Need Inspiration to be a Black Superhero? How About Single Black Mothers

Mark Anthony Neal from White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in American Comic Books (dir. Jonathan Gayles, 2012)

Left of Black S2:E24 | Black Masculinity in the Documentary Frame

Left of Black S2:E24 | March 19, 2012

Black Masculinity in the Documentary Frame

Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype© by filmmaker Ron Chepesiuk, who discusses his new film The Frank Matthews Story: The Rise and Disappearance of America’s Biggest Kingpin. The film will be screened March 23, 2012 at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, NC.  Chepesiuk talks about the 1970s drug trade, describes why Matthews is one of America’s lesser known gangsters, despite his successful and brilliant operation, and shares some of the D.B. Cooper-like details of Matthews’ disappearance in 1974.

Later, Neal is joined via Skype© by Jonathan Gayles, professor of African American Studies at Georgia State University and writer, director, and producer of the film White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in American Comic Books (California Newsreel).  Gayles discusses reactions to his movie, which won best documentary feature at the 2010 Urban Media Makers Film Festival and remembers the impact of the late Dwayne McDuffie, founder of Milestone Media. Neal and Gayles also discuss Black Entertainment Television’s ill-fated attempt to bring the animated series Black Panther to television.

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Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.

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Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in HD @ iTunes U

White Scripts and Black Superheroes: James Braxton Peterson on the Myth of the Black Superman

Lehigh University Professor James Braxton Peterson talks with filmmaker Jonathan Gayles (White Scripts and Black Superheroes: Masculinities in Comic Books) about the myth of the "Black Superhero."

White Scripts and Black Superheroes: Dwayne McDuffie on Chester Himes, Luke Cage and 'Sweet Christmas'

Filmmaker Jonathan Gayles (White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in American Comic Books) Interview with the late Dwayne McDuffie, founder of Milestone Comics.

Final Trailer: White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in American Comic Books (dir. Jonathan Gayles)

from California Newsreel:

Twenty years ago, Marlon Riggs produced an essential documentary critique of the images of African Americans in US television in his award-winning Color Adjustment. Now comes a documentary on representations of Black masculinity in comic books; a popular culture genre which existed before television and whose reach extends into other areas of cultural production such as movies and animated TV series. White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in Comic Books analyzes the subject for the first time and looks at it over a 40 year period.

In a serious, lively and humorous manner, the film examines the degree to which some of the first Black superheroes generally adhered to and were burdened by stereotypes about Black men. However we also witness how some images shifted – oftentimes clumsily - to reflect the changing times. In fact the documentary was formerly entitled Shaft or Sidney Poitier: Black Masculinity in Comic Books to signify two types of characters, one with hyper-masculine urban swagger (Shaft) and one with remarkably “dignified” behavior (Sidney Poitier). Ultimately, it became clear that there was much more "Shaft" than "Sidney Poitier" in these early Black superheroes.

It features commentary by scholars and cultural critics (Jelani Cobb, Mark Anthony Neal, Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua) producers, writers and artists (Reginald Hudlin, John Jennings, Tony Isabella and the late pioneer Dwayne McDuffie.) They provide tools for critiquing all media as they introduce and analyze the leading Black comic book superheroes of the late 60's to late 70's including Black Panther, the Falcon, John Stewart (the Green Lantern), Luke Cage and Black Lightning.

For more information on the subject of African Americans and comic books, please go to blacksuperherodoc.com