Laurence Fishburne is Perry White

[seriousfic]

Good for him. Seems like, on the face of it, just good casting, in contrast to things like Jimmy Olsen being gay which just seems like edginess/shock value. Oh my god, J.J. Abrams, a minor male character has an earring and one line about a boyfriend? How are you so progressive? Do you have a gay friend? Let me go bake you some cookies, you've earned them.

I mean, excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but maybe if a character is best known for wearing a bowtie, you shouldn't write him as a gay man.

Speaking of fake Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man is black. Not the Spider-Man that will be in the movie based on Ultimate Spider-Man, or the one in the cartoon based on Ultimate Spider-Man, or the one in the games based on Ultimate Spider-Man, cuz he like just missed that window. But the one in an alternative continuity that's been so fucked up, if it were a white woman and this were the South, Tom Robinson would be put on trial for it. There are so many ways within ways that Miles Morales isn't "the real Spider-Man" that it counts as an Inception spin-off. Say what you will about John Stewart, but at least to someone who only follows mainstream continuity, he exists.

I would be much more impressed if they made Morales the 616 Spider-Man, especially since that would've dovetailed perfectly with the desire to write a younger, single Spider-Man. This is just Marvel wanting to kill off a character for publicity and then playing the race card after the fact.

Comments

[colonel-green.livejournal.com]

But the one in an alternative continuity that's been so fucked up, if it were a white woman and this were the South, Tom Robinson would be put on trial for it.

I must remember that expression for future use.

Fishburne's cast is a bit odd for me because I think of him as too young for the part, even though he's actually 50 now and so in the right age range.

As for Ultimate Spider-Man, I said a similar thing over on S_D: while I don't mind more minority leads, this is another example of how the Ultimate imprint has ceased to fulfill anything like its original function. It's now a weird sideshow that New Readers would find utterly incomprehensible.

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

I disagree a little about the Spider Man thing.

Mostly because I feel that Marvel has made so many incredibly bizarre and shitty editorial choices surrounding Spider Man and all the ancillary Spider-franchise things, that this choice is...I'm making a weird point here, but basically I feel this choice is just them honestly doing what they always do with Spider Man, which is throw darts at the wall. While drunk. Bendis claims he was inspired by the Don Glover thing a while back, and given Bendis's power and tendency to do whatever random things he feels like, I think he means it. Plus, Marvel genuinely tried so hard with Arana.

If the character is written well (This is Bendis so....hrm), if he gets a little fan following, who knows? Marvel is chasing the money and the eyeballs, more overtly than say, DC, which is...really, I have no idea what DC's strategy is right now.

[colonel-green.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree with you that it's probably not a stunt. Unlike the rest of the Ultimate line, USM has a clear artistic direction: namely, it's where Brian Michael Bendis does whatever he wants with Spider-Man stuff. Now, that's kind of limiting (ie, whenever Bendis leaves I imagine this property will disappear quickly), but it's at least a purpose, something the rest of the line clearly doesn't have.

[mcity.livejournal.com]

>I mean, excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but maybe if a character is best known for wearing a bowtie, you shouldn't write him as a gay man.

Or maybe they shouldn't have a young man wearing a bowtie for nostalgia's sake in 2011. Say what you will about Archie, but put him in khakis and lose the bowtie and saddleshoes, and he looks like any other dude. Jimmy just looks pretentious. Even Lois and Clark didn't try and force the Bowtie.

Lois and Clark.

/rant

[colonel-green.livejournal.com]

Oh, Goddamnit, Jimmy's a hipster!