Shaft or Sidney Poitier

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“In comics there are two kinds of Black people: Shaft or Sidney Poitier” — Dwayne McDuffie.



A trailer for Jonathan Gayles’ documentary movie on Black masculinity in comics, which came out last year. Its site has a great selection of takes from the movie, to give you an idea of what it’s about. Lots of talking heads of course, but the subject itself is interesting enough for this to not matter. Since it seems to currently do the rounds of various film festivals, it’s not available to buy yet, but I’ll certaintly keep an eye out for it once it does come out on dvd. Especially when the teasers promise things like the influence of the P-Funk mythology might have had on superhero comics and vice versa.



(There was at least one comics writer funky enough to know about George Clinton, Bootsy and Bernie Worrell, Peter B. Gillis, who would Tuckerise them as the founders of A.I.M. in, IIRC, an issue of Supervillain Team-up.)



When I first got into that P-funk cosmic mythology a few years backs, the images that the music put to mind where all pure Kirby. If P-Funk had ever been put into comics, Kirby at his most seventies extravagant would’ve been ideal for it.

5 Comments

  • W.Kasper

    March 26, 2011 at 6:04 pm

    This looks very interesting. Though I’m still waiting for decent commentary on race/racism in undergrounds (especially Crumb who gets an easy ride of it IMHO).

    Couldn’t agree more regarding Kirby and P-Funk! Although they already had the considerable talents of Pedro Bell.

  • Martin Wisse

    March 28, 2011 at 4:07 am

    Crumb is …interesting. There are undoubtly sexist and racist elements in many of his stories, but then they are driven from the id and the result of Crumb working through his own hangups. As art it’s honest though the expressions are unpleasant.

  • W.Kasper

    March 28, 2011 at 3:33 pm

    Hmm – I’m not so sure about that. Although arguably ‘symbolic’ in early Zap etc, a lot of his 70s stuff seems openly hostile at times. Especially regarding ‘modern’ (ie. less ‘humble’ than pre-war characters) Afro-Americans. Despite the many in-depth interviews he’s given, it always seems skirted over. He elaborates on the sexism, but usually explains the racist stuff away with his ‘id’.

  • Peter B. Gillis

    April 19, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    I was a PFunker since college. Had the Bootsy poster on my wall, and I played Maggot Brain to absolute death.
    The issue of SuperVillainTeamUp wherein I made George Clinton one of the creators of the Cosmic Cube was drawn by my friend Arvell Jones, who’s African American, btw.
    I made William Bootsy Collins an Agent of SHIELD, and didn’t introduce Bernie Worrell until Captain America Annual #6.
    I have to say that, at the time, NOBODY, not a single fan, picked up on the references. A guy approached me at a convention to compliment me on my hipness in naming Bernie Worrell–but that was only because he had toured with the Talking Heads.
    *sigh*
    And RIP to Dwayne McDuffie. I knew him, Horatio.

  • Martin Wisse

    April 24, 2011 at 5:39 pm

    I have to admit I only noticed these homages only by coincidence long after I had gotten into P-funk myself. George Clinton might have been a coincidence, but when Bernie Worrell showed up I knew it had to be deliberate. Glad to know I was right…

    I only got that issue of Super-Villain Teamup because of your work on Strikeforce Morituri btw, one of the best superhero series of the eighties.