On the subject of superheroes again, anyone seen the promos for the new
Black Panther movie? It's, in the words of one reviewer, "breaking box-office records like a bad habit". They've got cardboard standees in every grocery store and even a line of sculpted 12-in. collectible figures. I think Hollywood is trying to reach out to the African-American community, which Oscar has snubbed of late, with a new focus on minority superheroes taking center stage--Black Panther, Black Lightning; Miles Morales, the new Spider-Man. Rather than just re-imagining established characters like
The Kingpin,
Fancy Dan, or
Liz Allen with shiny new black faces, they're actually looking to characters who were imagined and created as African-American to begin with. Is this a positive thing and a huge step forward in race relations, or just mindless pandering to the masses by Tinseltown, trotted out just in time for MLK Day and Black History Month?