Jason Johnson

“What makes heroes special isn't the tech suits, magic formulas, radioactive spiders and enchanted capes, it's what's on the inside.”

“If the 2020 election comes down to the courts, Joe Biden is going to lose. Full stop. As I pointed out before, Trump has stuffed the courts with a bunch of Ayn Rand loving, William Barr wannabees who simply want to keep him in power.”

“Need a Black face to criticize other Black colleagues, Black Lives Matter, heck even protests against Trump's Muslim ban and parrot the inherently racist 'stick to sports' mantra? Sage Steele is ready and willing.”

“At their best, Marvel superhero movies have pathos, ideological battles and high-emotional stakes.”

“Consumers have always found ways to copy art, from dubbing cassette tapes and VHS to recording a special remix off the radio in the 1990s.”

“Rich people, even rich Black people, can always find a way to game a legal system that was never intended to work in favor of the poor or dispossessed anyway.”

“Steve Rogers was a hero before he took the Super Soldier formula because he cared about protecting the little guy.”

“The progressive model of success, finding a local activist or politician, training and funding them to run against an out-of-touch or do-nothing incumbent is a good model.”

“There are not enough Black people in America that we can just throw out our problematic brothers.”

“Why does it matter if the NBA has White Superstars? It shouldn't, but like everything else in America the White man's ice water is colder, and the almost exclusively White NBA team owners, and majority-White male-dominated sports commentariat, believes that the league's Blackness is a turnoff to White fans and their money.”

“In a time of racial unrest for white America, images of interracial relationships are a proxy for racial progress as long as the race and gender dynamics don't disrupt whiteness.”

“Yes, trash like 'Man of Steel' and 'Justice League' don't hold a candle to the humor, continuity and action of most Marvel Cinematic Universe films, but 'Wonder Woman 1984,' for all of its flaws, shouldn't be lumped in with those rubbish films.”

“Batman puts rich people in handcuffs, he puts poor people in the hospital, but we're supposed to consider him the hero.”

“To me the scariest movie I saw growing up wasn't 'Nightmare on Elm Street' or 'Friday the 13th,' it was 'Gremlins.' Something about fluffy big-eared Ewoks turning into scaly green monsters if you gave them a midnight snack scared the heck out of me.”

“I care about Ice Cube's opinions on the state of Black America in the same way I care about Kyrie Irving's views on geography or Isaiah Washington's opinions on LGBTQ issues. Which is not much at all.”

“Bitter Root' is like a combination of 'Ghost Busters' and 'Blade,' with the steampunk energy of 'Attack on Titan' and the family drama of 'Lovecraft Country.'”

“The Establishment is no longer old white men in a smoke-filled room playing kingmaker. Not in an era of social media, wild-wild west campaign fundraising, and national organizers who can descend on a district like political flash-mobs after one tweet.”

“I will admit upfront that I have an inherent bias about 'Fuge State.' It's the story of a Black academic on his way to being a public intellectual on CNN and his artsy journalist wife who live in Atlanta, Georgia. It's essentially a 'Sliding Doors' version of my life, except I'd have a mortgage and be more afraid of COVID.”

“Bitter Root' has all of the classic characters to get you invested in fantasy films.”

“Without question, 'The Underground Railroad' is beautifully filmed, and for the most part well acted. The show also manages to do something that I never thought possible. 'The Underground Railroad,' somehow, despite the brutality, terror and suspense, manages to make the whole institution of slavery boring.”