Original Post Date
2017-01-30 10:25 AM
Original Body
My nephew, Tiburcio Garcia, 13 year old and lover of all kinds of books especially comic books and I, a lover of Hip-Hop had an honor not only to review D.M.C. first comic book but have been in contact with this living ledgend. Krip-Hop Nation/Poor Magazine interviewed D.M.C in early Jan/17. Now uncle & nephew of Poor Magazine teams up for a review of D.M.C. first comic book DMC #1
DMC is the balance By Tiburcio Garcia, 13, POOR Magazine Youth skola
I love comic books. Batman, Superman, Flash and Green Arrow are among my favorites but never before have I seen a superhero like DMC. Finally, a superhero who fights for the unwanted, the unnamed the uncared for.
So as soon as my uncle, Leroy, gave me this book I was drawn to it. First of all, it was my uncle, an excellent book critic, and a book writer himself, secondly the cover art and costume design were amazing.
Later that night, I actually started reading the book and it was good. Really good and except for Decolonewz, my revolutionary school's newspaper and my mama and uncle's organization, POOR Magazine's superheroes SuperbabyMama & El Mosquito, I have never seen comics and comic book heroes that talked about race, poverty and the criminal justice system. DMC actually targeted and talked about real stuff and was about something.
The story was beautiful. The story was mostly comprised of people from the streets telling stories of them being saved by DMC from Meta-Humans I'm calling them for a lack of a better name.
In the second to last scene the model vigilante/superhero Helios, a 6, 5 white guy with blond hair and a white and gold super suit, fought against DMC and DMC pulled this power thing that is like the voice of the voiceless and knocked Helios out cold.
My favorite part of the book was when the girl in the High School class critiques the entire system and rocks my world with:
"I heard of DMC. But DMC and Helios are both useless because the justice system isn't broken. The justice system is designed to monetize the poor, mentally ill and minority population and the public school system is the first step in that process. DMC is the Balance!"
Take Me Back To The 80’s Who Is This DMC, Superhero? I’m Hook! By Leroy F Moore Jr.
As a 1970’s baby, I remember a time when there was no Hip-Hop. As a Black disabled young boy who loved hard rock like AC/DC, Black Sabbath, ZZ Top and many more, I thought I was a hard punk with my walker and a jean jacket that wouldn’t embrace other kinds of music, wow I was wrong!
When Sugar Hill Gang dropped in 1979 soften this hard rocker with a mohawk and when Run-D.M.C. came on the scene in the 80’s and mixed Rock to Hip-Hop on their song with Aerosmith, Walk This Way blew me away. In 2016 I had an opportunity to interview D.M.C. and now my nephew, Tiburcio Garcia- Youth Skola from Decolonize Academy/POOR Magazine 13 and I’ve written this review on D.M.C.’s first comic book, DMC #1 that was published in 2014.
DMC #1 comic book brought me back to NY in the early 80’s with scenes in the subway where the book opens up and as a practicing feminist I love that the book’s lead character is a woman. Now that I interviewed D.M.C., I can see the development of the main character who reveals some of D.M.C. battles like depression, drugs and more. D.M.C.’s comic book of 2014 can be related to today’s popular culture with the Netflix hits like, Luke Cage and The Get Down where Hip-Hop and the fashion of Hip-Hop tell its story and saves the day.
I realized that this is book one so I kept on telling myself slow down on what I wanted more information about like the superhero DMC when he comes out of nowhere to save the day. Then I thought what my nephew thought of the storyline being from a different generation and he being a comic book lover. Beyond the storyline, the colors and illustrations really caught my attention almost more than the words. I caught myself looking at the illustrations and trying to guess what was written but I slapped my hand to be good!
As I got deeper into the story, once again the urge of knowing more about the superhero, DMC sank back into my head. For me the parts about the lead character going to counseling/therapy after dealing with an abusive father then her boyfriend who she move in with and pregnancy was when comic met reality harsh reality and I thought at that time, that I hope my nephew can comprehend and keep on reading. That section of D.M.C. first comic book was some real shit!
I have to say I got a little confuse on the Jazzy Jay part but I know where he was going for but for me it stuck out. I love the classroom scene, the students talking how F Up the justice system is and the tug of war about the superhero, DMC and the overwhelming corrupt system. A part that had me cracking up was the part with talkshow host that was clearly Geraldo Rivera and his gust who look like a young Cornel West that also brought me back to the late 80’s.
All of DMC’s enemies look like they could take him on, once again the illustrations were larger than life! Just like when Luke Cage ended, when I reached the last page of DMC’s 1st comic book I took a deep breathe of relief for the characters and NY however I wanted more of the superhero, DMC. Ok D.M.C. you got me hooked! Got to get issue #2!
Leroy F Moore Jr. Uncle of Tiburcio Garcia
Pic: Graphic image of DMC, Black man with a Black hat in a blue jogging suite with white adidas. For hands he has gold plates that says DMC and also around his neck. It seems like he is running on top of a bus or subway train in NY.. On top it reads DMC and in the left hand corner is the graphic imge of DMC with his Black hat and Black glasses.