WEBVTT - Episode 96: Milestone Comics 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:13.080 Hey, how's it going, and welcome to nerd if sometimes 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:15.160 your host if you away and sitting across from he 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:20.279 has always eased Danny Fernandez. Yeah, and you know, feeling good. 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:25.120 You know, we're we're deep into Black History Month. We're 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:27.720 in the second week. Oh did you like that Google ad? 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.480 I watched it so many times, which it was Google 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:33.720 put out this ad. I think it came out the 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:37.440 week of the Super Bowl, and it was like the 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:41.600 most the most googled performance. It was Beyonce, the most 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:44.639 googled athlete, it was lebron the most googled I think 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:47.240 musician or something was Prince. It was just like showing 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:50.559 like these are all black artists that like have have 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.240 taken over you know, and just iconic history makers. It 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:56.200 was really neat. I'll send it to you. Yeah, that's 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:59.800 so dope. Well yeah, so, you know, I wanted to 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:02.320 do something special this year for Black History Month end, 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:07.440 kind of like shine a spotlight on I think one 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:11.679 of the most influential black people in comics, which is 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.959 Dwayne McDuffie and his legacy which was you know, uh, 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:20.759 way more than just him, but Milestone Comics and Milestone Comics. Uh, 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:24.240 you know with just the t LDR before we really 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.480 jump into it was this initiative by d C that 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.200 like allowed for just black people, Like They're like, here, 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:33.840 we'll give you a space to run with it. So, 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.080 you know, whenever I want to do something black, I 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:40.959 I have a very short list of friends who I 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:43.640 come through first. And you know on the top of 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:46.720 that list is Ed Greer for you've seen them on 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:50.200 New Negroes on Comedy Central. You have a new rebooted 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:52.600 show we'll talk about at the end, and you know 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:55.520 all over Screen Junkies and the Nerd Goat podcast, which 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:58.200 we've both been on. How you doing, guys, thank you 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:00.600 so much for having me back. You know, I wanted 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:02.720 to come back, and you know, I'm glad this is 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:04.680 the perfect subject to kind of bring me back into 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:07.160 the fold. Yeah. So if he what was your because 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:08.920 I was on the Nerd go I was on Ed's 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:12.560 podcast talking about my goat, which is vegeta, And I 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:16.119 would give you one guess was yours? Goku? Oh? Yeah, 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:22.120 did he come on before or after? Mek Shoes to fill? 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:26.919 Actually a little tiny, little tiny pointed shoes to fill? Yeah, 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:29.799 I know, Yeah, No, it's I've been. Uh. Yeah, it's 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:35.320 been interesting getting back into anime because I remember the 0:02:35.400 --> 0:02:38.040 defense I was in anime. I was kind of in 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.320 um and I didn't realize this until Yester this morning 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:45.000 when I was watching A Bunch. But like i've like 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:47.480 since we've did krilling, it was when I kind of 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:49.880 started watching DBC again and that's when I kind of 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:55.000 watched a little bit of um dB Super and then 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.079 I was kind of watching Attack on Titan and One 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:01.560 punch Man. But I was kind of out of out 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:07.720 of you know, the loop wise because I it was 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:11.359 came up in a discuss essentially like I'm the only 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:14.440 one who liked anime in my last relationships, so like 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:18.760 when you watch things together to just watch the default thing, 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:22.400 and I think slowly and slowly anime became less a thing. 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:25.040 I watched it now, like I'm watching so much anime. 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:27.079 Uh And it was one of those things where I 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:29.560 got hooked. And now me and Brodier on our crunchy 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:31.800 roll account and it's funny because I can see what 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:37.280 Brodie is. Oh yeah, he's right now, he's watching Dragon 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:39.160 Ball Super and I was like a little thug to here. 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.400 I was like, all right, Brodie, but yeah, he's been 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:46.320 watching that and he was watching Samurai Pizza Cats at y. Yeah, 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:48.280 he's he's like going in the deep dive because you know, 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.160 he's also learning in Japanese. But like, yeah, right now 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:55.040 I've going through Mob Psycho season to catch up on 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:58.200 my hero and then I'm always start getting Tama. So 0:03:58.280 --> 0:03:59.800 I think that's a good way to say. That's what 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:02.440 I'm geeking out about this week is anime. I'm deep 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:04.640 in it. Yeah, what about you, ed, what are you 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.720 geaking out about? Oh? Man, that's why I asked you 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:10.480 guys before, because you anything. No, you know what I 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:15.000 like to start problematic. I am from Kansas City, so 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.880 I think you know, okay, oh that's a big deal 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:21.760 on the Nerd Show. But I mean, were you born 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.200 in Kansas City? I was also born in Kansas City? 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.080 Really yeah, I never knew that this all these years. 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.880 I know. I'm sorry. I have no lineage to it 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:32.040 because my dad just lived there for a year, like 0:04:32.080 --> 0:04:33.640 with a job, Like he got a job out there 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:34.720 and we were there for a year and that was 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:39.240 the year that I was made and born. Yeah, so 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:41.240 that is where I was born. But no, but just 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:43.839 I was I lived in Kansas City until I was 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:46.599 a grown ass man and moved out here to pursue 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:50.520 my dreams. So my whole childhood, we were like the 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:52.800 bottom line is when you like sports, right, when you 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.839 like sports, it's one of these things where you identify 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:58.840 with these guys, these pituitary cases, pushing each other around, 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:00.640 ducking on each other, whatever the sport it is, you 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:04.359 identify with this. And we weren't bad like the Cleveland 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.200 Browns where we would never win and there was no chance. 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:13.080 We were like every time we were just so close. 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:15.400 We were just had one side of the ball wasn't 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:17.640 good enough. All this kind of stuff. So now the 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.560 least problematic Native American names, oh my gosh, in the 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:25.800 in the world. At least they're the King's you know. 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:30.560 So but so, yeah, my chiefs, I'm very happy that 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:33.560 they wont I'm very happy that they're bi racial quarterback. 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:39.480 I'm very glad. You know he's right quarterback to win 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:41.760 the Super Bowl? Well yep, and uh and I think 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:43.720 the youngest m v P but I might. I'm not 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:45.680 get that into it, but like you, but yeah, that 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:47.960 was what was wild is we were at my house 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.600 when we were watching the game, Jakis wanted to throw it. 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:53.479 Everyone was like, who's your did you want to throw 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:58.760 it at your house? Because that's hilarious that you you 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:03.119 offered up somebody to tell well, I mean he came through. 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:06.120 It was so funny because I laughed and I meant 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:08.880 to text you this, but that's like this party was 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:11.320 how I knew Jackies was type A and I was 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:14.240 me because I was like, Yep, we're gonna get a 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:15.840 bunch of food and when the food gets here, I'm 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:17.560 gonna buy the food of the day of and Jakis 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.520 is like, all right, I'm I'm pre ordering the pizza 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.320 so that it arrives right at the second quarter. I 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:29.719 was like, oh my god, people are great get stuff done. 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:32.960 But yeah, we is. But it was great. It came together. 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.400 But when we were there, you know, I'm a Saints 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:39.440 guy and Jakis he's from Chicago, so he's a bearss guy. 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.360 But we're like, yeah, we're going for the black quarterback. 0:06:42.480 --> 0:06:44.839 That's the that's the team we're going for. And it 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:49.159 was so funny because like Teresa Lee was there, who 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:52.440 is a forty Niners fan because she's from the Bay, 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.080 Like she was the only person there who was repping 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.479 her team, and everyone else was like, no, we just 0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:00.520 want the black quarterback to where And you know, and 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:03.200 I gotta say, it goes just the tiniest bit beyond that, 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.640 just for me, because, like I said, bottom line, sports, sports, sports, whatever, boring. 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:08.800 But like when you're when you're from a crappy little 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.520 town and you know, not not dispend the city, but 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:13.720 when you're when you're from a place that nobody cares about, 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:16.720 and then you the whole world has to watch you 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:19.200 for three hours, you know, That's what That's how I felt. 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:21.320 I felt the whole world had to watch my boys. 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.080 And they were all like, ah, this is boing as 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:27.400 San Francisco, this San Francisco that like, my girlfriend is 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.040 down with San Francisco. And I'm like, look, I ain't 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:31.800 trying to Bernie Sanders shoe, but it need to be 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.000 some redistribution of these ships. You know. It says a 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:38.760 redistribution of these championships need to take place, a wealth 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:43.160 reallocation of the championships. Son, you know what I'm saying. 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.520 So you need to relax and and vote for these 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:49.560 young chiefs. Thank you very much. Oh my gosh. Yeah, 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:52.080 that was a great game. What about you, Danny. Well, 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:55.360 the thing I'm geeking out about is hair Love, which 0:07:55.360 --> 0:08:00.200 our friend Matthew Cherry actually wrote, produced and directed, which 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:04.480 so we are recording this Saturday, the day before the Oscars. 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.880 It's nominated for an OSCAR and it's a short. If 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.800 you haven't seen it yet, I think you can catch 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.520 it online. We saw it in theaters because it ran 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:15.920 before Sony actually picked it up. He did a kickstarter 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.360 that was very successful. Sony Pictures Animation picked it up 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:21.760 and it aired before Angry Birds too, and that's how 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.680 Iffy and I saw it. Um. But it's nominated for 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:27.760 an Academy Award, and so that you're listening to this 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.520 after the awards have already aired, and I'm I'm hoping 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.920 that he had the best time and I know that 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:35.679 it won. So I'm just gonna go ahead and put 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:40.120 that energy out there. Um, and this is we're saying 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:45.720 congratulations Matthew on Yep, yep, yep. So the story follows 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:47.920 dad who has to do his daughter's hair for the 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:51.440 first time. Usa Ray is also in it. Uh. It's 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:54.920 great and UM excited for Matthew and his whole team 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:59.679 to be at the Academy Awards. Well, I guess this 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.160 town to jump in it today. So, like I said, 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:07.000 we're talking about Milestone Comics and this this if I think, 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.400 if anything, you may know about Milestone, even if you 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:12.960 don't think you know about Milestone, which is you know 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.280 about Static and that was a product of the Milestone 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:21.480 Comics era. Uh so, uh, I mean what before we 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.760 even get into this, what's what's your experience with Milestone? 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:26.800 And because you were you were hip, You're like, this 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:29.000 is this is my m No, you put it out 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:31.040 on Twitter. It was like, yeah, man, I talk to 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:34.720 some black creators and comic creators. We're gonna talk about 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.360 some Masstone and somebody just feel these offers. And I 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:41.120 saw what was coming back and I was like, what wait, 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:44.439 wait are the people replying? Well, I think I don't know. 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.000 I probably jumped it. I'm even before anybody could reply. 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:48.840 You know that the fact that there weren't in one 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.800 nanosecond five billion people on there just wasn't a front 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:53.800 to myself. So yeah, which, by the way, I want 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:55.800 to say that we just shout out we had clear 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:59.560 your partner on for the Planets episode, and that was 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.400 someone in imediately who when she I like posted, and 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:04.040 I'm like, who knows? And she's like, I cannot believe 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:06.600 you didn't ask me. And I was like, oh my gosh, 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.400 you're right. I am sorry, but I think I guess 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:12.760 we're an insistent couple. Yeah, I mean you are a 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:17.200 non legeable couple. Y'all are like nerd couple. Girls. Yeah, 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:20.360 you're like nerd nerd couple of royalty. You know what, 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:24.000 after we break up, I'll remember these, remember these loud 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.560 of tory statements with some bubble head that doesn't know anything, 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:32.000 like yeah, but yeah, I think they issue you one 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.000 when you get on right. So the bottom the bottom 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:36.640 line is I I know I love her and she 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.280 gets everything I'm talking about. But Milestone was before even 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:43.640 her experience with comics or whatever. So Milestone to me 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:45.640 is like kind of my childhood. Like when I was 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:48.240 like in boy Scouts. We would go out in the 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:50.160 woods and do the boy Scout jazz, but when it 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.640 came nighttime, we bust out the flashlights and read or whatever. 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.240 I would have. I would have this Bolestone comic. My 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:57.440 friend would have another one woman, have an X man woman, 0:10:57.520 --> 0:10:59.679 have this. We have a little library in a tent reading. 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:02.280 I'm gonna put a pause on that because I just 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:04.560 learned something about you and I don't want to move faster. 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:06.840 You were in the Boy Scout, Dude, I was a 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:12.040 senior patrol leader. I was doing it. That's another black 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:15.040 history moment right there, like black Man and the Boy Scouts. 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.800 Let me tell you something mean, Gene, I'm sure. Wow. 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:23.400 Do you have pigs? Uh? Picks? Oh no, No, I 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:29.800 would never allow. I met your mom's Facebook. Does she 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:32.199 has an album that's like My Children or something that 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:34.520 you're in there? Ye? Well, not at the bottom like 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:36.560 what Boy Scouts. Honestly, for me was like my mom 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:38.320 really did try to get me out in the woods 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:40.559 and stuff, you know, uh, to leave her alone so 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.760 she can mack on some dudes. Now, basically she you know, 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:45.680 is she trying to get me, you know, to live 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:48.120 outside the urban experience so called you know what I'm saying, 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:50.640 see the trees because she grew up in Higginsville, Missouri, 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:52.760 with fishing and hunting and all this kind of jazz, 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:54.720 so she wanted me to get down with it. But honestly, 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:57.319 it just taught me about like, uh, you can make 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:01.439 anything not fun with the opper leadership. So yeah, I 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:03.439 became a senior patrol leader stuff. I never got a 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:05.319 Eagle Scout because by the time I was about to 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:07.720 get Eagle Scout, I was like maybe fifteen, and I 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:10.360 started driving and stuff. And as soon as you got 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:14.720 a car, boy Scouts is done. You've got something better 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.520 to do. Every weekend, every night, you've got something better 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:20.160 to do. See for US California l a kids, that 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:23.559 was skateboard and everyone was on skateboards. Then when you 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:25.960 got the whip and that's that's when the real skaters 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.280 were made. Like are you skating the more skate spots? 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:30.560 Are you tossing that because that was your vehic mode 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:35.440 of transportation? Exactly? Mindo. Yeah. So so bottom line milestone 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.040 to me and method Man has talked about this. A 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:39.680 lot of people who are big in the nineties, like 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.720 grown people in the nineties have talked about this. When 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:46.120 you could go into a combook store and see four, five, six, eight, 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:51.839 black or so called minority lead comics all under the 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:55.280 DC banner, right next to X men, right next to you. 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:56.920 Don't have to go into the back near the porn 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.840 where something and I'm not trying to disk those comics 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:02.079 that a lot of black creators got mad at Milestone 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:04.280 when they first came out, because Milestone was like, it 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:05.840 would be like if you and I try to make 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:08.720 a comic, you and me, and then Danny goes gets 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:10.760 on d C and we try to make a comic 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:13.240 and Danny's comic on DC is blowing up. So she's 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.360 a minority where minorities, but her minority comics is blowing up. Yeah, 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.360 and we mad because we don't have the infrastructure. That's 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.360 what's starting to happen with with Milestone when they first 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:23.600 came out. But no negatives aside when we were when 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:25.040 we were kids, we didn't know about all that. All 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:27.199 we knew was was the first time I'm gonna look 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:29.640 at these comics and it wasn't black for black sake. 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.360 It was like these people happened to be black in 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:36.040 the same way supermanded Batman and Alquaman and Wonder Woman 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:38.800 and and and just happened to be white, you know 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.120 what I mean. So, and they weren't just black comics 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:43.800 that had the first gay comp The first gay character 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:45.160 I ever saw in a comic book was in one 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:49.400 of those the first uh yeah, the first lesbian relationship 0:13:49.440 --> 0:13:51.360 I ever saw. It was in there. The first interracial 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.439 relationship I saw that wasn't inflected with all this intracurricular bullcrap. 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:56.560 It was just a matter of fact relationship was in 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.280 those comics. So that's kind of what it meant to me, 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:01.480 just as a primer for us, is that it was 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:03.480 the first time I could see blackness is not like 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:05.760 some people have called them the black and the Black comics, 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:10.240 and that's not true. They were diverse and what they say, uh, 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:13.400 equality seems like oppression. You're not used to it. Oh yeah, 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.760 well yeah it's And I want to this is a 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:19.320 good time to inject this. I think I might have 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:21.400 said it on an earlier episode, and I want to 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.600 keep talking about this, but just this is an This 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.440 was from an era like the nineties where a time 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:31.120 where if you had black lead or black you know, uh, 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:34.880 things that featured a lot of people of color and minorities, 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:39.080 it was interminority. Here's thing. There was a black movie 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:42.560 that was a black content and and people would treat 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:45.160 it as if like, oh, I'm I'm I'm not black, 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:46.800 so I'm not gonna watch it. When it's like, no, 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:49.080 we don't We don't look at media and go, oh 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.240 that's a white that's a white thing. We're not gonna 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:53.560 watch it. We watch it just the same. So why 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:55.800 is all of a sudden now it's this red light. 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.320 And I think that really did kind of hurt a 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:01.600 lot of movies and why we started lying to ourselves 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:05.080 when that industry lie went that we couldn't have black 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:09.840 leads because they wouldn't sell overseas. And now we've disproven 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.080 that time and time again. But I'm sure some people 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.520 are still trying to stick to that lie. But yeah, 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:18.120 you you I think about Tales from the Hood. I 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:20.960 don't know if you've watched it again recently, but that 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:24.080 movie is a movie that if it came out now 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:27.880 would seem like a get out, you know, because it 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.840 is a horror movie that the horrors of the movie 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.120 are things that were affecting the black community. The first 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:39.600 the first story was a police brutality, the second domestic violence. 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:44.080 The third, um you know, just a racist, uh like 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:51.040 um politician and hilarious to see like the dude from 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:55.000 l a lock and getting trampled by black creatures. Well 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:57.680 funny enough. Uh, you know, we talked about it on 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:00.920 Who Shot You? And Joel our researcher who has also 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:04.200 been on the show, a friend of all all different parts. 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:06.600 She brought up that that movie came out a year 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:11.720 after Jeff Sessions almost one, Um, we're not Jeff Sessions. 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:15.240 Who's the other KKK David Duke when he almost won 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.000 the presidency and it's like, wow, we almost had a 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:24.360 KKK Grand Wizard as a president, you know. So it's 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:31.400 now we just have a closeted one burn, one more 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:38.520 one star review. Why is my Hood orange? Scifically because 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:43.760 he's doing a hate monger cosplay. You know, there's never 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:47.640 any nice mangers except for cheese mongers. Yeah, I called 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.240 people make cheese cheese mongers and fish mongers, I guess. 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:53.920 But everything else hate monger, fearmonger. Yeah, mangers get a 0:16:53.920 --> 0:17:04.919 bad y. Yeah, like yeah, you know what, we've already 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:08.920 pushed our limits. Yeah, let's hop into it. So. Milestone 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:13.879 Comics launched in and closed in ven It was a 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:17.119 black owned and created comic book company that sought to 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:20.119 make comics that capture the complexities of black life. In 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:22.639 other words, there's not one kind of black person in 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:26.320 these books, capturing all of those nuances, subtleties, and complexities 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.400 allowed an opportunity for young black readers to see their 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:34.120 lives reflected in superheroes. The characters were allowed to be humorous, serious, 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:37.240 or even arrogant in their demeanor without fear of stereotyping 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.920 or type casting. Yep. And that's one of the main 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.080 things that I got out of when I first started 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:45.320 looking at it. And it's not necessarily correction of what 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:47.840 you said earlier, Iffy, but it's like it isn't that 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:51.560 d C was just thinking about, let me go ahead 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:54.040 and see how I can give these black creators some 0:17:54.119 --> 0:17:56.800 kind of Now, that was not the case. Denny's Cowen 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:58.800 had become sort of a star artist at d C, 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:01.720 so that was that in. Dwayne McDuffie had done a 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:03.840 little work for Marvel and a little work for them 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:05.920 as well, so they were kind of in the machine. However, 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:10.240 what happened was Dwayne and Christopher Priest wrote a lot 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:13.240 of the background stuff. The guy who reinvented Black Panther 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:20.760 basically Dwyane, Derek Dingle, Michael Davis, somebody else I'm forgetting 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:23.440 right now. They got together as a collective and made 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:26.879 a comic book Universe like on spec and then walked 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:29.480 it into d c's offices. And to d c's credit, 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:32.879 they didn't just throw the fools out the window. You know, 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:35.760 they were like because they had done so much work. 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:37.520 So just I'm not trying to be a jerk, but 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:40.760 it shows you how much preparation. Also, some history that 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:42.399 I want to add to it, and what might have 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:46.200 helped their cause is this launched in which was one 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:49.280 year after Image Comics launch, which means that was one 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:52.560 year where they watched some of the top comic creators 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:55.880 dip out. Because they did so, I think DC was like, oh, 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:58.960 we don't want Image Comics part two, let's jump in 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:01.800 on this. That's an important piece of context because that 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:05.520 that is a time when it just dawned on everybody 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:09.280 that comics aren't from two companies. Yeah, comics are from 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:13.080 everybody if you have the proper infrastructure. So yeah, that 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:16.440 was That's an important piece of yeah, because I can't 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:20.480 imagine what they would have hated more than one other one, 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:22.920 because like you were saying, they established and that's what's 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.680 so interesting. And this is I think how this whole 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:28.360 series is gonna end up going is me taking elements 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:31.600 of this and sprinkling in it today and like hopefully 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:35.680 dropping help acknowledge to anyone listening. But that's the important 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.000 thing is because I think a lot of times and 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:41.200 you know, me and ED know this a lot because 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:45.560 with comics and comics, we talked to other young comics 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:49.000 and black comics, and there's idea where it's like, you know, 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:51.879 there are more than one way to do anything. But 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:54.320 I think one of the most important parts of making 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:59.160 honest work happen is becoming that type of undeniable where 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:02.359 it's like they bunch you on the team so like you, 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:06.160 like you, you can't ask. You have to demand almost 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:08.680 where and when you're in the position to demand, that's 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.080 when you can make change happen. And that that's kind 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:13.080 of what I was saying when I said that they 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:18.320 came in with whole bibles, to big fat bible stack 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:21.680 of backstory for all the characters, possible story arcs, that 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:24.920 they came so prepared that you were gonna have to 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:26.560 throw them out there, out of there with all that 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:29.680 work done and with all that potential thrown out And 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:32.159 just think about how people used to pitch books. I 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:35.800 guarantee you that similar level. White creators didn't have to 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:38.800 come in with it all the way done. That's still 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:41.399 today like to not to change this thing. But like 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:44.520 we've talked about, Yeah, we were talking about me selling 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:47.000 my show, and I had my entire bible. I had 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:50.520 ten episodes mapped out, I had five season art like 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:54.200 what each character's season arc would be, and I sold it. 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:56.399 But you know, and they paid for my bible. But 0:20:56.440 --> 0:20:59.160 I can guarantee someone has sold out the studio like, well, 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:03.240 it's a guy, but his farts talk and uh, it's 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:06.480 like six seasons adult Swim. I will. I've seen and 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:10.120 not to be too critical of of of women creators 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:13.080