Cheo Hodari Coker

“It's much easier to talk about racism when you're able to use mutants as a metaphor. People would much rather talk about Charles Xavier and Magneto than they would about Martin Luther King or Malcolm X.”

“One of my favorite comic books of all-time is the graphic novel 'God Loves, Man Kills.'”

“Alfre Woodard is a powerhouse, master actor, but she's also someone that you want to interact with, someone that you want to talk to.”

“Bushmaster was such a great adversary, and Mustafa Shakir, just the way that he embodies him in terms of the power of the voice, the stillness, and then, at the same time, when they do get after it, when he does fight, just how kinetic he was. He just brought a great dynamic and being able to explore his history in making the character Jamaican.”

“It's important to for your kids to see themselves in their superheroes. Really, it's important for all of us.”

“Hip-hop is as much an attitude and perspective as it is a music form.”

“I always respected Luke Cage and thought that he was interesting, and I really liked what Brian Michael Bendis did in his update of the character in 'Alias,' the comic.”

“The thing that all police officers decide when they wake up in the morning is that they're going home.”

“Muhammed Ali is my favorite boxer, and the reason that I love Ali is because he's not undefeated. It's because of the fact that he risked it all at times and lost - but then came back.”

“I don't see female characters as different or inferior to male characters.”

“My era was '90s Carhartt-and-Timberlands hip-hop. That's my rock n' roll.”

“When I was a journalist, I didn't care how many people talked to Ice Cube before I talked Ice Cube. I just knew that when I talked to Ice Cube, it was going to be different than what anybody else had done, and it was the same with any group.”

“Black writers seldom get the opportunity to write superhero stories.”

“Most superheroes, when you look at origin stories - before they invent their costume, they just go with what's around.”

“The thing that was fascinating and frustrating about Pac was that he clearly knew better than to go down the gangster road that he went down. Pac knew - and he was right - that thug energy could be redirected into fearless positivity.”

“I just always feel that any black art should address our perpetual struggle for progress and freedom, period. There's no way around it. The thing is you can never predict what the next injustice is going to be. Unfortunately, it's part of being black and conscious in America.”

“When you scratch the soul of hip-hop, you find R&B and funk but also reggae.”

“I can't turn hip-hop off, just like I can't turn comic books off. It blends into everything for me.”

“Spike Lee is one of my biggest influences. What I love about Spike, other than he's just a fun guy to hang around, is that Spike is fearless. As much as people talk about him being politically outspoken, let's not forget that he's one of the best screenwriters, ever, in addition to being a visual master.”

“All black art is always judged to illuminate our experience and prove that our stories and our history and our lives matter. And that goes back to Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston - take your pick.”