T'Challa: The Black Panther Appreciation 2024

[4sake Baned]

As someone who’s half-African I get that. But I’m not gonna pretend that most people do and that large swaths of the audience are emotionally intelligent and media literate enough to handle that kind of subject matter, on both ends of the spectrum.

Hunter’s a character designed to invite those tougher conversations about identity and belonging in ways I generally don’t think Marvel is equipped to handle, hence why I’d rather see the character raceswapped in an adaptation rather than not used at all. Could be me overthinking the topic but I see the character as a lightning rod for controversy and bad faith takes if put on a big enough platform, and I agree a lot of it is a result of the “it’s a mantle” discourse.

But as RJ showed, I think there are ways to use the character effectively as is. Not sure how his work would be received if it reached more people but it’s hard to deny the care that went into the sibling dynamic he crafted between T’Challa, Hunter, and Shuri, which was among the best takes in any medium

Him being white is a probably a big part of why he doesn’t get used in modern comics and is ignored in BP media. I don’t see it as fundamental because he wouldn’t be treated very differently even if he were a black African. Wakandans aren’t anti-white, they’re anti-not Wakandan.

The only thing him being white provides is an easy explanation for how he was able to be in spaces your average Wakandan agent wouldn’t imo. That’s also easy to sidestep by focusing more on the death squad aspect of the Hatut Zeraze than the infiltrator element.

But I definitely get that it would spark some level of controversy either way and that something is lost by changing his race. Still, I don’t think that with the modern push in some corners for a white BP (the Ryan Gosling meme, the white BP fan art) that Hunter becomes a major player. This is what I was talking about earlier in reference to Marvel letting old BP story elements fall into obscurity in favor of newer stuff.

Ur definitely NOT overthinking it. Controversial opinion. Hunter like Kasper Cole is under thought, thrown together & some what lame lazy concepts. Which why both are under developed & get type cast in the same wack role over again for the last 20 years when they are used . ( some of that is serial fiction but the point still stands) Being white evil/anti hero BP & mixed NY BP aren’t compelling for more then 3-6 issues. Unless they’re pop up antagonist. Now if they were combine form jump those two characters come be 1 great one. Hunter with Kasper visual design, living a double life with Wakandan wife & maybe kid/Kids. But also with NYC gf ( maybe the same one Kasper had but the race there doesn’t matter). You could’ve used Kasper father criminal background for Hunter bio parent background on why their plane crashed. Make the mom a mother to gf instead of his mom or aunt to one of his bio parents & boom to so-so character to a great one with a motivation then BP sucks I do better & I’m white lol. You could also have delve into how living this double life affects his mental and emotional state plus with the mountains of wet works, lieing & spying he’s doing..I have whole story arcs work out in my head for BP & his supporting cast I don’t see as trash.

[4sake Baned]

The funny thing is those characters do in fact have secret sibling characters.

Tru lol & told ppl about their secret fam. In my experience ppl usually really hate Teresa Parker ( I don’t mind her) almost as much as Hunter lol. The reaction 616 Arno is wtf were they high & what on lol..

[4sake Baned]

Maybe just MAYBE those folks need to be more concerned why a Black Panther book in the past 8 years had rape camps, black male bashing, T'Challa being talked down to, getting beat up by Cap America and tossed out of his own kingdom by a wannabe Amanda Waller.

Because some of those same folks would have no issue with T'Challa's ex laying in bed or being with CERTAIN WHITE X-MEN.
Or the various black shows that had black women throwing themselves into the arms of white men. While calling black men with white women everything in the BOOK.

Oh maybe you should tell those folks about how much STUFF has been taken away from not just T'Challa given to others including Shuri.

Didn't T'Challa make Falcon's wings unlike the movie?
Didn't T'Challa make a lot of stuff in comics?
Wasn't T'Challa way smarter than his movie and novel versions?

But a white Hunter is the real issue.

I sure there are folks who feel the SAME way about his sister existing.

Ppl I mostly talk to don’t read American comics like that or at all. They don’t want to read about rape camp trash, random white bro to African Kings, the kingdom is disarray & non that trash. So when ask for recommends I have to give them warning or what to check out & give a chance to do.

[Ezyo1000]

Ur definitely NOT overthinking it. Controversial opinion. Hunter like Kasper Cole is under thought, thrown together & some what lame lazy concepts. Which why both are under developed & get type cast in the same wack role over again for the last 20 years when they are used . ( some of that is serial fiction but the point still stands) Being white evil/anti hero BP & mixed NY BP aren’t compelling for more then 3-6 issues. Unless they’re pop up antagonist. Now if they were combine form jump those two characters come be 1 great one. Hunter with Kasper visual design, living a double life with Wakandan wife & maybe kid/Kids. But also with NYC gf ( maybe the same one Kasper had but the race there doesn’t matter). You could’ve used Kasper father criminal background for Hunter bio parent background on why their plane crashed. Make the mom a mother to gf instead of his mom or aunt to one of his bio parents & boom to so-so character to a great one with a motivation then BP sucks I do better & I’m white lol. You could also have delve into how living this double life affects his mental and emotional state plus with the mountains of wet works, lieing & spying he’s doing..I have whole story arcs work out in my head for BP & his supporting cast I don’t see as trash.

This could be pretty interesting. Frankly what happened to Hunter (especially with what Sam cap book did to him) has been character assassination, and needs a revamp. Just like how all T'Challas rogues need to be updated and revamped.

I don't blame Priest for the addition of Hunter or Kasper, it was a different time back then and in the case of Hunter what he did was pretty clever. But now it's time for something different. Your idea could work

[Mantis-Ray]

Tru lol & told ppl about their secret fam. In my experience ppl usually really hate Teresa Parker ( I don’t mind her) almost as much as Hunter lol. The reaction 616 Arno is wtf were they high & what on lol..

Yeah Hunter is a "better than he sounds" type character. Like when you first hear about him you automatically assume he's that cliche played straight, when he's a deconstruction of the general concept of the white savor and adoptive kid tropes. Of course your mileage may vary on it, but at least he's not the "better sibling".

Oh yeah Arno Stark, man Tony's been racked with some weird family retcons.

[MindofShadow]

Huh so thats why I can't seem to find the 80's mini in any recent collections. This makes a lot of sense now.

.

I think it is in here but I can check when I get home

https://www.amazon.com/BLACK-PANTHER...ps%2C80&sr=8-5

[Emperorjones]

I recall reading once that Don McGregor pushed back on attempts to include more white characters during his Black Panther run because it wasn't organic to his stories. Jack Kirby did introduce a white character Abner Little when he took over, and I see Christopher Priest creating Everett Ross, Hunter, and even Nicki (T'Challa's former college lover) to make the book more approachable for white readers. The way I see it, is that Priest was writing to the comic readership of his time-or how it was considered to be-and so he brought in white characters (with Ross being the initial surrogate character) and injected some cringe racial humor at times-as a way to let white readers know that his book would not be a preachy soapbox of Black racial grievance. Hudlin's approach was different. I felt that Hudlin wanted to expand the readership, and get more Black readers, so he wrote in a way that he thought would do so. He didn't wait to make T'Challa the point of view character, because he didn't feel a need to ease (white) readers into his stories.

[Emperorjones]

Top 10 Black Panther Story Arcs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk_N-2chwWQ

[Ezyo1000]

I recall reading once that Don McGregor pushed back on attempts to include more white characters during his Black Panther run because it wasn't organic to his stories. Jack Kirby did introduce a white character Abner Little when he took over, and I see Christopher Priest creating Everett Ross, Hunter, and even Nicki (T'Challa's former college lover) to make the book more approachable for white readers. The way I see it, is that Priest was writing to the comic readership of his time-or how it was considered to be-and so he brought in white characters (with Ross being the initial surrogate character) and injected some cringe racial humor at times-as a way to let white readers know that his book would not be a preachy soapbox of Black racial grievance. Hudlin's approach was different. I felt that Hudlin wanted to expand the readership, and get more Black readers, so he wrote in a way that he thought would do so. He didn't wait to make T'Challa the point of view character, because he didn't feel a need to ease (white) readers into his stories.

Yeah I think it's a state of the time frame that they were doing their run. Priest was a professional comic writer, and was trying to get people to care about T'Challa so he need he has to appeal to the majority demographic, and Hudlin was well known outside of comics so he could bring in new readers.

I think both their approaches made sense at the time. I think Ross and Nicki being connected to T'Challa was kinda drug put more than necessary but overall, Ross retelling allowed for some really cool scenes of outsmarting people

[Marvell2100]

Top 10 Black Panther Story Arcs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk_N-2chwWQ

I'm shocked and happy that this dude didn't have anything by Coates in his Top 10. That said, Doomwar is not a top 5 or 10 BP story and SWaD should have been #1 followed by The Client at #2.

[Mantis-Ray]

I think it is in here but I can check when I get home

https://www.amazon.com/BLACK-PANTHER...ps%2C80&sr=8-5

Oh it is there thats great, thanks for pointing it out man.

Thats the last classic BP collection I need to get.

[Redjack]

gonna be an interesting summer.

[KingNomarch]

gonna be an interesting summer.

BP relaunch with Redjack at the helm? A BP centered team book? Mini series? The wait is going to kill me but I know it will be worth it

[BlackClaw]

BP relaunch with Redjack at the helm? A BP centered team book? Mini series? The wait is going to kill me but I know it will be worth it

Fingers crossed on him being the writer of the ea black Panther game.

[Ezyo1000]

Fingers crossed on him being the writer of the ea black Panther game.

The EA Game or an animated series to get the most bang for the buck and exposure for BP. Even better if it were an animated movie