Author. Former comic culture reporter for The Washington Post. 4x Eisner Award nom. Radford University alum. UMD and AU adjunct. 🇵🇷 and ✊🏾 Actually from D.C.
You’re not the only one to notice that the Egyptian jams at the end of Moon Knight have been slapping extra hard. Moon Knight producer Mohamed Diab told me his wife, Sarah Goher, helped select Egyptian music to weave into the show, including DJ Kaboo at the end of episode 3.
BREAKING: MILESTONE COMICS to return to publishing in 2021. New comics, new digital library of original comics and a whole lot more. Click here for the scoop!
I’ve seen Blue Beetle three times now and I can say without a doubt it isn’t just one the the best DC movies of the last decade. It’s one of the best DC movies ever. Some thoughts.
#bluebeetle
Some news: I have accepted a buyout from The Washington Post. My 16 and a half years here comes to an end on Dec. 31. I’m getting a generous deal, and with it, time to focus on David Betancourt the author. It’s been an honor being your comic culture reporter. Thanks for reading.
One of my favorite scenes in The Batman was when he realized Alfred was in danger, called Wayne Manor and then used his Bruce Wayne voice while masked to try to warn of the coming danger
Legendary comic book artist Tim Sale passed away today. Sale’s comics always felt like major events. Whenever he teamed up with writer Jeph Loeb, it was pure magic. You could see the influence of Sale’s work as recently not so far back as The Batman. RIP.
A $200 million 3day weekend was always the number I had in my head. I’m no
@ngreenberg
, but I always felt the initial box office projections weren’t taking into account the emotions this film was creating once people saw it. Word of mouth took care of the rest.
#blackpanther
The Puerto Rico Spider-Man suit I co-created with
@Ariotstorm
in my first Miles Morales story for Marvel Comics made it into the new Spider-Man 2 video game for PS5. Because if there’s one thing a Puerto Rican superhero is gonna do, it’s let you know they’re Puerto Rican! 🇵🇷
Juan Soto leaves and I likely never step foot in Nationals Park again. Generational once in a lifetime talent that has already proven he can win you a championship when he’s not the only guy. The Dominican Babe Ruth. Makes Atlanta Baseball Team pitchers emotional. Sign him.
Blue Beetle is one of the best movies of DC’s modern era. Right up there with the first Wonder Woman movie. Fun. Emotional. Culturally significant. Extremely funny. I was blown away. Jaime Reyes absolutely deserves to be a part of the new DCU.
The proper Warner Bros./DC response to
@theblackpanther
isn’t a Cyborg movie, it’s realizing the potential they have with all those Milestone characters. The potential has no limit and there’s just as much black/fanboy passion with that universe.
Norm Breyfogle illustrated one of my all-time favorite Batman panels, the introduction of Tim Drake as a new Robin for a new generation of Batman fans.
How fitting that the Watchmen comic was known for Dave Gibbons 9 panel pages and the
@watchmen
series is 9 episodes. They even got the numbers right.
#WatchmenHBO
MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT: Very excited to announce I’ve written a new Miles Morales story for the new “Spider-Man: Stories from the Spider-Verse” anthology that will be out next summer. You can pre-order this book now at Amazon!
Fantastic cover art by:
@jahnoyl
When I spoke to
@ReginaKing
about
@watchmen
I had only seen the first episode. I asked if she was comfortable working on a show that dived so deep into race with a white showrunner. She said two things: 1-she’d follow Damon Lindelof anywhere, and 2-“just trust me, David.”
My paternal grandmother Anna Betancourt Robles died today. She was 86. I was her first grandson. That she is with my grandfather Eligio now is the only thing soothing the pain of losing her. She was my strongest connection to Puerto Rico. I will love and miss her always.
#AcrossTheSpiderVerse
was spectacular. So groundbreaking. So much authentic sazón. We will be having greatest Spider-Man movie trilogies ever chats when they are done with this universe. And honestly, I hope they’re not done after the next one.
The crazy thing about the possibility of the Multiverse (aside from being a huge possible nod to Secret Wars) is that the multiverse isn’t even needed to bring Peter Parker and Miles Morales together because Donald Glover was already introduced as Aaron Davis in Homecoming
Christian Cooper has returned to mainstream comics, writing the first issue of Represent!, a new digital series from DC Comics that will shine a spotlight on traditionally underrepresented voices.
Whatever you may think of the Snyder/Justice League era, which can’t completely be brushed aside because it gave us Gadot and Momoa, DC is hitting their cinematic stride by saying to hell with the all-star team up and let’s just concentrate on these stories one by one.
This panel from The Magnificent Ms. Marvel
#1
written by
@saladinahmed
and illustrated by
@MinkyuJungArt
should go straight to the Eisner Hall of Fame.
If you don’t think
#TheMandalorian
is the future of Star Wars storytelling, you’re not paying attention. That was a 🔥 first season. Do I still want a Darth Vader movie based off of the excellent tales taking place in his comics? Sure. But the future is here. This is the way.
Henry was a great Superman who was never given great dialogue and always depended on to just look the part. He deserved better, the least of which would have been a real plan building towards Justice League instead of a rush job to catch up to Marvel.
When I asked Oscar Isaac about being the first Latino lead actor at Marvel Studios he said:
“My MCU hero is one that is a study of identities…it also gave us room to bring some of that [Latino] background into it too.”
He couldn’t say then but he was talking about Jake in ep 6.
Honored to receive my first racist email about
@watchmen
. As always, so bold behind a digital screen. Almost want to email back and let him know I’m not just African America, but Puerto Rican and spanish speaking too, you know, to really add some seasoning to the bigotry.
True story. Ludacris came to Radford for a concert my Sr year in 02. There was only one press pass for the RU newspaper. Everyone wanted it. I walked in and said “I’m the only brotha here. It’s mine.” I was a sports reporter too. But not that day. Wrote a feature on the concert.
Close-up look at the stage at the Library of Congress where I moderated a special event commemorating the 1000th issue of Action Comics with the legendary Paul Levitz and
@thedanjurgens
. A career highlight for me as a journalist and a fanboy.
The news is now out! I’m writing a SPIDER-SMASHER story starring Billie Morales (and other special guests) for Marvel Comics in Edge of Spider-Verse # 3, illustrated by the super-talented
@Rockthearts1
. In stores June 21 (a big date for those that know!)
I spoke to Temuera Morrison about returning to Star Wars after two decades, being an indigenous actor in a lead role for a major franchise and just how many other clones he could potentially show up as in the future on other upcoming Star Wars series
The news is finally out there! Very excited to announce that I’ve written my first book! “The Avengers Assembled,” a retelling of the origins of the Avengers, based on their earliest adventures, arrives in stores and online August 29!
Rented out the AMC in Gtown to give my son a Wakanda Forever screening for fam and friends for his 7th b-day. Thank you to the Star Wars Group Chat (
@clintonyates
@dshif
) for representing and kid sis
@ByBiancaBee
for coming to see her sobrinos.
@nczeitgeist
was there in spirit.
Just filed my fourth and possible last
@watchmen
piece for a while. I’ve watched tonight’s season finale twice. Not sure I’m ready to let it go but next week is Star Wars and the beat moves on.
DOCTOR MANHATTAN SPEAKS! I spoke with
@yahya
about when exactly he found out he was secretly blue, the blackness of
@watchmen
under showrunner Damon Lindelof, and the moment he realized he wouldn’t be needing clothes anymore.
I spoke with
@nkjemisin
and
@_pryce14
about Far Sector, a new series from Gerard Way’s Young Animal imprint at DC that introduces us to a new Green Lantern.
I had a chance to speak with Christian Cooper about his viral Central Park experience, a groundbreaking stint at Marvel Comics, his Harvard days, and the moments of his youth that shaped the man he is today.
Nate Moore told me what impressed Marvel Studios was Coogler’s ability to tell a story about fathers and sons. Something they knew Black Panther would lean on.
Ryan Coogler wasn't picked to direct
#BlackPanther
solely because he was Black. They chose him because is also a dope ass filmmaker who put whole ass foot into making that movie. And the billion dollar receipts are here to prove it.
10 years. 30 animated DC movies. We should always show love to superhero animation. I know we’re witnessing the glory years with all these live-action movies and tv shows, but for a long time animation was all we had.
I spoke to
@BRIANMBENDIS
and we confirmed off the record that I am the real Miles Morales. We also spoke about the only Superboy that matters (the 90s one) and DCs new imprint, Wonder Comics.
Kind of crazy to think I wrote a story for Marvel where the Black Panther and Miles Morales have a convo about Blackness in Latin America and a year later Wakanda Forever will introduce a Mexican Namor. Props to
@Ariotstorm
for the beautiful art.
Because of my encyclopedic knowledge of the original Saved by the Bell I was called upon to review the reboot debuting on
@peacockTV
on Wednesday. Listen, preppy! I was a skeptic. But this show is fantastic.
Today is my second class teaching comic book culture and how to cover it at the University of Maryland. I taught digitally last fall and am teaching on campus this fall. Today’s class? Batman at the movies.
Wonder Woman was great. Aquaman was swashbuckingly swagful and visually spectacular. Shazam! is just as good and maybe even the best thing DC has made post-Nolan. Joker and Birds of Prey on deck. This is the type of quality DC fans have expected.
I spoke to
@TenochHuerta
at the Wakanda Forever premiere at the
@NMAAHC
. After seeing the film, I wrote about how big a moment Namor’s debut is for Tenoch and those in Latin America who never see themselves in such a heroic way in movies.