Fans of the Showtime Original Series: "Dexter," have always wondered about his early years. Through the shows first three seasons (currently on its fourth) we catch glimpses of the serial killers awkward childhood, mostly through random flashback scenes during various stages of his youth. Now thanks to the creative genius of writer/producer, Lauren Gussis, fans will finally get to see exactly how Dexter evolved. "Dexter: Early Cuts" was announced at this years San Diego Comic Con as an animated 12 episode web series. Each weekly episode will run about one to two minutes and can be viewed for free at Showtime.com. Bringing Dexter to the animated World will be three separate artists including eight time Eisner Award winner, Kyle Baker. Joining him will be Andres Vera Martinez and Ty Templeton.

Micheal C. Hall will continue to voice the methodical killer of killers. And the shows creators promise to bring an even darker atmosphere to this already grim series. Are you a fan of Dexter? Will you be checking out the webisodes? I mean, they are free after all. It is rated M for Mature so make sure you get your parents permission.

When  Black Panther Dark Reign first came out I was blown away. It was truly my favorite read. But after the big reveal that Shuri would now carry the mantle I started to lose interest. My mistake. The series has regained its momentum and turned Shuri into a complete badass. The similarities between her and Batman are obvious. But what I didn'expect was her similarity to Iron Man. Shuri is a far cry from T'Challa in the sense that she utilizes the superior technology that Wakanda is famous for. Beyond the crazy gadgets Shuri has the luxury of a character named Flea. Flea is Shuri's eye in the sky so to speak. And when I say sky, I actually mean space. That's right, Flea isn't even on Earth. He orbits the planet while remaining in constant contact with Shuri. Scrambling alarms, detecting enemy movements, unlocking security systems, and pretty much anything else the Black Panther needs. Sometimes before she needs it. This series really focuses on the fact that the new Black Panther has state of the art equipment and technology and she uses ever bit of it.

As for the former Black Panther, T'Challa, he continues to struggle with not only his defeat at the hands of D oom, but the fact that he no longer carries the extra abilities given to him by the Panther God. Which leads him to seek alternative measures to not only regain his former statues, but beyond.  No one other then a single member of his loyal Dora Milaje know Doom attempted to assassinate T'Challa. To make matters worse Shuri follows a trail that leads her into an ambush. After the fight it is discovered that her attackers were armed with not only stolen Wakandian tech, but Atlantian tech as well. Could Namor be behind the plot to kill T'Challa? Or has someone manipulated the situation in hopes the young reckless Shuri will rush head long into a confrontaion with Namor which would surely kill her?
With Wakanda on the brink of collapse, T'Challa lost in his quest for revenge, and a shadowy group pulling the strings, can Shuri put it all together before its to late? Pick up this series and find out :)

After the Beyonce/Wonder Woman scare, I started thinking about comicbook characters and their perspective races and whether or not it was important. The answer I came up with was yes, HELL YES. Hollywood has tried to sell us a line that its not important what color the actress/actor is portraying the character, but whether or not they can capture the essence of the character. But isn't part of a characters essence the way they look? In comicbooks image is everything. The way a character looks, appeals/captures the reader just as much if not more then the dialog. We all know and have accepted that when Hollywood makes the movie adaption of a comicbook that it will inevitably have some changes. Gambit not having an accent, Deadpool........well, we all know about Deadpool.
 
But to completely change a characters race is something that's always bothered me. I'll go one step further and say it bothers me when a director sticks a token character in any movie. Morgan Freeman in Robin Hood? Seriously? I remember watching as well as reading all sorts of Robin Hood stories, I remember Big Jon, I remember Fryer Tuck, but I don't remember Morgan Freeman. It seems to me like an attempt to appear progressive or something. Like hey look, we've righted the wrong that was no ethnicity  in (insert movie name here). So when we remaid it we decided to add a new ethnic character. It feels forced and out of place. But is that simply because of the attachment to the history of the material? For example, Disney is releasing a new animated film based loosely of the "Frog Prince." Most of us have heard the story of the Princess who kisses a frog and he turns into a Prince. But in the latest version the title has been renamed to the "The Princess and the Frog" and the story is set in New Orleans. Tiana (changed from Maddy) is now black, and the change doesn't bother me one bit. The Princess from the original story has an established history as a white character and yet here she is, changed for the sake of change and it doesn't bother me. Yet had it been say......the Black Panther, and Hollywood decided to change T'Challa to Trevor I would be pissed.  
 
 Which leads me to my next question. Why does it seem like its only white characters who find themselves replaced? Did they audition Matt Damon for the role of "Blade?" What about Jet Li as "Luke Cage?" I'm not being racist I'm simply questioning the thought process behind what appears, to me anyway, to be pointless Hollywood meddling. When they decided to make a Catwoman movie what in the hell happened between the time that they read Catwoman, liked it, and then decided to completely $#@! it up? Sure Halle Barry is a huge movie star, but so is Danial Day Lewis, it doesn't mean he should play Bruce Lee in a remake of "Enter the Dragon." And what really cracks me up is their attempt to explain the obvious race reversal. "Oh, well, its not Selena Kyle, in fact its got nothing to do with the original Catwoman at all. Basically we're just taking the name and the idea of a woman who fights crime and steals sh!t and turning it into a epic motion picture." FAIL.
 
 
 I don't understand how the powers that be go through a comic and love it so much that they want to make it into a motion pictures, and then stop and say, "You know what, this comic is great but how bout we take Wolverine and, are you ready? We make him Jewish. Its brilliant."
  
 So what are your feelings? Does it bother you when a character's race has been switched for what appears to be no reason at all? Is there something untouchable about a comicbook characters appearance?

I finally got around to reading, "Death in the Family." The famous Batman arc in which fans were able to call in and vote on the fate of Jason Todd (Robin at the time). To no ones surprise he got the thumbs down and thus the Joker's most famous kill became legend. However, as cool as that was, there was another small yet interesting storyline that had me acting like a fanboy. The search for Jason Todd's biological mother. Which had been narrowed down to three women, one of them being my favorite character, Lady Shiva. Say what? Could it be? I mean Jason Todd is pretty badass right? And in my opinion being the son of Sandra Woosan would add another dimension to his character. Sadly, as those of you who have read the arc know, it was not to be. She toys with Batman and Robin for a bit before she's defeated and injected with truth serum. She admits to having no children. Oh but wait, no children? What about Cassandra Cain? Is it possible that Shiva beat the truth serum and played Batman and Robin? It would be cool but more likely the DCU overlooked this fact when they created Cassandra Cain. So here's my question to you, the fans. Would you like to see the DCU flip the script and announce that Shiva is in fact Jason Todd's mother? Think of the possibilities. David Cain, Lady Shiva, Cassanda Cain, and Jason Todd vs Nightwing, Batman (bruce wayne), Damian, and Tim Drake. They would be the most serious characters in Batman's rogue gallery, they even have ties to Ras and his League of Assassin. I'd rather read something like that then Spoiler becoming Batgirl.