Editorial Cartoon: Colorado Memorial

Today’s editorial cartoon memorializes all those who senselessly were the victims of a crazed shooter in Colorado during a midnight screening of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises”.  Don’t know if this is too harsh an image for some but I didn’t want to sugar coat the tragedy either.  My heart goes out to all the victims’ families this week.  No more to say.

Editorial Cartoon: Obama and Romney Censor Reporters

The Cartoonist Studio Editorial Cartoon Contest continues and I made it to week SIX!  Thanks to all for voting.  Click the image above or here to go to the voting.  You should do a search of “Bearman” and my cartoon will come up front and center and then vote.  Some people were clicking the link and then accidentally voting on the first thing that popped up.  Unfortunately no way to direct link to my cartoon.  Again, as long as I stay in the contest, there will be two editorial cartoons a week to vote on – Mondays and Thursdays.   Oh and you can vote multiple times in each round if you want (resets every six hours) until EOD Saturday.

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Today’s editorial cartoon was inspired by an article in the New York Times, that said that in exchange for access to the candidates or their campaign advisors, the media/reporters must provide any on the record quotes to the campaigns to censor or redact.   So essentially if I am a reporter for the Times, in order to be able to talk on the record with either candidates advisors, I have to agree to send them the quotes I want to use in my story and allow them to agree to them, remove them completely or just remove certain words.  Any reporter that fails to do so is left out in the cold when it comes to top level meetings including those with the candidates.

WHAT??  Ridiculous.  At the point that an entity can determine the course of a story it is no longer reporting, it is PR!!!  Shame on any media outlet who agrees to abide by these rules.

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BONUS TOON:

Normally I would post this cartoon as a regularly scheduled update.  But since I am in the middle of the editorial cartoon contest, I didn’t think it would fit in.  But sharing it with you anyway given the timing of the latest Batman movie coming out “The Dark Knight Rises”  Of course I had to go there with the title – Erectile Dysfunction.

DC Comics – We Can Be Heroes

DC Entertainment (aka DC Comics) has decided to step up for aid to Africa with their We Can Be Heroes Campaign.  Essentially they are putting the Justice League Superheroes (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc.) up front to drive awareness and raise money for famine relief in the Horn of Africa.

Better still they are matching funding dollar for dollar for the first $1 million.

And while this isn’t time for my typical charity drive, I am doing a special one off this week on Google Plus.  For those on Google Plus who want to help, click here to see my post there, and then share it.  For every share of that post I get this week, I’ll donate $1 up to $500 total.

Where are my Black (Super) Heroes and/or Villians?

It’s obvious that plumb movie roles esp in the superhero or supervillian genre typically go to white men. For whatever reason Hollywood is afraid to put an African American in the lead role. (with the exception of Spawn - but that movie was weeeeeiiird).  And there seems to be a perception that if you make an African American actor the villian that it may be percieved as racist.  Yet they miss the fact that avoiding using an African American actor for that reason is just as bad.  Michael Clarke Duncan in Daredevil is the only villian I can remember.

I remember growing up having the Talking Adventure Team Commander doll (yes I am man enough to call it a doll…the word “action figure” hadn’t been discovered).   So imagine my surprise when the cartoon came out and the commander was WHITE.  WTF?

Then comes the first Batman movie.  Who played Asst DA Harvey Dent in that movie?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Billy Dee Williams.  For those not following along Harvey Dent is the guy that turns into Two Face.  So what happens.  Batman 3 comes out and Billy Dee is dissed for Tommy Lee Jones.  So he is good enough to sell Colt 45 but not play a villian.

Since the era of the blaxploitation movies, the only time there seems to be a black hero is when there is a African American producer or director (Robert Townsend (Meteor Man) or Kenan Ivory Wayans (I’m Gonna Get you Sucka))  But even those remain in the comedy genre.  And please don’t pull out Shaq in Steel.

Samuel L. Jackson seems to be the only guy who can get continuous work in the realm of hero movies. 

• Die Hard with a Vengeance
• Star Wars (even though it wasn’t anything close to a main character)
• Shaft
• Unbreakable (even though it was a crappy movie)
• SWAT
• Snakes on a Plane
• Iron Man 1 and 2

And on top of that he has signed to 9 films with Marvel to play Nick Fury in future films including upcoming Thor and Avenger Movies.

I love every SLJ movie (except Unbreakable), but can’t we find some great AA actors who haven’t already been a leading man to star in some hero movies?  Tobey Maguire and Christian Bale were tolling around in art house films and who ever heard of Brandon Routh before Superman (then again who has heard of him since).

Am I missing anything?