Goyer said the company is taking time to figure out a better plan for the development of these movies. They are, after all, cash cows with huge potential. The year 2008 will be remembered as a landmark year for comic book projects. Marvel Comics became the first comic company to have its own studio and came charging out of the gate with summer blockbuster Iron Man. A Samuel L. Jackson cameo at the end of that movie set up the storyline for an Avengers film. Marvel carried it on as Tony Stark showed up in The Incredible Hulk to talk about the team they’re getting together.

TM & © DC Comics.
Photo by Stephen Vaughan

But in terms of overall quality and mainstream media acceptance, 2008 was the year of The Dark Knight. Thanks to Heath Ledger’s captivating, Oscar-buzz gaining performance as The Joker, Knight was a genre-busting success. In print, DC was poised to take full advantage with the controversial Batman R.I.P storyline. Spoiler alert: Batman is not really dead.

Goyer said DC Comics was responsible for 15 percent of Warner’s profits last year, so Time Warner execs: Batman is your new boss. Maybe not quite, but he’s still really important. I can’t wait to see what comes of Warner Bros. efforts. A decent Superman movie would be a great start. Even better would be some movement on the Justice League movie that has been in development hell for years. Here’s hoping.

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But Roven admits the writers’ strike and the looming actors’ strike haven’t helped the process out. While The Flash can move at light speed, travel through time on a treadmill and perform other such feats, lengthy contract negotiation is not among his skills.

Until then, I guess we’ll have to be satisfied with Flash adventures in comic form. Or we could check out the cult classic TV show from the 1990’s.

Image by Paxton Holley licensed under Creative Commons.

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According to numbers provided by Nielsen, Marvel Comics’ Iron Man has made $177 million in 10 days. It raked in $50 million this past weekend to remain atop the box office charts.

Warner Bros. Speed Racer, which at one time was thought a potential rival for Iron Man, stalled into second place with $20 million. Critics mostly panned this Wachowski Bros. adaptation of the popular anime. Its price tag is rumored to be well over $100 million with millions more spent on marketing. Warner can’t be happy with this abysmal opening, Racer just barely edging out romcom What Happens In Vegas. Warner execs are already confirming there’s not much chance they’ll recoup their money on this one.

Tony Stark will face some heavy hitters in the battle for his lofty perch the next two weeks. The Chronicles of Narnia:Prince Caspian opens May 16 while Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is coming May 22.

© 2008 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Black History Month is a perfect time to remember the most legendary African-American superheroes and their creators. This list will stimulate debate and that’s part of its intent. You will not agree with all my picks, the order in which they fall, or some notable omissions. I will still do some workups on the numerous honorable mentions that didn’t quite make this list.

I looked at a number of things: the character’s origins, impact, whether this character carried a solo book, launched a movie or just had an important story to tell. This installment presents #10-6.

10. Steel: Combining the African-American folk tale of John Henry with the modern mythos of Superman, Louise Simonson and artist John Bogandove created Steel in 1993. Steel was one of the characters featured in the “Reign of the Supermen” storyline in which other heroes attempted to fill the shoes of the “dead” Superman.

Superman saved weapons engineer John Henry Irons, who fell from a skyscraper during a construction job. Irons asked Superman how to repay him, to which Supes replied Irons should “live a life worth saving.” After Superman’s death, Irons donned power armor of his own design to restore order. Some of his first battles were against people using weapons Irons made that fell into the wrong hands.

Steel appeared in a solo series from 1994-1998, first written by co-creator Simonson and later by Christopher Priest. In addition, Steel has appeared as a member of the Justice League in both comics and cartoons. His story came to the big screen in a lackluster film adaptation starring Shaquille O’Neal that left critics and fans cold. That criminally bad film doesn’t affect Steel’s standing here.

9. Green Lantern (John Stewart): Created by writer Denny O’ Neill and artist Neal Adams, Stewart is a trusted member of DC Comics’ intergalactic police force the Green Lantern Corps. Over the years Stewart evolved from a stereotypical “angry black man” into a complex character taking a leadership role in the Justice League and other organizations. Stewart even served as the first human member of the Guardians of the Universe, the organization that founded the GLC.

Beginning as a fill-in character for Lanterns like Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner, Stewart gained a large amount of exposure (and the ire of some fans) as the GL of choice in the Justice League Unlimited animated series. The show’s writers opted to use Stewart over Jordan to add diversity to a largely white JLA roster. He has since joined the comic incarnation of the league as well.

Stewart headlined his own short-lived DC series Green Lantern: Mosaic from 1992-93. Stewart was rumored to appear in a JLA film treatment in which the rapper/actor Common would play Green Lantern. Warner Bros has shelved that movie project.

8. ShadowHawk: While several black superheroes began as thinly developed caricatures, Jim Valentino’s ShadowHawk dealt with some of the most serious issues any comic has tackled.

Gangsters attacked District Attorney Paul Johnstone at his office and rather than killing him outright, opted for the cruel punishment of injecting him with HIV-infected blood. He became very depressed and the only thing that stopped his downward spiral was a taste for vengeance. After some muggers hospitalized Johnstone, he learned of a mechanical exoskeleton that could give him the edge against criminals. Donning it, he became ShadowHawk.

This book’s willingness to deal with HIV and AIDS head on made it a work well ahead of its time in a genre known for fantasy. Despite the invulnerable aura of a hero, ShadowHawk’s illness was never far from his mind or the reader’s eye. The hero’s costume even contained compartments for his pills.

Johnstone worked tirelessly to beat the disease, either through conventional medical means or more fantastic measures like transferring his consciousness into a robot. In a refreshing taste of realism for the medium, ShadowHawk did not find a miracle cure. Rather, Johnstone succumbed to the virus and died in 1995, a story covered by the mainstream media.

7. Milestone Comics Heroes: That moniker could refer to not only the characters coming from this company, but the creators that founded it. In 1993 Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Derek Dingle and Michael Davis embarked on a short but important journey in comics. Milestone Comics was a creator-owned company that had a separate publishing agreement with DC Comics. DC was acknowledging the need for a multicultural presence in the industry. Milestone published for only four years, but introduced an unprecedented level of diversity to comics.

Its stories dealt with severe issues in the African-American community. Rocket, the sidekick of Milestone hero Icon,was a single teenage mother. Icon himself was an alien with who had once been a slave. The super-powered street gang Blood Syndicate had a book that tackled homosexuality, drug addiction and the dynamic that inspires teens to join gangs.

It’s notoriously hard to kill superheroes and the Milestone hero Static was reborn in a well-received Saturday-morning cartoon on the WB Network. Ironically, the show Static Shock ran for four seasons, giving Static double the lifespan of the other Milestone characters.

Like a favorite band that its fans can’t let go of, rumors of a Milestone return are among the most persistent in the world. Whatever happens with that, Milestone’s impact was long lasting and they’ve earned their spot on this list.

6. Spawn: All the heroes on this list have cultural significance, but only one was ever a sales phenomenon rivaling anything Superman or Spider-Man was doing at the time.

Spawn creator Todd McFarlane was one of the hottest names in the business when he conceived Al Simmons, a CIA operative killed by his corrupt boss. Simmons would do anything to see his wife one more time and agreed to become a Hellspawn, a powerful soldier in Satan’s army. Spawn was the prototype for the dark, brooding anti-hero that rose to prominence in the 1990s. McFarlane’s art and the gritty story were a one-two punch to established heavyweights like Marvel and DC.

No comic with an African-American lead character had ever moved as many books as Spawn did. He starred in a feature film, had an Emmy-award winning cartoon and even appeared as a secret character in a Soul Calibur fighting game.

As times changed and comics shifted away from the anti-hero era, Spawn’s popularity waned dramatically. But with 175 issues (and counting) under his hellish belt, Spawn’s place in Black Superhero history is set for dare I say – all eternity?

Images courtesy of Image Comics, Warner Bros.

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