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Michael Davis: Confessions of An Uppity Negro, Chapter 1

From now on
These eyes will not be blinded by the lights
From now on
What’s waited till tomorrow starts tonight
Tonight
Let this promise in me start
Like an anthem in my heart
From now on
From now on 

—Except from ‘From Now On’ written by Justin Paul & Benj Pasek

I am lucky
I am a con man
I am a fraud
I am uppity 

I AM LUCKY: 

“You’re very lucky to get even that.” The late Neal Pozner said that to me while handing me a ‘fill in’ job. It was a Captain Atom 10-page story an assignment given to me as part of my pay or play agreement with DC Comics while with Milestone Media.

Part of the agreement with DC was in exchange for devoting all our time to Milestone our standard of living would not suffer. If my Milestone income wasn’t sufficient, I could petition DC for freelance creative which they could provide or not. Either way, we got paid.

The word came back from Neal that no editor liked it and as such, they would not hire me. That’s when I knew the fix was in and I would never do work for DC again.

FUN FACT: I laid out thumbnail sketches but other than that I didn’t touch that job. John Paul Leon, Bernard Chang, and Charles Drost did the actual artwork.

“Frankly Michael, the word is that you’re not a very good artist.”

Nooooooo, John Paul Leon, Bernard Chang, and Charles Drost were not very good artists, and we KNOW that is bullshit. You may not be familiar with Charles’ work (Chuck to his pals) he’s a fine artist animation producer and director, but he’s as talented as they come, and everyone knows Bernard and John Paul are two of the biggest talents working in comics today. All three were part of my Bad Boy Studios.

So, yep the fix was in.

When Neal told me, no one wanted me because I sucked as an artist I wondered why on earth did they offer me two deluxe format projects and pay me well over a hundred grand before my name went the Moses route and was stricken.

DC: Let the name of Davis be stricken from every book and tablet, stricken from all comics cartoons stricken from every monument of the industry. Let the name of Davis be unheard and unspoken, erased from the memory of men for all time.

This surprised me because Neal and I were close until one day we just were not.  I met Neal at a Gays in Comics mixer at a convention. He came over shook my hand and said, “It’s not many straight guys in comics who would attend one of these.”  NO IDEA how he knew I was straight, but we ended up talking and becoming friends. After that, we would hang out together whenever we ended up at the same event.

When Neal died, I contributed his coldness to more substantial matters that affected how he treated trivial shit. He was a good guy I liked him nevertheless he was part of the DC Machine that was fucking up my shit.

I AM A CON MAN: 

“Michael, I see you’ve conned yourself into yet another rather nice deal.”

Bob Wayne said that to me at Comic-Con International in 1994. I’d just been named President and CEO Motown Animation and Filmworks. I went over to the DC booth to say hello to Bob. He was loud enough so all those within earshot could (and what I thought his purpose) would hear.

This REALLY surprised and hurt me because Bob and I were buddies until one day like with Neal we weren’t.

I gave Neal a pass-why? I liked him and ‘pay or play’ means assignment or not DC had to pay me.

They didn’t. But that’s another story, and here we were talking about Bob Wayne.

Yeah, Neal got a pass. Bob, on the other hand, did not because I was livid. When I returned from Comic-Con, I wrote a very detailed letter to Bob’s boss explaining how unprofessional Bob was and how I was offended.

Realizing Bob may have destroyed any opportunity to work with another influential entertainment company Bob’s boss fired him. That act so impressed me I licensed the entire Gerry Anderson catalog to DC for a dollar. Polygram was a sister company, and I was given Thunderbirds, Stingray, and Captain Scarlet among other properties to develop. Yeah. Bob was out of a job, and I entered into a publishing deal with DC that has produced the most successful Black character in DC’s history.

HA! That will teach anyone to fuck with me.

Then I woke up.

The publisher of DC didn’t even respond. He and Bob most likely laughed their asses off.  OH, wait a sec, you’ll don’t know Thunderbirds, Stingray, and Captain Scarlet was among the universes I had dominion over?

I AM A FRAUD: 

At the very same convention that Bob Wayne thought he had dominion over me, I ran into Howard Chaykin. Howard was a friend who I idolized when younger.  Not just because of his fantastic work his badass take no prisoner attitude had a significant influence on me

His reaction when I told him the news of becoming President and CEO of Motown film and TV. Hell, he was a friend— what do you think he said to me?

“What? But you’re a fraud!”

Well, I thought he was a friend.

I AM UPPITY:  

“You get in people’s faces.”

“You’re loud.”

“Who do you think you are?”

SOOOOOO many people pros and fans alike have said the above to me and MUCH MUCH more.

Howard Chaykin invented getting into people’s faces. No one is louder than Todd McFarlane.

Who do they think they are?

I’m willing to bet those guys don’t get questions on their pedigree.

There are two distinct differences between Howard, Todd and me.

  1. They are way more well-known than me.
  2. Really? Do I have to say it? OK, I will, my dick is bigger, and I can dance. (watch some idiot not get the joke)

Now there are those will say they are more accomplished than me.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Depends on how you measure accomplishment.

Now would be a good time to tout my resume. Nah. Not gonna do it. I’ll just ask is there a Howard Chaykin auditorium somewhere or do they only give those to frauds?

Just askin’.

Here’s my question-what gives anyone the right to call me a fraud when they have no fucking idea what I’ve done? Or call me lucky when made aware something I’ve done?

Or say:

“You get in people’s faces.”

“You’re loud.”

“Who do you think you are?”

All that my friends are code for uppity, short for Uppity Nigger. Fraud? That’s when people have no respect for you. I can’t explain why Howard said that to me and that shit HURT. What did I say?

Not a damn thing.

I’m nobody’s bitch I’m not afraid of Howard but he may have forgotten the snowed in night at UP START STUDIOS when he spent a great of time giving me advice and showing real concern.

It was just he and I from around 9pm until well after midnight. This stands out as one of the best memories of my best memories because all the time he was talking to me he was inking AMERICAN FLAGG.

FUCKING WOW.

He may have forgotten, I haven’t.

So, no I didn’t say a word.

There’s a company that took their objection to my swagger personally. I say company because when the little bitch who started it all left the company, I thought the stupidly went with him. I just found out it didn’t.

This asshole produced a document that is so damning he thought when I signed it he had successfully killed my career. Why would I sign such a document?

Because MY lawyers who come from one of the most powerful law firms on the planet say it’s unenforceable and those who produced it were fools to do so. It shows an absolute bias against me.

Right now, the punk ass bitch who put this shit together is thinking ‘statue of limitations’ That would be a concern if I signed outside of those limitations.

What, me worried?

It’s not like I had called the character Tyrone Cash Super Nigger. Cash was a brilliant black scientist who gains the powers of the Hulk, KEEPS HIS INTELLECT, then decides to give up his job as a brilliant scientist TO BECOME A DRUG DEALER.

He solved a problem that Dr. Doom, Reed Richards, Hank Pym and every other big brain in the Marvel Universe couldn’t. That makes him the smartest person in the Marvel Universe. That means the most intelligent BLACK person in the Marvel Universe thinks being a fucking DRUG DEALER is a worthy endeavor.

This idea was created by superstar creator Mark Millar.

It’s not like I called Mr. Millar’s creation ‘Super Nigger.’ THAT would be a reason to worry.

Shit. I did call Tyrone Cash, Super Nigger. But Mark, if you’re reading this, don’t get mad. It’s not like I called you a fraud or asked who you think you are.

BTW-does one stupid character negate your other work?

No. You’re still a brilliant writer, but TC is as FUCKED UP as FUCKED UP can be.

But (HOWTHEHELLYOUDOINPETERDAVID?) I digress.

Am I worried about outing the nincompoops who think they have the right to treat me like my name was Toby?

Nah.

I’m looking forward to their explanation. Then they can also explain why they produced that document AFTER two employees SWORE I’d called their company racist. Funny thing about that those representatives of this massive entertainment corporation. They were not mistaken, they were not wrong they were not incorrect.

They were LIARS.

It was a setup. Yes, I’ve got proof and so does Ropes and Gray.

Explain THAT.

Why am I dealing with this at all when I let it go for so long?  Truth is this isn’t the first time I’ve written about these things— this time it’s different because I made a promise to my cousin Regina a few months ago.

After reading my articles for the last 25 years, she noticed I’m no longer ‘getting in people’s faces when they fuck with you.” She also noticed I’m not happy nor am I, “Being the badass take no shit from no one we all love and shake our head at.”

She said it was my duty to show young kids of color if wronged bring attention to that wrong. People always want Black men to show their papers we both agreed that was still a problem, if not you’re a fraud or lucky and if you’re confident about your ability, you’re uppity.

Regina was my biggest fan, she was family.

On the one-year anniversary of Len Wein’s death, before I could post my article marking that sad occasion my beloved cousin, Regina Keesley passed from this earth.

I made a promise to Regina that I would no longer tolerate those who question my intelligence or doubt my resume.

OR are stupid enough to FUCK WITH ME.

Ice Cube said; “I’m the wrong nigga to fuck with” and so am I.

I’m off to NYC for Regina’s service. I intend to tell her face to face I’m gonna keep my promise.

Funny, I’m going to show some folk my papers, just not the ones they expect.

I’m trying not to duplicate what I write. Bleeding Cool, ComicMix, and Pop Culture Squad have all run the same article at times. Not my intention— I want each entity to have exclusive content from me.

This article is exclusive to ComicMix.

I’m writing a series of articles called “The Ugly Side of Comics” at Bleeding Cool. I see “Confessions of An Uppity Negro” as a sister series but as original to ComicMix as “The Ugly Side of Comics” is to Bleeding Cool. I hope to start a series at Pop Culture Squad soon. Working title “Not Me.”

—Michael Davis  
LAX, 9PM, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2018 

 

REVIEW: Supergirl the Complete Third Season

There is so much to like about the CW’s Supergirl that you want it to be brilliant, entertaining, and empowering for its young female viewers. That it is such a muddled mess more often than not spoils that because you admire their intentions and scratch your head at how the execution too often misses the mark.

Out tomorrow is Supergirl the Complete Third Season on Blu-ray with a Digital HD code from Warner Home Entertainment. The four-disc set contains all 23 episodes including all four episodes of the “Crisis on Earth-X” crossover with Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow.

We start the season with Odette Annable’s Sam, newly arrived in National City with her young daughter Ruby (Emma Tremblay). They’re in the wrong place at the wrong time when an accident happens and we see Sam affected and over the course of the season’s first third, we watch her become a villain. It’s a wonderful, slow build, especially her growing sense of panic over her blackouts.

As luck has it, she has arrived to work for Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath), who is now spending more time at CatCo, micromanaging James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks), and still trying to be besties with Kara (Melissa Benoist). With Wynn (Jeremy Jordan) now at the DEO (and apparently as smart as a 12th level Coluan intellect – who knew), and Snapper Carr absent, it’s just a distraction. The James/Lena romance appears to exist just to give the actors something to do.

Without Cat Grant around, there’s less and less a need for CatCo and maybe they need a fresh break, since it splits the focus although we do get a delightful reveal for Eve Tescmacher (Andrea Brooks) late in the season.

Similarly, the super-secret DEO has become a revolving door with just about everyone wandering in and out, making one wonder about national security. John Jones (David Harewood) doesn’t seem too worried because most of this season his focus is on his father M’yrnn (Carl Lumbly) who has developed Martian Alzheimer’s, giving them some charming moments.

Increasingly, Alex (Chyler Leigh) takes charge, and gets a uniform upgrade along the way. She’s got little else to focus on since she and Maggie (Floriana Lima) break up early, over the perfectly reasonable issue over having children. It’s a natural pause in their romance and one of the best handled plot lines.

On the flip side, we get Sam becoming Reign and she has her own desert-based Fortress (which no one ever seems to notice), chided into performing destructive acts for reasons that continually shifts and never makes sense. We’re halfway through the season before we realize she’s one of a triad then we hastily add the other two and do absolutely nothing with them so viewers could care less, especially as it takes the focus over Sam’s problems.

Reign and her gal pals are such a threat that a mere three members of the Legion of Super-Heroes hurtle back in time to change the future (like that trick ever works). Leading the charge is Mon-El (Chris Wood), who is now married to Saturn Girl (Amy Jackson), who is now a telekinetic rather than a telepath, and for comic relief Brainiac 5 (Jesse Rath), with the worst makeup job on network television.

As the show came back from hiatus in January, the series suffered from the usual Greg Berlanti problem of an overstuffed cast, an overly complicated nonsensical major plot arc, and the focus diminished from the title character.

We get diversions as we cross the stars for a visit to Argo City, where her mother (Erica Durance) and others from Krypton have managed to survive (further diminishing Superman and Supergirl’s uniqueness). The Argo revelation should be its own arc or season but shoehorned here, takes away from the specialness of the event. Instead, it’s all to retrieve a Magoffin to save Earth.

Speaking of which, once Superman was introduced in season two, every time the stakes are raised, it raises the question of where is her cousin? The dialogue usually is something about him being in space rather than Kara declaring her confidence in handling the situation no matter how dire. I wish the writers did a better job handling the Big ‘S’.

The climactic episodes are so much sound and fury that you stop caring. The human elements are too lacking in favor of spectacle. Kara is either getting beaten by Reign or moping over Mon-El that’s she a lesser character this year, which is a waste of Benoist’s skills.

In addition to the episodes and crossover, we have a 41-minute Inside the Crossover: Crisis on Earth-X and The Best of DC TV’s Comic-Con Panels San Diego 2017 (both appearing on other series sets). As a result, the only unique to Supergirl features are a brief one exploring Annable’s arc, an assortment of deleted scenes, and the gag reel. The high def transfer is just fine for audio and visual.

Book-A-Day 2018 #256: Cerebus by Dave Sim

I haven’t read Dave Sim’s Cerebus in years. At least ten, probably more like twenty. I fell off the horse sometime before the big ending — Cerebus famously was a self-published series whose creator declared he would do three hundred issues, monthly, and by gum he did it — during what I think of as the Sour Years.

(As far as I can tell, Cerebus ended as planned in 2004, but the Sour Years did not. There’s a lesson for all of us, as we get older.)

Before that, though, Cerebus was one of my favorite comics. More importantly, it was an exemplar of what comics could do, one of the first comics I picked up at Iron Vic Comics in Poughkeepsie sometime in the fall of 1986, when Young Andy went to see what these “new comics for adults” were all about.

I must have come in with a list of some kind, at least a mental one — I almost always have lists — because I know I didn’t ask for anyone’s advice. Or maybe I just grabbed what looked the most different on the racks. It was 1986; there was a lot of different available, especially in a comics shop near a college.

In any case, I know I got Flaming Carrot and Nexus that first trip. Maybe Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen, but I don’t think so: I think it was all indies, that first time out.

Other comics had different things going for them: Flaming Carrot was the most bizarre, with a beating heart of pure dada. Nexus was smart SF of a kind I didn’t yet realize was vanishingly rare in comics. But Cerebus was easily the most impressive. Sim was a great artist, a masterful letterer — the least-appreciated of the comics arts — and a master of fizzy, funny dialogue. He also clearly had a master plan and knew how to pace a story. (Even then, I was looking for storytellers who knew how to do endings. Sim has his flaws — they are huge and un-ignorable — but he always knew how to close a story.)

Sim eventually fell into the Autodidact’s Curse: swallowed whole by his own self-inflicted cranky explanation of everything in the universe, which of course also took over Cerebus, because that’s what happens with autodidacts who live and work alone: their work is the way to reach the world, so it fills up with everything in their heads. And what was in Sim’s head, starting in the mid-90s, got pretty vile.

But I’m not in the mid-90s today. Cerebus , the book, is the first of sixteen big fat “phone books” — Sim pioneered the complete book-format reprint series, the way he pioneered self-publishing, by just doing it damn well and inspiring others to follow. It starts with the very first issue, from the end of 1977, and collects that along with the next twenty-four issues, up to just before the beginning of his first really long story, High Society, in the spring of 1981.

The Cerebus book has four years and about 550 pages of comics, starting with a cartoon aardvark (the title character) in a fantasy story that sits uneasily somewhere between parody and homage of the Roy Thomas/Barry (Windsor-) Smith Conan but rapidly turns into its own distinctive blend of comics-industry parody, comics versions of various old comedians (and some others), sword-swinging realpolitik, every cultural influence that hit Sim in nearly real-time, convoluted scheming among various strains of serious and silly fanatics, and just plain gleeful joy in overcomplication.

At the center of it all is Cerebus: an aardvark in a world of men (this will be explained, sort of, much later, and not necessarily in a way anyone will be satisfied with), and a person who relentlessly hides his depths, and any trace of nuance, in pursuit of being the bluntest of blunt objects. Cerebus primarily is a force of need and demand — mostly, in these early stories, trying to get as large a pile of gold coins as he possibly can, and generally losing what he has in his greed for more. He’ll come to want bigger things later, but that essential nature remains: he’s smart, but not thoughtful, and insightful about the weaknesses and exploitable flaws of others, but never introspective for a second. Those traits lead him to fail, over and over, in interesting and frequently funny ways.

As I said above, the story will all go sour, in various ways, later on, as Sim’s hobby-horses and the bludgeon of Cerebus’s personality combine badly into histrionic misogynistic stories and endlessly tedious text features. But that’s a long way in the future from these stories. These stories see Sim expanding from single-issue stories to first two and then three-issue plots, and threading background details into launching points for the next ideas. By the end of this book, Cerebus has changed from a comic about a cartoon aardvark who has a somewhat humorous fantasy adventure each issue into a comic about a big, quirky world, full of conflict and modernizing in a vaguely late-medieval way, across which travels a deeply flawed but very interesting grey-skinned fellow.

This is the rising curve of Cerebus: Sim got noticeably better with every issue, and was doing entertaining and intriguing fantasy adventure from the first page. He got very funny very quickly; his drawing improved immensely from what was already a nice Windsor-Smith follower; and his plots and dialogue filled with amusing and fascinating complications as he built out that complex world.

There are hints of the later attitudes towards women here — women do not come off well in any era of Cerebus, except maybe the Jaka storyline. There are two major female characters in this book: Jaka, a dancer that Cerebus falls in love with when drugged and abandons immediately afterward, and the Red Sonja parody Red Sophia. Jaka does eventually get more emotional depth than the standard beautiful, loving, loyal girlfriend role she gets here, but that’s still far in the future. And Red Sophia is very funny, but no deeper than any of the other parodies, like the Cockroach or Elrod of Melvinbone.

(Though I have to say that I was reminded again, reading this, just how amazingly funny Elrod is. It’s a bizarre combination that shouldn’t work for any logical reason — an incompetent, self-important version of Moorcock’s Elric who speaks in the tones of Foghorn Leghorn — but it kills, and every time Elrod appears again it’s a high point of the book.)

I don’t think any of this is “you had to be there.” It definitely will work better if you are of the male persuasion, and doubly so if you don’t know where it all ends up. But there’s well over two thousand pages of really good Cerebus comics, and they start here. You can always jump off the ride before it crashes. You’ll have plenty of time and warning. Comics has few enough geniuses: we can’t afford to ignore the crazy ones.

Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

Ash vs Evil Dead: The Complete Collection hits Home October 16

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Experience all three chainsaw-wielding seasons of the hilarious, critically acclaimed, most-watched comedy on Starz when the Ash vs Evil Dead: The Complete Collection arrives on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD October 16 from Lionsgate. Legendary horror icon Bruce Campbell stars in this series that follows up Sam Raimi’s cult-classic horror film The Evil Dead. The Ash vs Evil Dead: The Complete Collection 6-disc Blu-ray and DVD includes hours of bonus content and will be available for the suggested retail price of $49.99 and $49.98, respectively.

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS

Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), the chainsaw-wielding, wisecracking antihero of the legendary The Evil Dead films, is back for more gore-filled adventure in this complete 30-episode collection of the Ash vs Evil Dead TV series. Follow Ash’s journey as he returns home to Elk Grove, Michigan, meets his long-lost daughter, and unites with former enemy Ruby (Lucy Lawless) and fellow demon fighters Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) for a final blood-splattering stand to save the world!

SEASON 1 BLU-RAY / DVD / DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES

  • “Inside the World of Ash” Featurette
  • “How to Kill a Deadite” Featurette
  • “Best of Ash” Featurette
  • Audio Commentaries

SEASON 2 BLU-RAY / DVD / DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES

  • “Season 2 First Look” Featurette
  • “Inside the World of Ash vs Evil Dead” Featurette
  • “Up Your Ash” Featurette
  • “Women Who Kick Ash” Featurette
  • “Puppets Are Cute” Featurette
  • “Dawn of the Spawn” Featurette
  • “Bringing Henrietta Back” Featurette
  • “The Delta” Featurette
  • “How to Kill a Deadite” Featurette
  • “Fatality Mash-Up” Featurette
  • Audio Commentaries

SEASON 3 BLU-RAY / DVD / DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES

  • “Season Overview” Featurette
  • “Inside the World of Ash vs Evil Dead” Featurette
  • Audio Commentaries

CAST

Bruce Campbell                     The Evil Dead franchise

Lucy Lawless                         TV’s “Xena: Warrior Princess,” “Spartacus: War of the Damned”

Ray Santiago                         Meet the Fockers

Dana DeLorenzo                   A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas

and Arielle Carver-O’Neill       TV’s “Worst Year of My Life, Again!” and “Suburbs”

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Year of Production: 2015-2018
Title Copyright: Ash vs Evil Dead © 2015, 2016, 2018 Starz Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Artwork & Supplementary Materials © 2018 Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Type: TV-on-DVD
Rating: TV-MA
Genre: Horror, Comedy, Action
Closed-Captioned: N/A
Subtitles: Spanish, French*, English SDH
Feature Run Time: 14 Hrs., 20 Mins.
Blu-ray Format: 1080p High Definition 16×9 (1.78:1) Presentation
DVD Format: 16×9 (1.78:1) Presentation
Blu-ray Audio: English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Surround, French 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio*
DVD Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Surround, French 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio*
*Seasons Two and Three Only.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power Debuts Friday

The savior of Etheria is here as DreamWorks She-Ra and The Princesses of Power brings to life a story of magic, friendship, loyalty, and an epic battle for peace. Inspired by the popular ‘80s series, DreamWorks She-Ra and the Princesses of Power tells the story of an orphan named Adora, who leaves behind her former life in the evil Horde when she discovers a magic sword that transforms her into the mythical warrior princess, She-Ra. Set in a world where women are unabashedly at the forefront, the series brings forth indomitable female characters each with their unique abilities and flaws to empower and entertain audiences everywhere. To celebrate the upcoming series, we have included both the new teaser trailer and press kit link below.

Eisner Award-winning author and executive producer Noelle Stevenson (Lumberjanes, Nimona) and executive producer Chuck Austen (Dawn of the Croods, Steven Universe) present a modern take on the ‘80s girl power icon by giving a generation of young fans a warrior princess that is tailor-made for today. The series will debut Friday, 11/16/18 exclusively on Netflix!

Created by an amazing production team, this Netflix original series features a talented voice cast, starring Aimee Carrero (Elena of Avalor) as Adora/She-Ra, Karen Fukuhara (Suicide Squad) as Glimmer, AJ Michalka (The Goldbergs) as Catra, Marcus Scribner (Black-ish) as Bow, Reshma Shetty (Royal Pains) as Queen Angella, Lorraine Toussaint (Orange is the New Black) as Shadow Weaver, Keston John (The Good Place) as Hordak, Lauren Ash (Superstore) as Scorpia, Christine Woods (Hello Ladies) as Entrapta, Genesis Rodriguez (Time After Time) as Perfuma, Jordan Fisher (Hamilton: An American Musical) as Seahawk, Vella Lovell (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) as Mermista, Merit Leighton (Katie and Alexa) as Frosta, Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) as Castaspella, and Krystal Joy Brown (Motown: The Musical) as Netossa.

Buzzworthy Sorry to Bother You Comes Home October 23

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment presents SORRY TO BOTHER YOU, arriving on Digital and Movies Anywhere October 9 and on Blu-ray and DVD October 23.

Expect the unexpected in hip-hop artist Boots Riley’s directorial and screenwriting debut, Sorry to Bother You – an outrageously surreal look at capitalism, corporate greed, and fractured workplace dynamics. In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, California, struggling telemarketer Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) discovers a magical key to professional success, which propels him into a macabre universe.

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU Blu-ray and DVD Bonus Features Include:

  • Beautiful Clutter with Director Boots Riley
  • Commentary with Director Boots Riley
  • Gallery
  • The Cast of Sorry to Bother You
  • The Art of the White Voice

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU Blu-ray and DVD Specifications:
Street Date:                  October 23, 2018
Screen Format:            Widescreen 2.40:1
Audio:                           Blu-ray: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1
DVD: English Dolby Digital 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1
Subtitles:                      Blu-ray: English SDH, Spanish
DVD: English SDH, Spanish
Total Run Time:           100 Minutes
U.S. Rating:                  R (Restricted)
Closed Captioned:Yes

The Spy who Dumped Me Sneaks onto Home Video October 30

SANTA MONICA, CA (September 10, 2018) – Two of today’s biggest female comedians join forces to thwart a high-stakes undercover operation when The Spy Who Dumped Me arrives on Digital October 16 and on 4K Ultra HD™ Combo Pack (plus Blu-ray and Digital), Blu-ray™ Combo Pack (plus DVD and Digital), DVD, and On Demand October 30 from Lionsgate. Directed by Susanna Fogel, acclaimed creator of TV’s Chasing Life, and written by Fogel & David Iserson, The Spy Who Dumped Me is a hilarious, action-packed ride that also features the work of Gary Powell, the stunt coordinator behind Jason Bourne, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and Mission: Impossible. Golden Globe® nominee Mila Kunis (Best Supporting Actress, Black Swan, 2011) and Emmy® Award winner Kate McKinnon (Best Supporting Actress, Saturday Night Live, 2016 and 2017) “show the boys a thing or two about pals-in-peril laughs and thrills” (Robert Abele, The Wrap) in this buddy spy comedy romp. Also starring in the film are Justin Theroux (The Girl on the Train, The Leftovers), Hasan Minhaj (The Daily Show), and Sam Heughan (Outlander).

Audrey (Mila Kunis) and Morgan (Kate McKinnon), two thirty-year-old best friends in Los Angeles, are thrust unexpectedly into an international conspiracy when Audrey’s ex-boyfriend shows up at their apartment with a team of deadly assassins on his trail. Surprising even themselves, the duo jump into action, on the run throughout Europe from assassins and a suspicious-but-charming British agent, as they hatch a plan to save the world.

The Spy Who Dumped Me home entertainment release includes never-before-seen deleted scenes, outtakes, and four featurettes giving insight into the making of this huge action comedy. Experience four times the resolution of full HD with the 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, which includes Dolby Vision HDR™, bringing entertainment to life through ultra-vivid picture quality. When compared to a standard picture, Dolby Vision can deliver spectacular colors never before seen on a screen, highlights that are up to 40 times brighter, and blacks that are 10 times darker. The release also feature Dolby Atmos® audio mixed specifically for the home, to place and move audio anywhere in the room, including overhead. The Spy Who Dumped Me will be available on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and DVD for the suggested retail price of $42.99, $39.99, and $29.95, respectively.

4K ULTRA HD/BLU-RAY/DVD/DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES

  • “Covert Operations: The Making of The Spy Who Dumped Me” Featurette
  • “Gary Powell: The King of Action” Featurette
  • “Makin’ Friends with Hasan Minhaj” Featurette
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Outtakes
  • “Off Script” Featurette

PROGRAM INFORMATION

Year of Production:  2017
Title Copyright: The Spy Who Dumped Me, Artwork & Supplementary Materials © 2018 Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Type: Theatrical Release
Rating: R for violence, language throughout, some crude sexual material and graphic nudity.
Genre: Comedy, Action
Closed-Captioned: NA
Subtitles: Spanish, English SDH
Feature Run Time: 116 Minutes
4K Ultra HD™ Format: Dolby Vision, 2160p Ultra High Definition 16×9 2.40:1 Presentation
BD Format: 1080P High Definition 16×9 2.40:1 Presentation
DVD Format: 16×9 2.40:1 Presentation
4K Audio Status: English Dolby Atmos, English Descriptive Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Audio™, French 5.1 Dolby Audio
BD Audio Status: English Dolby Atmos, English Descriptive Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Audio
DVD Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Audio, English Descriptive Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Audio

Teen Titans GO! to the Movies Arrives in Homes October 30

Burbank, CA, September 11 – When the Teen Titans go to the big screen, they go big! Teen Titans GO! to the Movies finds our egocentric, wildly satirical superheroes in their first feature film extravaganza—a fresh, gleefully clever, kid-appropriately crass and tongue-in-cheek play on the superhero genre, complete with musical numbers. Get ready to LOL when Teen Titans GO! to the Movies arrives on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital.

The first-ever big-screen version of DC Entertainment and Cartoon Network’s animated TV show stars Greg Cipes (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) as Beast Boy, Scott Menville (Spider-Man) as Robin, Khary Payton (The Walking Dead) as Cyborg, Tara Strong (the My Little Pony franchise) as Raven, and Hynden Walch (Adventure Time with Finn & Jake) as Starfire, reprising their roles from the series. Will Arnett (The LEGO® Batman Movie) and Kristen Bell (Frozen) also lend their voices as the evil Slade and Hollywood director Jade Wilson.

Peter Rida Michail and Aaron Horvath directed the film from a screenplay by Michael Jelenic and Horvath, which is based on characters from DC. Horvath, Jelenic, Peggy Regan, Michail and Arnett produced the film with Sam Register serving as executive producer. The music is by Jared Faber. Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Teen Titans GO! to the Movies will be available on Blu-ray Combo Pack for $35.99 and DVD for $28.98. The Blu-ray Combo Pack features a Blu-ray disc with the film and special features in high definition, a DVD with the film in standard definition and a Digital version of the movie. Blu-ray special features are filled with music and fun, including the DC Super Hero Girls: The Late Batsby mini-movie, sing-a-longs, a hilarious look at the Teen Titans characters dubbing their favorite lines in other languages in Teen Titans GO!: Translated plus much more!

Teen Titans GO! to the Movies will also be available on Movies Anywhere. Using the free Movies Anywhere app and website, consumers can access all their eligible movies by connecting their Movies Anywhere account with their participating digital retailer accounts.

Fans can also own Teen Titans GO! to the Movies via purchase from digital retailers beginning October 9.

SYNOPSIS

It seems like all the superheroes are getting their own movies – everyone but the Teen Titans, that is! Determined to be a star, Robin vows to change this. If only they could get Hollywood director Jade Wilson (Kristen Bell) to notice them! With a few madcap ideas and musical numbers (of course), the Teen Titans head to Tinsel Town. But when Supervillain Slade (Will Arnett) messes with their plans, the Teen Titans will have to become true superheroes to save the world!

BLU-RAY AND DVD SPECIAL FEATURES

Teen Titans GO! to the Movies Blu-ray Combo Pack contains the following special features:

  • Lil Yachty Music Video: “Teen Titans GO! Rap”
  • Sing-a-long with Silkie “DC Super Hero Girls: The Late Batsby” Mini-Movie
  • Red Carpet Mayhem
  • Teen Titans GO! To the Movies: WB Lot Shenanigans
  • “Everything is Fake”: Exclusive song not in the movie
  • “Teen Titans GO!: Translated”
  • Storyboard Animatics:
    • Storyboard Animatics: Time Cycles
    • The Final Battle

Teen Titans GO! to the Movies Standard Definition DVD contains the following special features:

  • Storyboard Animatics: Time Cycles
  • The Final Battle

BASICS
Blu-ray Combo Pack $35.99
DVD $28.98
Blu-ray and DVD Street Date: October 30
DVD Languages: English, Latin Spanish, Canadian French
BD Languages: English, Latin Spanish, Canadian French, Brazilian Portuguese
DVD Subtitles: English SDH, Latin Spanish, French
BD Subtitles: English, Latin Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese
Running Time: 84 minutes
Rating: Rated PG for action and rude humor
DVD: DLBY/SURR   DLBY/DGTL [CC]
Blu-ray: DTS HD-MA

Fox Combines X-Men Trilogy for 4K Release

LOS ANGELES, CA (September 10, 2018) – Coming this Fall, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is releasing a fan favorite in 4K Ultra HD™. Grab the enhanced X-Men Trilogy on September 25th.

X-Men Trilogy – September 25th
Relive the original X-Men excitement with the first three films starring Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry. Follow the group of mutant outcasts as they learn to control their powers in the first X-MEN. Then, watch as the X-Men join forces with their enemies to save all mutants in X2: X-MEN UNITED. Finish the trilogy with X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, as the discovery of a “cure” for the mutation starts a war.

  • Special Features: Audio Commentaries, Behind-the-Scenes Footage, Deleted/Extended Scenes, The Mutant Watch, Animatics, Character and Production Design Stills

Book-A-Day 2018 #254: Jack Staff, Vols. 3 & 4 by Paul Grist

It can be annoying to catch up on something you’re enjoying. Doubly so if “caught up” means “read up to the stuff published in 2009, which just sort of stops.”

But I just caught up with Paul Grist’s quirky British superhero comic Jack Staff, with the back half of the collections — the third book was Echoes of Tomorrow  and the fourth one was Rocky Realities . They’re both roughly a decade old at this point, and I don’t think there’s been any new Jack Staff material since then.

(See my posts on the first two volumes — Everything Used To Be Black and White  and Soldiers  — for more background and details. In general, since those posts are from earlier this year, I won’t talk about anything I mentioned then, like the tropism to have a splash panel and logo every time the focus shifts to another major character. [1])

Creator Paul Grist is still having massive amounts of fun with the various things he can do with a superhero universe in these stories from 2004-09, bouncing from plotline to plotline and character to character with glee and verve, throwing ideas up on one page to catch them ten pages later. It’s a whole mini-superhero universe, contained in one comic and centered on one minor British city, with multiple heroes (each with their own complicated histories) and villains and others, plus vampires and vampire hunters and plain cops and spooky cops just to keep it all interesting.

The last plotline even introduces a time cop, in the person of spacesuit-wearing chimp Rocky Reality. [2] And I have to imagine that Jack Staff‘s world would continue to grow and proliferate for as long as Grist wanted to keep it up.

Actually, I can’t prove he didn’t stop Jack Staff out of ennui or boredom. I can say that it doesn’t feel that way: the series doesn’t really have any sort of ending. The particular villain in the last issue (#20) is captured, but, as usual, the last few pages see Grist throw some more balls up in the air…and he hasn’t had a chance to catch them since then.

With that caveat in place, I’ll still recommend Jack Staff. It’s goofy and more-or-less serious and full of smart dialogue and quirky situations and energetic art. I usually hate superhero stuff, and I think this is a hoot, and wish there were five or six more volumes full of the stories Grist would have made over the past decade in a better universe.

[1] Saying that I won’t mention something and then mentioning it reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

“Everything in science fiction should be mentioned twice — with the possible exception of science fiction.” — Samuel Delaney

The only problem is, I haven’t been able to source that quote. I have a vague memory of reading it in a book about SF: I used to think it was in Tom Disch’s The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of, but I poked through that extensively and didn’t find it.

So it is entirely possible one of my favorite quotes is either horribly mangled or entirely false. I’m OK with that.

[2] He, too, gets a logo and a jingle: “If normality is out of whack, Rocky Reality whacks it back!”

You can almost hear Grist chortling as he draws these pages: that’s how much he’s having.

Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

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