Noel Clarke

[sheridan]

You may know Noel Clarke from such TV shows as Doctor Who and variously writing, acting, directing Kidulthood, Adulthood, Brotherhood, Bulletproof, 4,3,2,1, Fishermen's Friends.


Now he's interested in working with 2000AD...


Twitter

I want my company
@UnstoppableLtd to have rights, for a chance to make a show with a current or new 2000AD black character. We are established and real and can develop the show with you. how's that?

[IndigoPrime]

Good to see. 2000 AD needs more diversity. Relatively few black characters to choose from in 2000 AD's history, mind.

[Richard]

An Aquila tv show could work. Or a new character, with a comic story published simultaneously with the tv series. Noel Clarke knows what he's doing, so this has great potential.

[dweezil2]

Aquila and Daniel Harrison from Absalom spring to mind.
Or a Harlem Heroes standalone movie could tie-in nicely with the Dredd universe.

[sheridan]

Jason Kingsley OBE
@RebellionJason
·
2h
I've followed you so we can DM.

[TordelBack]

Not only talented, but a terrific fella by all accounts. And regularly fighting the good fight on social media. How well Tharg would take to sharing rights is another matter, but I'd say it's a bridge to be crossed if you're inviting in creatives from more equitable spheres.

You say 'relatively few' black characters, IP and this is sadly true: most of those there are are minor characters in a white person's story (Mac, Malcolm, Giants 2 & 3, Francisco, Luiz Cannibal etc). But then off the top of my head there are Blackhawk/Aquila (same guy), Marshall Holt from Asylum, Eve from Crisis, the two lads in Tribal Memories, the all of whom would make for good stories (or different lengths and budgets!).

I almost dread to mention Nolan Blake, Tracer of Skips, but maybe that's something that would work on the screen in a way it hasn't worked for me on paper...

[M.I.K.]

I would also suggest non-2000ad characters that Rebellion own, like El Mestizo.

[Ghost MacRoth]

He could be Dexter.... get a bit of a 'buddy cop' movie..... but with more ruthless murders......

But yeah, he's a talented lad, would love to see what he'd WANT to do.

[TordelBack]

Jeez, how did I forget Dex! Get Domhnall Gleeson for Finny and we're off!  Kooky non-specific-time Euro hitman comedy-drama sounds like a goer to me.

[M.I.K.]

Flippin' heck... Dexter's the most obvious choice and he didn't cross my mind either.

[sheridan]

I'm glad other people could remember more black characters than I could!  Discounting Dredd-world (due to ongoing TV devel stuff) I'd only managed Blackhawk, Aquila, John 'Giant' Clay (figure that's far enough removed from Judge Dredd: Mega-City One that it wouldn't cause licencing problems) and Outlaw.

[AlexF]

Time to trot out my old and not 100% accurate 'history of BAME characters in 2000AD' blog series...

http://meanwhileon.blogspot.com/2016/10/bame-pow-comics-get-diverse-part-1.html

Absalom does seem like the obvious choice for a modern-day British series that could be done on TV that features at least two black characters, not to mention the East End vibe that seems to get the money people interested, at least as far as UK film funding goes.

Why does the character have to have been black in the pages of the Prog? I, for one, think a black verison of Wolfie Smith could add that extra frisson of exclusion to this most conflicted anti-hero.
And if we're talking dream movie, my vote goes to Bad Company. Whoever said Kano was white?

[sheridan]

Thanks Alex - I came back to add Lux Roth Chop, but no doubt he's already on your page (just going to mosey on over).

[sheridan]

How could I forget Chief Judge Silver?  The first new Chief Judge when I became a squaxx.

[Funt Solo]

And you could just have a current character that hasn't historically been portrayed as black be portrayed by a black actor.

Right off the bat you've got Dredd - I might be getting my wires crossed, but wasn't he drawn as black by McMahon originally? Anyway - it's not as if his ethnicity is central to the character.

Rogue Trooper (I know, I know - he's blue) could be played by a black actor.

- What about Buttonman? That's an easy switch.
- The protagonist in Age of the Wolf could work.
- Al's Baby but reset in London.
- Armoured Gideon. [Can you tell I'm working my way through the A's?]
- Survival Geeks could be a Spaced for our (new) times, but much, much blacker.
- Could The Bogie Man work like that? It adds another layer of mad to his delusion.
- Dead Eyes leading into Indigo Prime.
- Finn.
- Harry Twenty
- Luke Kirby
- A Love Like Blood
- Lilly MacKenzie (wait...)