Time! In an effort to prevent the adult John Haynes from being a threat to Lucifer’s future, Decadia, an agent of Cronus hopes to hide his death of in the Sands of Time. Thrown four thousand years into the past, a 14-year old John lands in Ancient Egypt where he meets Princess E’steem, a 14-year old aspiring priestess. Can these two teens from two different times thwart Decadia’s assassination plans and prevent her from destroying the space-time continuum?
You definitely If you like Disney Princess stories, You’ll love E’steem The Sands of Time! In this fantasy Flashback story readers will get a chance to see what Princess E’steem was like before the tragic events that led to her becoming a she-demon. As she helps a time displaced John Haynes find his way home readers will see how heroic she was when she was younger in this terrific teen time travel romance.
I wrote E'steem: The Sands of Time so Black girls could have their own Princess story. Yeah, I know Disney did Princess & The Frog, but I have issues with that story. First, Tiana isn't a Princess from a royal bloodline. E'steem was the Princess of Katia and as the adopted daughter of Osiris she's a real Princess.
Second, I wanted to show Black-on-Black Love. In Princess & the Frog Tiana's love interest is a nonblack man. With Sands of time we see E'steem a Black woman falling in love with John Haynes, a Black man. I wanted to show that Black-on-Black love transcends time and can overcome the greatest challenges.
You can pick a paperback edition of E’steem: The Sands of Time on Amazon.com and other online booksellers or pick up a Kindle edition. If you have a KindleUnlimited subscription you can read E’steem: The Sands of Time for FREE!
For Some bizarre
reason Netflix has decided to cancel Luke Cage.
Sweet Christmas.
Now I can Netflix see
cancelling Iron Fist because it was an absolute shit show. But this has to be
the most boneheaded thing Netflix has done.
Luke Cage was the
most popular series on Netflix. The first season literally CRASHED Netflix’s
servers. And the second season was the best thing Marvel Studios EVER produced.
With storytelling, acting and directing on the level of DC’s The Dark Knight It
BLEW THE DOORS off the mediocre Avengers: Infinity War, subpar Ant Man and The
Wasp and average Black Panther. And with the MASTERPIECE ending we got showing
Luke Cage becoming a Power Man and about to be tempted by his new role as the
Sherriff of Harlem to become corrupt everyone was anticipating a Season 3.
But because Marvel
and Netflix couldn’t come to an agreement the show is ending without giving us
what could’ve been a CLASSIC third season.
Some comic fans are
speculating that the cancellation of Cage and Iron Fist means we’re gonna get a
Heroes For Hire series.
I don’t think so.
With the way both
series ended, a Heroes For Hire Series would be just as disjointed as Netflix’s
dreadful Defenders series. In order to create a Heroes For Hire Series there
needed to be an organic ending to the Sherriff of Harlem Storyline and the
Immortal Iron Fist storylines set up in Cage Season 2 and Iron Fist Season 2.
Others are
speculating that it’s because Disney wants to have exclusive content for its
streaming service.
I don’t think
that’s the case either. Daredevil got a Season 3 and Jessica Jones as HORRIBLE
as it was got a season 3. And with Disney still smarting after making the
BONEHEADED mistake of canceling Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing, a PROFITABLE
TVshow that was WINNING its timeslot due to political reasons, the last thing
they want to do is hand ANOTHER HIT SHOW to COMPETING network like they Did
when Last Man Standing Went over to FOX and became a HIT.
Not to mention putting
Luke Cage on Disney’s streaming service would leave a SOUR taste in most comic
fans’ mouths. Taking a POPULAR show from a streaming service most people are
subscribed to in an effort to get them to buy yours is a DICK MOVE that would
ALIENATE customers.
Plus the Hard R
content on Luke Cage doesn’t really fit into Disney’s image. Nothing like
characters dropping F-Bombs and having sex to rile up the ire of all those
people who watch Disney Princesses, Zack & Cody reruns and Doc Stuffins.
From what I’ve read
I’m thinking Marvel wanted to change the narrative of the show. I’m thinking
executive producer Cheo Hodari Coker and Netflix wanted to keep the series dark
and gritty like the comics, but Marvel wanted to find some way to shove their
gynocentrism and identity politics into the show. With Netflix taking a hit on
Iron Fist thanks to the gynocentric narrative, identity politics and the
complete emasculation of Danny Rand, Netflix just decided to pull the plug on
the show rather than produce a poor quality product they couldn’t sell.
That’s the reason I
believe Luke Cage got cancelled so abruptly. Coker was already planning and
writing season 3 but Marvel’s exexcutives had their own plans. Plans that would
have emasculated Luke Cage over 10 episodes and made him a bigger BITCH than
his modern comic book counterpart.
I’m thinking Marvel
is the real villain here. The whole idea of a strong masculine heterosexual
Black man as a hero who leads and protects his community makes many of the people
who work at Marvel uncomfortable. The Luke Cage like Cheo Hodari Coker was
presenting in his adaptation refuted many of the ideas many whites and
nonblacks had about Black men and the stereotypes presented in the old Power
Man comics. Coker’s Cage presented a narrative made by Black men for Black men
that promoted a positive portrayal of Black manhood, Black masculinity and
Black leadership.
That made many of
the people at Marvel uneasy.
While Marvel and
Disney had their grievances with Black Panther becoming popular they didn’t
mind promoting him because he promoted a gynocentric narrative that appealed to
Black women and emasculated Black men. But Luke Cage promoted a positive idea
of Black manhood made by Black men for Black Men that showed the POWER Black
men had in their communities and a way to use that POWER to take back their
communities from the criminals that terrorized it.
White Supremacist
media ain’t gonna have that on their platforms. No, the whole idea of promoting
a strong Black man who LEADS his community on HIS TERMS on their platforms runs
counter to White Supremacy. They’d rather have us watch cucked Black Panther in
White Man’s Wakanda, butler John Diggle or bumbling stumbling Mr. Terrific or
James Olsen be the Guardian of the Friendzone who hopes, wishes and prays that
Kara Zor-El lets him get a look at what’s under her red Supergirl skirt than
See Luke Cage literally take CONTROL of his Life and CONTROL of his community.
It’s a shame to see
Netflix’s Luke Cage end so abruptly. Luke Cage was the best thing Marvel ever
produced. But because Marvel’s racism we’re not gonna get a Season 3 that will
show us how Luke Cage is the Power Man, and how the Power Man protects the
Black community from those who would threaten it.
The cancellation of
Luke Cage shows me why it’s important for Black men to own and control our own
characters and our own media. Luke Cage was Marvel’s property. And because
Marvel didn’t like the narrative that Cheo Hodari Coker was telling with their
character they decided to make efforts to change it. It didn’t matter about how
profitable or how popular the show was it was all about the agenda Marvel had
and the identity politics they were trying to push regarding Black people.
Marvel wanted their Luke Cage property to tell their kind of story, not one
that the audience wanted.
This is why Black
men need to own and control their own characters like I do with John Haynes.
When I publish my John Haynes Stories like The Temptation of John Haynes, TheMan Who Rules the World or John Haynes: A Conversation With Death, I control
the media and the narrative. And because I control the property I can tell the
story of a Black man from a Black man’s perspective without having anyone to
make efforts to censor it.
While I’m sad to
see Luke Cage get cancelled I see an opportunity for Cheo Hodari Coker to take his
craft to another level on another project. If Mr. Coker and Netflix ever wanted
to produce a John Haynes series or a Temptation of John Haynes movie to fill
the void Luke Cage has left, I’m game. Everything Cheo Hodari Coker did with
Luke Cage I do in my John Haynes stories. And I think his production style
would be a PERFECT fit for the character. So if he’s up for adapting the
adventures of The Man Who Rules The World, I’m game. I think if we worked
together we could produce something that can crash the Netflix Servers
again.
Two of my favorite
comic artists are crowdfunding to get their books published. And I want to help
get the word out about their awesome projects!
This week Bill
Walko is launching a Kickstarter to print the Hero Business Season 2 graphic
novel. The Hero Business is a FUN webcomic that’s The Avengers Meets NBC’s The
Office and reminds me of the late great Dwayne McDuffie’s classic Marvel comic
Damage Control. I never miss a Hero Business strip, and here’s a GREAT
opportunity for you to find out how awesome this comic is!
A few years ago I
backed the first season graphic novel for The Hero Business, and I’m backed
this one on the first day it was launched! When you support Bill’s Kickstarteryou’ll have a chance to get both the first and second season in paperback or
digital or you can opt to donate on one of the higher reward tiers for one of
the variant covers, the Hero Business mug and the new AWESOME Hero Business
pins!
And Josh Howard is
raising funds on indiegogo to publish the second issue of T-Bird &
Throttle. Having read and reviewed the #0 and first issues I can honestly say
this is one of the BEST comics of 2018. After reading those first two issues I
was so eager to find out what happens next in this story, I made my donation on
the first day the project was launched!
Along with the
second issue, Josh is offering the first and #0 issues and some awesome extras
like variant covers and commission sketches if you decide to pledge on one of
the higher reward tiers.
Bill’s Kickstarter
just launched yesterday and is ¼ of the way to getting funded!
Josh’s indiegogo is
half past there and has been extended for two more weeks. I really want to see
both these GREAT artists get their projects funded, because I want to get great
comics in the hands of readers and both these GREAT artists build a larger
audience of readers!
This Friday Netflix
announced that it’s cancelling Iron Fist, one of the five series based on
Marvel Comics superheroes on the streaming service.
And I’d have to say
this was a mercy killing. After completely emasculating Danny Rand over the
course of 10 episodes there was place for Iron Fist to go after Season 2 but
downhill.
It’s hard to find a
reason to keep watching a show after the lead character has been turned into a
complete BITCH. Danny Rand was too PASSIVE to be a hero, letting every
character push him into the background of his own show. And when he gave away
his own power to Colleen Wing, it just was the last straw.
The show was
supposed to be called IRON FIST. But Danny Rand acted like IRON WIMP. Instead
of having BALLS of STEEL his NUTS were crumpled like TIN FOIL and dropped in a
pocket of Colleen Wing’s purse.
Yeah, Season 3
promized Orson Randall and the Immortal Iron Fist. But the problem was Danny
Rand wasn’t presented to be the MAN he needed to be in the first two seasons. For
all the setups, there was no PAYOFF in Danny learning how to be the MAN who
used his martial arts skills to protect those in his community from those who
would threaten it.
It was hard to see
Iron Fist someone as a hero when he couldn’t even protect himself. When writers
have Iron Fist, the world’s greatest martial artist hiding behind WOMEN and
having women help him fight his battles, viewers has no reason to CARE about
watching his series.
The biggest problem
with Netflix’s Iron Fist is that the writers just didn’t understand MEN. From
the start, Danny Rand was written from a gynocentric perspective and that made
him too passive and too unassuming to be a hero. He radiated no masculine energy
and had no masculine presence.Heroes
are supposed to be written with confidence, self-assurance, and intelligence
and even a bit of cockiness.
Yeah, I get that
Danny Rand is supposed to be this Martial artists raised by humble disciplined martial
arts masters. But I’d like to believe even the most disciplined American
martial artist would have some swagger. Former Power Rangers, Austin St. John,
Walter Jones, and Jason David Frank are humble guys. But they still had
swagger. Confidence. And their strong masculine presence gave us a reason to
watch Power Rangers in the 1990’s.
When I think of
Iron Fist I think of type guy in the style of Austin St. John, Jason Frank, or 1980s
B-Movie star Michael Dudkioff’s Joe from the American Ninja movies. Joe was the
kind of guy who was quiet and humble, but could throw out some playful
one-liners as he used some oldschool American resourcefulness in his martial
arts fighting style to beat his foes. Like Joe in the American Ninja movies we
needed to see Iron Fist BEATING THE SHIT out of 20 guys in 10 seconds, in fast-paced
martial arts sequences like Austin St. John, Walter Jones and Jason Frank did on
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
With Iron Fist I
wanted a show that was 1993’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on steroids. A show
that featured fast paced marital arts and BIG action sequences with lots of
chumps getting WRECKED and boss villains getting their asses kicked. A show
that spent its three episodes showing how a lost Danny Rand wound up in K’un
L’un, grew up being taught by those Masters the discipline he’d need to get
home, working towards EARNING the Iron Fist. Then as the season progressed,
he’d leave K’un Lun, return to earth making money in cage fights, starting a
dojo with Colleen Wing tagging along as he actively laid out a strategy to take
his company back, then started dealing with the Meachums using strategies he
learnd from those masters.
Then as season 2
went on we would have had the Steel Serpent Storyline. With a big muscular Tong
Po looking dude from the 1980s Kickboxer movies playing Davos, not that Beta
Incel they cast to play him. After Danny beat Davos with the help of Shang-Chi
he would learn about Orson Randall coming to the city looking for him.
That show would
have EASILY gotten a season 3. But because the writers wrote Iron Fist as a
passive, unassuming Beta Male who let himself get overshadowed in his own show
by EVERY MEMBER of his supporting cast that’s why Iron Fist got cancelled.
The lesson here for
Netflix and Marvel Studios regarding the failure of Iron Fist is to let the
HERO be the CENTER of his show. If a show is called IRON FIST we need to see
IRON FIST doing all the cool shit, not side characters like Colleen Wing. People
want to see the MAIN CHARACTER doing THEIR THING in a show with their name on
it. In an ACTION show we want to see the HERO being ACTIVE taking the LEAD and
TAKING CHARGE in their OWN STORIES.
What’s sad about
Iron Fist is that the show never actualized its potential because the writers
and producers couldn’t execute on concept. Every episode of Iron Fist should
have been a martial arts movie with big superhero movie special effects, but
the producers just gave us a meandering cop show with no story and no
substance. Then as the second season progressed they decided to push girl power
on Danny Rand’s show, minimizing and emasculating their own hero.
Giving us every
reason to Change the channel. Or click out and watch someone else like Luke
Cage. Everything Luke did in Season 2 Danny should have been doing in Iron
Fist.
Iron Fist should
have been an action packed martial arts show with fast paced martial arts,
intriguing stories about an American applying far eastern philosophy in the
west as he adjusts to life in America. With the right writer Iron Fist could
have been a martial arts classic. But due to incompetent showrunners with a
jumbled vision all we got was a mess of a superhero show. Thankfully, Netflix
put this show down before viewers could suffer another season of terrible
writing, terrible acting and piss poor production values.
I want to thank the
executives at Netflix for cancelling Iron Fist. You did us all a great service
by ending this horrible show. When a TV show shows no signs of improving you
just pull the plug.
This month I’m
proud to kick off a special event in the SJS DIRECT Universe: Fantasy Flashback
Fall.
In the Fantasy
Flashback Fall stories I give readers a look into the pasts of the characters
in the SJS DIRECT Universe while taking a moment to teach a lesson in
African-American history. These unique stories are designed to educate readers
about Black culture and the Black experience while entertaining them with an
action packed adventure.
The first book that
will be released in Fantasy Flashback Fall on October 22nd will be
E’steem: The Sands of Time. In E’steem The Sands of Time we get a look at
Princess E’steem’s past in Ancient Egypt before she became a demon. As she
works towards getting a time displaced teenage John Haynes back to his time of
1987, readers will learn about life in Ancient Egypt, Egyptian culture and
learn about the role the Heliopolitan gods in the building of Egyptian
civilization.
With E’steem: The
Sands of Time I wanted to give Black girls a Princess story in the style of
Disney’s Princess stories like Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast,
Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.
I always felt it
wasn’t fair that we couldn’t get a Disney Princess story with a Black princess.
(In my eyes Tiana doesn’t count, because she was a friggin' frog for most of the
movie and at the end of the day she married a nonblack Prince) So I decided to
write a story where the Black girl could be the princess and falls in love with
a Black Prince. Anyone who knows SJS DIRECT Universe continuity knows E’steem
is descended from a royal African bloodline (Katia) and is adopted by Osiris,
the Pharaoh of Heliopolis. So she’s a REAL Princess. And John Haynes is gonna grow up to become The Man Who Rules The World So he’s on his way to becoming a
king…In the technical sense. So technically it’s a Princess story that meets
the standard of Disney’s Princesses.
In my Princess
story I wanted readers to see a true picture of Black-on Black love and how
that love transcends time. I always thought it was a shame that we don’t get
many stories of Black-on-Black love these days. With E’steem: The Sands of Time
wanted to show the power of Black love and how helped two people overcome the
challenges they faced.
What makes E’steem:The Sands Of Time unique is that All the Egyptian characters are Black. When I
wrote this story I imagined an ALL BLACK cast of actors voicing the characters
like Salli Richardson as E’steem, Michael Ealy as John Haynes, Samuel L.
Jackson as Osiris, Angela Bassett as Isis, Suzzane Douglas as Mamnet, Keith
David as Lucifer, Dondre T. Whitfield as Ma-Sil, and Jada Pinkett Smith as
Decadia. In too many media adaptations we get an image of Whitewashed
Egyptians. In The Sands of Time I wanted to show what Ancient Egyptians really
looked like and the parallels between Ancient Egyptian culture and Black
American culture.
