Black Panther: First Super Hero film to be nominated for Best Picture

Marvel Studios' "Black Panther" has not only made Marvel history, but Oscars history. During this morning's Academy Awards nominations announcement, the Ryan Coogler-directed film gained seven nominations, including one for Best Picture! "Black Panther" is the first Super Hero film to be nominated in the Best Picture category. Marvel Studios' "Avengers: Infinity War" and Sony's "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" also received one Academy Awards nomination each.

In addition to the Best Picture nomination, the third-highest-grossing movie of all time in the US also nabbed . "Black Panther" also nabbed Best Production Design, Best Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, Best Original Song (Kendick Lamar's "All The Stars"), Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing.

Black Panther wasn't the only hero recognized. Marvel Studios' "Avengers: Infinity War" was nominated for Best Visual Effects, while "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" secured a Best Animated Feature nod.

Congrats to all the nominees!

The 91st Annual Academy Awards with air February 24 on ABC.

Netflix Cancels ‘Luke Cage’

Netflix has canceled “Luke Cage.”

News of the cancellation comes four months after the superhero action drama from Marvel Television debuted its second season on the streaming service — and just days after Netflix pulled the plug on another Marvel show, “Iron Fist.”

“Unfortunately, ‘Marvel’s Luke Cage’ will not return for a third season. Everyone at Marvel Television and Netflix is grateful to the dedicated showrunner, writers, cast and crew who brought Harlem’s Hero to life for the past two seasons, and to all the fans who have supported the series,” Netflix and Marvel Television said in a joint statement.

A source tells Variety that talks for a third season had taken place, but that Netflix ultimately decided that one would not be feasible.

[SOURCE: VARIETY]

BLACK PANTHER’S DORA MILAJE GET SPINOFF COMIC

As anyone who has seen Black Panther can tell you, the Dora Milaje are a force to be reckoned with. The devoted female warriors sworn to protect Wakanda’s throne are an essential part of the boundary-breaking blockbuster—so it should come as little surprise that Marvel’s latest release takes their story far beyond their service to their king, T’Challa. In Wakanda Forever: The Amazing Spider-Man, the Dora Milaje are finally getting their own arc, with Okoye, Ayo, and Aneka headed to New York to investigate a threat to national security, and connecting with Peter Parker in the process. Written by acclaimed sci-fi and fantasy author Nnedi Okorafor, with illustrations by Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque and Terry Dodson, the three-part comic will shed new light on the heroes who have become fan favorites. If the film whet viewers’ appetite for more adventures featuring the near invincible trio, the new series promises to deliver all that and then some. “Typically when you see them, they’re with T’Challa, representing and protecting him,” Okorafor told Vogue. “Now you’re going to see the Dora Miljae for the first time as an independent entity; they’re not under the shadow of the throne.”

Okorafor has already won Hugo and Nebula awards for her game-changing fiction, which explores themes of Afro-futurism and fantastical mythology inspired by Nigerian folklore, but she’s found stepping into the world of comics no less gratifying. “It’s been amazing, and I’ve learned so much along the way,” says Okorafor, whose first book for Marvel, Black Panther: Long Live the King, debuted last year. Presenting a vision of the African continent through the sci-fi lens felt completely natural. “I like to write the future; the Africa I feel can be and the Africa that will be, that has always been my vision,” she says. “With Wakanda, a place set in the present but with a futuristic outlook, it wasn’t a hard transition—it made a lot of sense.”

Read more: BLACK PANTHER’S DORA MILAJE GET SPINOFF COMIC

Tessa Thompson to portray Valkyrie in Thor Ragnarok

Marvel has revealed Tessa Thompson's role in the upcoming “Thor: Ragnarok.”

The studio released the full cast list on Friday, announcing that the “Creed” star will play the sword-wielding warrior goddess, Valkyrie, a character previously depicted in the comics as white. While I'm sure Thompson will do a great job and make the role her own, I'm also sure that wont stop the fanboy outrage. LOL.

Growing Popularity of Black Superheroes Creates Opportunities for Comic Book Investors

(Black PR Wire) Marvel Comic’s Black Panther—the first black comic book superhero, born in the 1960s—is poised to make his big screen debut in the much-anticipated movie, Captain America: Civil War. It’s culturally significant, but that’s not all. For comic book collectors, the growing interest in black superheroes opens doors for investors, too. 

“When interest in a character rises, comic book values do, too,” says Vincent Zurzolo, co-owner of Metropolis Collectibles, the world’s largest vintage comic book dealership, and ComicConnect.com, its online auction site. 

Take The Black Panther’s first appearance in Fantastic Four #52 in 1966. (First appearances are typically the most valuable comics in a series.) In 2012, a 9.8 graded copy of Fantastic Four #52 sold for $19,200. In 2016, a similar copy sold for $83,650—a 435% increase in value.

Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, The Black Panther character was born as T’Challa, the prince of Wakanda, a technologically-advanced country. He takes on the hero role when his father, the king, is killed. 

Then there’s Luke Cage, a favorite of actor Nicholas Cage, who adopted his surname. This black superhero, who first appeared in Marvel’s Hero for Hire #1 in 1972, boasts superhuman strength and unbreakable skin. Last year, he was featured on the Netflix series Jessica Jones. This fall, he’ll headline his own series. 

In 2011, a 9.8 graded copy of Hero for Hire #1 sold for $2,766. In 2014, one sold for $6,100. But earlier this year, a similarly graded copy sold for $24,000, a whopping 867% increase in 5 years. 

“The interest is industry wide,” notes Stephen Fishler, co-owner of Metropolis/ComicConnect, pointing out the upcoming reboot of Milestone Comics, a DC imprint created by African-American artists and writers in 1993. The best known are Hardware, Icon and Static. 

Hip hop icon Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run DMC, launched his own comic book imprint, Darryl Makes Comics (http://www.dmc-comics.com), in 2014. His graphic novel series, DMC, features McDaniels as a contemporary superhero—complete with trademark Adidas and fedora—confronting evil in 1985 New York City. 


“The Black Panther has been a favorite of many collectors for decades. He has a great back story and cool powers. Once more people learn about him, his vintage comics will become more collectible.”

Source: www.ComicConnect.com

Luke Cage teaser trailer.

Check out this teaser trailer for the upcoming Netflix/Marvel series, Luke cage. The series stars Mike Colter as the titular character and is set to premier on September 30, 2016.

Ta-Nehisi Coates to author 'Black Panther' Marvel comic

The author of Marvel's "Black Panther" comic book series has been unmasked: It's Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Coates, until now, is better known for writing incisive articles for The Atlantic magazine that dissect racism and identity in America, and as the author of the best selling book, "Between The World and Me."

But Coates, a huge Marvel fan, told the New York Times which broke the story, becoming a comic book author is a childhood dream come true.

Instead of culturally charged social issues, Coates will be chronicling the saga of T'Challa, "heir to the centuries-old ruling dynasty of the African kingdom Wakanda, and ritual leader of its Panther Clan," according to Marvel Universe Wiki.

Read more: Ta-Nehisi Coates to author 'Black Panther' Marvel comic

Why Marvel is lazy when it comes to creating new minority characters.

Why Marvel is lazy when it comes to creating minority characters.

By George L. Cook III

Now I’m just as much of a geek as any other comic book reader or comic book movie lover out there. I love what Marvel Comics is doing on screen and in print recently. In the movies there has been some diversity with characters such as Blade (The forgotten Marvel hero who helped usher in the superhero movie era), War Machine, Falcon, Nick Fury, Storm, and soon The Black Panther to name a few. But (there’s always a but) when it comes to adding diversity in the comics Marvel is becoming a bit lazy. Recently when it comes to adding diversity in terms of race Marvel has simply been reinventing older characters as minority characters.

One of the more famous examples being the Miles Morales Spiderman which is great and all but didn’t take much creativity in my opinion. Other examples include a recent reinvention with the comic Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Never heard of it either) in which a character that once was a white boy has been changed to a black girl.The character Of Ms. Marvel is no longer a white woman but a Pakistani teen named Kamal Khan.

And yes I know about the dozens of alternate universes and different versions of the same character which is why Nick Fury can be white in one universe and black in another but those are still reinventions. To those who don't really read comics I'm not going to explain all of the different universes because quite frankly it would be easier to explain Quantum Theory to you.

It’s great that Marvel has made moves to add diversity, but why couldn’t they do so by creating completely new characters? Marvel is taking the lazy way out.

I’m talking new characters with complete origin stories and all. Yes, it may be a little more work than simply changing the color of an existing character but it’s also creating something new and hopefully exciting. I know there is some fear in how fan boys will react but they will get over it. I’ve also wondered if comic execs use the fan boys as a convenient excuse not to create new non- white characters.

Marvel can bring in young minority talent and I’m sure that marvel can create minority characters from scratch. Just like with other characters it will be hit or miss, but you can’t get a hit if you don’t take a swing.

Take a swing at it Marvel!

George L. Cook III AfricanAmericanReports.com Email George Cook

Could Ava DuVernay direct Marvel's Black Panther movie

A Black Panther movie starring Chadwick Boseman as the titular hero is set for a July 6, 2018 release. Recent rumors according to The Wrap have Marvel looking at Selma director Ava DuVernay to direct the movie.

[SOURCE] Marvel has had discussions with DuVernay about taking the reins of one of its marquee comic book properties and while the studio is considering other directors, there is mutual interest in having her join the MCU.

Insiders told TheWrap that Marvel is intent on hiring an African-American director for “Black Panther” and a female filmmaker for “Captain Marvel.” DuVernay’s hiring would make her Marvel’s first African-American and first female director, which would no doubt double as a public relations boon for the company.

Why Nick Fury started to look like Samuel L. Jackson in 2001

Mark Millar the writer of Marvel's Ultimates explains why, without permission he used Samuel L. Jackson's as the model for his version of Nick Fury starting back in 2001 to Business Insider. Read his explanation below.

[SOURCE] I wanted an African-American Nick Fury to be director of SHIELD because the closest thing in the real world to this job title was held by Colin Powell at the time. I also thought Nick Fury sounded like one of those great, 1970s Blaxploitation names and so the whole thing coalesced for me into a very specific character, an update of the cool American super-spy Jim Steranko had done in the 70s and based on the Rat Pack, which seemed very nineteen sixties and due for some kind of upgrade.

Sam is famously the coolest man alive and both myself an artist Bryan Hitch just liberally used him without asking any kind of permission. You have to remember this was 2001 when we were putting this together. The idea that this might become a movie seemed preposterous as Marvel was just climbing out of bankruptcy at the time. What we didn’t know was that Sam was an avid comic fan and knew all about it.

Milestone Media rises again

Great news! The company that gave us Static Shock, Hardware, and other super heroes of color is back, Milestone Media has risen again!

The idea arose not just in the wake of Dwayne McDuffie’s death, but also at the wake to remember the man.

Reggie Hudlin, the “Django Unchained” producer, spoke at the gathering in 2011 with artist Denys Cowan and Derek Dingle, who with McDuffie had co-founded Milestone Media, the prominent minority-owned comics publisher. McDuffie, also known for his DC Comics work, was widely considered to be a pioneer in his efforts to diversify the comic-book industry, prior to his shocking death at age 49.

“Derek said, ‘It’s been too long. We’ve got to restart the company’,” Hudlin recounts to The Post’s Comic Riffs, of that day in 2011. “So the three of us have been working for the past two years on sorting out all the business, and now we are the core of Milestone Media 2.0.”

That’s right. Hudlin, Cowan and Dingle tell Comic Riffs that they are working together to revive the company that debuted more than 20 years ago before its demise in 1997 — a publisher that could boast of such heroes of color as Icon, Hardware and Static Shock. That means Milestone titles will soon return to comics shops physical and virtual.

Read more here: Milestone Media rises again. Hudlin, Cowan and Dingle will revive company with eye toward characters of color

The new Captain America will be an African American.

Cue the fan boy outrage. Why? Marvel's most iconic and arguably most "American" hero will now be African American. That hero is Captain America.

[ SOURCE The new Captain America will be an African American.

Superhero Sam ‘‘The Falcon’’ Wilson will take over as the patriotic Avenger in an upcoming installment of the long-running comic book series, Marvel Comics chief creative officer Joe Quesada said Wednesday during an appearance on Comedy Central’s ‘‘The Colbert Report.’’

Wilson first appeared as winged superhero Falcon in 1969 and was one of the first African-American superheroes.

The change will come this November in ‘‘All-New Captain America’’ No. 1. The character was recently portrayed by actor Anthony Mackie in the film ‘‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier.’’