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Here’s what we reviewed this week in comics and what you might want to check out:

Batman #84:

This is King’s penultimate issue on the mainline Batman title. This is part 10 of the ‘City of Bane’ arc. And King is really determined to show that Flashpoint Batman a.k.a. Thomas Wayne is very much incapable of being both Batman and happy at the same time. Told in a pseudo-linear fashion, each page is prefaced by the single sentence “Earlier.” as King covers the entire backstory of Thomas Wayne in reverse. I imagine it would be a little bit disorienting at first read especially if you’re not already familiar with the Flashpoint mythos, although if you’ve been following Batman for this long, you probably have enough of a primer. My main tripping point didn’t really come up until near the end of the issue, and that’s largely because King got a little too clever with his parallelism and callback although it was a neat story telling trick.

Read the Full Review Here

Justice League #37:

If I had to pick a single series that exemplifies all of the best qualities of DC Comics, I don’t think I would hesitate to point to Scott Snyder’s Justice League. Time and time again, Snyder has proven that he has a deep love for the DC mythos and an innate understanding of what makes a compelling ensemble story and there are few moments in 2019 that have got me as hyped as seeing the Justice League charge into battle alongside an aerial combat platform version of the Hall of Justice.

Read the Full Review Here

X-Men #3:

If you’ve been reading any of the X-books, or even just these last two issues of X-Men, you’ll know that the mutants have had some complications in paradise. The Summers & Sons & Daughters Co.’s adventure with Krokoa “colliding” with another island seems like only the start of their troubles. We’re only in issue #3 and the GATES HAVE ALREADY BEEN COMPROMISED. You can add that to the list of misfortunes that have occurred since Dawn of X started, including Xavier’s assassination.

Read the Full review Here

Marauders #3:

We had to know that at some point that the more villainous mutants invited to Krokoa would act in their own self-interest. Sebastian Staw is a prime example of that as we saw in the last issue when Emma put him in his place for selling the mutant drugs to the rich instead of those who needed them. Now, we get to see just how long the Black King’s scheming has been going on for and just what he wants out of this new world order.

Read the Full review here

What books did you check out this week that we didn’t cover? Hit us in the comments or on our social media!

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The post The Pull – 12/4/2019: War and Unhappiness appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

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Tiffany Haddish has often detailed the difficult relationship she’s shared with her mother over the years. In The Last Black Unicorn, Haddish’s memoir, she shared that her mother’s entire personality changed when she suffered a head injury after a severe car accident. As a result, Haddish, who was just 8-years-old at the time, had to not only raise her younger siblings, she had to teach her mother everything she taught her as a child. But because of the head injury, she was no longer the mother she knew. She was cruel and often verbally and physically abusive to her throughout her childhood and even as an adult.

But over the years, Haddish has made a point to be in her mother’s life. And as her career has grown, she’s been able to take care of her mother in new ways and repair the relationship. See what she said about it during her recent interview with Hollywood Unlocked.

Jason Lee: You honored your mother last night. You was getting a little choked up. I always so the process of forgiving my mom before she died was hard and I don’t know if it was complete. But looking at you up there, how did you get to a place of forgiveness?

Tiffany Haddish: It is a long road and I’m still working on it. Still, everyday working on it. But I have to put myself in her shoes. What tools did she have to be the best? Not a lot. And then when she had that car accident, everything was taken away from her and she had to rebuild. And here I am, an 8-year-old little girl trying to teach her everything that she taught me which might not have been enough for her. Her vocabulary wasn’t all together. She had a head injury. It’s horrible.

Also, you got to look at it like ‘what if the tables are turned?’ What if I have children or adopt children and something happens to me and I end up not being the best that I could possibly be. Do I want them to sh*t on me for the rest of my life that I’m here on this earth or do I want them to try their best to treat me as well as they possibly can? And I just feel like do unto others as you want them to do unto you. That’s the golden rule in every religion, every Bible, every manner book, treat people the way you want to be treated.

So, even though she was not the nicest and not the best at times, I feel like kill her with the kindness. And I’ve seen it change her. Seeing her not be able to do all the things she wanted, the frustration and the guilt that she has. At the end of my book, I say all I want to do is make enough money to get my mom out of that mental institution, get her the best doctors, the best diet, you know, get her together the best as possible. And I’m doing it. I just bought her a house. I’m broke as hell.

Her mother telling her she was proud of her.

When I got her out the institution and she came to the show that I did at the Microsoft Theater. Did that show and my sister brought her in but didn’t tell me that she was going to be there. And we’re backstage and she just comes up to me and says, tears in her eyes, ‘I’m so proud of you. You were able to bring all these different people together. I’m so proud of you.’ I could have died right there. I was satisfied with everything right there. And she gave me the best hug. It was the hug I had been wanting since I was 7-8-years old. That mama hug like

‘I got you.’ I love that lady. I can’t stand her sometimes but I love her. That’s my first love”

You can watch Tiffany’s full interview in the video below.

We’re a few weeks out from the New Year now, so I’m just gonna go ahead and call Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett the wokest YA novel of 2019.

Racially diverse, LGBTQ friendly, sex-positive, and endlessly thought-provoking, Full Disclosure feels like a representation of what the world is and has been for a while. There’s no spoon-feeding or hand-holding when it comes to introducing the various backgrounds, family dynamics, and identities of the characters. We learn about who everyone is in a casual tone that says: “It’s 2019 and this is incredibly normal.”

Simone Garcia-Hampton is a budding theater prodigy with a mental encyclopedia of musicals. She’s directing her high school’s production of Rent (to the joy of some and the irritation of others), and she’s got an eye for the role of director. Only one thing seems to be able to take her mind away from the stage: cute, somewhat musically inept stage boy Miles. Yet just as her crush begins to manifest into something more, shall we say, touchable, an anonymous stalker is threatening to expose her if she doesn’t start putting some distance between MIles and herself.

Expose what, exactly?

Simone is HIV-positive. And while she certainly knows that her status is far from a death sentence or a threat to anyone, popular ignorance puts her at risk. After facing wide-spread rejection and isolation at her old school, Simone just wants a fresh start to enjoy the rest of her high school career without people getting nosy and cruel about her medical history. It’s hard enough trying to figure out how to talk about her status with friends, much less a could-be boyfriend. But given how well things are going with Miles, it seems like the past might have to repeat itself.

I don’t have any personal connection with HIV or the AIDs crisis (as far as I know). This book shined a light on my own ignorance towards the topic, and for that I am immensely grateful. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that for most of us who came out of the American public education system, we were done a disservice on a lot of topics that fell under the umbrella of “health class” and/or “sex ed.” HIV and AIDS were definitely among those taught-but-not-really subjects. I found that I was just flat-out wrong about many things regarding how HIV is contracted, protecting against the virus, and how those who are positive learn to live with and manage it.

On the flip side, so much of Simone’s story was incredibly easy to identify with. Her overprotective dads, well-intentioned and loving as they were, still managed to be a massive source of frustration for a sexually curious teenager. Her struggles to feel “queer enough” among her friends and not be seen as an experimental straight girl hit close to home for me. Trying to find security and acceptance in LGBTQ spaces as a bisexual person (especially one in a straight-passing relationship) can be tough. I appreciated Garrett’s exploration of these types of complex inter-community struggles. Full Disclosure does with ease what a lot of media wastes time wringing its hands over; it doesn’t just offer diverse representation, but it looks at how the intersections of different identities actually affect people on a regular day-to-day basis.

I loved Garrett’s writing in large part because it subverted so many tropes that I’ve come to expect in YA. It avoids a lot of the less sensible beats inherent to stories involving romance, blackmail, and secrecy. Instead, it offers a lot of teachable moments about the kind of communication that builds healthy partnerships. The characters were well-rounded, and I found myself siding with almost everyone at one point or another. I’m also not exaggerating when I say this has some of the most authentic teen dialogue I’ve ever read. Reading scenes of Simone with her best friends felt like reminiscing over conversations I had in high school. This is perhaps unsurprising given that Garret finished the novel when she was seventeen.

Simone’s story reminded me of the importance of practicing empathy and putting yourself in the shoes of someone whose experiences are leaps and bounds beyond your own. Even as a Black bisexual woman, lingering at the intersection of several different types of oppression, I found myself shocked at my own capacity for ignorance and bias. It’s sometimes easy to take one’s own understanding of marginalization for granted. There are always new communities, identities, and experiences worth learning about as an outsider.

Full Disclosure is a powerful pushback against stigma, an enlightening delve into an underrepresented topic in the genre, and a reminder to practice empathy no matter who you are.

Reexamine what you think you know.

The post Review: ‘Full Disclosure’ is the Wokest YA Novel of 2019 appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

This December, team ESSENCE is partnering with Target to bring the first-ever ESSENCE + New Voices Entrepreneurship Summit And Target Holiday Marketto Atlanta. In anticipation of this premiere holiday event event, we’re spotlighting a few of the amazing Black-owned brands who will be setting up shop onsite to meet all of your last-minute gifting needs!

When Jacquelyn Rodgers set out in search of holiday wrapping paper featuring Black Santa, she came up short. After reaching out to friends and family in major cities across the country to see if their states carried the Black Santa-themed wrapping paper, she realized it either didn’t exist or was extremely hard to come by.

“I really wanted wrapping paper that featured brown Santas and I couldn’t find it anywhere,” Rodgers said. “I was in the stores and I just saw rows and rows of Santas but, none that looked like me. And I really wanted to wrap my son’s Christmas presents in brown Santas.”

Our favorite month of the year is here! We can’t wait to see #ClarenceClaus spark joy in your homes this holiday season

A post shared by Greentop Gifts (@greentopgifts) on Dec 1, 2019 at 12:55pm PST

Determined to give her kids the chance to see a Santa that looked like them reflected in his wrapping paper, the persistent mom decided to create her own line. “We came up with Greentop Gifts because I really wanted wrapping paper and items that really reflected our culture and look like me and look like my son and look like my family,” she said. “And I know that a lot of other parents and moms really want those items.”

Register now to attend the 2019 ESSENCE + New Voices Entrepreneur Summit & Target Holiday Market this December in ATL. See you there!

Scroll through to shop a few of our favorites from the Greentop Gifts collection and then be sure to join us to shop this brand and more amazing Black-owned brands at the ESSENCE and Target Holiday Market, December 13- 15 in ATL.

The post ESSENCE Vendor Spotlight: Greentop Gifts Has All Your Black Santa Holiday Shopping Needs appeared first on Essence.