E'steem: THE BEAST FROM THE BOWELS CHAPTER 1

Been busy with finishing up All About Nikki Season 2 So I haven't had time to write a blog. Here's the first Chapter of my new eBook E'steem: The Beast From the Bowels that'll be coming next month on Smashwords! Until then, Check out the previous book in the E'steem Series Faerie Tale! 

Chapter 1

I throw D’lilah’s unconscious body over my shoulder as a flash of light takes me from a rooftop of the Morris Phillips Tower on Park Avenue to the red Berber carpeted hallway outside the offices Lucerne Holdings. Either I’m getting better at fighting or D’lilah here isn’t as passionate about killing me as she used to be. I didn’t even break a sweat in today’s tussle with her.

I push past the tall glass doors and Nora, Lucerne’s receptionist greets me with a smile. “I’ll let Mr. Lucerne know you’re here.” She says.

“Thanks.” I reply.

The clock on Nora’s desk reads 12:05 as I walk past the reception desk into the maze of cubicles in the office. I hear the chatter of Lucerne’s employees as I stroll through the workspace and make a right and head for Lucifer’s corner office. When I approach the two tall mahogany doors with Damien Lucerne’s name on a brass plaque, I kick them open and storm into Lucifer’s office suite. The tall caramel colored man dressed in an Italian tailored red suit, black shirt, and red tie greets my smile with a grimace as I approach his desk.

“I think she belongs to you.” I say as I dump the unconscious D’lilah in the oxblood leather nail head chairs in front of his desk.

“And I guess you believe you’re a conscientious employee by returning what’s mine.” Lucifer snarls.

“I would have let her stay at my office to recuperate. But it’s not take your daughter to work day.”

“Since you’re so professional perhaps I should have you come by do a seminar. It might motivate my employees to do a better job next time.”

He’d do anything to get me back on his team. Probably even give me a corner office and a seven-figure salary. But since I’m happy with the angels, I’ll give him some professional advice just to heap some hot coals on his head. “Before you send D’lilah here out for another beating, maybe you need to give her some job training.” I gloat. “I beat my record for knocking her out by a minute and a half this time.”

“Maybe I’ll see about providing you with opponent who can give you more of a challenge.”

“You do that. Just let D’lilah here know when she wakes up to lay off the cupcakes. She’s been getting a bit too heavy to carry lately.”

I smile catching the flabbergasted look on Lucifer’s as I disappear in a flash of light. Now that I’ve rebuked the devil and his imp, I think I’ll go get my latte.

All About Nikki- The Lost Episodes and a Sneak Preview of All About Nikk'is Sensational Season 2 Cover

It's June and as promised I'm offering up a FREE All-New All About Nikki eBook! This new eBook contains Lost episodes (episodes that didn't make it into the books) and is designed to give readers an insight into my creative process. I'm hoping it helps aspiring, screenwriters understand how TV shows are produced and why writers and producers sometimes don't use certain scripts. 

She still thinks it’s her world.
But she’s learning.
Sixteen year old Nikki Desmond is the product of too many, too much and too little. Too many boarding schools, too much money, and too little discipline. After being expelled from a fourth prestigious New York boarding school, her mother sends her to Los Angles to live with her father.

In these lost episodes from the Fabulous first and Sensational second seasons of All About Nikki readers will get a look at the stories that didn’t make it into the All About Nikki books, and an insight into Shawn James’ creative process. 

Also:

All About Nikki Season 2 will be coming in July! Thecover was inspired by the late 1980s Studio Hair Care line from Loreal!

All About Nikki: The Lost Episodes is on Smsashwords NOW! All about Nikki Season 2 will be available this July!  And this season will be 15 Episodes!

The Halle Berry Baby Mama Drama...Part Umpteen…Send in the Feminists!

There’s a big hubbub about Halle Berry having to pay child support to her baby daddy Gabriel Aubry. Feminists complaining that it’s not fair that Halle has to pay Gabriel $16,000 a month in child support.

I don’t see what the big deal is. The system works in this case.

Child Support is based on the income of the parents. The one who makes more usually has to pay to make up the difference of the spouse who makes less to maintain the child’s lifestyle. Since Halle makes MORE than Gabriel Aubry, she legally has an obligation to pay MORE child support to maintain Nahla’s lifestyle.

Then there are those feminists who would complain about it not being right for a man to take money from a woman.

Er…Aren’t the courts supposed to be gender neutral? And aren’t judges supposed to follow the law? The law clearly states that the spouse who makes more than the other has to pay child support to maintain the child’s lifestyle.

Child support laws don’t say anything about men or women. Nor do they say anything about it being wrong for a man to take money from his wife to take care of his children when they come to visit him.

And then there are those Black feminists who want to make this a race issue. It’s not. Let’s take a look at Britney Spears who is in a similar situation. Her ex-husband Kevin Federline has custody of the kids. Britney Spears has been paying Child support in the six and seven figure range for YEARS.

But I find it odd no one wants to complain about Britney. Or the system being unfair in her case.

I just love all these DOUBLE STANDARDS here. It’s okay for a man to pay a woman child support when he makes MORE, but when the woman makes MORE and has to pay a MAN chid support, the system is unfair.

Ironic how SEXIST feminists can be when the system is made TRULY FAIR and JUST.

Gabriel Aubry is not a MAN for wanting to make sure his daughter is NOT taken care of. Doesn’t a responsible FATHER want the money to maintain his daughter’s lifestyle when he visits her? Doesn’t it show that he CARES enough to provide her with the equal economic resources at his home that she has with her mother?

Ironic how Feminists want to hate him for doing exactly what a MAN would do.
Here’s the deal: Halle Berry is not a VICTIM. She created this dysfunctional situation.

There are numerous reports stating Halle Berry wanted a baby BEFORE she got involved with Gabriel Aubry. And she wanted a baby on HER TERMS. Unfortunately, Gabriel decided her terms weren’t working out for him. Now Mr. Aubry tried to work things out with Ms. Berry amicably outside of the courts. However, because she was being a BULLY, he was FORCED to take legal action.

With the courts being about the LAW, the judge made his child support order based on the FACTS presented to them.

Those facts are that Halle Maria Berry makes more than Gabriel Aubry. In this case SHE has to pay child support.

Now she wouldn’t have to pay child support if she didn’t decide to have a child with Mr. Aubry. Again, she set these terms up BEFORE she got involved with Mr. Aubry. And this is why she has to pay child support.

To rephrase Judge Judith Sheindlin: SHE PICKED HIM to father her child.

Seriously, If Halle Berry is a victim of an unjust court system, then Britney Spears is a victim of an unjust court system. Now I know AmeriKKKa’s court system isn’t fair in most cases like Trayvon Martin, but in this case the judge followed the law to the letter. Halle Berry can’t claim she’s being victimized by the court system when she created the situation that is leading to her having to pay child support. She wanted to be the MAN in the relationship and now she’s getting treated like one. It is what it is.

Is it Time to End the “Event” Story Model In Comic Books?

Back in the mid-1980s the Marvel and DC came up with the “Event”, an annual cross-over storyline that ran through all the titles they published. In the past Events such as Secret Wars, Crisis of Infinite Earths, Legends, Acts of Vengeance, and Atlantis Attacks, helped new readers discover obscure characters an expanded universe of characters. And these “Events” allowed publishers to maximize their profits when those new readers discovered slower selling second and third tier titles.

The Event model was designed to take advantage of the reader’s compulsion to see a story to a conclusion. The hope was that on reading the part of the event in the more popular title, readers would be compelled to buy one of the slower selling second or third tier titles to continue reading the storyline. And that after reading those two or three issues that were part of the event, the reader would start buying that slower selling title regularly. Oftentimes this business model was a tremendous success with sales of a slower selling second or third tier title having a sales bump during the term of the “event”.

And in the past what happened in the “event” stayed in the “event titles.” This allowed for the storyline to be a built in entry point for new readers. Any aftermath was usually resolved in a few issues of a characters ongoing series title, and creators went back to telling their stories and creators eventually finished their series runs telling their stories and leaving characters and their supporting casts intact so the next creator could pick up where they left off.

Unfortunately, over the last 25 years the “Event” has gone from a tool to help promote sell slower B and C list selling titles to a way for publishers to stay afloat in a declining marketplace. For some publishers like DC comics it has been a crutch used to continue publishing all their titles throughout the year. Instead of most titles returning to regular runs and writers and artists resuming their storylines, nowadays events pretty much dominate all the titles throughout the entire year. In some cases these events now run through a minimum of 100 issues throughout a calendar year.

While this business model was tremendously successful 25-30 years ago, it has stalled both companies creatively and from a business standpoint today. Today the Event storyline has mushroomed from a short-term marketing tool used to help new readers try slower selling B and C list titles and discover an expanded universe of obscure characters to something so complicated that it’s made comics virtually inaccessible to a new reader. With readers having to buy a minimum of 100 issues to read one part of a storyline, it’s become virtually impossible for a new reader to start trying new titles or even access the titles of popular ones.

Today the “event” has stifled all the creativity at the big two comic publishers. Because writers and artists are constantly being forced to write to editorial mandated events throughout the year, there’s no opportunity for creative teams to tell their stories about individual characters. Because their hands are tied by editorial mandates, they don’t get a chance to establish a “voice” for a character or define their style of storytelling.

Thanks to the event storytelling model it’s next to impossible for a new reader to discover an individual character. New readers like kids who like characters like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and Captain America have a hard time discovering a character, their supporting casts and their rogues galleries due to the fact that these characters wind up getting tied up in long-running events that go on for year or segue into each other for years.

Every issue of a comic book needs to be an entry point for a new reader. And it’s hard to create entry points for new readers to access a character with what the event model of storytelling has evolved into. The irony is that Marvel and DC are so busy catering to the shrinking audience of older diehard fans with these long-running event storylines that they have neglected the new reader, the person who the event storyline was originally intended for.

It’s clear that the “Event” model of storytelling is obsolete. Even many veteran readers are frustrated with how slow, complicated and downright confusing these Events have become today. What was once a strong marketing tool has become a crutch for mediocre writers and subpar artists to hobble from one long dragged out storyline to the next. Comics are supposed to be easy to read and easier to follow. When a story drags on for 100 to 300 issues in over 50-100 titles there’s something wrong with the way comic books are being published.

Comics need to get back to basic storytelling if publishers like Marvel and DC hope to reach the audience of 20 million new readers. A publisher needs readers to discover characters if they hope to sell comics to younger demographics. it’s next to impossible to discover what’s great about a character in an event these days. So many characters are being thrown at the reader in these long epic sagas that it’s hard for anyone to stand out in a crowd.

New readers also need to discover stories. Each character like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and the Hulk used their own distinct, story model. And new readers often discovered a character in a basic story like Spider-Man vs. The Green Goblin, Batman Vs. The Joker, or Superman Vs. Lex Luthor. But due to all the events writers and artists get their hands tied and they aren’t able to tell a basic Superman story or a Batman story in a Superman or a Batman comic. Instead of these characters becoming significant individuals ironically they wind up becoming insignificant as they’re made into smaller parts of an expanded universe in a larger storyline.

The event model is keeping new readers from discovering comics. Today new customers wind up overwhelmed by the sheer number of comic books they have to buy just to get into the hobby. At $3.99 for a single issue of a comic book a 100-300 issue storyline now costs nearly $400-$1200 to complete. For a person under the age of 40, that’s equal to the price of an iPhone, an LED TV, or a laptop. Or a year’s worth of internet access. Compare this to the price of an event 20-25 years ago when buying all the issues barely cost $50-$100, and it’s clear that the entertainment value per dollar of a comic book has clearly declined.

DC and Marvel have a great catalog of characters. However, it’s time for both companies to abandon the “Event” model of storytelling and go back to letting characters be individuals again in their own individual series. Creators really need an opportunity to tell stories that are relatable to readers today. And they can’t gain the momentum to build up on a run because just as a series is starting to build up to the rising action in a story they’re constantly being interrupted by an editorial mandated event.

New readers need more comics with easy to access stories such as Spider-Man: The Death of Gwen Stacy, Captain America: The Captain, Iron Man: Armor Wars, Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying, Fantastic Four: The Trial of Galactus and Flash: The Return of Barry Allen. It’s these kinds of comics that have readers headed for the back issue and trade paperback section of the comic shop and searching Wikipedia and eBay for more material. And with that expanded interest in a character’s history and supporting cast comes a compulsion to buy other titles in a expanded universe and eventually more sales for a publisher long-term.

Marvel, DC and any comic publisher today has to understand it’s the creative runs in single issues of a characters’ series that help new readers discover what’s great about a character, and it’s the storylines they create in an individual characters’ series that make them fan favorites. Kids are looking for comics featuring Superman, Batman, The Hulk and Spider-Man, not Identity Crisis, Age of Ultron, Infinity, Forever Evil, Future’s End or books featuring whatever Saga of the year is playing.

The Shock and Awe Story Model

 \There’s a new story paradigm that’s been popular with writers for the past decade. I call it The Shock-and-Awe story model. In this story model there’s no focus on plot and character development, but on taking a character and putting them in series of graphically violent or graphically sexual situations. While the audience is awe struck by the shocking things they see transpiring in front of them, they have no idea how they’re being cheated out of a story by the writer.

The shock-and awe model has its roots in the 1995 film Independence Day. In that film special effects featuring the mass destruction of big cities was used to overcompensate for a weak plot and poor character development. And since Director/Producer Roland Emmerich was able to pull a fast one on the audience by giving them a poor quali1ty story in exchange for their dollars, other hacks have come out of the woodwork to apply this deeply flawed story model to their own work.

Over the last 20 years, Producers like Roland Emmerich, Lee Daniels, Tyler Perry and writers, like E.L. James, and many comic book writers like Brad Meltzer and Dan Didio have used the shock-and-awe story model to establish their careers with.

In most of projects featuring the shock-and-awe story model, there’s a lot of focus on putting characters through horrific situations. And instead of a hero, we get a victim or a series of victims. Over the course of the wafer thin plot, we see these victims put through a series of horrifying and traumatizing events where there’s extremely graphic sex, extremely graphic violence or a combination of both.  

The Shock-and-awe-story model moves its plot forward by playing on the audiences’ emotions. However, this play on emotions is not to keep the reader compelled to see the story to the finish. It’s designed to keep the audience from seeing how poorly structured the plot of the story is and how poorly developed the characters are. While the audience is shocked at the sight of the graphic sex and violence, they never see there’s very little substance for all the flash transpiring in front of them.

When one deconstructs a story that uses the shock-and-awe story model they don’t see a solidly crafted story with a clearly structured series of linear events that fit into a sequence. No, they see a rickety frame made up of toothpicks filled with plot devices taped to sex scenes and glued together to random acts of violence. In most cases the story comes to an awkward finish with a convoluted ending, a forced ending, or a Deus Ex Machina.

Plot wise, there’s very little organic progression in a shock-and-awe story model. The audience doesn’t get a reason for why things happen or how they fit in a linear sequence Stuff just happens… Just because. And when the storyline starts stalling, the author just throw a dead body out of a window, decapitates a supporting character, mutilates a hero, or has a hero open the door to see their best friend having sex with the hero’s girlfriend while she does a handstand.

While these kinds of events distract the audience they do not spin the action effectively or move the story forward towards a satisfying conclusion. Shock-and-awe writers are good at playing at people’s emotions but know nothing about how to build a compelling storyline. In many cases the plot points in their stories don’t even remain consistent with what they established in their opening acts.

Writers who use the shock-and-awe approach oftentimes have no idea on how to use literary elements like irony, foreshadowing or symbolism or how to influence the nuances of storytelling through subtext. They have no idea on how to do things like building suspense, creating chemistry between characters or even how to make a character relatable on a human level. Because they don’t know how to craft a story using these techniques, they have to overcompensate with gimmicks, plot devices, and sex and violence to distract the audience.

In most cases, the shock-and-awe writer is so busy bludgeoning the reader with sex and violence that they themselves get caught up in their own emotions. And because they’re so eager to write the next explosion, the next character mutilation decapitation, or describing the next set of sexual positions they don’t see how any of these actions fit within the plot or effectively move the story forward. Stuff happens in a shock-and-awe story, but we never come to an understanding of WHY it’s happening.

The biggest problem of the Shock-and-awe story model is that it doesn’t answer one of the three basic questions of storytelling: What does the main character want?

In most movies, books that use shock-and-awe story model, the audience doesn’t ever come to understand what the main character wants. And because there is no clear goal set forth in the opening scenes, the story gets muddled. Yeah, there are a lot of emotional moments in a shock-and-awe story, but it doesn’t come together to become a story with a clear beginning, middle and an end where we see the hero or heroine achieve the goal they set out to achieve in the first chapter or the opening scene. Stuff just happens…Just because.

Whatever goal that was, it gets lost in the shuffle of graphic sex and violence. While the audience remembers the hero’s best friend having sex with his girlfriend as she does a handstand, it stops caring about why they wanted to read this story or watch this movie in the first place.

What I hate most about the shock-and-awe story model is how it dehumanizes the characters and turns them into objects. Instead of the audience connecting with the characters and seeing them as human beings they can care about like real people, the audience becomes disconnected and detached from the story. In most cases they become like a voyeur peeping into a window of a bedroom. And while they watch the action transpiring in front of them they’re anticipating what disturbing thing they’ll see next. It’s the equivalent of reading or watching pornography.

Yes the audience is titillated, but their brains aren’t stimulated. Anyone with critical thinking skills becomes aggravated at the numerous plot holes, poor character development and lack of story direction in these shock-and awe modeled stories. What’s most frustrating is the fact that most of them don’t come to a satisfactory conclusion.

The way I see it the Shock-and-awe story model is a half-assed way to tell a story. Only a weak writer needs to use graphic sex scenes and grisly violence to get the audience to pay attention to their story. And only a hack needs to turn a main character into a victim to get the audience to sympathize with them.

A good writer can get the reader’s attention without using graphic sex or violence. In fact, a good writer wants the audience to focus on the main character and show them how they’re just like them and how their struggles to overcome whatever obstacles they relate to. A good writer wants the audience to come out of the story they read with a lesson they can apply in the future to their lives.

As a writer, I refuse to use the shock-and-awe model. I feel the audiences’ time is too precious to waste on a story that’s not my best work. When I publish a work of fiction, I want them to have a satisfying reading experience. That’s why I make every effort to make every story I write feature a solid plot, multidimensional characters and a compelling storyline which organically builds from the opening act. The way I see it the reader should be shocked by a plot twist they didn’t see coming in an awesome storyline and come to understand how it related to events in the opening act.

Wally West and the Huntress are Black…What’chu Talkin Bout Didio?

After three years of wondering what happened to Wally West, Flash fans finally got their question answered. And with this being Dan Didio’s DC Universe most fans didn’t get what they wanted.

In the New 52, Wally West is back. Only he’s a not the friendly red-headed kid we all knew and loved for over 50 years. You know the boy who idolized his Uncle Barry and wanted to be a hero just like him. The boy who on getting powers like his uncle took up the name Kid Flash and became a founding member of the Teen Titans. The boy who grew into manhood in the aftermath of the Crisis of Infinite Earths by taking on the costume and codename of the uncle he loved on his passing and became The Flash. The man who after mourning his uncle honored him by building on his legacy and became a hero for another generation of comic fans.

No, we don’t get to find out what happened to that Wally West, the one everyone had been asking questions about for three straight years since this hot mess called the New 52 started. Instead DC Comics presents us with Wally West, a troubled inner city Black kid from the ghettos of Central City. A Kid who gets powers and will probably mentored by Barry Allen his Great White Hope. A tired trope straight out of a WACK 1970’s television show like Diff’rent Strokes or The White Shadow.

What’chu talkin’ bout Didio?”

Then there’s DC’s new Black Huntress that’ll be appearing in DC’s New “Grayson” comic. I’d take a minute to rant about how Dick Grayson having his identity blown puts Batman and the Batman family in danger, because Dick Grayson is Bruce Wayne’s Ward and anyone who has critical thinking skills can figure out Nightwing used to be Robin would put two and two together like oh Tim Drake did back in the day, but that’s another blog. Anyway, like Wally West The Huntress is Black now…Just because.

Seems like Mr. Didio was probably watching Scandal and came up with this stupid-ass idea. Grayson will be like Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character and the Huntress will be like Oliva Pope. Scandal meets Mission Impossible. Yeah, Hollywood people like Didio think like this when it’s time to create a concept for a story. And this is why DC Comics are so fucked up today.

Now I know there aren’t many Black female superheroes. And while I’d like to see more Black female heroines, there’s no need to shoehorn a sista into the name and role of a well established White female heroine. Especially when the REAL Helena Bertinelli has such a rich history and is such a fascinating character.

I’ll say this. Dan Didio finds new and exciting ways to fist fuck comic fans in the ass and show his utter contempt for them. Looking at his track record, I truly believe Dan Didio truly hates superheroes and he hates comic fans. Seriously I wonder why the hell is he in the comic book business in the first place? What? Men’s Wearhouse isn’t hiring? Seriously, Didio needs to find a job greeting at Wal-Mart or picking up cans on the side of the road. I’d rather see Warner Brothers STOP publishing DC Comics altogether than continue to desecrate its characters this way.

The more DC’s New 52 Universe changes, the more it mirrors Dan Didio’s dysfunctional vision for the DC Universe that started with Identity Crisis and before he imploded it in 2011 with Flashpoint. No creativity, no artistry, and no direction. A shock and awe story model featuring, death, gore, and more death and stuff just happening not for a concrete reason but just because he wants it to happen without a regard for a characters’ history or even continuity’s sake.

I believe a legion of fourth graders with crayons could publish better comics than he does right now.

Black Wally West hearkens back to his plans to kill off popular White characters like Firestorm and Blue Beetle and replace them with “diversity legacy” versions. Because comics need more heroes of color…Just because. Basically it’s a lazy ass way to half- ass things and create the semblance of diversity instead of taking the time to work towards real diversity in comics.

Seriously, how many Black people work in comics right now? And how many more like myself waited for years outside the door trying to get into the field before moving on?

I’ll say this: Comic publishers like DC and Marvel are run by a bunch of White male PUSSIES. They’re so AFRAID of creating a new original Black or minority character they go the coward route and give them the name of an existing White character and then in the shadows hope, wish, and pray that character fails to catch on so they can say…. “Well, we gave you a character of color, but they didn’t sell X amount of units”.

When it wasn’t the Black character that failed. It was the half-assed cowardly way they created a Black character that caused them to fail to catch on with readers.

And in those rare cases when said “diversity legacy” character actually catches on like Mr. Terrific, Aqualad, or Ryan Choi, and starts surpassing their White counterparts in popularity, those same cowardly White male publishers make efforts to sabotage them by not pushing them, not merchandising them, or just killing them.

Because at the end of the day the status quo of all-white male has to remain the standard for comic book superheroes at the Big Two.

No wonder comic book sales have been in a decline for the last 21 years.

Seriously, that’s not what art is about. And it’s not what the comic book business should be about. In the art world either you have the BALLS to take REAL RISKS to CREATE SOMETHING NEW and ORIGINAL or you get the hell out of the business.

This is why Dan Didio needs to be filling out a Men’s Wearhouse application and not working at DC Comics. He knows how to sell controversy, but he knows NOTHING about telling stories. And in the comic book business, readers buy comics for the STORIES not the SHOCK associated with them.

Guys like Didio follow the old adage “People pay for sizzle, not steak.” However what they don’t understand is that if the steak tastes like shit, people don’t come back to the restaurant for another bite. A master writer like a master chef can create sizzle with an opening scene through ACTION because they have to have the skills to craft a great story from first page to last. Unfortunately, DC doesn’t have craftspeople who take their work seriously anymore, just a bunch of jokers looking to half-ass their way to a paycheck. This is why they need to create cheesy Black knock-off versions of Wally West and the Huntress to create controversy instead of producing quality stories with their Caucasian originals.

DC Comics doesn’t need a Black Wally West. DC Comics doesn’t need a Black Huntress. What comic publishers need to do is utilize the existing characters in their catalogs. You know guys like Static, Icon, Black Lightning, Vixen and Bronze Tiger Who are all sitting around waiting for a writer to get creative enough to use them effectively.

But companies like DC and to an extent Marvel (Looking at their new Ms. Marvel) would rather slap an ethnic label on an existing character name instead of taking the time to create a brand new minority character that could possibly stand on their own two feet and allow Black readers to discover what’s great about comics.

If DC would embrace diversity the way the producers on Young Justice did, they’d have legions of new readers. Young Justice was right in line with other diverse concepts most kids have been buying for over TWO DECADES like Monster High, High School Musical and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. But instead of embracing that kind of multicultural concept, the suits at Warner continue to show they’re still stuck in the 1960s.

Still trying to create “Black” characters instead of creating interesting, multidimensional characters with a “voice” that are Black. It’s the content of the characters’ character that makes them a fan favorite, not the color of their skin.

As a Black comic fan I can’t get behind this trend of new “diversity legacy” characters at DC and Marvel. It’s tokeninsm plain and simple.

Moreover it’s a slap in the face to the creators of those existing characters and that characters’ history. I don’t believe it’s right for any writer or artist to take someone elses’ longstanding character with a history and then just change to another ethnicity for the sake of so called “diversity”.

Personally I believe in applying the Christian tenet of do unto others as they’d do unto you when it comes to creative property. As a creator, I wouldn’t want to radically change my characters, so I wouldn’t make serious efforts to change someone elses’. For me, it’s just a matter of RESPECT to those creators and their work. As a writer, it’s my job to BUILD on what they established, not change it to reflect my views.

If I want to write Wally West stories, I write them about the red-headed kid who grew up to follow in his uncle’s footsteps become the Flash. And if I want to write Huntress stories I write them about the Italian White woman named Helena Bertinelli. I don’t go and shoehorn some Black woman or some Black man in that role and give them the exact same name of that character.

I wouldn’t want some writer or artist to go and take one of my characters like Isis and make her White or Asian, so I would NEVER go and change the ethnicity of someone elses’ character. Again, it’s just a matter of RESPECT.

As a professional I know if I want to write about a Black character in a DC’s catalog, I either use one of the existing ones like Cyborg, Vixen or Static or I go out and create my own original Black character like Isis and E’steem.

Then again, there’s nothing professional about DC’s New 52. It’s just Dan Didio pulling a Jim Henson with the feelings of comic fans.

I’d like to think the so-called professionals at DC can definitely do better than the half-assed job they’ve been doing for the past decade or so. I’d like to think the company that gave us great African-American characters like Vixen, Cyborg, and John Stewart could take the time to create a new unique superhero of color instead of sticking the established name of a White Superhero on a Black guy and calling it a day. If a small independent writer like myself can take the time to create interesting, multidimensional African-American characters that can stand on their own two feet and find an audience of readers, then I’d like to think all the so-called professionals at the subsidiary of multibillion dollar conglomerate like DC Comics can do the exact same thing.

Shawn’s Encounters With Pathetic Negro Males

 I was on my way to the library a few weeks ago when this kid in saggin sweats, a T-shirt and nappy hair runs up on me saying “Yo, boss can I get a dollar to buy some…”

I don’t know what was more appaling his apelike body language or his  dialect Boss? Where did this guy come from, the Plantation? Or did he get off the Coon Train? Dude was acting just like a slave.

The saddest part about the incident was this Negro has an iphone in his pocket and air Jordan sneakers on his feet. What the hell is he doing asking me for my money? Money I worked for? He’s got over $500 on his back and in his pocket. But he wants my dollar?

Pardon my language but, get the fuck out of here.

Now this wasn’t my first encounter with Negro males like this. There were several more I’ve run into in my neighborhood like this. Guys who are dressed up in $200 jeans and $250 sneakers, but they feel they have the audacity to come up to me and ask for a quarter, a dollar or whatever.

These guys have no shame in their game. And they don’t see how pathetic they look.

Another incident I had about a week ago was at the 167^th Street train station on the 4 Train line. I was taking some packages to the Post office to ship to customers and this Negro male in a T-shirt and sagging pants is like “I can give you a swipe for $2.” Knowing buying swipes is illegal, I just ignore the dude and head for the MetroCard Vending machines to pay for a legit train ride.

On seeing me go to the vending machine, This Bitch-Made™ Negro on not getting the sale from me then makes a crack on how I look like Carl Winslow from Family Matters. I shook my head and kept heading up the stairs to the downtown trains. Clearly this Negro male came from a female headed household, because only a Bitch-Made™ Negro male from a single mother household makes statements like that after not getting their way.

Seriously, emulating the behavior of a single mom who wants to get the last word in is not an effective sales technique. And hustling rides on the train is a fast way to get locked up here in New York City.

The way I see it, I have too much to lose to get involved with Coons to let them bait me into an argument that could possibly cost me my freedom or my life. They can keep talking. Me, I’ll keep it moving.

A true to the game hustler would take NO for an answer and keep grinding. Because they know if it ain’t about dollars it don’t make sense. And the time they take being upset over someone saying NO is time they could take to get to YES. In the hustling game it’s all about averages. You’re gonna strike out most of the time. But in the face of NO you’ll get that yes if you keep pushing.

Now I don’t mind helping brothers and sisters. But I’m not about to get involved with grimy Negroes running pulling bum ass hustles. There’s a dozen ways to make money out here and 11 of them aren’t illegal.

I see Black CHILDREN selling candy they BOUGHT from BJ’s and flipping the entire box for $200 a day. I see Hispanic guys hustling water during the summertime. Mexicans hustling tamales and churros. Africans selling ginger or phone cards. I can respect their hustles. Because just like them I grind trying to sell these eBooks and paperbacks. And for the past month I’ve been grinding trying to sell stuff on eBay.

But you’re telling me grown ass Black men got to beg for change?

Bitch-Made™ Negro males have to beg and do illegal stuff like MetroCard Swipes, Food Stamp hustles, and begging for change outside of stores because they lack the social skills to grind and hustle. So they have to scavenge for change while the rest of the world makes dollars.

It just disgusts me to see grown ass Negro males dressed up in the latest with iphones in their hands running up on me asking for a dollar or a quarter, or trying to sell me a ride on the train for change. WTF is this shit? You telling me this male can have money for a pair of $200 Jordans, $250 True Religion Jeans, and a $500 iphone, but he gotta beg for change to get something to eat?

PATHETIC

I know it’s hard out here, but come on. Black men can do better than this. Raggedy Negroes like this are part of the reason why no one takes the Black race seriously. Get your shit together Black man. You can do better than this.