Virgil is experiencing a multitude of bio-psychosocial changes, as a result there of he finds himself seeking guidance and who does he turn to? His father, there’s a brilliant simplicity to this interaction between father and son; in that we see a Black man who’s present for his son in a time of need. An image which is often obscure and rarely promulgated, by that very fact it is a radical image.
This is a poignantly indelible image, one I can relate to as my father is my best friend and he consistently instilled wisdom in me through conversations akin to this one. We need more imagery that counteracts the absent Black father as a fixture of the Black experience, as all of our father’s aren’t negligent and absent. This scene provoked a range of happiness, pride, and gratitude for a positive image of a Black father and son with a close kinship. Milestone Media LLC I’m loving the imagery and Vita Ayala did an awesome job writing it.
Icon Season One #2 Augustus Freeman Liberates Black Folk From Slavery
In this second issue Hudlin takes on a polarizing issue of chattel slavery in a flashback, which is the inception of Icon’s a.k.a. Augustus Freeman’s entrance into history. A situation which contends with the idea of a Black person with the ability to jettison slavery, and stifle it’s debilitating grasp on Black existence.
To see Icon take an authoritative stance which personified the notion “none of us are free until all of us are free”, was an action which underlined the importance of community and collectivism. Icon in a very Afrocentric manner, repudiated the eurocentric notion of of “individualism” and wasn’t content with freeing himself but freed his people as well. This is a salient ethno socio-racial political message, that echoes the importance of the Swahili term “Ujima”; which represents collective consciousness. Icon typified freedom as his people being free, a message we should uphold as a principle.
Icon reflected the radically resolute audacity of the likes of Nat Turner, Toussaint Louverture, & Gabriel Prosser who are real life historical figures who lead revolts to subvert slavery. I loved the image of Augustus engulfed by flames while holding the head of real life confederacy president Jefferson Davis; that is a revolutionary image which modern day Black superheroes aren’t shown doing.
Below are a list African American Slavery rebellions to be aware of:
I love musicals. Not all of them, but here’s a list of ten of my favorites, in rough chronological order.
SINGING IN THE RAIN
There’s a reason why this is considered the masterpiece of the golden age of musicals. Some of the greatest artists in front and behind the camera came together at the peak of their powers and made a movie that stands the test of time.
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
This is Gene Kelly’s run up to SINGING IN THE RAIN; in Prince terms, it’s 1999 right before Purple Rain. Also brilliant.
BLACK ORPHEUS
One of the greatest musicals ever made, one of the greatest movies in the history of Black Cinema, one of the greatest expressions of Black culture ever put on screen.
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
Between IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, ROLLERBALL and JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, director Norman Jewison had one of the most diverse and brilliant bodies of work in the modern film era. And the material itself is not only great musically but taught me more about Jesus than years of Catholic school.
ALL THAT JAZZ
Bob Fosse’s masterwork, an innovative, stylish film that pushed the musical into the modern day.
TOMMY
This opera is the movie that made me want to make movies. An underrated inspiration for the modern music video.
PURPLE RAIN
What a great, great movie. Like Enter the Dragon, it perfectly succeeds at its goal. A perfect showcase for a superstar.
MOULIN ROUGE
Baz Luhrmann’s trilogy of musicals climaxes with the brilliant summation of his reinvention of the genre. When I first heard his mix of Nirvana and LaBelle, I got choked up. Finally, a musical that embraces my wide tastes.
LA LA LAND
This movie had me right from the opening number. Grounded, relevant to today but at the same time it can break into song and dance and stand tall next to the classics.
HAMILTON
Hamilton is one of the greatest works of art of the century.
Warning: The following article contains spoilers from Icon and Rocket Season One #2, on sale Aug. 24 from DC Comics.
The DC Comics imprint Milestone Comics was initially formed in the 90s to provide representation for marginalized and misrepresented characters and creators in the world of comics. Founded by a team of African-American creators that included Denys Cowan, and the late Dwayne McDuffie, Milestone was responsible for the creation of fan-favorite hero Static — who later starred in the Static Shock animated series and gained a place on the Teen Titans — as well as Hardware and Icon. Recently, all three of these Milestone heroes have been rebooted in new series that takes place outside of the mainstream DC universe.
Reginald Hudlin and Leon Chills, two of the creators behind the new Icon and Rocket Season One series, sat down with CBR for an interview to discuss the series’ second issue. In Icon and Rocket Season One #2, the African-American hero Icon, who has been widely regarded as the Superman of the Milestone universe, has a violent confrontation with slave owners during the Civil War era and kills Jefferson Davis, the historical leader of the Confederacy.
CBR: Was there any kind of particular statement you were trying to make with Icon killing Jefferson Davis?
Reginald Hudlin: I grew up reading comic books where superheroes would stop bank robbers. Banks, which are FDIC protected, right? What were they doing? They were just protecting the property of rich people. They weren’t really solving problems. The point of Icon and Rocket is that they solve problems. And we see what happens when you solve real problems. What are the consequences of that? Who would object to that?
We ask the question of what would happen if superheroes started solving real problems, and in the process, Icon is showing Rocket how the world really works. Whether it’s stopping drugs in Rocket’s neighborhood or stopping slavery, it’s the same thing. People just want to be left alone to live their lives in peace, but there’s always someone who refuses to allow them that peace and insists on exploiting them. And when you stand up against the exploitation of other people, huge forces are going to be marshaled against you. That’s the Black experience, not just in America but around the world.
Leon Chills: Has there ever been a Black superhero who had powers but was a slave? I think once he realizes and comes into his powers he’s going to do something about what’s going on around him.
Hudlin: If you look at the book, Icon says, “Me and mine are safe. Anybody who makes it here is safe.” He was willing to try coexistence. But the slave owners refused to accept it because they couldn’t bear the thought of free Black people. So he said, “Okay, I tried to accommodate you, which was more than you deserved. But you can’t bear the thought of Black freedom. Fine. Now I’m going to free everybody.”
CBR: Icon has widely been regarded as Milestone’s Superman. How is this character different from the Man of Steel?
Chills: I feel like a lot of the threats that Superman handles are on a macro level — like someone’s trying to destroy the planet or take over the world. Because Icon has lived in the skin of a Black man, what he goes up against is a lot more personal because he’s been oppressed. Like Reggie said, they’re actually going after societal ills. You don’t really see Superman or most other heroes doing this, and that’s a huge difference.
Hudlin: You’re exactly right. These guys are both aliens, and their main difference is due to how they grew up. One grew up in Smallville in the 40s or 50s. The other man grows up on a plantation in Georgia in the 1850s. They have very different life experiences and life hacks. They’re both guys with a strong moral compass. They’re both genuinely great people. So it’s not that we’re knocking Superman, but he’s working through the cultural matrix that shaped him. And so is Icon, but his cultural matrix is different. It doesn’t mean that one is more moral than the other. It’s just that they see the world and how to make it better in different ways.
This is not Superman. Icon is his own character. And one of the things that is important to me and the book is that we tell stories that you’ll never see in an issue of Superman. He not Superman painted brown. He’s a unique character with his own set of choices and storylines that reflect who he is. The point of Milestone isn’t to tell typical comic book stories with a Black character. We tell our stories from our own unique perspectives.
CBR: What can you tell us about the villain we see in this issue, Benedict Lord?
Hudlin: He’s a badass. You have to have villains who can beat the hero, and he’s a terrifying challenge for Icon and Rocket. He’s taken out Icon before and he can do it again.
Chills: He has a lot of skills at his disposal that I don’t want to spoil. He has an approach that I don’t think a lot of villains would take. It’s sometimes better to use stealth than brute force.
CBR: Is there a Season Two planned for Icon and Rocket?
Hudlin: We have so many ideas. I really try not to get too far ahead of ourselves. We’re wrapping up the first arc now, but we’re always making plans to top ourselves.
Chills: We’re firing on all cylinders for Season One. We send the script and they get excited, we see the art and we get excited. All that energy goes into the next issue. I fully expect that to continue going into Season Two. There’s just so much more for you to see.
