BIG IDEAS

Depending on who you talk to, this is either the coolest Bruce Lee video ever or a digitally manipulated commercial by Nokia. No matter how much you love Bruce Lee, there just ain’t no way in hell this is real.

But this time it’s Reginald Hudlin and the Viacom programming execs who are the butt of the jokes instead of Bob Johnson. In the clip MacGruder points to a trend that unfortunately is not unique to BET, that of black programmers and filmmakers forgetting real innovation and just transplanting black heads on existing content concepts - Frankenprogramming. Where’s Tim Reid and Frank’s Place when you need it?

Thanks to Undercover Black man for the tip.

Hmmm. Is there a story cartoon producers won’t touch. Guess not. Apparently someone in Hollywood is seeing the huge cash crop that is the Christian community (evidence by Mel Gibson and Tyler Perry) and running pretty fast to make family friendly Christian fare.

My only question: Wasn’t the original movie enough of a cartoon? It was a wonderful movie, and all the low tech special effects are a necessary part of the charm of the original. Between Charlton’s Heston’s over-acting, Yul Brynner’s accent, the film manages to be funny, touching, poignant and highly effective in sparking a sense of wonder that makes you want to actually read the Bible.

But this? If you look closely, they’ve used (pretty bad) computer animation to basically duplicate all the effects in the movie. Seems a waste. But you be the judge:

As trailers go, gotta say I prefer this version.

Of course when you have a massively uncolored convention of this sort, you’ve got to have a Black Panel. And at Comic-Con, it’s actually called The Black Panel. Hey, they make books where fists go POW! ,are you looking for subtlety?

This year’s Black Panel features new and veteran Black animation producers: Andy Horne, a producer of Fox’s 24, and an instrumental engine in producing the live action versions of Spawn and Blade. Sidney Clifton of Film Roman, Marv Wolfman (the creator of Blade), Denys Cowan from BET’s animation division and Korby Marks.

BET’s moves will be a running theme over the weekend when Reginald Hudlin, BET’s president of entertainment and Cowan 9again) announce and preview their upcoming lineup.

Other black stardom: Will Smith may or may not show for a preview of I am Legend, a remake of sorts of the underappreciated Omega Man, this time with Smith in the Charlton Heston role. Smith’s version is purportedly more faithful to the original book inspiration.

Rosario Dawson will no doubt be the centerpoint of fanboy central when she signs copies of Occult Crimes TaskForce, a comic book she created and produces.

Why is an of this important? Simple. Big bucks in the comic world, especially when you add licensing for movies, video games and merchandise. It’s huge global opportunity for Black entrepreneurs with a whole lot of imagination.

And we’ve been in the game more deeply than you might think. Check these links:

The Museum of Black Superheroes
Milestone Media

That would be “geek” in the most loving and respectful sense.

Walter Mosely, back when he took a shot at science fiction, decried the lack of black writers in the SF and fantasy genres. From his point of view, Black life seemed just “too real” for people to take their minds out of today and create new worlds within their imaginations.

Well, a trip to Comic-Con might change that notion. You won’t necessarily find teeming hordes of Black folk at Comic-Con, the international comics, film and hype fest that takes place in San Diego each year. But you will find quite a few African Americans (yes, mostly men) who are deeply – really deeply – into the world of superheroes, wizards, Japanimation and fanboydom, the state of being that lets you feel no shame in trying to pick up a woman at a bar while dressed as a Power Ranger.

But while Black geekdom always seems a little more cool than white geekdom, the brothers and sisters digging on anime still find it way too hard to get love in the mainstream Black world. Let’s face it, it’s kinda tough in a social situation where people brag about the house they just flipped and the BMW they drive to bring up your excitement about the new film version of Ironman, and how the difference between one Japanese cartoon style and another is whether or not the characters make out with with dragons. I mean, that’s tough in any situation.

But despite its more esoteric elements, the comic world these days can be much more real than one might imagine. The most popular books by far are those featuring characters with real life problems – depression, mental illness, unrequited love, disease — wrapped brilliantly into their everyday problems with spacebots destroying the planet.

And since MAD magazine and Robert Crumb paved the way, comics have long since stopped being kid stuff. There’s likely to be as many 40 year old brothers with dreads as ten year olds with skate gear.

You gotta love a comic geek. There’s some real genius in creating a new universe from scratch, if only on paper. Now if they could only get a date.

Next post: Black stuff at Comic-Con 2007