YIBAMBE! T’Challa: The Black Panther Appreciation 2022

[DigiCom]

spoilers:

Is it possible this plan has been in place for awhile? When T'Challa disbanded the HZ, maybe the few that were presumably kept around just pretended they were loyal to the crown. Could it be a situation where T'Challa thought he expelled all the bad actors in their ranks when in reality a new militarist conspiracy established themselves under his nose? A decade-long conspiracy by Hunter against T'Challa would be compelling stuff. Kinda retcon-y but definitely a unique type of threat for T'Challa, like Doomwar done right lol.

end of spoilers

Probably. T'Challa not knowing what's going on around him seems to be a theme with this run.

[KingNomarch]

Counterpoint: He's young and stuck in his own propaganda in the Mute Zone.

Think "small town mentality." Country folk hating on all the city folk when the country folk never left their hometown.

The Mute Zone be sitting back going "look at shitty they are, we know everything" during every conflict and disagreement. Monday Morning Quarterback type stuff.

He's a Wakandan Small Town Conservative lol


aka he finally leaves said town, he sees how the world really works, sees who's T'challa really is, and grows as a character. T'challa takes him under his wing to help.



Or he might freaking suck and I hate him and he will disappear from Canon in 6 months unti hte movie comes out and they change his name to Azari lolkol lol. Who knows, too soon to tell.

With his youth and naivety, I think that the Prime Minister might use him to be Wakanda's US Agent.

[MindofShadow]

spoilers:

It definitely looks like that it could be Hunter or Akili or both. It definitely seems like something Hunter would do just like in Enemy of the State I & II.

end of spoilers

The Tosin story definitely was a massive spoiler. His tribe sounds like a rebrand Jabari and weren't the Mute Zones from Nendi's mini?

Yes, he pulled it from Long Live the King. So at least Ridley is doing some homework.

spoilers:

I think that's the better vibe to go with. Hunter just brings a gravity to this story I'm not sure Akili has earned because he doesn't have enough history to make the reveals hit. Just like Jhai, it'd be a wasted opportunity to use him rather than an established character. Having him be the dutiful soldier to the one man he thinks can protect Wakanda from itself could be an interesting take. And like you said, Akili may have gotten more than what he bargained for if he's not entirely in the know about the assassins. Is it possible this plan has been in place for awhile? When T'Challa disbanded the HZ, maybe the few that were presumably kept around just pretended they were loyal to the crown. Could it be a situation where T'Challa thought he expelled all the bad actors in their ranks when in reality a new militarist conspiracy established themselves under his nose? A decade-long conspiracy by Hunter against T'Challa would be compelling stuff. Kinda retcon-y but definitely a unique type of threat for T'Challa, like Doomwar done right lol.

end of spoilers

uh oh, this sounds like Backhand Bari's music!

THE RETURN OF THE TRUE KING!

He got back from earth's orbit from the Backhand of Bast and starting laying down plans for revenge!

Maybe Ridley will reveal that he's T'Challa's illegitimate kid with Ikoko from Long Live the King.

And Ikoko real name?


Nakia! lol

[chief12d]

Tosin's actually a fairly interesting character. I like that Ridley is building on the concept of Mute Zones. Even though the Long Live the King mini was average to weak, it wasn't all bad. Mute Zones as mainstream Wakanda's equivalent to America's utopian communities feels like a thing that would logically exist since its is such a highly egalitarian society.

Tosin's tribe developing a spiritual outlook on vibranium instead of a technological one is interesting and exactly the type of worldbuilding I was looking for. Vibranium-based modification and mutation is the biggest underdeveloped idea in the BP mythos, it has all the potential that gamma radiation does for Hulk. So seeing a subculture in Wakanda that works with the metal in exotic ways should be fun.

And as a character I'm liking what we've seen so far. He's not an in your face shithead the way most kids with powers seem to get written when first introduced. He's dismissive and suspicious of T'Challa and Birnin Zana but there seems to be some fascination with "urban" Wakanda. I think MOS is right that we'll see the kid confront his prejudice and maybe change his outlook. I do think he'll clash with T'Challa at first, but I think Tosin will find a way to have a more positive outlook while still keeping his beliefs and helping his king out. On first impressions, he's got a great design, an interesting background, and big potential. I could easily see him shifting into a Robin-like role after a few arcs.

[MindofShadow]

The fact this was #200 was kinda lame though.

I feel like other characters Marvel likes actually get celebrated at milestone issues.

This just felt like a "oh ****, throw some stuff in there because 200!"

Like they just forgot.

[ThePantherKing]

I wonder what powers their non-technological "connection" to vibranium gives though. In a panel there's a character that seems to have been given super strength while Tosin himself seems to have super speed.

[Ezyo1000]

MINI???? lololol

I think it is utterly ridiculous if it isn't a red herring.

We have a mystery story and they solved a huge chunk of the mystery in a side story.


Art was FIRE though.

Yeah I gotta agree. That was pretty BIG chunk. Again I remain the same as before. I want there to be growth from this. It's fine for them to think a certain way about T'Challa and Wakanda, bit it's long past time for writers to move on and show is WHY T'Challa and Wakanda are great. Not just say it but SHOW it.

The issue was solid, again same as the first two issues but again I am ready for more reveals in this story. It can't drag on further because it's going to set itself up for disappointment if it doesn't deliver.

I don't understand the shade everyone has coming from x men. That isht is beyond old. T'Challa shoulda smacked the isht out of gambit. It's done move the frak on or disassociate T'Challa from the X-Men for good.

Overall it was fine. I think the Tosin story should of been done later unless we are halfway through this story and big stuff is going to happen to soon

[KingNomarch]

The fact this was #200 was kinda lame though.

I feel like other characters Marvel likes actually get celebrated at milestone issues.

This just felt like a "oh ****, throw some stuff in there because 200!"

Like they just forgot.

Yeah it felt like a regular issue. I didn't even finish the Bast story because it was lame and skipped to Tosin's part.

[chief12d]

The fact this was #200 was kinda lame though.

I feel like other characters Marvel likes actually get celebrated at milestone issues.

This just felt like a "oh ****, throw some stuff in there because 200!"

Like they just forgot.

They did forget, when Marvel first solicited BP #3 there was no mention of a milestone issue or backup stories. I think skyvolt even pointed it out because the only reason I remember we were supposed to get a #200 was because he said it was coming.

[Ezyo1000]

Well, we got a character saving the day in a badass fashion against multiple armed foes.

spoilers:

Pity that it's Tosin

end of spoilers

It's instructive to compare the writing in the 1st & 3rd stories:

spoilers:

In the first story, T'Challa is on his back foot still, not even able to take a prisoner, while Omolola, Shuri, and Akili all gripe about his inability to do stuff. Sure, he gets a decent fight scene, but O-la actually gets the W, and his only recourse is to go running off to bloody Mars. (I have no strong opinions on the Gentle stuff at all. Other than to note that, unlike every other sleeper, Nezhno gets to stay where he is because the oh-so-wonderful Arakko is perfectly safe, despite the fact that these attackers seem to show up everywhere. Yay mutants!) Meanwhile, in the third story, Tosin gets to talk about how T'Challa & his philosophy is just as bad as Killmonger, Wakanda sucks, and his way is the only true way. And not ONE panel of the story suggests he might be wrong. And he gets the badass action scene I was talking about with Moon Knight yesterday. He's basically a younger, hipper, less-pretentious Tetu!

end of spoilers

In other words: 3rd verse, same as the others. But I'm sure that Ridley will do a wonderful job showing the grand adventures of spoilers:

Tosin, Protector of the True Wakanda.

end of spoilers

I won't be reading them, though.

This is my thought now that I think about it

spoilers:

I am think (Hoping) that Ridley is smart enough to see that everything Tosin is saying about T'Challa and Wakanda is hypocritical. Throughout the story he keeps saying that the other Wakandans are wrong, that T'Challa is just as bad as Erik and that because they have power they think only They are right. He goes on to say he will fix Wakanda because he and his tribe are right and the others are wrong. That a revolution for the true Wakanda is needed. I am hoping the irony is not lost and we see that this character learns perspective and it's through T'Challa, seeing that theres more nuances and T'Challa knows this intimately and also knows that while the mute zone thinks they are living in peace away from the violence and they're "Safe" it's through T'Challas actions that they can participate in the "peace" they think they created for themselves

end of spoilers

[MindofShadow]

Yeah it felt like a regular issue. I didn't even finish the Bast story because it was lame and skipped to Tosin's part.

They did forget, when Marvel first solicited BP #3 there was no mention of a milestone issue or backup stories. I think skyvolt even pointed it out because the only reason I remember we were supposed to get a #200 was because he said it was coming.

T'challa needs a fan at Marvel so bad.

This just goes to show you how little they give a crap about the character.

[Ezyo1000]

Probably. T'Challa not knowing what's going on around him seems to be a theme with this run.

Which is fine at times as long as he is actively handling things and gets big moment's. I think it doesn't help that we just had 5 years of this with Coates. I don't think Ridley is doing a bad job perse, HOWEVER, IMHO this was NOT the story to start his new series with. We should of started with a mini akin to WitBP, Gilis mini or flags. A high octane T'Challa kicking ass and full on agency to show us that he is being proactive. THEN move into this story. Get him flying on cloud 9 then introduce a group targeting his agents

[chief12d]

Yeah I gotta agree. That was pretty BIG chunk. Again I remain the same as before. I want there to be growth from this. It's fine for them to think a certain way about T'Challa and Wakanda, bit it's long past time for writers to move on and show is WHY T'Challa and Wakanda are great. Not just say it but SHOW it.

The issue was solid, again same as the first two issues but again I am ready for more reveals in this story. It can't drag on further because it's going to set itself up for disappointment if it doesn't deliver.

I don't understand the shade everyone has coming from x men. That isht is beyond old. T'Challa shoulda smacked the isht out of gambit. It's done move the frak on or disassociate T'Challa from the X-Men for good.

Overall it was fine. I think the Tosin story should of been done later unless we are halfway through this story and big stuff is going to happen to soon

spoilers:

I don't see any circumstance where things don't blow up between T'Challa and the mutants. Maybe not this arc, but at some point they're gonna have to find out about Gentle right? And if Storm found out T'Challa literally sent in a kid to spy on her and her friends she'll probably break up with him. Hell, let's say it turns out Gentle's actually a double agent and working for Krakoa (which is quite possible.) That's still a recipe for a break up if/when T'Challa finds out. So maybe they separate the BP and X-Men brands for good soon? That said, I think what we may see is Ridley just making them long distance. In which case all the X-Men/BP crossover probably continues.

end of spoilers

[XenobladerX]

I don't understand the shade everyone has coming from x men. That isht is beyond old. T'Challa shoulda smacked the isht out of gambit. It's done move the frak on or disassociate T'Challa from the X-Men for good.

For real. Why are they trying to act like Storm didn't go into Wakanda, beat up their princess and steal their priceless artifact for their crappy little event?

[MindofShadow]

spoilers:

I don't see any circumstance where things don't blow up between T'Challa and the mutants. Maybe not this arc, but at some point they're gonna have to find out about Gentle right? And if Storm found out T'Challa literally sent in a kid to spy on her and her friends she'll probably break up with him. Hell, let's say it turns out Gentle's actually a double agent and working for Krakoa (which is quite possible.) That's still a recipe for a break up if/when T'Challa finds out. So maybe they separate the BP and X-Men brands for good soon? That said, I think what we may see is Ridley just making them long distance. In which case all the X-Men/BP crossover probably continues.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

X writers are SALIVATING about Gentle the Traitor. Guaranteed. I'm gonna be curious about next issue with T'challa on Mars. Surely the assassins can't get there (they woudln't have the tech to, no everyone has a spaceship handy lol). So I guess, judging from the solicit, they are going to attack Shuri?

end of spoilers