country and are experiencing discrimination at the Poland/Ukraine border?
More details are coming out about the rebooting of animated franchise classics, Futurama and The King of The Hill; Lastly, Dburt came across a Marketplace.org article that highlights the growing business opportunities that are becoming more evident in the Blerd/Black nerd niche hobby space:
One thing that Dburt is doing (finally) is investing in cryptocurrency, courtesy of Roundlyx. We would implore our followers to investigate, discern and then explore by using our referral code: afro-87A4BF
Call us LIVE at 508-645-0100. AFTER CLICKING ON THE HIGHLIGHTED LINK, GO DIRECTLY TO AFRONERD RADIO!!!
Also, Afronerd Radio's podcast format can be heard via BTalk 100 Pandora, Spotify and, IHeartRadio....more formats to follow!
2018’s Aquaman introduced a villain that probably isn’t well-known to the DCEU audience, yet the connoisseurs of comic books recognized the black suit and bug-eyed helmet almost instantly. Of course, we’re talking about Black Manta, Aquaman’s greatest and most menacing foe, portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Still, even those who immediately recognized one of the best and most iconic super-villains don’t know his true origin story and the Black separatism that goes along with it.
It’s hard to tell which Black Manta origin story is true since DC Comics retconned his origin several times over the years. The character first appeared in Aquaman #35 issued in 1967 and quickly established himself as Aquaman’s archnemesis, capable of inflicting great harm upon the superhero. Though very little was known about the character and his background, apart from the fact that he wants to defeat Aquaman and gain power for himself through the conquest of Atlantis, DC Comics regularly used Black Manta to paint a stark picture between Aquaman’s heroics and the antics of a true villain. The two have clashed ever since.
However, during one of their clashes, in the Adventure Comics #452 issued in 1977, ten years after introducing the character, Black Manta removes his bug-eyed helmet revealing why he named himself Black Manta — he’s Black. Black Manta’s ethnicity isn’t all that surprising since there are numerous African American/Black superheroes and villains within the worlds of comics. But his mission, as stated by Black Manta himself, is to conquer Atlantis and have Black people dominate the ocean after being oppressed for centuries on dry land. Coincidentally, his mission also coincides with one of his origin stories.
Black Manta’s initial origin story was introduced in issue #6 of 1993’s Aquaman comic book series, in which the character reveals his origin through a series of flashbacks. Manta was a young African American boy kidnapped by sailors while playing at the docks. He was forced to work on the ship for an unspecified amount of time, often starved and physically abused — so it’s pretty obvious that his life suddenly took a sharp turn for the worse.
One day, he saw Aquaman swimming with dolphins while cleaning the deck and tried calling the King of Atlantis for help. But, unfortunately, as his cries for help went unheard, the boy plunged into hatred towards the sea and Aquaman as its representative. Left with no one but himself to rely on and forced into self-defense, the boy killed his tormentors with a knife, becoming determined to become the master of the sea, which brought him nothing but misery, pain, and suffering.
Another origin story was introduced years later, in issue #8 of the 2003 Aquaman comic book series, in which Black Manta was an autistic orphan named David, placed in Gotham’s Arkham Asylum. This version isn’t any less grim than the previous, as even the touch of cotton sheets in Arkham felt excruciatingly painful to the boy, and they continuously experimented on him. However, as opposed to the torments of being restrained to the cotton-sheeted bed and smothered with a pillow until he passed out every night, David only felt comfortable while submerged in the freezing cold water.
One of the experimental treatments he was subjected to cleared the boy’s head, enhancing his strength and reflexes while also making him incredibly violent as a result. Fueled by violent rage and endowed with newfound strength David killed the very scientist who administered the treatment and escaped Arkham. In this version, the young Black Manta was fascinated by Aquaman after seeing him on television during his stay at the asylum.
The third origin story introduced in May 2012’s Aquaman Vol. 7 #7, in which Black Manta, named David Hyde, is a descendant of the Deserters, the lost tribe of Atlantis. His father raised him on the family fishing boat named Black Manta, from which he operated as a diver and a treasure hunter. While acting as a mercenary, David injured Thomas Curry (Aquaman’s father), who later succumbed to his injuries. Seeking revenge, Aquaman stormed the Black Manta ship and, in the rain and darkness, murdered Hyde’s father, under the assumption that he was the killer. So, David crafted weapons and armor and became the Black Manta.
It’s not unusual for comic book characters to have many different backstories over the years, especially when introduced more than 55 years ago. However, one thing persisted through his origin stories, in nearly all iterations, either directly or indirectly — his desire to take over the oceans for Black people to rule. In fact, Black Manta stated his intentions in the same issue in which he revealed his face before revealing his first origin story in the 1993’s comic book. Canonically speaking, this instance of black separatism is still tied to his original origin story.
However, there’s also some underlying character development between origin stories, and Manta’s intention to win the oceans for Black people might’ve vaned over the years. His third origin story ties him to his Atlantean ancestry, a story which is further explored in the most recent release of Black Manta comic book, Vol 1 #3, released in January 2022. In it, Black Manta is granted a vision of Atlantis before the Great Deluge. In his vision, he witnesses a tribe of his Black Atlantean ancestors abandon Atlantis and flee to Africa just before Atlan sank the city.
In the meantime, a new villain called Devil Ray (obviously a Black Manta fanboy) coordinated a series of terrorist attacks around the globe, announcing his intentions to take over the oceans for Black people, as Manta once claimed he wanted to do. Later on, the new villain told Manta that he idolized him as a child and even modeled his life after him, but had become disillusioned after realizing that Manta only ever helped himself, rather than their people.
In conclusion, Black Manta is one of the greatest comic book villains ever, right there in the same category as his better-known colleagues, such as the Joker, Lex Luthor, or Reverse-Flash. Unfortunately, outside of several animated DC series and films, and a live-action Aquaman, one of the best villains DCEU has to offer, hasn’t received much screen time. However, that’s likely to change judging by the Aquaman post-credit scene, in which Black Manta is rescued from the ocean by marine biologists. Who knows, he might even get a spin-off.