deerstalker

Writer:Ta-Nehisi Coates /Artist:Daniel Acuña / Marvel Comics

The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda arc is in its third book, Two Thousand Seasons, and issue #17 goes off! Ta-Nehisi Coates has brought this story to the point of crucial conflict (had to sneak a 90s rap reference in there). In all honesty, this book could’ve opened with Billy Porter at a podium in full Pray Tell regalia proclaiming, “The category is…Tango and Cash!”

Really though, Changamire, Zenzi, and Tetu (from the World of Wakanda arc, incited civil war, remember?) run up into Nigandan territory like Ocean’s Eleven to loot the cadaver of an infamous enemy of Wakanda. They’re the villains that come through to grab that one last component of the weapon that solidifies their plans. Once they show up, you know there’s a show of force against some nameless guards that ends with them ultimately getting what they came for. Despite the trope, the moments of dialogue between these three displays some fantastic character development.

This Black Panther run is still delivering peak Blackness on all fronts. The development of secondary and tertiary characters deepens this arc and leaves readers wondering where it’ll go next. Nakia and Storm have a conversation that I swear I’ve seen recapped in gifs of Love and Hip-Hop. Ororo is really feeling herself these days and Coates is selling it to great effect in issue #17.

Artist Daniel Acuña knows not only how to color Black skin for light sources (Federico Blee, I’m looking at you), but is capable of portraying Black nonverbal communication. Storm gives us Jill Scott at Chapelle’s Block Party confidence and Acuña captures all of it. I Stan.

The creative team on this book is turning out a clever piece of narrative work. In a digital age where Twitter will come for anyone not doing their due diligence, it means so much that at no point in this series is the violence simply for violence’s sake. Every moment is full of intention and symbolism. All props to those who came before but this is, without a doubt, the greatest Black Panther run ever executed.

Suggested Listening: You Got Me by The Roots (ft.Erykah Badu)

7.5 Tough Conversations out of 10

The post Black Panther #17 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

Writer: Kelly Thompson // Artist: Chris Bachalo // MARVEL

It’s Confirmed Once Again…

Nobody likes Staten Island. We’re back with Deadpool #1 so you know what that means, a new and bigger target. We begin with the Monster King, and we meet Wade already torn in half in the first few panels. As we see him slowly heal, notice the artistic direction taken across the flashback Deadpool provides for his birthday memory. It stretches across the rest of the first issue. Deadpool #1 is all about the “split”. What our priorities are versus what we want for ourselves and how sometimes the intersection does not prove to be easy to acquire.

With color, Bachalo used Deadpool’s highlights in the midst of black and white. Thompson’s introduction to the painful gray area when you can tell something is about to hurt before it actually does sets the stage for a beautiful inference for the rest of the issue. Deadpool #1 taught me:

sometimes regeneration is numbing…

If there is one thing we know about Wade Wilson, it’s that he is impulsive. Often participating in grand gestures that would be seen as dangerous, but since his regeneration is impeccable he’s not always punished for his recklessness. In this issue the Thompson-Bachalo team attacked his impulsiveness through his humor, relationships and fighting style. Readers can sink into the emotions of Wade through chaotic art panels, that do not feel messy and displaced but rather reflective of his emotions in the situation.

From his lonely celebration night to the search for excitement while taking on the responsibility of an empire, we see Wade digging himself into a deeper hole. At times it felt like trying to search for meaning in the midst of loneliness. He’s just pitting recklessness against his own desires and through the whole comic I keep asking myself —

Bast Almighty! Wade, are you okay?

In this issue we still get our saucy mercenary who doesn’t know the right time to shut up, the right basis of all good things Deadpool. What I hope to see in future issues is the different ways in which Wade handles his stoic emotions. We see it in the fight with the Monster King and we see it in the slow tear of an empire he took over, but what are other clever ways can we see Deadpool face his inevitable sadness? Deadpool #1 introduced the pains of regeneration. When you’re too numb and you’re trying to find modes of escape. I am excited to see what this creative team does with Deadpool’s humor as well as the construction of sadness that showcases the various layers we have yet to discuss.

9.2 Dead Kings out of 10

Reading Deadpool? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.

Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here!
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

The post Wade Got Some Blood On His Crown in Deadpool #1 appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

Writer: Jason Aaron / Artists: Dale Keown and Andrea Sorrentino / Marvel Comics

I don’t know about you but my new preferred theory for the origin of life on planet Earth is a “diseased Celestial vomiting its liquified space innards onto our planet’s primordial shores”. I repeatedly roll my eyes and shrug my shoulders when trying to figure out what an issue of Aaron’s Avengers is going to be, given the prehistoric iterations introduced towards the beginning of this run. I should know better. These issues have been good, especially the ones that focus on one character. Last time it was Ghost Rider; Jason Aaron said, “Oh you liked the flaming mammoth? I’ll see that and raise you two gay cavemen and an energy blast-spitting T-Rex”. I’m only half-joking, but does Jason Aaron have the superpower to take my childhood dreams and turn them into legit comics? Much of the Million B.C. Avengers make sense. Iron Fist, Black Panther, Ghost Rider, Thor and Phoenix have cannon origins than go back generations. The stretch was Hulk. Hulk is being linked to the “Starbrand”, a cosmic force re-introduced by Jonathan Hickman in his Avengers run. If there’s one universal truth in comics (maybe even in life), though, it’s that it doesn’t matter how bizarre an idea is if it comes with a compelling story.

This tale follows the Starbrand on its first journey to Earth as the meteor (meteorite? I don’t know space) that wiped out the dinosaurs. Well, almost all the dinosaurs. Next, Aaron plays with Biblical themes introducing the slight Vnn and the burly Brrkk in a garden of paradise. Spending their days naming plants, defending the garden from attackers, and loving each other until the Starbrand abruptly infuses one with its power as the other dies. The grief, rage and loneliness expressed by the new Starbrand made a Hulk a befitting a new form of Earth’s new champion.

The art team demolished this one. Between the dinosaurs, a celestial and a Starbrand Hulk there were plenty of opportunities for impressive action shots. Not relying on action alone, the tranquil garden scene had elegance and grace. The emotion was beautifully conveyed on the two lovers’ faces. This was the best kind of book; one that could stand alone with no context and still shine.

10 “Starbrand T-Rex vs Kree Fights” out of 10

Reading Avengers? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.

Want to get Black Nerd Problems updates sent directly to you? Sign up here!
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

The post Avengers #26 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

It’s The Roc! According to Financial Post, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter has bought back the intellectual property of his fashion brand Rocawear.

New York-based Iconix Brand Group stated in a regulatory filing last week that it had sold certain intellectual property assets to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation L.L.C. and membership interests in his Marcy Media L.L.C. for $15 million as part of the settlement reached, which included two lawsuits and an arbitration proceeding.

Last week’s filing comes more than two years after Iconix filed a lawsuit against Jay-Z and his Roc Nation brand, and Major League Baseball Properties, among others. They alleged that by the selling of “Roc Nation” baseball caps, they were running afoul of the 2007 licensing agreement in which Roc Nation granted Iconix exclusive rights to manufacture and sell specific types of goods bearing the name of Rocawear, the clothing brand that Jay-Z and Damon Dash launched in 1999. 

Iconix accused Jay-Z of infringing on trademarks it acquired a decade earlier through its $204 million purchase of Rocawear, arguing in its complaint that the Roc Nation-branded baseball caps fell within the scope of the parties’ licensing deal and by selling the hats, “Carter and his various companies … have deliberately undermined a series of agreements, after receiving millions in substantial compensation from Plaintiffs, by continuing to use and exploit in business the very property already conveyed to Iconix and Studio IP by contract.”

The agreement ends that suit, filed in April 2017 in the federal court in Manhattan. It also resolves a private arbitration related to that sale and a July 2019 lawsuit Jay-Z filed in a New York state court in Manhattan which accused Iconix of fraudulently doing business with Roc Nation as part of a “colossal accounting scandal.”

Iconix said last week that it took a $5.5 million charge after agreeing in principle to resolve a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission probe into its writedowns. Both sides also agreed to drop all claims against each other, without admitting wrongdoing or unlawful conduct.

Although Jay-Z earned $81 million and was crowned as hip-hop’s first billionaire earlier this year, he still wound up in second place behind his mentee and “younger brother” Kanye West. Earlier this year, the NFL announced a long-term partnership with Roc Nation, Carter’s sports and entertainment agency, as the league’s official Live Music Entertainment Strategists. The partnership, which went into effect at the start of the 2019-20 season, will serve to strengthen community through music and the NFL’s Inspire Change initiative.