The Natural: The Trouble Portraying Blackness in Video Games
Every morning, I run a pick through my hair. It’s important that I do this when it’s still spongy and damp from the…
What Prince Taught Me
“I’m here to tell you there’s something else...” Prince showed me the life I wanted to live. He was my black genius…
The Black Superhero Who Helped Me Navigate a White World
By the time that Power Man and Iron Fist #125 came out in the late summer/early fall of 1986, I’d already learned not…
We Are Not Free
It’s been a terrible few weeks for the black body.
Video Games' Blackness Problem
Video games have a blackness problem. This has been a known thing for a while, and we do talk about it from time to…
All This Racism Is Exhausting
I've had to be three people this week. They exist separately, in spaces that I'm better off keeping discrete for the…
A Closer Look At How Three Assassin's Creed Games Have Handled Slavery
Slavery in the Transatlantic of the 1700s was a complex, interconnected network of financial systems, social…
Thralled—the chilling indie game about a runaway slave who's also a mother—has found a home on Ouya. Lead developer…
Why Mighty Avengers Is My Favorite Marvel Comic Right Now
I thought I was going to have to drop Mighty Avengers because Greg Land's art is so off-puttingly plastic. (That great…
Soon You Can Play Assassin's Creed IV's Freedom Cry Without AC IV
Starting this month, PS3 and PS4 owners won't need to own the full version of Assassin's Creed IV to play its excellent …
Taking Down a Slave Ship in Assassin's Creed IV's DLC Isn't Easy
Boarding a slave ship and liberating its human cargo is probably the most satisfying thing you can do in the new…
A Game That Showed Me My Own Black History
The newest chapter of the Assassin's Creed series gives me some of the things I've always wanted in a video game: a…
Assassin's Creed IV's Freedom Cry Add-On Is the Good Kind of DLC
People like to rag on downloadable content. It's a boondoggle, detractors say. A crass way to get extra cash for a…
Assassin’s Creed IV’s DLC Offers a Very Different Kind of Rebellion
All those islands in the Caribbean that are plush vacation spots now? They used to be colonies, outposts for imperial…
One of the Funniest Superhero Comics Ever Is Finally Coming Back
The capes. The gadgets. The weird interpersonal relationships. The goats. Superheroes are straight-up absurd when you…
You're An Escaped Slave In Assassin’s Creed IV’s Freedom's Cry DLC
A while back, Ubisoft said that Assassin’s Creed IV would have an add-on campaign focused on Adewale, the former slave…
Finally, The Avengers I Always Needed
Mighty Avengers just became my favorite mainstream comic, because it’s giving me something that I’ve been wishing for…
I Need This Haunting Game About a Runaway Slave to Get Finished
I told myself I wouldn’t let this unfinished game make me cry. But it did, because it made me put a crying baby on…
Slavery Gives Me a Weird Personal Connection to Assassin's Creed IV
I wouldn’t exist if not for the ugly historical fact of slavery.