Look around on social media, and you’ll find a lot of wince-inducing responses to the title of Kobi Libii’s debut feature, The American Society of Magical Negroes, ranging from people offended that it exists to people expressing ghoulish delight that they have an excuse to use the word “Negro” in public. Libii’s film is a darkly comedic satire building off a common trope first popularized as a term by director Spike Lee in 2001 — the Black movie characters, particularly in ’90s movies, who only exist to support white characters and further their character arcs. In Libii’s story, that Black support network is a codified secret society of Black men and women with actual magical powers, which they use to comfort and aid white people so they’ll be less brittle, tense, and inherently dangerous to people of color.
GI Joe veterans Scarlett and Destro get their own titles as part of Skybound's Energon Universe
08.03.2024 - 00:09 / gamesradar.com / George Marston
The final two of four planned GI Joe limited series from Skybound Entertainment will focus on another pair of classic characters from the beloved franchise: Scarlett, and Destro. Alongside the current Duke and Cobra Commander limited series, these four titles will comprise the launch of the GI Joe portion of Skybound's new Energon Universe, in which the Real American Heroes exist alongside the Transformers in a shared continuity.
First up is Scarlett, written by Kelly Thompson (who knows her way around a femme fatale as the current writer of Birds of Prey and former longtime writer of Black Widow), with art by Marco Ferrari. As promised by the title, the limited series focuses on Shana 'Scarlett' O'Hara, a southern belle/badass undercover agent who was one of the original modern Joes who debuted way back in 1982's GI Joe: A Real American Hero #1.
"Shana 'Scarlett' O'Hara is about to take on the most dangerous black ops mission of her career: infiltrating the mysterious rising power in Japan known as the Arashikage Clan," reads Skybound's official description of Scarlett #1. "Her one lead is her former partner - Jinx - turned Arashikage enforcer. Now, Scarlett must use her operative skills to survive undercover… and discover a shocking weapon that could change the balance of power on Earth."
The inclusion of Jinx and the Arashikage Clan may point to the possible appearance of Snake Eyes, who is himself an Arashikage ninja.
"I'm fortunate that, thanks to my job, I often get to dig into characters and worlds that I've loved for a long time," says Kelly Thompson in a statement accompanying the announcement. "But GI Joe’s Scarlett is truly one of my first geek loves as a kid, and I am absolutely thrilled to have a hand in building her for this new, incredibly cool and rich universe at Skybound."
Here's a gallery of interior pages from Scarlett #1 by Marco Ferrari and colorist Lee Loughridge, along with several covers for the issue by Ferrari, Joëlle Jones, Gleb Melnikov, Steve Epting, Leonardo Romero, Jonboy Meyers, and David Mack, some of which have been blacked out and marked "Spoiler!":
In the final limited series of the GI Joe Energon Universe launch, classic villain Destro will take center stage in a story by writer Dan Watters and artist Andrei Bressan that Skybound promises will "change the balance of power in the Energon Universe forever."
"James McCullen Destro XXIV is the man behind MARS Industries, the undisputed leader in providing high-tech weapons to world powers...for the right price," reads Skybound's announcement. "But the emergence of Energon has changed everything. As Destro’s ambitions grow, the 'Crimson Twins' Tomax and Xamot Paoli emerge to destroy their competition, and Cobra
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