How The Image of Men on TV Has Changed For the Worse

When I take breaks from writing, I usually take some time to watch TV. Most of the programs I watch today are on networks like Antenna, BOUNCETV, and COZI TV where they run old classic shows. Over the course of a year of watching the old favorites I grew up with as a kid, I noticed a difference between the way men were portrayed on TV 40 years ago and the way they are portrayed today. The image of Men on Television has changed. And it hasn’t changed for the better.

On older programs like Good Times, It Takes A Thief, The Six Million Dollar Man, Dragnet, Adam-12 and Marcus Welby M.D. men were depicted as strong, confident capable, leaders. They weren’t afraid to express an opinion or to disagree with someone defending their points. And if they disagreed, they agreed to disagree. They did what they wanted to do when they wanted to do it. They lived life on their terms and they solved problems on their terms.

And when they weren’t focusing on solving the problems of an episode they focused on pleasing themselves. Guys like Steve Austin, Alexander Mundy, Joe Friday, Pete Gannon, Marcus Welby, Steven Kiley, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed all had their hobbies and other personal interests they pursued. While they often pursued women, or were pursued by them, they weren’t a top priority for them. Accomplishing their goals in life was more important than anything else.

Moreover, I noticed a clear difference in the way male/male relationships were depicted in the media. On older shows like Adam-12 s and Marcus Welby M.D. there was a heavy focus on older men mentoring younger men. The relationship between Officers Pete Malloy and Jim Reed on Adam-12 or Marcus Welby and Steven Kiley on Marcus Welby M.D. focused not only on solving the problems of an episode but on how the older man taught the younger man the life skills he’d need to become a better man.

In between the lines of these programs I began to see there was a clear message about how men were to be socialized. Men were shown to be the leaders of their families, their homes, and their industries. They were shown as intelligent and hardworking. When they were on the job they were often depicted as problem solvers who used analytical and critical thinking skills. A man was considered a valuable asset to his family and his community.

In addition to these strong management and leadership skills, Men were often shown as masters of their craft passing down their skills and knowledge to the next generation of younger men and boys. Any boy or man watching these programs got a clear understanding of what manhood was and what it meant to be a Real man in society.

Fast forward forty years later to today. Men on Television today are depicted as weak, cowardly and incompetent. Incapable of solving problems. And considered disposable and expendable by the women in his family and his community.

Male Characters on shows like Cheers, Home Improvement, Married…With Children, Friends ,The Drew Carey Show, Seinfeld, Two and a Half Men, Everybody Loves Raymond, and How I met Your Mother spend most of their time chasing women or looking to please a woman. They spend most of an episode afraid to express an opinion or disagree with a woman. When faced with conflict, they usually cave in and do things the “right” way which is usually the woman’s way. They do what a woman tells them to do. They live life on a woman’s terms and solve problems the way she wants them solved. In some ways they’re almost like children.

What’s worse about these programs is that the men give up the things that make them happy to please women. In many a TV show over the last 40 years a man can be seen abandoning his goals or his dreams to make a woman happy. He is often told that making a woman happy is more important than meeting his own needs or even life itself. In most shows made after 1987 or so men are shown sacrificing their own happiness just to make a woman happy.

It’s no wonder why we have so many Simps and Manginas today. A generation of boys grew up watching Bitch-Made™ guys like Ross on Friends, George Costanza, Alan Harper, Ray Romano, and Ted Moseby.

After watching older TV shows and some of the new ones made today It’s clear that over the last 40 years how feminism has corrupted American media. Thanks to its destructive influence, the American Male on television has devolved into an emasculated Bitch-Made ™ Sensitive Guy without the backbone or the BALLS to do what’s right for himself.

Any boy watching this media will not get a clear image of what it means to be Real Man. What he will get is a clear image of what it means to be a SIMP or a Mangina. He will grow up to become an emasculated, weak, co-dependent man who will not be able to function without the approval of a woman. He will eventually become the type of male who is used by females as a tool to meet her needs then discarded when another more valuable tool becomes available.

Worse, he will spend his life thinking he’s doing the right thing living his life to pleasing a woman. Giving up his hobbies, his personal interests and his goals to make a woman happy. Dedicating his life to making someone else happy and not himself. That’s a pathetic way to live.

Because a man isn’t responsible for a woman’s happiness. That’s HER JOB.

And what’s more disturbing than the submissive images of Men on TV today is how they’re shown expressing female traits. Men being catty with other men. Men forming cliques. Men gossiping against other men. Men being jealous of other men. Men being emotional and throwing fits. Men shown being concerned with things like hair, clothes, shoes and excessive grooming like a woman. Men wearing clothes like low-rise pants and low cut T-shirts that look either asexual or feminine. And in some cases men wearing dresses.

The image of the American man on Television seems to be changing from a confident capable leader with a clear sense of his gender identity to an emasculated caricature of a woman today. And what’s even more disturbing than these twisted male images are that most of the masses of men imbibing this media have no problem with their image being twisted into this inhuman abomination. That doesn’t bode well for the next generation of males. They’ll never grow up with no understanding of what it means to be a Real Man. For them, that’ll just be an archaic image.

Since its inception, Television’s images are a reflection of American society. And when I look in the mirror of the TV screen it shows me men are fucked up. Thanks to forty years of feminism, men are growing up without a sense of what it means to be a man or a sense of their identity as a man. Imbibing too much of this media can have a man believing that it’s okay to be soft, effeminate and weak.

Fathers, if you love your boys, turn off the TV. Those programs will only lead to your sons growing up to become dysfunctional and in some cases homosexual. Show them what it means to be a Real Man by presenting them with a real image of Manhood every day.

When You Think With Your Dick…All you get is SCREWED

What do you call a guy who thinks with his dick?

A Baby Daddy.

Or a SUCKER.

Most Men usually have two brains. One between their ears and one between their legs. And when they use the wrong one to make decisions regarding their relationships with women they usually wind up ruining their lives.

Guys who think with their dicks usually wind up getting FUCKED. And in more ways than one.

When a guy thinks with his dick regarding women he usually winds up becoming target of predatory women like gold-diggers, neighborhood hoes. Women who are looking for a chump to take advantage of and use like a Kleenex.

Most guys don’t understand that not all sex is good sex. And most guys who think with their dicks wind up having bad sex with bad women. Women who don’t have their best intentions at heart.

Guys who think with their dicks oftentimes wind up becoming fathers to illegitimate children they have to pay child support for over the next 18 years. Or they wind up getting fleeced out of their hard-earned money. Or they wind up getting incurable veneral diseases like Herpes and HIV.

Worse, the wind up having sex with women on their terms. And sex on the woman’s terms usually leaves them in a bad position as men.

When a man has sex with a woman on her terms, it allows her to gain leverage over him. And predatory women will use that leverage to get control over a man. Sure they may offer up their bodies for a night of hot sex, but they know that most weak guys like Simps and Manginas will want more. And that’s when predatory women start playing hard to get, dangling their pussies in a man’s face like a carrot and leading him around like a mule.

And that’s how a Simp becomes a Trick, spending his money on a woman desperately hoping, wishing, and praying that he’ll get another whiff of a pussy fart. And the more money he spends on her the more things the more she does to keep his dick out of her pussy. Stringing him along until she gets everything she wants out of him and he gets nothing but fucked in the wallet.

That’s what happens when a man thinks with his dick. He gets a one-way trip to the pussy trap known as the TRICK BAG.

Which is why a Real man never thinks with his dick.

A Real man deals with women on HIS TERMS. He chooses when he has sex with a woman and who he has sex with. He understands that every opportunity to have sex doesn’t mean that he’ll have good sex, and that it’s okay to turn down sex with a woman if the terms for that sexual encounter don’t benefit him in the long term.

Because sometimes the women who want to have sex with him don’t have good intentions. Sometimes women are using sex as a gateway to implement a nefarious scheme.

Guys, you have to get control over your sexual urges. As Bell Biv Devoe said in the classic song “Poison” never  trust a big butt and a smile. Just because she looks good doesn’t mean that she’s good for you. Real men don’t focus on what’s between her legs, they focus on what’s between her ears. A man who watches on a woman's actions will have better relationships than one who looks at her body.

If Shawn wrote Comics: Mister Terrific

A couple of years ago Goeff Johns revamped Mr. Terrific by introducing Michael Holt, and African-American. I see a lot of potential in DC Comics Third smartest man, and I have a plan to establish him as a distinct superhero.

The problem with Mr. Terrific right now is that he’s just…Mediocre. A black guy who calls himself Mr. Terrific. Sure he’s got a great look and all these great tools like a nanite mask and T-Spheres, but there’s nothing to make him really stand out in a crowd of other Black superheroes.

As it stands now there’s nothing terrific about Mr. Terrific. He’s still a square boring brotha in a costume. He needs more to help him stand out as a superhero. Something to give him an edge. He has a great power and skill set, but the way writers have been using them doesn’t help him actualize his potential. That’s why he wasn’t able to carry a series as part of the New 52.

No one wants to buy just a Black superhero. No, they want an interesting one.

When I revamped John Haynes for The Temptation of John Haynes back in 2005, I gave him intelligence and street savvy. Then I put him up against Lucifer in a cerebral game of wits where the stakes were high. That storyline proved to be one of the most critically acclaimed and successful novels of my career.

I’d love to apply the John Haynes model to DC’s Mr. Terrific. I believe he needs to be more than the world’s third smartest man, what he needs to be is the World’s most dangerous man.

What makes Michael Holt dangerous? The same thing that Made John Haynes dangerous. He’s an intelligent Black man. As one of the smartest men in the world, he’s a guy and who understands the subtle politics transpiring about him. He knows how to think critically and plan strategies. The deadliest weapon he has is his brain.

In White Supremacist America, a smart black man is dangerous. And smart black man who has power like Michael Holt has is even more dangerous.

And his power isn’t just his brain. It’s the fact that he has personal power, power over himself. He isn’t afraid of these super powered metahumans, aliens, Amazons, Atlanteans, and rainbow colored candy lanterns. He’s the kind of guy to stand up look them in the eye and let them know he will be the last man standing.

That’s something that scares the villains. And it scares some of the heroes. Guys like Batman. Guys like Superman. Powerful people like like Lex Luthor, Dr. Cyber, and Amanda Waller. The Michael Holt I envision is getting the attention of a lot of people with his “fair play”. And they don’t like the fact that he’s a man that can’t be controlled.

Taking a page from my work in The Temptation of John Haynes, I’d love to Make Mr. Terrific a book about a Black man’s view of superheroes, race and politics similar to Christopher Priests’ Black Panther. The way I see it Michael Holt is the world’s most dangerous man. Because he knows that truth, justice and the American way aren’t always the right way.

My vision for Mister Terrific is character who fights not just for justice against villains, but for “Fair Play.” He’s the guy who makes sure that the good guys follow the rules they establish. A man who fights to keep organizations like the Justice League, the JSA, the Titans and other freelance heroes on the side of right.

I feel Mr. Terrific is a great character to explore race and race relations in the superhero community. Everyone out there doing good deeds isn’t as “good” as they think they are and this would be the kind of book to really make characters in the DC Universe take that long introspective look at themselves and the ideals they promote.

If I were writing Mr. Terrific, there would be a storyline about him investigating a case of a superhero using excessive force on people of color. (and No, it won’t be Guy Gardner.)

I’d also like to write a storyline where Superman is scared of Mr. Terrific and we get to see how Truth Justice and the American way are colored by race and politics. A challenge of the Ideals of Superman vs. the realities of race and politics in America. This would be a storyline where Michael comes to understand Lex Luthor’s fears of Superman. As he’s being challenged by Superman and tempted by villains like Lex Luthor Dr Cyber, and Amanda Waller, he has to figure out not only how to fight Superman’s super powers, but his public image.

You don’t spit in the wind and you don’t tug on Superman’s cape. So how does a Black man overcome the American Icon and fight for the real Truth, justice and the American way?

I would also explore the impact of Black superheroes in the Black community. Sure Mr. Terrific is seen as great by Whites but in his community they’d probably call him “Tom Terrific” for acting so “White”. In the ghettos dope boys and gang bangers are considered heroes by some. So how does a superhero show them that he's the good guy who has their backs? That's never been a question answered in the pages of a modern comic book.

A Shawn James run on Mr. Terrific would be a series mixing race, political intrigue action and adventure. I feel a Black superhero has to stand out by not just being Black, but by interesting, multidimensonal and complex as well.

SIMPIN IN THE SUMMERTIME

Summer is here in the South Bronx. Good Gravy, I hate this time of year. Why?

Here in NYC all the SIMPS come out in the summertime. And they’re easy to spot. They’ve blown all their income tax money on all sorts of peacock shit to show off to the females like 22 inch chromed wheels on their SUVs, and a boomin sound system which they crank up for the whole block to hear.

These fools think they’re cool. They think they’re players. They think they’re attracting all the ladies to them. What they don’t know is all they’re doing is attracting all the hoodrats and chicken heads in the neighborhood with their BAITMOBILES. When they see those cars with the shiny rims, and boomin speakers, those predators now know that the chump driving it has a little change and that they’re STUPID enough to trick it off on them.

Come winter time, these same chumps will be taking the bus. He’ll have to sell that fly ride because the sexy summertime hottie he was eager to get with announce she’s about to become his Baby Mama in the fall. What most Simps don’t know is chicks who ride shotgun are looking for access to a dude’s pockets. That’s why you strap up with the jimmy hats (condoms) during the summertime.

In addition to the cars and the boomin sound system are all the SIMPS running around in brand new Air Jordan sneakers. Some have two or three pairs to really show how much of a “baller” they are.

Again, pure peacock behavior. Letting all the gold-diggers, chicken heads and hoodrats know a SIMP has arrived and is has fat pockets ready to be picked through trickin. All a female has to do with a chump like this is whisper some sweet nothings in his ear and he’ll be ready to hand over all his little leftover tax refund money or his summer job money like the sucker he is. Then beg borrow and steal to get on the bus.

Along with the Simps are the Pussy Beggars. There are several categories of these assholes and they just make living here in the Bronx more fucking miserable than the heat here in the Summertime.

Like the Bitch-Made™ fool who decides to take his pit bull out and walk it without the leash. This fool thinks he looks tough. That he has swag. That he’s a badass. That all the girls are going to see him and swoon over his narrow behind. It’s Male attention whoring at its finest.

Usually this fool saunters down the block with his shirt off, shorts sagging and his dog trailing behind his scrawny ass. He doesn’t care that his animal is broiling in ninety degree heat. Nor does he care about its safety. All he cares about are the looks from the females he thinks are checking him out.

Not understanding his whole display is just him trying too hard. He’s repelled everybody with his attempt to play bad boy. Some people like myself are actually laughing at his goofy ass.

Another variation of this same fool can be seen riding along the Grand Concourse on a bike on the Sidewalk or carrying a boom box with a group of fellas here in the South Bronx. Again, more guys trying too hard and not knowing how STUPID they look. Especially the dudes riding their daughter’s pink bicycle.

Then there are the dudes running up and down the block in the sagging shorts. And when I say saggin I mean with the butt cheeks exposed and all their draws showing. I truly hate this new trend of boys wearing pants hanging off their asses with their backside of their draws exposed. They look like male prostitutes selling ass in Greenwich Village.

But to hear them tell it, they’re badass thugs. If only they could hear the laughter. Maybe when one or two of them get propositioned by some Gay dudes or some ex-cons fresh out the pen looking for some booty maybe They’ll stop showing their butt cheeks to the world.

Then there are the Thirsty dudes. Really they’re Chumps with no people skills, no style, and no game. They come out on the street in sweat stained tank tops and shorts off their ass trying to step to neighborhood females. They think calling out to a woman like a dog means she has to talk to them. They thing saying things like “YO, COME HERE” and making Kissing sounds (I Kid you NOT I saw a Latino guy in a Mercedes do this!) means that some woman actually has to respond to them.

Dumbassses.

These dudes are so thirsty they have their tongues hanging out of their mouths like hungry dogs. They think they have game, but they need to be smacked on the nose with a rolled up newspaper.

One of the most dangerous categories of Summertime SIMP are the Bitch-Made ™ Manginas. These are the guys who come from female headed households and can’t handle the basics of life. Put them in the heat and it’s usually a recipe for violence.

These are the kinds of fools who lose a basketball game or a game of Dominoes and want to fight. They’re also the kinds of guys who see a guy talking to a girl they like and get mad and want to fight him thinking they’re gonna get brownie points with her. And they’re the guys who once they get their asses kicked in a fight want to come back with a gun and start shooting.

And when they start shooting, they kill innocent men women and little children. People who had nothing to do with whatever stupid little beef he thought was such a big problem.

I truly hate these Bitch-made™ Manginas. These are the assholes who can turn a fun summer evening into a tragic night where families are planning funerals the next morning. Instead of sucking shit up and taking it like a Real Man, they get all upset and emotional and run off to get their guns to make people pay for getting the better of their weak asses. Then after they shoot everything but the person they’re looking for, they run and hide. When these losers get caught by the police, they’re usually found cowering and crying.

Then there’s the Mangina who gets rejected by a girl at a party or other social event. Usually this chump has finally mustered up the courage (usually with alcohol) to talk to the female he’s had his eye on for a while at a party, a barbecue or some other event. And when she says she’s not interested, he loses it. This is the kind of asshole upon being told no starts calling the object of his affection a bitch a cunt, and a whore, and even start getting physical. Then when he gets tossed from wherever he is for his disorderly behavior, he scurries off with his tail between his legs to go get nine millimeters of courage.

Again, this Bitch-Made™ coward couldn’t take rejection and now that a woman said no to him he’s going to kill her. Mixing assholes like this and alcohol together usually becomes a recipe for disaster where many lives are lost. Especially those of innocent children playing out on the street on a hot summer night. Because he couldn’t charge her to the game and keep it moving, people are charged to go to the funeral home.

Summer usually is a fun time in the city. Unfortunately, SIMPS make the long hot summer unbearable with their tedious attention whoring, pussy begging and propensity for violence when things don’t go their way. When a SIMP is in heat all I want to do is find a nice cool place to go to get away from them and their pathetic thirsty behavior.

New eBooks on Smashwords

It's a devilish double feature as Shawn starts an E'steem limited series to go along with the Isis series Both books are FREE on Smashwords!

E'Steem: Deadly D' lilah 

Bad girl gone good! Good girl in peril! Six months afterevents transpiring in The Temptation ofJohn Haynes, former She-demon E’steem is now on the side of the angels. Further down the down the straight and narrow path, she’s attacked by D’lilah a young ambitious she-demon out to move up the ladder in the Hierarchy of Hell. And the only way she can do that is by Killing E’steem.

E'steem: No Good Deed 

Bad girl gone good! No longer a member of Lucifer’s Legion, former She-demon E’steem is now on the side of the angels. Starting her journey down the straight and narrow path, she runs afoul of some stick-up kids while shopping on Madison Avenue in this action packed short. Can Hell’s former harbinger scare them straight?



Both these stories take place after The Temptation of John Haynes but before Isis: Amari's Revenge!  So if you're following the Isis series you can easily jump in with no problems! 

Shawn Responds to Sonya Miller

Recently I got a comment from Sonya Miller on my I don’t need no man…God Says Different Black Woman Blog. Sonya was so offended by the commentary presented in my piece that she said while she enjoyed one of my books, she wouldn’t buy another.

This has been the second time I’ve been threatened with not getting a sale for a paperback or an eBook because of statements I made in a blog. While I’ll miss Sonya Miller’s money in my royalty statement, I still stand by everything I wrote in that blog.

Standing by God’s Word means more to me than money. I’ve been out of work for close to five years. I only have $300 in the bank. But I will not compromise my beliefs in God for any amount of money.

In the Proverbs it states there is a way that seemeth right unto a man that leads to his destruction. From what I see, American Black women are following down a road that seems right to them that’s leading to the destruction of themselves and the Black community.

Now Miss Miller believes I was being racist and bigoted when I spoke of White Jesus and his relationship with the Black woman. As a White female and a practicing Pagan, she has no understanding of the dysfunctional nature of the Black Church and how it’s destroying the Black community.

As Black women follow the false teachings of White Jesus, Black people suffer. 70 percent of Black babies are born out of wedlock. 60 percent of Black pregnancies end in abortion. 50 percent of herpes cases and 60 percent of all new HIV cases are Black women. And in New York City we have a 70 percent dropout rate among Black boys and 50 percent dropout rate among black girls. 80 percent unemployment among Black men and a growing rate of unemployment among Black women. Crumbling schools, dilapidated housing and generation after generation of poverty.

All while there is a church on every corner teaching the false religion of White Jesus. A hodgepodge of pop culture and entertainment loosely framed around quotes of bible verses. A religion currently used to pacify Black women and politically and socially shame, bully and intimidate anyone who refuses to agree with the unwritten mandates of pimp pastors and the Black women who control the Black community. A religion that has nothing to do with Christianity.

What is preached in Black Churches today is not the true Word of God written in the Bible. If one just reads their own Bible daily, they’ll see that the religion of the Black Church is out of order with the Word of God.

Black women profess to love God in church, but don’t do what he says. Jesus clearly stated it’s doers of the word that follow him not hearers. Clearly He wants Christians to take action.

And as a Christian, I feel I have to take action to show Black people where they’re going wrong. When a Black woman says that she “Don’t need no man” but professes to go to church every Sunday and professes to love the Lord, that’s hypocritical. How can a Black woman love the Lord when she refuses to do what He says regarding men?

God in his Word from Genesis in the Old Testament to Corinthians in the New Testament clearly states that a woman needs a Man. Moreover He states that a woman is made for a man. A help meet He made for him because he shouldn’t be alone.

But thanks to forty years of feminism in the Black community the order of God has been reversed. Instead of women believing they were made for men as God intended, the men believe that they were made for women. And because Black men have been miseducated by the Feminist dogma embedded within the religion of White Jesus, they think that it’s their job to defer to the leadership and authority of women. Trying to cater to the wills of the women who are looking for a “good” man.

The only women who “don’t need a man” is a lesbian. And most feminists are let’s face it…Lesbians.

God made women for men. But Black women taught the false doctrines of White Jesus believe that men were made for them. This is why 70 percent of them are single. Because they’re following a religion that teaches them something that totally contradicts the Word of God written in the Bible.

The religion of White Jesus taught by Black Pimp Pastors tells Black women they are the leaders of the community when in actuality they are supposed to be the Help Meets who support Black men. Black men who they refuse to support. Black men whose leadership they refuse to follow.

Now con men and hustlers like Tyler Perry and Steve Harvey make millions of dollars off these miseducated sistas selling them snake oil in stage plays, books, movies and DVDs. They take a Single mother’s rent money the same way false prophets used to steal widow’s homes in biblical times.

I could jump on this bandwagon of these charlatans and deliver myself out of poverty. But I values the souls of my Black Sistas more than money. That’s why I take the time to present the truth to Black women.

Growing up in a strict Christian home, I was taught that God punishes those who knew and did not tell others about his Word with more stripes than those who didn’t know. And I know if I stay silent and let Black women continue go on in their false religion and don’t say a word, God will punish me for not saying anything about the wrong direction they’re going in.

I don’t want to see Black women lose their souls. It’s not God’s will that any of us perish.

When I look at the sad state of affairs in the Black community I can’t stay silent. I have to say something. Maybe a sista or two will be offended. Some may be insulted. But I’d like to think I’m opening up their minds and making them think for once. I may not make lots of money, but I may save their souls.

All I’m trying to do is to show the Black woman how illogical her approach to religion is. How she’s trying to worship God and Mammon. And how the Mammon of White Jesus is more her God than JEHOVAH, the Holy Almighty Living God. God can’t bless the Black community if the Black man can’t be the leader He established over it and the Black woman doesn’t support him in doing God’s work.

Lawrence Cherry's SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS: The Re-Education of Jim Reid is Now Available Exclusively on Kindle!

Lawrence Cherry's School of Hard Knocks is Now available on Kindle! 

$2.99 on Kindle

Nearly a year after his arrest and subsequent conviction for drug possession, Jim Reid is struggling to rebuild his life. All he wants is a second chance, but it seems society will not allow him to forget the mistakes of his past. Battling unemployment, financial ruin, and his own personal demons, Jim realizes that he needs help. Instead of turning to the only one who can help, Jim begins to rely on his new friend, Smoke, a small time drug dealer who dreams of making it big.

Smoke promises Jim that he will find the solution to all of his problems in “the thug life” and teaches him how to navigate the underbelly of the inner-city. “The thug life” turns out to be much more than Jim bargained for. Ultimately, Jim finds himself trapped in Smoke’s perilous world with no way out, except one. But will Jim take it before it’s too late?

The School of Hard Knocks: The Re-education of Jim Reid is the second part of Lawrence Cherry’s Commencement saga. The series follows a group of young African-Americans who learn about, life, love, and faith and how to live a good life in an increasingly immoral society.

Isis: Death of a Theta Chapter 2

Read Chapter 1 here

Chapter 2

I’m taken aback by the words coming out of the mouth of one of my oldest and dearest friends. As kind and compassionate as they are, they still feel like a knife going through my heart.

“You want me to step down as Senior Grand Mother?” I bristle.

“There’s no way you can continue on as Andrea Robinson Isis.” Alma continues. “The pledges are starting to get suspicious.”

“What would make them suspicious?”

“Come on, Andi, you’re supposed to be 98-years-old. But when you’re with the kids you use slang like an eighteen-year-old.” Edna says.

“And you eat like a sixteen-year-old.” Alma jabs. “At my age I can’t eat half the stuff you scarve down. Heck, I can’t even digest half the spicy stuff you scarve down anymore.”

“Hey, I just don’t want to come off as a stuffy old lady-”

“I’d say you’re doing that too well.” Edna continues. “Not that many senior citizens your age have the dexterity to drive a Mustang convertible.”

“Edna, you know that Lincoln Continental convertible I bought just doesn’t handle as well. Powder blue piece of crap-”

“But that’s what dignified older women like you are supposed to drive.” Alma says.

“Come on Alma, I still have a good forty years left in me-”

“But if you stick around The Thetas won’t have another forty years left in it.” Millicent says. “Some of the pledges are eventually going to figure out that you’re more than human.”

“You only figured that out because you walked in on me lifting up my dresser with one hand when you were little-”

“There were other tells.” Millicent continues. “But the point is someone else may walk in on you doing something a 98-year-old woman wouldn’t be able to do.”

“And there’s a chance that one of them may slip and reveal that fact to someone outside of our sisterhood.” Edna says. “Now we’ve made efforts to keep your secret so that you can continue to do your philanthropic work.”

“But none of us can guarantee what the next generation of Theta sisters will do.” Alma says. “And we’d all hate to see all of your good work compromised.”

I hate to admit it but they’re right. If I remain here as Andrea Thomas Robinson I could wind up destroying everything I’ve built over the past seventy years. If my cover is blown, it could have a ripple effect throughout the Black community.

“Guess I have to take one for the team.” I sigh.

“It would be for the best.” Alma replies.

“I just wish I didn’t have to leave now.” I continue. “You really need me to help you fight those feminists-”

“You have to have faith in us to preserve your legacy.” Edna says. “God sees all the good work you’ve done. I know He’d want it to continue.”

“And we’d all make efforts to keep teaching our daughters what we learned from you over the years.” Millicent says.

“So when do you want to announce my retirement?”

“We’ll let the other Theta Sisters know in a few weeks.”

Buy Isis: Death of a Theta Exclusively on Kindle! 

Isis: Death of a Theta Chapter 1

Chapter 1

December 1973

I bop my head to The Jackson Five song playing on the 8-track stereo as my cherry red 1969 Mustang convertible maneuvers around the winding roads of Oneonta County. With the way this car handles the curves, I should be there right on time for the emergency meeting Alma called.

My baby purrs as I stop the car in front of the tall black wrought iron gates in front of the Theta Estate and reach into the glove box for the remote control that opens them. When I press the button, the gates open and I hit the gas and race up the pebble lined driveway up the hill to the sprawling estate. I park the car in front of one of the garage ports and inhale the sweet dew in the afternoon air as I grab my cane and use it to help me steady myself as I step out of the car.

It’s a long shuffle down the pathway and up the limestone steps up to the tall mahogany doors of the grand Grecian styled mansion’s facade. Forty years ago I’d have made this trip in a quick sprint. These days when I come to the Theta House I have to take a moment to catch my breath before I buzz the doorbell. After a few seconds pass, the door cracks open and I’m greeted by the Thetas’ housekeeper Esmerelda. The petite bronze skinned Indian woman dressed in a black formal maid’s uniform gives me a smile as I meet her brown eyes with mine.

“Miss Robinson. It’s a pleasure to see you.”

“As it is you Esmerelda. Have the other Sisters arrived?”

“They’re in the ballroom.”

All the way at the other side of the house. “They couldn’t have used the dining room?”

“Alma says you need the exercise.”

I thought I was getting enough of a workout getting out of the car and heading down the walkway to the house. If I knew things were going to be this hard years later, I’d have built Alma a town house instead of a mansion. Esmerelda keeps her eyes on me as I shuffle through the grand white marble vestibule. She gets the tall mahogany door for me and I make my way onto the parquet floors of the main hall. I’m halfway to the ballroom when I hear her rushing behind me. “Wow, you’re fast for a woman your age.” Esmerelda says.

“You should have seen me doing the hundred meters at Spelman.” I reply.

Esmerelda chuckles as she opens the tall mahogany doors of the ballroom for me. When we step into the grand room it’s decorated with Black tablecloths and curtains. With it being Christmastime, I thought Alma would decorate it with more festive colors. We only use Black linens here when we’re either examining pledges or when we’re disciplining them.

Seated at the banquet table are the senior officers of the Theta Sorority. Senior Grand Mother Alma Travis, Senior Dean Mother Edna Flowers, and Dean Mother Millicent Anderson. They’re all wearing elegant black sheath dresses, heels, and church hats along with the platinum and diamond Theta pins on the breasts of their dresses. My friends greet me with somber looks as I approach the table. They must have some really bad news to report.

“Good afternoon ladies.” I greet. “What’s with all the black?”

Before anyone says anything, Alma gives Esmerelda a look and she walks out closes the door behind us. “Because it’s a sad time for us all Andi.” Edna says.”

My eyes grow wide as I look over at Millicent. I hope nothing happened to her baby. “Is Colleen okay-”

“No, Colleen is fine.” Millicent replies. “She’s with her father upstairs.”

“Then what’s got everyone upset?” I ask.

Alma’s dull brown eyes meet mine. She chokes back tears. “Isis, we appreciate everything you’ve done to establish this sisterhood for us. How you’ve helped countless young Negro girls grow up to become great young women and even greater mothers. But there’s no way you can continue on with our organization.”

Get Isis: Death of a Theta Exclusively for your Kindle today! 

Shawn’s Father’s day Message.

To all the Fathers out there who are teaching your sons and daughters what they need to grow up to become Real Men and Real Women, This blog is for you.

And to all you fathers who are out there that are out there putting in overtime on these jobs, going to work sick, and sacrificing the money you spend on your man stuff so your kids can have things like notebook paper, school supplies, clean clothes, three meals a day and some spending money, I salute you.

I wanted to take the time to give the fathers out there the credit they don’t get. Many decent men today don’t get the credit for making the effort to stay with their children and have relationships with them. Especially those men who hang in there with their kids in a hostile situation with a baby mama or a divorced mother.

If you’re in a single parent home, kids, don’t believe everything you hear from your mother. Your father is not the monster she makes him out to be and she’s not the saint she makes herself out to be. Chances are, he’s contributed in some way towards helping you improve your quality of life. You just don’t see it.

In today’s American society dominated by feminism, most men don’t get the credit they deserve for supporting their children and taking care of them. The hard work of decent, caring fathers is often minimized, dismissed and ignored by angry feminists, bitter single mothers and their Mangina and Simp supporters. He is told to sit down, shut up, and fade into the background.

Some Women are quick to call a man a “no good deadbeat” but are eager to take ¾ of his paycheck in child support and spend it on the latest Gucci bag or payments on an SUVher and her girlfirends can ride around in, then tell the kids that their daddy doesn’t take care of them when they ask for things like new shoes or a coat.

Some single mothers are quick to say “he doesn’t see his kids” But won’t let him come to see them when he has time to. They don’t understand a man doesn’t dictate the hours on his job. And sometimes he has to work overtime on these jobs. Nor do they understand that sometimes he can’t take off work because he has to work two jobs not only to keep a roof over his head, but theirs. That’s right, some men not only pays his own rent, but the mortgage on that home the mother enjoys staying in for free with those children.

Some divorced mothers do everything in their power to deny a man his right to visit his kids. Even though he makes every effort to come see them, they stop him at the door and refuse to let him in. They don’t show up at the place where they’re supposed to be dropped off.

In their world they are the victim of this EEEEVIL man and all the wrong he has done them. When this is not the case. Many times decent fathers want to be involved in the lives of their children. But they either are driven away by hostile single mothers or they’re attacked by Simps and Manginas who the mother has shoehorned into the role of a father because she’s jealous of her children having the relationship with this man that she couldn’t have with her own father.

Many of these same women are quick to say they’re the mother and the father. There was even a set of cards out last year making this insulting statement. But they can NEVER do the job of a Father.

No matter what any feminist or single mother tells you, Fathers make a difference in the lives of children. As the leader of the family, he’s the one who gives children the stability and emotional support to grow up to become functional Just him being there every day has a direct impact on the growth of a child.  Again, with his help, a boy grows up to become a man and a girl grows up to become a woman.

I take this blog to say thank you to all the fathers out there who are stepping up to the plate and working behind the scenes to improve the quality of life for your families. Thank you for sucking it up when berated by a hostile boss and enduring that shitty job so your kids can have a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs and spending money for things like video games and toys. Thank you for biting your tongue in the face of verbal abuse from baby mamas or divorced moms so that your children could know that you had enough character not to take an argument into the sewer. Thank you for walking away from that Simp who is eager to stick himself in your place and talk trash about what you don’t do while eating food you paid for with the money deducted from your check for child support. Thank you for not saying a word when your kids give your mother a card on father’s day saying she’s the mother and the father. Even though you contribute just as much to their well being. Thank you for putting the needs of your children ahead of your own. Thank you for standing up and being Real Men.
 

Isis: Death of a Theta Now Available Exclusively on Kindle.

Isis: Death of a Theta 

Requiem. In this flashback story set in 1973, Isis is called to the Theta House by her sorority sisters who want her to step down from her leadership role the Senior Grand Mother. With her mortal alias Andrea Robinson being 98-years-old,and Isis being immortal, they fear that if she continues on with the organization her secret may be revealed, and their mission compromised in the Black community.

Coming to terms with her aging secret identity, Isis realizes that she has to start making plans to get her human affairs in order. As she lays down her life of her alias in the mortal world for her friends, Isis comes to realize that she has to have faith in the women she taught to build on the foundation she established and pass it on to the next generation of Theta sisters.


Isis: Death of  a Theta ties directly into my Kindle Exclusive novel The Thetas: 

Nineteen-year-old rich socialite Colleen Anderson has just completed her sophomore year at New York University. On the last day of the semester she receives a mysterious letter on fancy salmon colored stationery with a single Greek letter on it. It’s a letter that will change her life and redefine the woman she’ll become.

Both titles are part of Amazon's KDP Select program this Summer! You can buy or if you have Amazon Prime, you can borrow both books for FREE! 


New eBooks will be coming to Smashwords as part of the Summer reading Campaign! Until then Isis fans, you can pick up Isis: The Ultimate Fight and Isis: The Beauty Myth for FREE ALL SUMMER LONG! 

 Isis: The Ultimate Fight
Girlfight! Nemesis, the undisputed Queen of the Octagon is hungry for competition. After defeating twenty-four of the world’s best MMA fighters, she’s out to prove to both man and god that she’s the best in the world. Traveling to the Island of Solitude she issues a challenge to the goddess Isis to fight her in the eight-sided chain-link roofed steel cage. 

Isis: The Beauty Myth  Glamorous! Raheema Sanders, 85-year-old CEO of Sepia Cosmetics seeks to find a way to reverse the effects of aging on herself. Learning that Isis is more than human, she has the goddess kidnapped and taken to her secret lab so she can learn the beauty secrets of the gods. However, when she comes face-to-face with the goddess she soon learns Isis’ beauty is more than skin deep. 

Shawn Clowns a Side Piece

In most of my blogs I try to give people lessons they can learn. And sometimes the people who post to the comments section prove my points for me. Like the Hoe who tried to Justify Olivia Dope's adulterous behavior on Scandal in a previous blog.

I want you SIMPS out there to know what kind of crazy you enable in women when you do dumb shit like making them a side piece. It’s just easier to stay single and date whoever you want. Why pay a $400 month to lease a cow for five years when you can get milk for free from a dozen others? But that’s what you SIMPS do when you have a side piece. Paying a woman to give you exclusive dibs on her pussy. With those fucked up terms, you may as well just get married to a second woman. Because you’re spending just about the same amount of money to take care of this other woman as you would your girlfriend or your wife. And just like a car lease, you don’t see how you’re getting ripped off until the lease is up.

If you smell fish, that’s the smell of a bustdown hoe being roasted EXTRA CRISPY on Shawn’s barbecue. Her comments are in bold, mine are regular text. Enjoy! 

Her comments are in bold, mine are regular text. Enjoy! 

For a "Real Man"??? you seem to have an eery obsession with the moral character and unpleasant demise of the Sidepiece.

Nope, Just trying to inform the women out here what happens to them when you become a ho like you are.

Any relationship I involve myself in is a two-way street. Shawn doesn’t share himself with anyone else when he’s exclusive with a woman. Nor does he tolerate it when a woman shares herself with other dudes when they say they’re committing to him. If they do ratchet stuff like that, that I charge them to the game and keep it moving.

I suspect you were a victim in a 3 way romantic relationship involving a sidepiece and continues to suffer from the residue of his/her wicked ways. I suspect you have therefore become a bitter and sad real man ever since.

Nope. Just trying to inform the women out here what happens to them when you become a ho.And a bad ho at that. If you're gonna make a career out of sellin' ass, then get top dollar for your pussy. Selling pussy to one customer shows you're horrible at what you do.  

 Aww! Hence why your articles reek of salty venom towards Sidepieces with every chance you get.

Nice try. My Venom is more of the sugary kind. Gets a nice char when I’m roasting up bustdowns like you. 

Maybe if instead of ranting and projecting onto the Sidepiece your inner pain and angst you and these SO's in relationships should do some self evaluation and soul searching to see what their role could have been to cause their partners to seek happiness outside of them somewhere else.

No ranting here, that’s you. I merely presented the facts to everyone. However, in your pitiful attempt to refute my argument, you ironically prove me right. 

 Possibly ditching the pride and delusions woul help as well.

No pride or delusions here, that’s your department. Just one hundred percent irrefutable truth coming from me. Delusions are your department.

 Truth. I'm in a Sidepiece position 

So you admit you’re a HO. Thanks for letting everyone out here in cyberspace know that. 

and me e and my "Simp/man" has milked this cow for all its worth, and yet he's non-stop asking me to have an all inclusive committed relationship with him. 

Still makes you a HO. And the fact that he’s pussy beggin like Ronald Regan isn’t a plus for anything except sating your fragile ego.  Guys non stop ask to make you feel better. Keeps the free pussy flowing. 

And it you think he'd  commit to you if you got him you're a FOOL. If a man will cheat with you, he will CHEAT ON YOU. Actions speak louder than words, and if he's cheating on his current woman with you, he'll cheat with someone else with you. As I stated before, You reap what you sow, and Karma can be a bitch when it kicks you in the ass.

It seems his main cow has run dry.

More like she got tired of his crap. Or he’s got the seven year itch. . You better get tested for  to make sure you didn't get it from him. 

Her value quotient has depreciated with time along with his happiness.

And yours won’t? Hey, come back to me when you turn 40 or you pop out that first bastard kid in a desperate attempt to keep him when he’s tired of you. You’ll find your value will drop lower than an 1989 Yugo with 300,000 miles on it. That’s when your value quotient will depreciate just like hers has.

 Pretense and endurance has it's limits and will eventually bottom out.

So will your Vagina.  And when your body isn’t as sexy as it is now in a couple of years his “pretense and endurance” (Whatever the heck that means) will meet its limits with you. And you’ll bottom out. Then after you reinvent your washed up ass as a boho chick, an Afrocentric Mother of Earth, or my personal favorite the Born-Again Christian™ you’ll head to the slut graveyard called Online dating.

 Many SO's like himself have reserved their right/option clause in the relationship to seek happiness in greener pastures if deemed necessary, and some are going for it. 

That’s what you think. Read the fine print. That’s where you’ll you’re the one getting screwed over.

What you don’t understand is that these Manginas want their cake and want to eat it too. They’re too scared to go up to the woman they’re with and tell her to her face he’s just tired of her and would like a divorce. So he sneaks around with hoes like you because he isn't man enough to face the woman he's with. 

Twenty years ago here in New York, Joey Buttafuco went for it with Amy Fisher. Then after Amy Fisher shot Mary Jo, he still went back to his wife. Amy Fisher on the other hand did a year in jail. But I guess there are greener pastures on the way to the penitentiary. Unfortunately, the grass still tastes like shit over there.

Another example is the Robin Character in Waiting to Exhale. Like a good loyal Sidepiece She waited years and years for Russel to keep his promise to leave his wife.And while she desperately waited for her "good" man to divorce his wife and marry her she got OLD. Finally she tried to trap dude with a baby. And when that didn't work, she wound up a baby Mama.

Unbelieveble as it may seem to you Sex is not the only desired component in many of these Sidepiece situations. 

Nope, that’s the only reason. You’re just like a prostitute. Only cheaper. He only has to pay you a tenth of what he’d pay a quality escort service for some clean, disease free pussy. Those ladies charge a minimum of five grand for their services. Plus, he doesn’t feel as dirty with you as he would if he went to a streetcorner in the seedier part of town to pick up a meth head for a $5 blowjob. You do know men talk to prostitutes too about their problems before they have sex with them do you?

The heart and mind has a way of transcending beyond the physical playground into the rim of 

something much greater for those involved.

*YAWN*

Sounds like a lot of philosophical bullshit to me. But if those delusions keep you warm at night, keep believing them. Just like the promise he makes to leave his wife or whoever he’s with when he begs to be with you. Just him running game to get you to drop those panties so he can stick his dirty dick in.

You sound like the typical female who has invested her emotions into an adulterous relationship. Just because you break him off some pussy does not mean he cares about you. Men can fuck a woman, bust a nut and  forget your name 45 minutes later. There is no emotional connection for most men when it comes to sex like women. 

In real life, action speaks louder than words. And if this guy was serious about committing to you like he begs you to, he’d have dropped her a long time ago. You’re just being strung along like lights on a Christmas tree. 

So to you Mr Real Man... STOP your relentless woman bashing 

Good Gravy lean some grammar!
I love it when people tell me what not to do on my own blog. Like they have power over the content I produce. 

Nah, No woman bashing here. Just honest truth constructive criticism. Something most ratchet American women out here can’t take.

no matter what their station in life or love (mysoginist much).

Me a misogynist? Nah. I love women. That’s why I wrote the blogs about the Side Piece. So they wouldn’t make a mess of their lives and waste their valuable TIME pining for a loser who isn’t MAN enough to make a serious COMMITMENT to them.

The saddest part about Side pieces is that they waste their best years wishing, hoping, and praying for some Bitch-Made™ SIMP or Mangina ® to leave his wife and marry them. Seriously, that’s time they will never get back. Time they could have spent doing things like, going to college, starting their career, or just having fun with Real people in Real places where they could meet their own man instead of sharing some loser and settling for some other woman’s leftover dick.

Every human being has the right to have and give love to whomever they choose in thier lifetime regardless of yours or anyone else's negative and/or judgemental stance.

Yeah human beings have a right to give love to whomever you choose. ONLY IF THEY ARE SINGLE. IF THEY ARE MARRIED THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GIVE THEM ANYTHING. IF THEY DO GIVE THEM “LOVE” THEY ARE HELPING THEM COMMIT ADULTERY. AND IF THEY ARE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE ELSE AND THEY GIVE LOVE TO OTHERS THEY ARE CHEATING.

That’s not just my stance. I take that directly from the Bible. But in your eyes The Almighty Holy God who created you is wrong too.

In the Ten Commandments God Says Thou shalt not commit Adultery. And he says not to covet thy neighbor’s wife.

And in the New Testament Jesus he says to love thy neighbor as thyself. If I love my neighbor I respect the boundaries of his relationship and I don’t make a move on his woman. Because I would want him to do the same for me with my woman.

 I GIVE PROPS TO THE SIDEPIECES out there 

Good Gravy. The Stupid! It burns! She's proud to be a HO! I was proud to graduate at the top of my class at Monroe College, but for her being a HO is an accomplishment. But when you set the bar low, the sky is limited by your lack of imagination. 

because I'm sick and tired of reading biased and sinister character assassinations about these woman/men as written in your articles and others on the Internet.

What's biased? All I'm stating are FACTS.

Who's assassinating your character?  You do that  every day with your ACTIONS. You're the sinister one.

And if you've read articles across the internet? So I'm not the first person you tried to shame into agreeing with your position? If anything, it  sounds like you're feeling guilty  about your ratchet behavior.

 I'm willing to bet that you too have some dirty little secrets and skeltons hanging in your color coordinated closet that would register well below the moral barometer if checked. 

Yeah, Shawn has read his share of Playboys. (The articles are good) And he’s watched an occasional Isis Nile or Milf Hunter video.  So he's no angel. But he doesn't go sticking his dick in pussy that another man has exclusivity is on. That's just a violation of the Man code. And I just paid to renew my Man Card.

Oh,if by chance my comment has in anyway seemed harsh, defensive or shaming to you (as you've stated about another comment I made on this site about the same bleeping subject) Great! Then I've succeeded once again in rattling your premise.

Nope, All you’ve done is prove the points of my argument. Thank you for letting my male and female readers know the truth about how delusional and gullible you Side Pieces are. After listening to you, I can honestly say you Homewrecking tramps deserve all the vitriol and hostility sent your way. I approve of any ass kicking you and women like you get when you get caught.  

Like the male SIMP Captain-Save-A-Hoe and the White Knight Scumgina, you’re too cowardly to step to a man face-to-face and deal with the cycle of rejection that is life in the dating scene. So you dumpster dive around other peoples’ relationships waiting for a body to drop in so you can pick it up, dust it off and take it home.

Or you get in the dumpster and hope, wish and pray some Simp or a White Knight Mangina dumpster diving for pussy will find you like the one-legged Barbie with soy sauce smeared on the face and see you as valuable enough to trick money on cleaning you up.

But you and that chump you get involved with don’t understand what’s in the garbage is there for a reason. And you’re there lying in that garbage because you have NO CONFIDENCE and YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN YOURSELF enough to get out of that dumpster and GET YOUR OWN MAN.

It’s sad that you sell yourself short and take some man’s leftovers out of the garbage can and think they’re gold. No woman with a healthy sense of self-esteem and self-worth wants to be a man’s side piece. That’s like saying they want to be second best. And what woman wants to be second best taking scraps and leftovers from the garbage when they can be the main woman and get served at the table?


:Ladies, don't be like this delusional woman. Value yourselves as women and let God give you the very best out of life. If you enjoy life you'll raidiate the positive energy that will attract decent brothers like myself to you.

Commencement is Back on Smashwords!

Just a quick note to let all my blog readers know that Lawrence Cherry's Christian epic Commencement is Back on Smashwords! After a year-long exclusive run on KDP Select, we both feel confident enough to take the book through Smashwords' network of retailers including Sony and Apple. You can download a copy for FREE here!

How the excesses of the 1990’s Continue to Hurt the Comic Book Medium Today

The 1990’s were a period of excesses in comic books. And the impact of those excesses are still being felt twenty years after the collapse of the comic book industry. Even though the publishing world has changed dramatically since the publishing industry collapse of 2008, Comic book publishers still continue to hold on to the very same habits that have hampered the comic book industry’s growth since 1993.

Twenty years ago artists Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld became celebrities and readers started buying comics because they featured their work, not because of the characters. Unfortunately, the focus on celebrity artists and writers has pushed characters to the background and creators to the foreground.

Comic book customers no longer buy books for the character, but because a celebrity creative team is on board. Publishers don’t promote Superman, Batman or Spider-Man. No, they promote writers and artists first. Their names in some cases are presented above the logo of the character. Symbolically this top billing tells the audience creators are more important than the characters they work on. I believe that’s a slap in the face to the reader and the original creator of the character.

Thanks to this focus on creator over character many readers don’t discover many great books by lesser known creative teams or unknown writers and artists. Worse, many new talents can’t break into the industry. The constant focus on celebrity keeps fresh talent from being able to enter the comic book medium and find an audience that will discover them and their distinct style.

The continuing focus on making writers and artists celebrities is preventing characters from reaching a larger audience of comic book readers. Characters have to come first if the comic book medium hopes to grow in the next 20 years. Kids know characters, they don’t know creators.

Storytelling has also taken a back seat to art in comic books. Today comic stories are focused on large-scale events where BIG things happen. This sales-oriented approach to storytelling was a great way to move product in the 1980s when it compelled habitual buyers to buy slower-selling midlist titles to finish a story, but today it’s a model that’s hampering access to new readers. When it takes 100 comic books spread out over the course of a year to tell a story it’s almost impossible for new readers to discover a comic book character and give their stories a try.

Worse, The big event model of storytelling is stalling the development and growth of characters long term. It’s frustrating for writers and artists who are trying to establish a character and a distinct “voice” for their characters, a mood for their book and craft a story model to cement a structure for their style when their storylines are constantly being interrupted by a major event that goes on for an entire year.  

Gimmick storytelling is also stalling the craft of writing in the comic book industry. The constant use of a death, mutilations, rapes, murders, and other tragedies may shock readers short-term, but long-term it does a lot of damage. As writers and artists keep pushing the envelope they keep escalating the gore, the violence and in some cases the nudity and sexuality to get a rise out of the reader.

Over time the characters and their stories get lost as Editors, writers, and artists start focusing on gimmicks to grab the reader’s interest. What they don’t understand is that there comes a point where the reader has read and seen so many shocking and graphically violent events in a comic book they just become numb to them. That’s why so many comic readers are apathetic about death in comics these days. It’s an overused plot device attention whores use to prop up a weak story.

Personally, I believe the overuse of gimmicks in a story prevents writers from building up conflict that develops organically and flows smoothly. It prevents characters from developing their own distinct personality and voice. All we see is them reacting to whatever shocking events are transpiring, not respond by come to their own observations and understandings about things.

Sometimes a small story has the biggest impact on a reader. A great story doesn’t need a death or some shocking moment to get the readers’ attention. Sometimes readers just want a satisfying conclusion to the story where the good guy beats the bad guy and goes on to live another day for more adventures. In my 20 years as a writer I’ve learned a simple no-nonsense story reaches more people than doing something complex and epic.

In the gimmick based “shock and awe” model of storytelling comic writers don’t develop their craft as writers. They never learn how to develop their own voice or their own style.

Artistically the 1990’s was one of the worst periods of the comic book medium. While artists like Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld and Todd McFarlane became celebrities for their scratchy seemingly detailed artwork, featuring costumes with numerous pouches, belts and straps it clearly doesn’t hold up to the test of time.

Twenty years later their artwork doesn’t just appear dated, it just appears ridiculous. When one takes the work of these three hacks and compares it to talents like Curt Swan, Neal Adams, John Buscema, George Perez, John Byrne, John Romita Sr., and legends like Jack Kirby, most of the art in the 1990’s just doesn’t measure up. Instead of balanced naturally proportioned figures of the human form, characters became overexaggerated, overmuscled and misproportioned wearing overdesigned, costumes that are so busy that they give the reader eyestrain looking at them. The excesses like pouches, belts and straps on many characters seem to be used to overcompensate for the lack of artistic form and technique.

Worse, their skills at storytellers were subpar to mediocre. Most of their panel work does a horrible job of conveying emotions, body language, facial expressions or telling stories with pictures. Sure, the characters appear attractive and pose like fashion models. But the pictures they draw do a horrible job of moving a story forward effectively over the course of 22 pages. Many like Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld fill up the page with big splash pages of art to overcompensate for their ability to tell a story over the course of several panels.

Many artists and writers who came up in the 1990’s followed in the path of these three hacks and their craft suffered. And many more today continue to stagnate creatively as they get supervised and mentored by editors who came into the comic book business during the dysfunctional 1990’s.

The editors who came up in this period came up in a culture of gimmicks and didn’t understand the business of publishing. Yes, they knew how to market and sell an event, but they didn’t understand how to tell stories or how to sell characters.

Story is the lifeblood of a comic book. It’s stories that establish characters as icons. It’s stories that define characters. And it’s stories that build the word-of-mouth that gets new readers to try titles.

Instead of being good stewards who advocated for the reader by fighting to preserve the integrity of the core elements of story and character, editors at comic book companies in the 1990’s instead worked to appease celebrity creators who believed they were bigger than the characters they worked on. Fearing they would leave the company and take thousands of dollars in of sales with them, they let them run roughshod over the characters they were entrusted to supervise.

And along with sating the egos of these celebrity creators, editors became obsessed with getting bigger sales by applying the “shock and awe model” of storytelling to get more attention from readers. Leaving the images and reputations of the characters they were entrusted with to be abused by writer and artist excesses.

Thanks to this dysfunctional approach to managing the publication of comic books, the industry has become a group of haves and have nots. Popular artists have been allowed to do whatever they please, while lesser known writers and artists get micromanaged and bullied.

Instead of all the talent getting objective and constructive criticism that helps everyone improve in their craft, lesser known writers and artists don’t improve in their craft and some more popular artists like Jim Lee, stagnate. Others like John Romita Jr start to regress.

The habits many learned in the 1990’s have stagnated the comic book medium and continue to keep it from growing. Over the course of twenty years these dysfunctional habits have evolved into a culture of excess that has led to the finished product of comic books becoming stale and uninspired.

In order for the comic book medium to grow in the 21^st Century many older creators will have to unlearn what they learned in the 1990s, and today’s artists will have to take the lessons learned from the 1990’s period and use it as a textbook on what not to do when creating their work.