I've been writing THE BLACK PANTHER for Marvel Comics for over three years now.

Those stories have been collected in a series of paperbacks available in bookstores:

WHO IS THE BLACK PANTHER This book sets the whole thing up; for all those folks who don't know who he is, what his powers and backstory are, etc.

BLACK PANTHER/X MEN: WILD KINGDOM Black Panther and the X Men team up...and Storm and Black Panther rekindle their relationship.

BLACK PANTHER: BAD MUTHA It's a black superhero summit when Black Panther, Blade, Luke Cage, Brother Voodoo and Monica Rambeau team up to fight a vampire invasion in a post-Katrina flooded New Orleans!

BLACK PANTHER: THE BRIDE Storm and the Black Panther get married and the entire Marvel Universe shows up!

BLACK PANTHER: CIVIL WAR There's a war between superheroes and The Black Panther is forced to take sides! That's no way to have a honeymoon.

BLACK PANTHER: FOUR THE HARD WAY Black Panther and Storm are the leaders of the Fantastic Four. But even with the extra power of the Human Torch and The Thing, will they survive a world full of super powered zombies?

BLACK PANTHER: LITTLE GREEN MEN The Black Panther and Storm meet dopplegangers of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and the Black Panthers on an alien planet that mimics Earth down to its racial conflicts.

BLACK PANTHER: BACK TO AFRICA Finally home in his country of Wakanda, The Black Panther has a battle to the death with the one opponent he has never been able to beat: Killmonger!


I also wrote MARVEL KNIGHTS SPIDER MAN for a year. Those issues are also available in paperback.

SPIDER MAN: WILD BLUE YONDER This award-winning storyline features a drug-addicted Absorbing Man...who turns into dope and sniffs himself!

RIP Eartha Kitt

I am so grateful to have worked with Eartha Kitt. Life a lot of folks of my generation I first knew of her from her appearances as Catwoman on the 60’s Batman TV series and her holiday classic “Santa Baby”. I also heard she had dated Orson Welles and cursed out the First Lady over Viet Nam during a visit to the White House, and that her career had suffered as a result. All that made me admire her, but at the same time, I was intimidated.

When we were casting BOOMERANG, there was no doubt she was the only person who could play Lady Eloise. We offered her the part, but she had reservations about the role. Well, she told us no. So my brother and I called her in Germany, where she was doing a local production of FOLLIES, to ask her why.

She found the part insulting to elders, so we agreed to make some changes (I can’t remember what it was, but I didn’t like it either) and told her we would work the rest out together). She was tough on the phone. But eventually she agreed.

Whatever her initial hesitations, she KILLED it in every take of the film. She knew exactly how to play every scene and was hilarious. Her bedroom seduction scene with Eddie was so perfect, in part because Eddie really was uncomfortable and she was so uninhibited.

I am eternally grateful to my hair and makeup team for making sure Eartha felt like the royalty she was. They gave her temple and hand massages. She would lift herself out of the make up chair by locking her arms, shooting her legs straight out like a gymnast’s. How many of us can do that at half her age?

The moment I will never forget was when Grace Jones and Eartha Kitt finally met. “You’re doing me, but you’re doing it wrong”…and Eartha proceeded to teach Grace how to do her purr/growl to perfection. I was so proud I created the circumstance for this historic meeting of international sex symbol singing icons.

After BOOMERANG, I kept trying to find another project for us to do together. I also kept researching her history. Turns out she’s from St. Louis, right across the river from me. She got her start in Katharine Dunham’s dance troupe. Ms Dunham changed the lives of our entire family with her efforts in East St. Louis, so there was another connection. Apparently she jumped ship from the dance troupe during their historic set of performances in Paris. It was the same show where Josephine Baker showed up walking down the aisle (late of course) to disrupt the show and remind the city she was the true black diva of Paris.

I bought one of her old albums, which had I WANT TO BE EVIL and C’EST SI BON on it. Banging. I heard the story about her booking the Apollo. Everyone told her don’t do it, no one was going to show up because the black community either didn’t know who she was or didn’t like her because was too mainstream an artist. Then she pulls up to the theatre and there’s a line around the block, which made her cry.

Then I went to see her perform at Café Carlyle. The Carlyle is a tiny room…and I had never been to a cabaret show before. She gave an amazing show…but then spotted me half way through the show. She stopped everything and asked “YOU. What are YOU doing here?”

She proceeded to basically “do” the entire show (with all the flirtation, etc) to me. Both embarrassing and flattering. She later gave me a lovely introduction and we went up to her room at the hotel talked afterward. Her daughter Kitt was with her, and she talked about her grandkids. She lived for her family.

Losing Eartha Kitt, Bernie Mac and Jheryl Busby all in the same year reminds me a) how old I am b) how lucky I am to have known and worked with all these amazing talents, and c) I need to get back to work so I can work with more greats like these.

rh

Emancipation Proclamation

With the inauguration of Barack Obama in little more than a month and the Bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth in two months, it's interesting to read Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation--for what it did (and didn't) do. I knew that it only freed the slaves in those states in rebellion against the United States (see link below), but I didn't know how much of Louisiana and Virginia WERE NOT covered by the Proclamation.

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/transcript.html

Slaves in the likes of Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey (yes) and others non-rebellious states as well as those excepted areas of Louisiana and Virginia had to await national adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment (December 6, 1865) for their freedom. Although overruled my national ratification, in some states it took awhile for even the SYMBOLIC adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment. In fact, Kentucky only ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution on March 18, 1976 and Mississippi on March 16, 1995!!!

This gives an even greater context to the thought of President Barach H. Obama's presiding over the national celebration of the coming Lincoln Bicentennial.

Different Results

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – attributed to Einsten

In light of the fact that Prop 8 has placed a big wedge between people of color and non-black gays, I thought it would be great to exercise my white privilege and once again drag poor Dr. King out of the ground to underscore my agenda – this time, in the way of blatant plagiarism!

I was writing a long entry about how the phenomenon of black homophobia is a crock of shit, when I found myself having to write this entry first. The Prop 8 thing is not going to go away anytime soon, sadly, and the rift between white gays and people of color (of all orientations) is going to be there for a pretty long while. The excuse of “Well, I was lashing out when I said those things; it’s time to heal” isn’t going to swing this time, mainly because all the rage white gays were spewing was being directed to the wrong black people. Black voters for Prop 8 were hardly reading liberal, pro-gay blogs with calculators and maps of California counties in hand, trying to get to the bottom of all this. You really think Dick Dick – er, Trick Trick – is losing any sleep over this?

A lot of younger blacks have views that run almost polar opposite to our parents’ views, and we’ve taken a lot of shit for challenging their views and telling them flat out that they were/are wrong. I know I’ve moved more than a couple of mountains in my family. Furthermore, a lot of our parents are either very young Boomers, or Generation Jones, arguably the last generation to be directly affected by the Civil Rights Movement. (Generation X would become the first victims of Reaganomics, I would say.) For them, Dr. King is not a symbol or a name. He is not some guy you drag out to win arguments. He’s not an ace card. He was real, and while I certainly can’t speak for all black people, or even all older black people, I can say that that quickest way to get a “girl, hush that foolishness!” is to compare your plight – however serious it may be – to what they went through.

Which brings me to my point. As much as white gays want to blame this on sensitive black people and our need to oppress another disadvantaged group (because we obviously have nothing else better to do), here’s the thing: in the black community, the only thing that you’re allowed to compare to the Civil Rights Movement is the Civil Rights Movement. Black white, gay, straight, son of God…if you are trying to get any point across and the words “Dr. King” come up, you’re probably going to lose your African-American audience, particularly if they’re over 50. In fact, the idea that “as long as we’re not being lynched” mentality has run kind of opposite to our well-being as a whole. I’ll let Tim Wise, the Guru of Interracial Relations, explain why:

…[C]ontrary to popular belief, research indicates that people of color are actually reluctant to allege racism, be it on the job, or in schools, or anywhere else. Far from "playing the race card" at the drop of a hat, it is actually the case (again, according to scholarly investigation, as opposed to the conventional wisdom of the white public), that black and brown folks typically "stuff" their experiences with discrimination and racism, only making an allegation of such treatment after many, many incidents have transpired, about which they said nothing for fear of being ignored or attacked (10). Precisely because white denial has long trumped claims of racism, people of color tend to underreport their experiences with racial bias, rather than exaggerate them.

Now, one’s delicate sensibilities and painful memorities shouldn’t matter any more than one’s religion, and even though the “gay is the new black” motto is lazy and patronizing (“C’mon, you should get it! You’re black!”), it doesn’t take away from the fact that there is only one right way to vote for this issue. It would also be nice if my money tree would start producing $100 bills. The bottom line is simple: as long as white gays keep hoisting up WWMLKD posters and expecting black people to hop aboard the gay rights train, they’re going to stay mad for the next 50 years. It’s not going to work. You’ve been told it’s not going to work. You’ve been SHOWN that it’s not going to work. Therefore, if you keep doing it over and over, don’t be surprised if people like me start to wonder if you have another agenda, one that has nothing to do with healing. But hey, maybe the gay rights movement is getting their cues from third wave feminism nowadays.

And just to show that making very powerful and logical arguments for gay rights is very easy to go without pulling poor Martin out of the grave, I’ll finish with this:

Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union. A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages. – Coretta Scott King

BLACKFACE

BLACKFACE

My favorite, Mr. Reginald Hudlin asked me to contribute to his blog. Wooo, that’s major. At least for a young, blossoming, soon-to-be television & film executive like me. Soooo, should I make my first contribution something funny? Eh, how ‘bout we just keep it real! Let’s talk about Blackface. Yep that’s right; Blackface. I know its damn near 2009 and half of ya’ll probably don’t even know what Blackface is…well I take that back. If you are enlightened enough to be on hudlinentertainment.com, then you should be conscious of American Theatre’s 19^th Century performance tradition of Blackface.

Currently I am traveling overseas in New Zealand; Queenstown, New Zealand to be exact. The land of 4 million people and 90 million sheep. Sounds great right?!! Keep reading. So Halloween night I go out with some friends…white friends. Oh, did I mention I am THE ONLY black person in this town? No seriously, I haven’t even seen a black sheep! So, Halloween night we all decide to go to a bar. We’re chillin, drinking, and in walks Sambo. I freeze. So many things are running through my head at this point. I have always been one of those black people that look at racial situations from the past (i.e. slavery, sit-ins, etc.) and say “Oh Hell No! If that were me, I’d snatch that whip from that slave master and beat him!” Or “Oh Hell No! If that were me, I’d go right up to the white’s only lunch counter and sit my black ass down and order a wing on wheat!” But here I am, in probably [hopefully] the most serious racial situation of my life and I freeze. I don’t say a word. I’m hurt. I’m angry. I’m embarrassed. I’m disgusted. This 6 foot tall white man walks into a bar with shoe polish all over his face, white paint under his eyes, and red paint exaggerating his mouth, looks me in my eye, and I say nothing. I look around to the 10 or so white co-workers that I’m with and they are laughing. One even has the audacity to say to me “Hey Tiffany, you see that?” Of course “I see that”. It’s slapping me in my face right now! How is one supposed to handle a situation like this? I wanted to go up to Blackface and ask him ‘why?’ or ‘who are you supposed to be?’ But I said nothing. Because if he would have answered me the wrong way, with any tone of disrespect, God only knows how I would have reacted. So I left the bar.

I left the bar to find 3 other men, at three separate locations all in Blackface. Wow! Is this a nightmare? Are they serious? I couldn’t believe it. But I got payback. I got payback on November 4, 2008 when the United States of America elected Barack Obama the Leader of the Free World.

PEACE~

T.Mills

BLACKIE O ON…..DISENGAGING

BLACKIE O ON…..DISENGAGING

12.1.08

When I was asked to participate in this blogging thing I had no idea what that really entailed. Should I try to be funny, insightful, a politico; do I have time to contribute to a blog? After all, I’m very busy procrastinating.

After conversations with a few different people, I surmised that blogging is all about writing about a subject you feel strongly about which is why I came to the conclusion that my first blog should be The Seinfeld Blog, namely…a blog about absolutely nothing. Just as Seinfeld was a show about nothing, my blog entry will essentially be that, a blog about nothing because I have no strong feelings or opinions about anything right now. Not to imply that I don’t care about the things we all care about, family, friends, all the bullsh*t happening in the world today, it’s more of a disengagement. I have mentally and physically disengaged.

Everything has become too much, personal family issues, the war, the recession; every day people are dying senseless deaths, losing jobs, homes, their general sense of concern for others and to deal with it all many are turning to drugs, alcohol, shopping with money they don’t have, anything to dull the pain and divorce themselves from reality. Me, I find that the best way to deal with it all is to disengage.

As a deeply empathetic person, I simply cannot take the feelings of hopelessness associated with caring about the plight of others and the seemingly insurmountable sadness that comes from knowing yet not understanding why situations and people in general are so f’d up. It is very difficult to take on another’s pain or mentally walk a mile in someone else’s shoes every day, but this is what I’ve done in the past and this is why at this moment I find myself disengaged.

Simply put, I am tired. Tired of seeing people I care about suffer from the pain of loss, abuse at home, abuse in the work place, tired of watching the news and seeing people losing their lives to terrorists and their homes to financial and natural disasters. I sometimes wish I was one of those people who only cared about me and what was happening in my immediate world, but I could never be that person, so for the moment I remain disengaged. It’s probably not the ideal way to deal with things, but given the alternatives I’ll go with it for now.

I say for now because I know me and I know that soon I will once again be fully engaged, fighting the good fight, trying to solve the problems of those closest to me by any means necessary whether it be lending an ear, giving advice or offering to put hands on somebody (I kid, I kid), I’ll soon be back in action.

As with Seinfeld, the show about nothing that touched on damn near every bit of minutia that makes up every day life, so will the blog of Blackie O. Stay tuned.

Blackie O

Huddin

HUDLIN E. RULEZ!!!