By Derrick Anthony

Word has gotten out that Samuel Jackson, the actor you can't quite pin down, is in negotiations for a nine picture deal with Marvel Entertainment, the company responsible for bringing long time superheroes Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, and The X-Men to the big screen with multi-million dollar payoffs.

 

Samuel Jackson is no stranger to the multi millions at the box office either with hits including The Star Wars prequels, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and Jurassic Park , to name just a few. Jackson has already made a brief appearance for Marvel in the first Iron Man movie, as Col. Nick Fury, and is scheduled to appear with star Robert Downey Jr., in the sequel to be released in 2010.

If this deal goes through, Samuel will be reprising the role of Col. Fury in nine more Marvel pictures including Thor, Captain America , The Avengers, and perhaps even a Col. Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. stand alone. For comic book geeks like myself, who have lived with a majority of all-white heroes for the last 30 years, this is great news. The Nick Fury character has always been Marvel's eye-patch-wearing answer to James Bond, and dates back forty plus years, first appearing in "Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos," during World War II.

In 2000, Marvel created a separate line of books under the imprint, "The Ultimate Universe." Set in a separate reality from the 50-plus year old standard Marvel universe, it re-imagined popular characters with more contemporary themes and origins. They also took the opportunity to create a more diverse universe of heroes to reflect a more realistic modern age. One of those changes was in making Nick Fury black. As the character gained in popularity, Samuel Jackson was approached by Marvel, asking if his likeness could be used for the character, and he consented. A true example of life imitating art…imitating life!

WB set director for DC Comics adaptation

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Warner Bros. has set Greg Berlanti to direct "Green Lantern," a live-action take on the DC Comics superhero. Berlanti will write the script with Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green. Donald De Line will produce; Andrew Haas is exec producer.

Berlanti hopes to make the jump to big-budget fantasy fare after serving as writer and exec producer on character-driven TV series "Dirty Sexy Money," "Brothers & Sisters," "Everwood," "Jack & Bobby" and "Dawson's Creek." He previously directed 2000 feature "The Broken Hearts Club."

"Green Lantern" was hatched in 1940. Hal Jordan, a second-generation test pilot, is an ordinary man who has been charged with defending a sector of the universe.

Warner Bros. and DC Comics assigned the project to De Line, who is currently in Morocco shooting "Body of Lies," the Ridley Scott-directed WB drama that stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.

Guggenheim, who works with Berlanti as a writer-producer on "Brothers & Sisters," wrote the Marvel comicbooks "Amazing Spider-Man," "Wolverine" and "Blade." Green, the "Heroes" co-exec producer who worked with Berlanti on "Everwood" and "Jack & Bobby," wrote the Marvel Comics title "Superman/Batman" and was a writer-producer on "Smallville."

Bounce back

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has revealed that one of her characters, Hogwarts school headmaster Albus Dumbledore, is gay.

She made her revelation to a packed house in New York's Carnegie Hall on Friday, as part of her US book tour.

She took audience questions and was asked if Dumbledore found "true love".

"Dumbledore is gay," she said, adding he was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, who he beat in a battle between good and bad wizards long ago.

The audience gasped, then applauded. "I would have told you earlier if I knew it would make you so happy," she said.

"Falling in love can blind us to an extent," she added, saying Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down" and his love for Grindelwald was his "great tragedy".

"Oh, my god," Rowling, 42, concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction".

NEW YORK — You can't keep a good American down.

By Sara Bonisteel

Marvel Entertainment announced Thursday that its slain hero Captain America will rise again with a new outfit and a new secret identity, after the character was killed off in March by a sniper's bullet in a storyline on the War on Terror.

The company unveiled the patriotic superhero's new look Thursday with artwork by Alex Ross and Steve Epting for the new issue, No. 34, to hit comic book shops in January 2008.

Captain America will return with his trademark shield, but he also will have some new firepower. The artists are bringing the hero back with a gun.

"It's the Michaels" chronicles the lives of a group of like-named gay men who share a house in the Pines at Fire Island.



www.itsthemichaels.com

The stereotypes through which American popular culture often interprets and represents racial identity operate not only as tools of defamation but also as vehicles for far more subtle manipulations of race. In his 1946 essay "Twentieth-Century Fiction and the Black Mask of Humanity," Ralph Ellis on observes that stereotypes of African Americans, whatever other purposes they might serve, become a means "by which the white American seeks to resolve the dilemma arising... between his acceptance of the sacred democratic belief that all men are created equal and his treatment of every tenth man as though he were not" --a means, in other words, of reconciling the contradictions between an ideology of democracy and a history and practice of prejudice.

From: African American Review  |  Date: 3/22/2002  |  Author: Singer, Marc

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-85185720.html

Dion Floyd is a comic book creator and writer who hails from Baltimore, MD but now calls North Carolina home.  He is the creator and head writer of Immortal Kiss, an independent comic produced by Graphic Illusions Studios. Immortal Kiss is the story of two Chicago Homicide detectives, Ilya Romanov and Sonia Flores on the trail of a serial killer that is also a vampire. Floyd wanted to create a police detective story with a gothic vampire element.

Although this is Floyd’s first foray into writing professionally he does have plans to concentrate on screenplay writing and eventually film production perhaps directing someday.

Imortal Kiss and other Graphic Illusions Studios comic stories will be featured regularly on GBMNews.

Please review the comic's trailer...

by Susan Troller

"The only guy who can truly hold you back is the guy in the mirror," cartoonist Robb Armstrong told a group of mostly male, mostly African-American students at La Follette High School on Tuesday.

He is the creator of the nationally syndicated comic strip JumpStart, which focuses on an African-American family and until recently ran in the Wisconsin State Journal. He was in Madison, speaking to members of the African-American Achievement Team, based at La Follette.

Armstrong grew up in a tough West Philadelphia neighborhood with his fiercely ambitious mother and four siblings.

Recently many of us have seen the genius of Stan Lee, founder of Marvel Comics, displayed on the giant screen. The successful film releases of Spiderman, the X-Men, the Fantastic 4 and the Hulk are testaments to the cross generational appeal of his characters.

However, are you aware of Marvel's black superheroes?

The Amazing Adventures of Bill: A Journal Comic www.billroundy.com/comics.html

"Troy" Comics by Michael Derry - Love, Sex, Politics and Killer Abs!



Click image above to view "Troy" comic.

8 Minute Dating Disasters Joke from http://dailygaycartoon.freeservers.com/

Gay Pride Cartoon