Black Manta

Black Manta

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Vixen

Mari McCabe, Vixen. When I see her, I see love story. From beginning to end everything about this character says romance, passion, drama, an adventure. Don't get me wrong, McCabe is no push over damsel in distress. She has skills and power on levels that can make guys have to step back. So what am I saying? I'm saying her design, how she's been depicted, her alter ego or job when she's out of uniform; everything about Vixen even the 80's fierce versions says fantasy love for us men and strong independent woman that needs  a strong man to the women that believe in the power of two. I was over at SoDae's sketchbox and it sparked the muse, and maybe the romantic flicker that's still left inside the ol'Boi.



I don't know who did this photo or who the model is but let me be the first to say....Girl you did this one! Absolutely beautiful. And conveys exactly who Vixen is. Exotic beauty all the power of the animal kingdom and the delicate vulnerability of nature. So who should play Vixen in a live action movie?



Fellas......

Who do you Love?
 
 
I'm ol'School Squad so these two together, whether they be together or not is what I want to see. True believers I think at heart I'm one of those heroic romantic at heart type of guys that always wanted to take the Last of the Mohicans approach to the right woman (Daniel Day Lewis).
 
Is that a character flaw? Anyway 



Comics have done a good job exploring love and adventure. Hawkeye and Mockingbird, Storm and the Black Panther, Vision and the Scarlett Witch.---well marvel has. DC does have Superman and Lois Lane. Justice League Unlimited had John Stewart and Hawkgirl the best love and love triangle story I've ever seen. And the product was War Hawk. How big is that!? but that's another post altogether. Bronze Tiger and Vixen could have been comic and animation greatness, especially if we saw Vixen help this to proud to ask for help spy guy discover and work thru his mystic connection to the elemental forces of WuShu.



For me, it was to cool to see your woman ride or die for you
and even cooler you riding for her.

 
 
I wanted to see more Vixen and Bronze Tigers friendship and love affair, to see him defend her with his life even though they can never be together. Return of the lion should have featured BT. Whisper A'Daire an LOA affiliate cameoed and that was the connection they could have made with the Tiger watching and stopping LOA major moves, letting Mari's safety be the most important motivation.
 
Now let's get to it, the casting of DC's super spy.
Who could play BT in a live action?
 
 



These are the three guys that come to mind. Maybe Marrese Crump or Boris Kodjoe?
 
 
Vixen: first appearance Action Comics #521
Created by Gerry Conway (writer) & Bob Oksner (artist)
Group Affiliation: Justice League America
Checkmate, Birds of Prey, Ultramarine Corps
Suicide Squad
 
 
 
 
 

23 comments:

  1. This post was quite helpful, nice compilation of stuff. And the first picture really does look like a real life Vixen, even without me knowing the character very well.

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    1. Comaine, your first visit to the Tiger Cage. Welcome, the Tiger is my guy so I can't wait to see some new artwork.

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  2. Funny how just as I commented on seeing anything from you in awhile, then you post this awesome thing:)

    Great post as always, and love the way you designed the layout with the pics and everything. That's why only you can do the thing you do my man!

    If I can be unbiased for a second, I would highly recommend this post and your blog in general for all of the info you present about these characters. The love and appreciation you have shows here, so I wish someone @ DC or Marvel would check you out and see how true fans show their appreciation.

    I know you said you wanted a blog or site out there that would showcase BT and similar characters in an intelligent way like this, and I'm glad you're the one to do it. Someone has to remind the big companies not to treat their "toys" so disrespectfully, so again, glad you're doing that.

    Keep it up 'Mega Man.

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    1. Dale, I appreciate the sentiments my dude. You call me out alot. Meaning you sort of see your man OA1. The real comic book reading, character driven guy I am. I do luv this thing called comics. The supernatual creativity is....man. And believe, art does imitate life on a grand level.

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  3. posting looks great at a glance just haven't had a chance to really sit down and read it in detail. will check back later.

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  4. I was doing fan casting posts on my blogs a while back, and stalled out on the Vixen at Justice League Detroit. I never even considered Rosario Dawson, who doesn't click for me as Mari. My short list came to Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Rose Rollins, Angell Conwell, Yaya DaCosta, and Tika Sumpter. Mostly though, I was waiting for Battleship to come out to see if Rhianna could act, then never got around to watching it.

    Bronze Tiger was a much easier cast: Michael Jai White. A handsome built actor who knows martial arts and can be fierce or contemplative as needed. Elba's too old looking, and Ejiofor too polished.

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    1. Rhianna??? No I don't think she would be a good Vixen. I'm coming over to your spot to see these other women but my girl Rosario has acting chops. She's no pretender. To be Vixen a good one, she has to be adorable and feminine then fierce and in command of a fighting situation. That's just for starters. Rosario is not just a pretty face (she is hella pretty) she's an actress.

      Some of the same criteria has to apply for the Tiger. Michael Jai is a better choice for Black Manta, he's a rougged mans man that has the skills to kick your ass.

      For a WuShu super spy , emphasis on WuShu. The moves have to be competition smooth and believeable. the Bronze Tiger is super calm and inviting one minute, then cold and chilling the next. Not many actors I know can pull off a Joe Pesci and have you saying "what the Hell just happened". Tom Cruise does this so very well (collateral).

      Maybe we should call Tom for this job? Hmmm, he does play a good assassin and spy and he kicks alot of asses on screen. With a little make up and..........no he doesn't have the bird bones to make the right kicks. For real though if a live action was done, It should be thought out extesively. Because truthfully Wesley Snipes is the only actor that can pull this off without sacrificing one for the other

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  5. No prob man, same here. Hey, that's why guys like us need to stick together and watch each other's back right?;)

    And yes, I'll second, third, and forth the recommendation of Michael Jai White to be cast as BT. Frank's right in the way he weeded out the others with really good points. White's a no-brainer, just as to me, Dawson's a no-brainer as vixen. She's tough, but vulnerable, beautiful, but not just a pretty face who can act; she plays a very convincing no-nonsense touch cookie as Sin City and Clerk 2 to an extent show.

    So now that that's done, who would be the main bad guys?

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    1. My mediating partner. I dont know, who do think? Probably Onslaught (the Jihad) or the Red Shadows. I wouldn't mind them fighting against Checkmate. Corrupt politcs vs the Squad. The ultimate showdown would be against the Justice League.

      Of course Onslaught mirror the crew better and fighting the JLA would be to much like right.

      Rustam
      Manticore
      Raven
      Chimera
      Javelin
      Djinn

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  6. Sounds good. You know more about BT's foes than I do, but any movie w/o the league of assassins isn't much of an option. Ra's should show up too, and maybe a cameo from Batman. Definitely have The Wall and maybe a member of the Squad there. Oh, a don't forget Richard Dragon too.

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    1. The LOA is what I really wanted to say, I just wouldn't. Good looking out :)

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  7. well done on this posting i'm totally with you on how well written the complicated relationship between Ben and Mari was. i think most of us could relate to it in some way or another. i was looking at previews of Suicide Squad #14 with some mild interest. it just doesn't measure up when i think about the stuff i loved from the old DCU. looks like their trying to boost sales by trying to appeal to Batman and Joker fan boys. the book is starting to move away again from feeling like the SS. new comics just don't do it for me any more.

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    1. I'm trying hard to stay current but it's a serious challenge. Like you said, the new SS is a Batman spin off right now.

      It's like the characters of the Squad aren't good enough for Mr.Glass to write about or to take center stage.

      I must admit, the last cover to Suicide Squad was a damn good one and the story was good. Was it the Joker or was it his writing?

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    2. the art work on the SS reboot has never been a problem for me so i'm always happy to acknowledge a great cover or interior art. as you know i just don't like the writing and most of what they've done with the characters too. not to mention more then a year into the reboot and still no BT! WTF!? i fucken hate the reboot and it's clear the current SS is not for old school fans like us. much like how the Star Wars prequels were made to pander to kids who were more interested in current pop culture gimmicks and special effects then anything else.

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    3. Now Disney has the reigns it's no telling what we're gonna get.

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  8. I think Rosario Dawson is one of the most beautiful women on Earth, inside and out. I'd cheer if she were to be cast as an atypical Wonder Woman. My problem with her as Vixen is that she's too nice to bring the needed edge, and her features are rather Puerto Rican on what I feel needs to be a capital-B Black heroine. I like that Rhianna brings a distinct accent, supermodel looks, and can shift from friendly to fierce. I just don't know if she can act without embarrassing herself like most dilettante singers.

    Wouldn't a Bronze Tiger & The Vixen team-up book be sweet? There are so many places to go with the dynamics of their relationship, even if it were non-romantic. Ben could hew to self-discipline to sooth his savage breast, while Mari actively sought out the raw power of The Red with Ben tethering her humanity...?

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    1. Now that's a story. The red could be the title and the thing that Mari and Ben revolve around. Man the morphogenic field has sooo many possibilities.

      Again your on point with the capital-B. That's how I overwhelmingly felt about Zoe Saldana playing Uhura. It was criminal.

      The first Bronze Tiger or BT, Vixen team up book or movie come out. I'm buying and passing them guys out to folks I don't even know. Ask how many kids at the barbershop got a Bronze Tiger figure for free.

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  9. speaking of Vixen and Bronze Tiger check out what i posted yesterday on the Suicide Squad blog. be sure to read ALL the contents of the posting.

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  10. For real? That's super cool of you if are passing out free BT figures:)

    Like I was telling Shlomo yesterday, a writer like Greg Rucka, Brubaker, Charlie Huston, or even the guy writing The Shadow over @ Dynamite comics Victor Gischler would all be much better choices to write the book. I think it's not so much that Glass doesn't like the old characters, so much that he wants to put his own stamp and spin on the title, so I respect that since it's damn clear he can't write like Ostrander. It's the fact that he really can't write that well at all, at least not this title. It also doesn't help that editorial is probably forcing him to shoe-horn in this "Death of the Family" into the book, which Harley aside, has nothing at all to do with the group or story about the group at all, merely a sales-drive ploy to help boast sales, which god knows, that book probably needs desperately right now.

    So maybe, if I were to give Glass the benefit of a doubt, he may have wanted to bring in BT, if his story keeps getting interrupted by editorial, then I guess that does explain the delay. Maybe.

    In the end the thing to remember here, is that outside of Harley being involved, this title isn't very high on the priority list, as far as staying true to the spirit of the original; they're not pandering to older fans, because DC clearly doesn't care or worry about losing those older fans in lieu of gaining new ones. And until that changes, expect more of the same until it's cancelled, which is where I think it's heading until a new writer takes over, and is actually give the time and space(and left the fuck alone) to write the book they way they want to.

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    1. I would say.......YES! you are so right my friend. And it's hard to analyze and see why the new SS doesn't focus on the Team and Team mission?

      As far as the Bronze Tiger is concerned. It's going to take a writer that not only understands who Ben Turner is as a character (mild mannered reporter, billionaire playboy) but someone intrested in the character itself. That's why we don't see BT.

      I'm about to jump out there in the water for a second. Ostrander didn't really invest enough into Bronze Tiger either. After issue 38 of Ostranders run BT is at best a supporting character at worst a token.

      BUT!,! John set the foundaton, made us recongize and has handled him better than anybody else. Thankx for that. That's why I didn't like that Jason Todd came back. And came back with a vengence. Until I saw Under the Red Hood. Which is some serious work. It made me say Hell yeah! Lets Go! why? Cause somebody said I like this character and I'm going to put it in for my guy. I'm gon make a blind man see JT.

      What happened? His own mini series, cameo's everywhere, animated movie,-- Red Hood and the Outlaws. This didn't come from just one writer though. Everybody bought in, writers, artist, marketing, management, all of DC comics backed the play and did what they had to do to make him popular. This is what has to happen with the Bronze Tiger and nothing less.

      Now back to the new SS. It's like Shlomo said. This is just a Batman spinoff book capitalizing on fan favorite characters Harley, Amanda and Deadshot with a little bit of Captain Boomerang sprinkled in. I don't have a problem with that (I do but don't). Because Bronze Tiger should stand alone from the Squad with his type of potential.

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  11. Sorry, meant to type not going too heavy on fleshing him out, just to clarify there. Stupid fingers:(

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    1. Your other reply is missing for some reason and I didn't know Bronze Tiger was going to show up in the new Batman animated. Dude! You know I'll be there loyal and down just like I am for Young Justice.

      If they do it right this is my mans jump off.

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  12. I know this is an old post but i believe that whoever plays Vixen should be sensors but but also fearless when faced with adverse situations. I am african and i can tell you that African women are one of the fearless and bravest of women. You need to incorporate that in the role. That animal instinct needs to be emphasised. She is in synch with nature too... She is deep and artistic...

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