I grew up, like many urban folks my age, reading comic books, watching monster movies (Johnny Socko and Ultraman loom large), and watching Charlie Rum's Karate Theater. The first novel I read was The Hobbit (at six). The kids in my neighborhood couldn't really pronounce "Kenyatta"... so many of them called me Hiyata (alter ego of Ultra Man) instead. Where some knee jerk Afrocentrists (there are other kinds...in fact one of the giants just passed recently) would argue that imbibing these products caused us to lose self-esteem (ain't a black face in Middle Earth unless you count the Uruk-Hai), I take the exact opposite approach. These works allowed us to imagine new worlds....and as we grew up, we began to fuse these various forms together. The Afro Samurai is going to be an interesting I think. I look forward to it.
On a related note, if you're interested in hearing what the future SOUNDS like...check this out. I'm not familiar with the DJ...but believe it or not the origin of this sound is Detroit. The future is here.
Johnny Socko!! Why did you have to bring that name up. Now I'm going to be stuck with Giant Robot nostalgia. (And that was just a tiny fingernail!)
Posted by: Cobb at January 18, 2004 06:45 PM