T'Challa: The Black Panther Appreciation 2023

[chief12d]

Really dope habit redesign, heavy Mandalorian vibes. The story gets a meh from me though. Part of it is definitely the circumstances that got us here, T’Challa’s character was assassinated to justify this story. That’s obviously not on the upcoming writer but it does leave a big question mark about the approach we’re getting with him moving forward. Will characters continue to blame for T’Challa for things that he objectively is not responsible for and will he continue to have no backbone? If all we’re getting is a slightly more polished version of Coates/Ridley’s dumbass deconstruction then I don’t see this lasting long.

It’s nice that he’s leaving the Golden City, and I’m expecting there to be something significant about him moving to Birnin T’Chaka since it’s named after his dad and all. It’s probably one of the cities he built after he became king or he renamed it during his reign. If this is meant to be an afrofuturist noir thriller that does a deep dive into T’Challa’s mentality I’ll be happy. He’s earned much needed character focus to make sense of the last few years of bad writing and to define who he is as a person.

But based off where Wakanda is currently going I can’t say I’m looking forward to T’Challa doubling down and interacting with more of these characters. The current Black Panther cast since A Nation Under Our Feet has been extremely poor and mostly failures. I’m not that interested in seeing more of Tosin or the Prime Minister and there’s nothing about Eve Ewing’s track record to give me confidence they won’t detract from T’Challa more than they have.

I don’t hate this direction, but there’s nothing here that really says this is a break from the last few years. On the surface it seems like a return to the Hell’s Kitchen days but I doubt editorial’s intentions and the strength of the creative team to deliver a much needed story of redemption. After Ridley’s run I’m not buying this until I see reviews for the first arc or so.

[Username taken]

Overdesigned costume (that shoulder pad makes NO sense).

Unnecessary 90s-style accessories.

And a premise:

"Banished from the throne and a fugitive in his own homelands, T'Challa still can't leave Wakanda without its sworn protector. A king without a crown, he finds new purpose lurking the streets and shadows of the Wakandan city that bears his father's name, Birnin T'Chaka."

that just SCREAMS "Batman ripoff".

How much do you want to bet this "new take on Wakanda" will make "Birnin T'Chaka" a Gotham-style corrupt cesspool?

I actually thought of that.

It's quite similar to what Bruce is going through.

I don't mind a street level T'Challa though but I do wonder how it's going to work because I want to believe that almost everyone in Wakanda knows what T'Challa looks like without the mask.

[Dariel81]

Meh, not overly impressed with the look or the details for the book either. Sounds very Street level. But not in a good way more like we have spent the last 8 years watching these writers come inNd bring T'Challa down to their OCs level instead of scaling up the threat to T'Challa and this looks to me like its just scaling everything down instead of scaling up.



We've heard this line so many times over the 8 years as well, and never once has it net anything positive

I'm a fan of "Street level" Tchalla.
That version of Tchalla is the reason im a fan

[Ezyo1000]

Overdesigned costume (that shoulder pad makes NO sense).

Unnecessary 90s-style accessories.

And a premise:

"Banished from the throne and a fugitive in his own homelands, T'Challa still can't leave Wakanda without its sworn protector. A king without a crown, he finds new purpose lurking the streets and shadows of the Wakandan city that bears his father's name, Birnin T'Chaka."

that just SCREAMS "Batman ripoff".

How much do you want to bet this "new take on Wakanda" will make "Birnin T'Chaka" a Gotham-style corrupt cesspool?

THIS. we already got the street level part and Liss did it right. I have little Faith in the current crop of writers being put on the Solo. We went from shadow with eyeballs to busy overly designed 90s throw back (though that IS the trend these days. I've been hit with so much 90s nostalgia) just add the damn MCU accents and have the suit light up. That's all They gotta do

[BlackClaw]

I will say the premise with T'Challa being a street level vigilante wanted by authorities has me hopeful

Because despite being exiled he is basically telling the Wakandan authorities that they can go to Hell and he won't lie down with his tail between his legs. Maybe he can tell Folsade to go suck a lemon.

It’s giving vibes similar to Liss’s run.

[chief12d]

Okay well African Gotham needs to be the boarder of Wakanda filled with exile Tribes and Banish Dora's and Hatute Zerase and Outsiders and half breeds and let Tchalla deal with them while trying to unify the two.

I mean are we never going back to space. There still stories to be told about the Wakanda Space Empire.

I honestly think that could be a bit of what we get. Birnin T’Chaka is pretty far from the other population centers in Wakanda. It’s also close to the Jabari-lands and the Mohandan border. I imagine it has a distinctive subculture from the Golden City. The kind of place where you’d see Jabari pilgrims, Hyena Clan merchants, and Mohandan refugees intermingling with people from more mainstream tribes. Maybe the city’s in the middle of a huge industrial or construction boom and that’s causing cultural and political tension with the incompetent democracy at the heart of it all.

This could be a real opportunity to show a new corner of Wakanda, where it’s actually wrestling with globalism and tribal integration in a way Birnin Zana hasn’t been shown to. An afrofuturist noir thriller with that kind of cultural setting would slap. It’s a grungier Wakanda that’s admittedly less ideal than we’re used to but it’d make more sense. Of course refugees would have a hard time adjusting to a Wakandan border city, and when you throw in other cults and an infant democracy you’re setting yourself up for problems.

I think as a premise it depends on where they go. I would hope this isn’t as basic as T’Challa realizing not all his chieftains are good people and having to shut down generic corruption.

[BlkGldBlu]

I honestly think that could be a bit of what we get. Birnin T’Chaka is pretty far from the other population centers in Wakanda. It’s also close to the Jabari-lands and the Mohandan border. I imagine it has a distinctive subculture from the Golden City. The kind of place where you’d see Jabari pilgrims, Hyena Clan merchants, and Mohandan refugees intermingling with people from more mainstream tribes. This could be a real opportunity to show a new corner of Wakanda, where it’s actually wrestling with globalism and tribal integration in a way Birnin Zana or Azzaria haven’t been shown to.

THIS^
I wouldn't mind a small Madipor Wakanda like place, but it would have to be so removed from the main Wakanda to not defile or pose a security risk.

But one could claim the security risk and such is just the level of Drama Marvel and fans maybe looking for.

[Gessela]

Batman called he wants his plot back.

GI Joe called and they are happy T'Challa could use the leftovers from old Joes and Cobra figure parts.

Yep, that suit is definitely on some "Go Joe!", and not something that says sleek and stealthy, big black cat to me.

[Ezyo1000]

Still waiting on decent news on the new run.

Costume is overdesigned imo (daggers on his chest strap and one mad max soulderpad In an attempt not to be seen/noticed? Huh.) but as someone said I guess it's more alt costume fodder for things like video games (the disgraced T'Challa costume I guess lol)

Lurking the streets of Wakanda won't equate to super-powered fights most likely so I expect more goon slam Gary moments.
Gonna pass till it's proven good.

As MOS said its hells kitchen all over again but this time likey with a parasitic setting/support characters.

Eve seems nice tho and atleast she said so.ething positabout the character.

I did notice that the article listed all of Coats sussesors as previous lore contributors and failed to mention Priest or Hudlin at all

It's what they do. That marvel voices did the same thing. Left out Hudlin all together and priest was listed as if he is in the same level as those clowns

[4sake Baned]

Alright thats great homes, we finally have new info on the book



And our first look at the new costume

VAST improvement

[Vanguard]

I'm a fan of "Street level" Tchalla.
That version of Tchalla is the reason im a fan

Not a fan of street level. I actually take it as a slight. He’s a bigger threat than that, and he should be. Not here for the street level sh**. I hope the premise is much more broad than that. Street level takes him down a notch. Not a good thing.

I really hope she threw street in the teaser as more of a plot description not a label. He also looks too skinny.

[MindofShadow]

I mean, the rational place to go with this premise is Wakandans start to praise his "new hero" keeping certain streets safe

the threat ends up bigger than t'challa realizes

tchalla steps said threat to Wakanda as a whole, the people welcome him back as protector properly

aka from vlad to kingpin but wakandan.

but i mean, its BP, nothign has been rational for over a decade now.

[chief12d]

Not a fan of street level. I actually take it as a slight. He’s a bigger threat than that, and he should be. Not here for the street level sh**. I hope the premise is much more broad than that. Street level takes him down a notch. Not a good thing. He should be feared.

I really hope she threw street in the teaser as more of a plot description not a label. He also looks too skinny.

I’m ok with street level if we’re getting skill instead. We haven’t seen T’Challa in a compelling h2h fight in a minute. If we got more of that and him outthinking his enemies I’m fine with a bit less kinetic energy blasts. But hopefully we’ll get opportunities for both. Ewing confirmed there’s gonna be mystical stuff happening in her run so T’Challa should eventually face threats where punches and strategy might not be enough.

Honestly I think the bigger concern is whether T’Challa will be allowed to be competent by himself. I don’t have an issue with him having friends in his corner similar to the current Moon Knight run. But it’d be frustrating if all this hype is made about him in exile just to end up relying on a new slate of mediocre OCs. Let T’Challa assemble a small squad of established side characters in Birnin T’Chaka and make at most two local allies. Then have one or two characters to act as a window into what’s going on with the Parliament. We really don’t need 6 more OCs or to give every other supporting character an arc that gives them personal beef with T’Challa. We need to actually sit with T’Challa’s cast and develop them beyond their introductory arcs without compromising his character with retcons.

[chief12d]

I mean, the rational place to go with this premise is Wakandans start to praise his "new hero" keeping certain streets safe

the threat ends up bigger than t'challa realizes

tchalla steps said threat to Wakanda as a whole, the people welcome him back as protector properly

aka from vlad to kingpin but wakandan.

but i mean, its BP, nothign has been rational for over a decade now.

That’s what should happen. He has to work against the government to save the day and redeems himself, shifting the country back to some kind of shared power system between the crown and the Parliament. Which I guess would be the constitutional monarchy we established under Coates but never explored lol. But I’m not getting my hopes up tbh, I don’t see Marvel undoing the democracy.

[Vanguard]

I’m ok with street level if we’re getting skill instead. We haven’t seen T’Challa in a compelling h2h fight in a minute. If we got more of that and him outthinking his enemies I’m fine with a bit less kinetic energy blasts. But hopefully we’ll get opportunities for both. Ewing confirmed there’s gonna be mystical stuff happening in her run so T’Challa should eventually face threats where punches and strategy might not be enough.

Honestly I think the bigger concern is whether T’Challa will be allowed to be competent by himself. I don’t have an issue with him having friends in his corner similar to the current Moon Knight run. But it’d be frustrating if all this hype is made about him in exile just to end up relying on a new slate of mediocre OCs. Let T’Challa assemble a small squad of established side characters in Birnin T’Chaka and make at most two local allies. Then have one or two characters to act as a window into what’s going on with the Parliament. We really don’t need 6 more OCs or to give every other supporting character an arc that gives them personal beef with T’Challa. We need to actually sit with T’Challa’s cast and develop them beyond their introductory arcs without compromising his character with retcons.

I’m with you on TChalla showing versatility. If there’s a blend of both high end tech and competent street showings I guess I’m okay with it. When I hear about the mystical side, I’m thinking that brings more Shuri into play.