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Sunday, June 16, 2013

Listen to The Latest Pre Father's Day Edition of The Grindhouse! The Comic Shoppe at 6pm and Afronerd Radio Pitching Relief at 7pm!

Greetings to our supporters, loyal listeners and (sometime) detractors! Welcome to our special Pre-Father's Day episode of this Saturday's Grindhouse broadcast, courtesy of AfronerdRadio.com. For the first part of our double feature presentation, we have The Comic Shoppe airing promptly at 6pm eastern. Join Daryll B., Captain Kirk and Dburt as they wax about the following pulp/pop-culture fare: perhaps the most obvious matter, the crew gives their critique of the new Zack Snyder directed Man of Steel film which is poised for a 100 mil plus weekend takedown; Conan O'brien unveils the General Zod dlc for the Injustice video game; picking up from last week, does Iron Man have a retconned origin?; Dburt discovers Image's Jupiter's Legacy and lastly, the crew speculates on which properties Marvel Studios might be filming for the newly announced May 2016 and 2017 release dates. Call the hosts live at 646-915-9620.

Next up, Afronerd Radio airs at 7pm eastern with your hosts, Captain Kirk and Dburt. Afronerd welcomes the "tangential" producer of the show (aka Dburt's Dad), the Oracle to sit in during the show for this special Pre Father's Day broadcast. The issues up for grabs are: from the last show-continuing the Wendy Williams-Lisa Lampanelli n-word debate; more on Dr. Cosby's NY post op-ed; will Father's Day ever reach the respect level of Mother's Day if mothers can get Father's Day cards now?; is there a difference between NSA data mining and stop & frisk? and our thoughts about singer, Miley Cyrus professing to want a "Black" sound for her new record.

Our Pre Father's Day Show @ The Grindhouse-Sat @6pm!

And then we have Daryll B. of The Shoppe new blog piece. Enjoy!

Good Day AfroNerd Followers and Sci-Fi Fans of all cyberspace! I guess you fine folks know what we'll be talking about this week. Yep, it is Man of Steel week and since I am currently in line to see the movie, I am going to wait until the show to give my actually review. However, I can tell you that the trailers have done their job, since I am currently around the corner from the box office in the rain.... and NO ONE is phased by the bad weather. Everyone in line is giddy about the movie. I will however give you fine folks my personal Superman reading list over the last 15 years. These are stories that may not be the best or most highly regarded, are the ones that truly struck a chord with me and should give you a sense of my idea of how Superman should be portrayed on screen....

Death of Superman Trilogy - Might as well start off with the story that made Superman relevant AND helped destroy comics in the '90s. Superman's death from Dan Jurgens, Tom Grummett, Louise Simonson and an army of the era's finest creators was a boon to industry and almost helped capsize it with the out of control "collecting". Lost in that were some fine stories of how a world dependant on the immigrant from Krypton would get along without him. Plus, bonus points to these storyline for introducing John Henry Irons and Ron Troupe... even though DC consistently drops the ball with them...

The Kents - Take the Kent Family tree and the Superman world then twist it through tales of the Wild West and you get this book. I gave this book from John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake the hardest test I know, I passed it to my Dad, who's a bigtime Western fan, after the first month I obtained it and didn't get it back for THREE months! (Happy Father's Day Pop!) We all know that Clark got his ideals from Pa Kent, but here you see that Pa's ideals were passed down through generations... and speaking of generations...

Superman/Batman Generations - John Byrne takes the premise that both title characters have aged normally since their first introduction in the 30's and follows their bloodlines as well as the whole DC Universe in 10 year "shots". Notably here are Byrne's takes on forms of Kryptonite and the heroes involvement in wars... Spawned 3 versions, two that have been collected and the third a maxi-series...

JLA - Grant Morrison's JLA run gave us a strong Superman who was vunerable at the same time. Notably here was Supes wrestling an angel, how the US' Soldiers would feel about firing on the "s", and the whole World War III storyline. This laid the groundwork for what he would do later with Mr. Kent in All Star Superman.

Superman Secret Identity - Major props to Kurt Busiek for taking the Superman Earth Prime concept here and just giving it modern day sensabilities.An unfortunately lad named Clark Kent one day discovers he has received the powers of his namesake... Funny, dramatic, and at times introspective, this is a great homage to the dreams of every kid who wanted to be from Krypton...

Conversely, Mark Waid's Irredeemable is the flipside of that. His Superman analog The Plutonian has totally lost it turning on his adopted world and the heroes he once considered friends. How would you reason with an out of control Superman? Can you ever stop him? How would the world fare in his wake? All of these questions are approached and answered..horribly.. in this series.

Superman and the Legion of SuperHeroes - I get on Geoff Johns for a lot of things, but here he makes my favorite team of future heroes relevant again by answering what the idea of Superman makes for the future of the DC Universe...against the evil views of the Justice League. Yeah, you read that right....

Speaking of future interference, Batman/Superman Absolute Power shows how the Dynamic Duo would fare if they were raised by the Legion of SuperVillains. Notable here is how a regular powered human hero would try to take on Superman... Green Arrow gives a valiant effort...

Finally JLA/Avengers... Busiek, Perez, and the now infamous cover to issue 4 with Supes holding Captain America's Shield and Thor's Hammer. This makes the list on that alone!

Now you may notice the lack of Kingdom Come and All Star Superman here and I love those stories but I figure on this topic, everyone and their best friend would write about those. You know me, I just had to go left... Now onto the links....

-I love this as a poke to the ribs...

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2013/06/green-lantern-corps-gives-nod-to-john-stewart-death-decree/

Now was Venditti poking DC, Fialkov, or the fanbase?

-Lucky...

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2013/06/action-comics-1-found-in-wall-of-house-sells-for-175000/

But if I was him that aunt that cost him 75,000 dollars because of that rip, won't be getting a Christmas card this year

-Andrew Wheeler looks at Scott Snyder's "new" Batman origin take through virgin eyes...

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2013/06/12/batman-zero-year-21-review-new-reader/

He nailed the opening, now let's see if Snyder can stick this landing....

-A lil late DC...

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2013/06/12/justice-league-identity-crisis-doctor-light-dc/

..and I have to agree with a commenter, if this Doctor Light is going to be a "family man", what about Dr. Hoshi???

-Brian Cronin brings some balance to our Mighty Avengers talk...

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2013/06/07/al-ewing-and-monica-rambeau-sold/

I STILL HATE GREG LAND!!!!!! But Al Ewing is an up and coming star at least in America..(He's already renowned in Britain/Europe) so maybe he can balance this out... (Please get me Daryl Banks or Ross Campbell on this book ASAP!)

-AfroNerd will enjoy this...

http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2013/06/12/paramount-eyes-terminator-sequel/

Yeah, you aren't getting Sarah Conner Chronicles back but we will give you Arnold back... moving at 1/10th the speed of the prior trilogy. DBurt will be pleased..... *puts on protective gear now*

Okies fans, doors opening and it is time to go in and hopefully (crosses fingers) get my mind blown. Until next time faithful readers, Keep Fantasizing!

Monday, June 10, 2013

Hey, While You Wait For Wednesday's Mid Week In Review Afronerd Broadcast, Check Out Filmmaker, Hilton A. Ruiz' 4th Installment of Zombie With A Shotgun!

Stay tuned for our forthcoming entry relating to Wednesday's topics. Afronerd's Mid Week in Review airs this Wednesday at 7pm eastern.

Oh and after you take a gander at Mr. Ruiz' Zombie episode, check out the latest Playstation 4 reveal and conference.


Free live streaming by Ustream

Saturday, June 08, 2013

Doubling Up! This Sat @6pm-The Comic Shoppe & Afronerd! Discussing Black Avengers Comic; Archie Movie?; Michael Douglas' Oral Woes; POTUS & The I.R.S. & More!

Salutations, crumpets and cornbread, folks! Welcome to another festive, feisty and forward moving double entendre episode of The Grindhouse, courtesy of Afronerd Radio-this Saturday airing at 6pm. First up, there's The Comic Shoppe featuring Captain Kirk, Dburt and Daryll B. The pulp encased topics up for grabs this week are: Is Marvel finally creating a Black themed Avengers comic? Sort of....our thoughts on the forthcoming all star minority comic entitled, Mighty Avengers; the crew's thoughts on the new Grayson/Nightwing Youtube series that just hit cyberspace; Comic Book Resources has a piece that confirms the notion that Marvel was toying with the idea of creating a "Black" Captain America in the Ultimate universe; just what is the deal with the retconning of Iron Man's origin?; Archie Comics is headed toward the big screen and lastly, should comics make a greater effort to create more stories and plot vehicles for ancillary characters (i.e. Robbie Robertson, Jimmy Olsen, Alfred, etc)? Call the hosts live at 646-915-9620.

And then there's the second act-Afronerd Radio holding court at 7pm sharp! Pull up a seat and listen to Dburt and Captain Kirk wax about the following topics: Dburt picks up on some dropped topics from the last show (i.e. collecting racist memorabilia, actor Michael Douglas' throat cancer and Tyler Perry on the OWN network); a writer from The Root laments about an interracial romance video that was filmed at her alma mater, Howard University and lastly, MSNBC's Martin Bashir causes a stir by positing the IRS attacks against the President as a proxy for using the N-word (huh?). Check out our double feature shows at 6pm and 7pm-post haste!

Doubling Up! This Sat @6pm-The Comic Shoppe & Afronerd!

And if you missed our last episode, listen to it now:

Mid Week Musings @ Afronerd Radio-Wed @7pm!

And then we have Daryll B. of The Shoppe latest meanderings. Nuff said!

Hello once again Afronerd followers and Science Fiction Fans from all walks of life. As I stated previously in my Facebook sports blog, this hasn't been one of my better weeks. As a result, I am going to keep this one to be a quick LinkBlog and try to keep my senses relatively even-keeled.

-At the ComicShoppe, we have been talking about this behind the scenes...

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2013/06/nightwing-fan-series-grayson-earth-one-premieres/

I said it before folks, this is the age of "if the studios can't make it for you, do it yourself!". Kudos to these talented super fans for making this... although I think that they fell into the same trap as the Birds of Prey, the "Flying Graysons" pitch and the Halle Berry "Catwoman" movie: you can't take a valued member of the Bat Mythos and TOTALLY divorce them from the characters.By not honoring that, you'll lose the Bat fans extensively..

-Comics Convention season is coming up quickly for Daryll! To whet your appetites along with mine....

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2013/06/comics-at-the-book-con-a-day-at-bookexpo-america/

I wish Rep. John Lewis all the luck in the world with his book. Seems his heart is in the right place....

-Kelly Thompson weighs in on the cast of Brian Wood's all female X-Men book...

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2013/06/03/she-has-no-head-ladies-of-x/

This is all well and good but I keep waiting for Dani Moonstar to get her elevation to the big team. O well, at least I have her in Fearless Defenders....

-YES! Thank you Townsquare for making this possible....

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2013/06/aol-sells-comicsalliance-three-music-sites-to-townsquare-media/

So of course Comics Alliance celebrates their return by giving us fans their "secret origin" courtesy of the guys at Let's Be Friends Again....

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2013/06/03/comicsalliance-returns-townsquare-comics-everybody-lets-be-friends-again/

...and my cherry on top is Chris and Matt doing a review of the first half of one of my favorite schlock movies in the past 10 years, D.O.A....

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2013/06/03/comicsalliance-reviews-d-o-a-dead-or-alive-2006-part-one/

Jamie Pressley and Devon Aoki? Consider my attention gotten for more than a minute.....

-Wonder what was the SheZow topic that we at the ComicShoppe were discussing last Saturday? Well Comics Alliance got that covered too...

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2013/06/03/shezow-cartoon-transgender-superhero-review/

Like I said on the show, I'll give it a couple of views but, being a guy who read Ranma 1/2 and watched their OVAs, I have to see how the writers handle this cartoon.

-Finally Gavok gives a historical rundown to the uninitiated about the newest downloadable character for Injustice For All....

http://4thletter.net/2013/06/guide-to-the-injustice-roster-dlc-appendix-3/

Mortal Kombat's Scorpion? Really? A comics universe full of characters, and you have to go to Mortal Kombat to water down (yet again) one of their famous characters??? *facepalm*

However, my week turned around with me getting Astro City #1 and then finally getting to see this:

http://video.adultswim.com/the-venture-bros/what-color-is-your-cleansuit.html

New season of Venture Bros has begun! YES!

So until next time Faithful Readers, Keep Fantasizing!

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

This Past Saturday's Grindhouse Show is Available for Listening NOW! And Stay Tuned For Wednesday's Mid Week Broadcast @ 7pm

As the sweltering heat sets upon you, why not pull up a seat in an air conditioned environment and listen to this week's Grindhouse Double feature show? For the first episode (at 6pm), check out the infamous Comic Shoppe with your hosts, Daryll B., Captain Kirk and Dburt. The topics up for grabs are: picking up from last week, can Marvel and Fox "play nice" with using both the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver for their respective upcoming films? ; The Hub channel's gender bending hero, She-zow stirs controversy; our thoughts of Will and Jaden Smith's new After Earth movie-will the critics hurt the box office? ; a Green Lantern scribe gets a chance to pen Ridley Scott's forthcoming Blade Runner sequel and lastly, a fan made Greg Rucka inspired Punisher trailer hits the net. Call the hosts live at 646-915-9620.

Up next, there's Afronerd Radio airing at 7pm. Join Captain Kirk and Dburt as they highlight the following current event laden issues: a new Cheerios commercial featuring a multi racial family causes controversy (in 2013?); the team picks up some topics that were neglected from the last show (i.e. Western IQ's are down by 14 points, Zoe Saldana's Allure remarks, Whites at HBCUs) : the Black Twitter phenomenon and lastly two stories involving the first lady-racist emails may cost a VA official their job and can Mrs. Obama's presence affect the Hollywood image of Black women? AGAIN, stop by at 6pm and then 7pm!

Stay tuned for Wednesday's show:

Mid Week Musings @ Afronerd Radio-Wed @7pm!

And if you missed our last episode (topics above), listen to it now:

Why Not Start Your Summer at The Grindhouse-Sat @6pm!

And then we have Daryll B. of The Shoppe latest musings. Excelsior!

Good Day AfroNerd Readers and Sci-Fi Fans of All Ages. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog once again. Know that I appreciate y'all taking 5-10 minutes out of your day to read/"listen" to my rants about this stuff. I know it is all frivolous in the bigger scheme of things, especially coming on the coattails of a holiday weekend honoring those who have sacrificed their lives for more important reasons, but I promise to continue to try and entertain you all with my madness.

Speaking of madness, it is said that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. Those actions that you don't learn/gain experience from will continue to happen again and again. With this being said....

FOX and Disney/Marvel, WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!?!?

You have heard fans and industry types rip Warner Bros and DC for not working out the red tape/legal mumbo jumbo and creating a unified movie universe. You have shown through the Phase 1 Avengers Initiative that a proper build up through good and quality movies. Avengers went over like gangbusters with geeks and the mainstream movie watcher alike. Iron Man 3 as a follow up just surpassed 1 billion dollars worldwide. The Wolverine trailer has wowed audiences....

So with that being said, why can't you two stupid, STUPID companies work together on this Pietro Maximoff thing? He has tremendous history with both the X-Men and Avengers' franchises. Marvel Studios' Avengers 2 could use a young "current" day Pietro while FOX Studios' X-Men Days of Future Past could use an older future version of Quicksilver without either movie crimping on the other's style. Bickering little knuckleheads are going to slay the golden goose through boardrooms and legal print, I swear.... Just once you fools, think like comic book fans and look at things from outside your little self-important boxes!

LINKBLOG TIME!

-Being a geek is fun....

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2013/05/bill-nye-kevin-smith-and-others-tackle-how-superman-shaves/

I always liked the visual premise that Superman shaved with his heat vision reflected in a mirror myself...

-A reminder for myself...

http://www.kasterborous.com/2013/05/bbc-rejects-doctor-who-racism-claims/

You can see racism everywhere and as a minority, it does tend to color your viewpoint of the world. However, when presenting a case for it in things like a long running series with diehard fans, you better have your facts correct and numerous instances listed. Again, this is where I appreciate AfroNerd and Capt. Kirk on The ComicShoppe. If I go offbase like this on a topic, they're not afraid to put me in check....

-Sage advice from Mr. Bendis

http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2013/05/stop-excusing-yourself-from-living-the-life-you-want-to-live/

Essentially this is a "get off your butt and make an effort" rah-rah speech from Mr. Bendis for all those aspiring writers and artists out there. We have said it before that this is an age that anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it....

-Sonia, I feel your pain and confusion....

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2013/05/29/committed-secret-obsession-vs-community-support/

Yeah I am still feeling confused in handling the newfound popularity of comics in other mediums. I was so used to be the outcast that having those who once discarded me, coming to me for information on beloved characters on screen is ultra weird....

-Greg Burgas went camera crazy at Phoenix Comic-Con

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2013/05/26/sunday-brunch-pictures-i-took-at-the-phoenix-comicon-before-my-cameras-battery-died/

Best pic here by far is Peter David, looking hearty and hale. It is also a reminder that I really need to start getting the trades of his X-Factor runs....

-It about time!

http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2013/05/28/booster-gold-pilot-script-may-finally-go-to-syfy-next-week/

Sheesh! It only been 2 years.....

-The movie cast just getting bigger....

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=45764

Glenn Close in a Marvel Movie...wow

Finally, this past weekend saw the debut of Avengers Assemble and well, this was my response on Facebook as it was going on.... "So Avengers EMH has turned into Avengers Assemble i.e. Iron Man and his amazing friends? What the..?"

So my worst fears realized. They took a quality animated show and turned it into a joke a la Ultimate Spider-Man. STOP Marvel! Not every hero needs to be wisecracking S.O.B.s. To me, the Tony Stark over-the-unfunny-top portrayal bled into and tainted everything else. You know we'll get into this more on Saturday Evening...

That's it for this week readers. Until Next Week, Keep Fantasizing!