This one might get me in trouble

I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to talk about the whole race thing, since Michael B Jordan has been cast in the new FF movie, and people have been shouting about it, I wanted to throw in my two cents.

A couple things to mention first. While I am all for this casting, or at the very least indifferent to it, I want to say that I don't think that people who are against it are necessarily racist (of course some of them are, but anytime a discussion of race comes up, racist people will show up to spout their views). Simply put, comic book fans hate change. I've seen just as much vitriol directed at changing Scarlet Witch's eye color. That said, most of the people arguing against this are straight, white men, and it's very difficult for SWM to see the world from a minority perspective.

One of the more annoying things that has been said is that they should instead cast Mr. Fantastic or the Thing as black, that way it doesn't mess with the brother/sister relationship of Sue and Johnny. This implies that the filmmakers are just trying to inject a black guy into the FF, which is just stupid. Josh Trank has worked with Michael B Jordon before. From what I can gather, the only reason the casting choice was made was the only reason it should be made; he's the best actor for the role (I've only seen him in Chronicle, but he seemed like he'd be a pretty good Johnny Storm). This is not an issue of 'quotas' or anything like that. It's an issue of finding the best actor for the role. And if you don't think that Sue and Johnny can have as strong a relationship if one of them is adopted, I should point out that I know people who are adopted who are far closer to their families than I am with mine.

The most frustrating argument I see is when people argue "Well then let's make Luke Cage or Black Panther white. If it's okay to make white characters black then it should be okay black characters white, right?" Wrong. It's absolutely not the same thing. The obvious reason being that there is still a huge imbalance between the straight white male and basically all minorities in pretty much every area of the entertainment industry (or really anywhere). Sure, it's better than it was thirty or forty years ago, but especially in places like comics and movies, it's pretty much dominated by SWM characters, as well as creators. And while I agree that it would be more effective to create more minority characters (and hire more minority creators), just refer to my previous point about this casting decision being about the right actor for the role, not about filling a quota.

The main point is that most of these characters were created by straight white men, especially going back to the time the FF were created. Which is why most protagonists are straight white men. Not out of some intrinsic 'whiteness' of their character, that's just the default for these guys. I know this from experience, more often than not, when I'm coming up with an idea, it's about a SWM. Since these same creators were also responsible for most, if not all, of the minority characters at the time. What this means is that while the SWM characters were made that way by default, the minority characters were all minorities for a reason. It was integral to their character, a part of who they are. Being black is a part of Luke Cage's character, it affects how he grew up, how he looks at the world, how he chooses to use his powers.

Of course, the main argument is that they're different media, it's a new version of the story, it doesn't have to be exactly the same. If Michael B Jordan can pull of Johnny Storm, if Donald Glover can pull off Peter Parker, if the Rock can pull off Luke Cage, I'm okay with that.

A Long Overdue Update

Heroes Con is in just over a week, so I wanted to let everyone know where everything stands.

Anonymous Nancy should be pretty close to completion, all the pages are done, waiting on the final cover (I've seen the pencils and inks and it looks very good). So once we get that finished and get everything laid out we'll be set there.

Unfortunately, Lunatic Fringe will not be ready in time for the convention. However, we will be putting together a 5-page mini-preview, which I'll be handing out for free. So that's a like a bonus! Again, waiting on the final cover, but what I've seen of it so far, it should be pretty great.

Trying to get some other little things together, some postcards, stickers, maybe even a poster. You'll just have to stop by and see!

More details when I have them. Pretty exciting though, this will be my first convention as a full-fledged self-published writer!

I might post something a little later, regarding this whole race thing with the FF movie, just want to throw in my two cents and alienate anyone still reading this.

New Old Script, Iron Man 3

Posted a new script here. This is another old one I did for one of the pencil jack contests in the writing forums. I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

Also saw Iron Man 3 last night. **Might be some minor spoilers??** I really enjoyed it, though I just realized that Shane Black really has a thing for setting movies around Christmas that have nothing to do with Christmas. Is that a spoiler? It really doesn't effect the plot at all. I'll put a warning up there anyway. I can't help but wonder if I'd have enjoyed it more if I didn't know so much about the comics. Like I'd think "Oh, that's like what happened in Civil War, that's kinda like in Dark Reign," or "That guy was in Extremis, but he didn't do any of that." Just can't shut it off. I think the thing it really proved, though, was that you can have a darker story, with a lot of pathos, bring the hero down to a low point, and still make a movie that's also a lot of fun at the same time.

Of course, my opinion could change completely upon a second viewing. That happens sometimes.

Anyway, that's all I got.