Essentially a child soldier and enslaved person stolen from his homeland of Wakanda, N’Jadaka grew up with an intense hatred for his country of origin, feeling they’d abandoned him. He’d also develop a seething resentment and loathing for the world for its hypocrisy and myriad systemic injustices. Taking matters into his own hands, N’Jadaka (whose name was legally changed to “Erik Killmonger”)...
Fabian Wood
Fabian Wood
Hailing from the eastern-most Caribbean island of Barbados, Fabian Wood has long since been fascinated by the power of storytelling to inspire and invoke emotions – whether in film, comics or videogames. No longer content to be just an avid comic book reader and videogamer, he’s eager to exercise his literary acumen as an aspiring writer and reviewer.
Who Is: Chapel (Spawn/Image Comics)
The man who killed Al Simmons (before he became the vengeful Hell-Spawn), is none other than the ruthless, amoral mercenary and Al’s former cohort, Bruce Stinson – later called “Chapel.” While he fits the mold of the overzealous, uber-murderous super-soldier, his...
Decoy Games: The Abdullah Brothers’ Journey into Videogames
Video gaming includes playing simple mascot-driven side-scrollers in your home, enjoying games at cramped arcades, playing immersive cinematic masterpieces, and partaking in colorful time sinks on any handheld device enjoyed the world over. Video games' modern...
Who Is: Baxter Stockman (TMNT)
A sociopathic and depraved scientist in robotic engineering, Dr. Baxter Stockman, has been a perennial foil for the heroes in a half-shell since its inception. Appearing in nearly every incarnation of the TMNT multimedia franchise, Baxter Stockman ranged from a...
Review/ Green Lantern: Beware My Power
John Stewart’s distinction and ubiquity as Green Lantern in the wider DC fandom and multimedia are in no small part due to his inclusion and portrayal in Bruce Timm’s critically acclaimed Justice League and, by extension Justice League Unlimited, an animated series...
Review: Black’s Myth #1
Meet Janie “Strummer” Jones, a mundane private detective in LA who also happens to be a werewolf. Her dry-wit partner Ben Si’Lat also happens to be an English-born half-djinn, and they also have a pet hellhound named Grim. When an enigmatic and wealthy connoisseur and...
Who Is: Mace Windu
Jedi Master and member of the High Council, Mace Windu is regarded as one of the most powerful Jedi of his time; said to be second only to Master Yoda, his teacher. A staunch acolyte of the Jedi Order, and known for wielding a purple lightsaber, Mace was a prominent...
Who Is: Lando Calrissian
Rogue, entrepreneur, gambler, grifter, and playboy, are all apt descriptions of one Landonis Balthazar Calrissian III, or just “Lando.” Lando is an old friend of the maverick pilot Han Solo and was even the previous owner of the iconic starship the Millennium Falcon...
Who Is: DOLORES (KoF XV)
The latest entry in the long-running fighting game franchise “King of Fighters” (KOF) has recently hit all major consoles. And with the release of “KoF XV” come three new characters to the massive roster of 3-on-3 international martial artists and pugilists. One of...
The Forgotten Forerunners of Black Comics: Part II – Oliver Wendell Harrington
Editor's Note: Read part 1 here. Born to an interracial couple on Valentine’s Day 1912 in Valhalla, New York, Oliver Wendell Harrington possessed a natural talent for drawing. He would hone his gift by studying at the National Academy of Design and New York...
Top 10 Black Cartoon Characters
While diversity in many shows today, live-action or animated, is quite commonplace, African and African-American representation in cartoons for a quarter of a century was still quite sparse until recently. Few programs sought to address or represent the lack of...
Top 10 Most Powerful Black Characters in Comics
With power levels off the chart, the Black characters on this list are some of the most powerful – if not the most powerful – beings in their respective universe. Whether it takes a cavalcade of characters or an uncanny McGuffin to beat, these ultra-tier entities...
The Forgotten Forerunners of Black Comics: Part I – Orrin C Evans
In 1993, talented African-American comic book creators Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, and Derek T Dingle founded the venerated and lauded Milestone Media imprint. They planned to create comics that highlighted and promoted underrepresented minorities –...
Top Ten Most Popular Playable Black Characters in Video Games, Part 2
Editor's Note: Check out Part 1 here. Barret Wallace from Final Fantasy VII. 5. Barret Wallace Original Game: Final Fantasy VII (1997) Even if you’ve never played a Japanese RPG, if you’ve been in gaming long enough, there is no denying the ubiquitous knowledge of the...
Top Ten Most Popular Playable Black Characters in Video Games, Part 1
With the recent release of Deathloop, a AAA first-person shooter that – as of writing – sits at an 89 on Metacritic, it’s fair to say that this next generation videogame by Bethesda is a success. I was more invested than most gamers, mainly because it starred not one,...
Beyond Publishing – A Caribbean Milestone
Founded in 2011 on the sunbathed tropical island of Barbados, Beyond Publishing Caribbean was created by a coalition of passionate Caribbean artists and writers, themselves fans of comics, movies, anime, and books. It was established to be a platform for local and...
The Changing Tide – The Importance of Legacy Characters
DC Comics has recently announced that Jackson Hyde (aka Kaldur’ahm) will graduate from his status as the current “Aqualad” to that of fully fledged “Aquaman” in the aptly titled upcoming six-issue mini-series “Aquaman: The Becoming” this September; written by Brandon...
Review-‘Love, Death & Robots’ : Season 2
After watching the first season of Love, Death & Robots, I was enthralled by the diversity of animation styles, selection of genres, and innovative stories that made up a cornucopia of enjoyable and entertaining vignettes. It offered so many memorable moments and...
Black Lightning: Season 4 / Series Review – Shattered Lightning
No pun intended, Black Lightning was the “black sheep” of the CW superhero macrocosm known as the “Arrowverse” that premiered in January 2018. Starring an All-Black cast (save James Remar’s character Peter Gambi) series’ developer Salim Akil had the audacious ambition...
Black Lightning Season 4 – Book of Reconstruction
Set one year after the events of last season, the police state created by the corrupt ASA, the Markovia debacle, and the green light babies/meta-human subplot have all petered out and become just a memory. Aptly dubbed “Book of Reconstruction”, the first four episodes...
The Future Looks Black – DC Comics’ 10 year Stride Towards New Black Superheroes
“Inclusivity” and “diversity” have been buzz words that have dominated the discourse in all forms of media for the last decade at least. To that end, for the past few years, the Big Two have been attempting, to varying degrees, to expand their offerings by creating...