Wait did he really write Black Panther ignoring the cries of a rape victim?
In the first arc of his run on Black Panther. Coates introduced rape camps into Wakanda. Apparently T'challa didn't know about them initially. This is the same guy who wanted his run to be "Some ten-year old's Spider-Man" Kids should not be reading about rape camps.
So unpopular opinion, I know, but I’ve never been a fan of Calvin Ellis. The primary reason is because I don’t care for canonizing politicians and making President Obama literally Superman always seemed uncomfortable to me even as a Democrat who voted for the man twice. Obama is still a politician and he was still responsible for drone strikes and other war crimes even in his tenure as President. Again, I voted for him and respect him but I don’t believe in turning politicians into icons. Even ones I was proud to vote for. Coates is, as I recall, a notorious Obama apologist. So that’s big concern #1.
I also remember there being a pretty poignant conversation that took place years ago at the way the Ellis storyline failed Black women by not bothering to create a Black Lois Lane counterpart. The piece I’m linking was published in several places at the time and expressed frustration that they had gone out of their way to reboot Superman but without any care for what they could have also done for Black women in the process. It felt like representation that wasn’t entirely thought through.
https://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/20...-lane-matters/
Given the news that apparently Coates has never been interested in Superman , I can’t say I feel happy or positive about this news.
I think you can tell a really poignant Superman story that truly tackles the ideas of immigration and assimilation but I tend to agree with others who have spoken at length about this elsewhere that there is an element of passing to Superman that is inherent to the character or it’s just a completely different story. And I agree that a lot of these writers have not thought long and hard about what that means and that includes the reality of how a Lois Lane analogue is often left out of these other stories despite a pretty good case that that would be important to explore.
But, overall, I just know in listening and really trying to understand these issues that representation is complicated. And I’m not sure anything that WB would come up with here will responsibly address that.
Last edited by Nelliebly; 02-26-2021 at 02:07 PM.
Well, I haven't read that arc in a long time, but he probably did. Coates' run was a long painful deconstruction of the character. He made Wakanda into a democracy, emphasized the idea that T'challa really wanted to be a scientist instead of a king. Made the Wakandans into colonizers, and on top of all that, the book is just plain dull. Ken Burns could make a documentary about paint drying and it would be more interesting than Coates' Panther.
As I posted in the other thread.
I was excited when I saw this could mean Calvin Ellis or Val Zod on the big screen then my heart sank, it'll be a J. J. Abrams production....
"So you've come to the end now alive but dead inside."
Jon is probably an easier pitch but then why approve the S&L show? That’s shaping the idea of what “Jon”/any son of Superman would be. Reeves got a lot of creative freedom with his Batman, I feel pretty safe in saying that Abrams and whoever will direct this are going to get total freedom as well. I mean Snyder did until he started bombing.
I dunno man, I can see it going either way. That DC is pushing Jon so hard does help your argument, especially since creative synergy is the name of the game at DC these days. But they could just as easily announce a Calvin or a Val movie and put on an ongoing to tie in.
I bailed around that point, but apparently Shuri or Ramonda told the rape villains to basically suck it up. It was a really damaging take on the BP mythos. Also Coates made the Wakandans into colonizers who killed off the original inhabitants of Wakanda. He did a lot of stuff that BP fans hated. Neither he nor Abrams being involved fills me with much enthusiasm.
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
He was never shown stopping it. The Doras that broke off did it themselves.
Coates also had Shuri tell the same Doras that they should accept being raped for wakanda if need be.
BP was not heroic or inspirational at all. He was mopey, indecisive, and always relied on others to do stuff for him
Worst of all... its all incredibly slow and boring
Black Panther Discord Server: https://discord.gg/SA3hQerktm
T'challa's Greatest Comic Book Feats: http://blackpanthermarvel.blogspot.c...her-feats.html