Black Panther Appreciation: Wakanda Forever!

[FLEX HECTIC]

While King of The Dead has many fans Googling Egyptian coffee table book references sometimes it is best to go back to why Wakanda and it's ever-changing deconstructed history is such a hot button!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonisation_of_Africa


When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby co-created this magnificent character perhaps they too were exploring concepts and ideologies concerning Africa based upon what limited knowledge they had of that vast continent!


Considering how many attributes that they gave the Black Panther they can be forgiven most of the early stereotypes they introduced within the story arcs!


When Black writers like Priest, Hudlin and McDuffie helmed the character they would often bring into focus certain things that many black readers understood clearly that might have flown over the heads of those not in the know of specific things that related to black culture!


The problems that did arise is that sometimes the Black Panther seemed more African American than African but at least they were moving more towards an authentication of the character's true values as a king, a husband, a scientist and a super hero!


Despite the fact the character was created by white Americans and spoke regular english as a preferred language it gained a cult following of diehard fans wanting to see the best that this experience could offer!


By challenging the Fantastic Four with minimal powers a precedent was set that would disrupt the balance forever within the Marvel universe... You don't just crawl out of a jungle half dressed pointing a spear and do something that bold unless you have a history that makes such a reality remotely possible!


T'challa was shown to be familiar with advanced tech as if this was his birthright therefore during all that African colonization Wakanda had to be set apart to display such ingenuity by someone willing to duel it out with a cosmic rays enhanced first family of super heroes!


A couple of centuries does not cut it because then all of Africa would be on that same level seeing Wakanda do it just yesterday in the midst of the slave trade!


In the super hero world just as you account for all the things that have gone on in New York City like the World Trade Center tragedy you also have to account for the black experience either African American or African when scripting black characters even if the thought scares you or throws you off your game!


Blue Marvel did this magnificently...

[MouserGrey]

Please do not refer to Wakanda as a colony. It offends my childhood memories and dreams of Wakanda. And where are the scans or quotes? Remember, Wakanda was accepted as cool long before Hudlin! And the only thing I don't really like about where T'Challa is right now is the light armor. And as far as the mystic mumbo jumbo, it was part of the Wakandan mythos for decades. And in a world where your faith and belief in a diety can pay of tangible dividends Wakandans of course would explore and embrace this. Besides, the 10,000 years is now because of Bast anyway in a manner that has yet to be explored by any writer. Don't remember off hand, but whoever it was wrote the 4 part limited about panther and the panther god avatar was my favorite for a long time. The Panther God is still a mutable concept as it has not been explored much. The question could still be addressed by any writer whether the Panther God is Bast, or the other way around. T'Challa and Wakanda were cool before the 10,000 years no matter what some people seem to think. Whether or not he is cooler now, for me, remains to be seen. No one has really done anything with it. Not even Hudlin, really. He could have taken the 10,000 years and ran with it and built us a world of Wakanda. But he didn't. He front loaded it into his run, but didn't explore the new world he created. Is it any wonder for anyone who has read BP for the last 10 years how he has come to be where he is? No one has filled in that 10,000 year gap. It was just dropped on us and never really explored. Just alluded to once in a while. It would have been great if it had been given a more solid foundation that was cool enough no one could F#$k with it. But instead we got the marriage. Don't get me wrong, I liked Hudlin's run. But he left it wide open for KoD by not giving us a history lesson or two about Wakanda. I like KoD. But I hear that some people don't.

[Mr MajestiK]

Please do not refer to Wakanda as a colony. It offends my childhood memories and dreams of Wakanda. And where are the scans or quotes? Remember, Wakanda was accepted as cool long before Hudlin! And the only thing I don't really like about where T'Challa is right now is the light armor.

T'Challa hasn't used his "light armor" post Hudlin's departure from chronicling his adventures so I'm not sure why you're even referencing this at this juncture.

Much like Christopher Priest's introduction of the Vibranium soled boots and Vibranium weave laced habit, Hudlin's introduction of the light armored addition to T'Challa's sartorial combat ensemble was a visually appealing component to thre eponymous hero. I never really saw why anyone would complain about it's inclusion to the BP mythos in the first place.

T'Challa and Wakanda were cool before the 10,000 years no matter what some people seem to think.

Is there anyone really disputing the coolness of T'Challa at this point?

Whether or not he is cooler now, for me, remains to be seen. No one has really done anything with it.

I beg to disagree.

Christopher J. Priest brought T'Challa back into the 616 MU in a manner that reintroduced his character to a new and more sophisticated audience who may not have been aware of his overwhelming coolness as established by Lee and Kirby back in 1966.

So when you say that "No one has really done anything with it." I'm really not sure what angle you're coming from?

To me, what's "cooler now" is the fact that Wakanda is front and center in the 616 MU by virtue of Hickman making it so within the pages of New Avengers and that they're seen as being fully capable of not only defending their nation, but striking back at anyone stupid enough to wage unprovoked war against them.

If that isn't "cool" I don't know what is.

Not even Hudlin, really. He could have taken the 10,000 years and ran with it and built us a world of Wakanda. But he didn't.

Reginald Hudlin did what he could within the time frame that he had available to him and for that, many a BP fan should be grateful.

But for debates sake, let's put a few things in perspective.

Hudlin was practically carrying almost all of the weight on his shoulders with the late, great Dwayne McDuffie shouldering some of that burden via featuring T'Challa and Ororo in the Fantastic Four book as well.

Under the circumstances, what would you have expected Hudlin to do more of than he was doing at the time?

He front loaded it into his run, but didn't explore the new world he created. Is it any wonder for anyone who has read BP for the last 10 years how he has come to be where he is?

So what exactly are you saying here?

Are you blaming all of Marvel Editorial's tinkering with the BP mythos post Hudlin on Hudlin himself?

No one has filled in that 10,000 year gap. It was just dropped on us and never really explored. Just alluded to once in a while.

And whose fault is that?

It would have been great if it had been given a more solid foundation that was cool enough no one could F#$k with it. But instead we got the marriage. Don't get me wrong, I liked Hudlin's run. But he left it wide open for KoD by not giving us a history lesson or two about Wakanda. I like KoD. But I hear that some people don't.

This is where you've lost me.

What more solid foundation where you expecting Hudlin to have laid whilst working with an IP belonging to Marvel that could be reversed at the drop of a hat?

The marriage between T'Challa and Ororo was something that should and could have served as a foundational bridge for unity between humans and mutants within the 616 MU.

Hudlin's daring in writing that story showed that he was a helluva lot more committed to writing stories that could arguably have created a lot more of a positive environment within the 616 MU than is the case now as well as establishing another family on par with Marvel's First Family, the Fantastic Four.

Unfortunately, Marvel decided to go the "Schism" route in more ways than one.

As for where the BP mythos go from here, time will tell but suffice it to say that BP enthusiasts need to start becoming a lot more pro-active as regards getting their feelings across to Marvel rather than just complaining on message boards.

Peace.

[JaggedFel]

Meh Marvel is never going to care what we say. Marvel and DC jobs these days are to simply maintain copyrights and not be too much of a drag on corporate profits so that the material can be mined for movies, tv shows and videogames.

[FLEX HECTIC]

Without the help of Google most people cannot name all the presidents of the United States in order much less whether they were democratic, republican or Whig Party!


And who has time to detail all 10,000 years worth in a Black Panther solo comic of 23 limited pages!


I'm sure Thor has great great great great grandparents before Odin but I don't care to do the research I just pick up right where he gets his hammer and starts hammering stuff!


The fictional concept is to be as super fantastic as possible without losing too much plausibility while fitting into a make believe world!


As far as the mystic mumbo jumbo you have Bast living in the sewer basement able to stand next to Reed Richards literally while bestowing King of The Dead powers on T'challa!


Did Tony Stark stand next to Spiderman while he got bitten by a radioactive spider and hold his hand through the life changing ordeal or was this best done in private as an intimate experience as most super heroes are afforded?


Bast was also able to be manipulated to assist Doom during Doomwar right after he held Storm and T'challa's mother at gunpoint... Are you sure about this cat god's loyalty because he/she allowed an outsider to murder some of Wakanda's most important citizens with no retribution inside a warrior nation!


It is clear that most writers do not handle the mystic mumbo jumbo well so Bast sticks out like an easy solution to deconstruct Black Panther and make it a plot rescuing device!


Sure T'challa was cool before the 10,000 year additive but with it now he is EPIC with a larger cinematic scope!


"6 issue miniseries then turned into an ongoing..."

[MouserGrey]

O.K. then. I agree with Flex. Wakanda was a colony and needed a 10,000 years head start retcon to make the BP mythos viable. KoD sucks. And I will stop supporting NA with my $ until and only if T'challa kills Namor.

[Zuri]

Without the help of Google most people cannot name all the presidents of the United States in order much less whether they were democratic, republican or Whig Party!


And who has time to detail all 10,000 years worth in a Black Panther solo comic of 23 limited pages!


I'm sure Thor has great great great great grandparents before Odin but I don't care to do the research I just pick up right where he gets his hammer and starts hammering stuff!


The fictional concept is to be as super fantastic as possible without losing too much plausibility while fitting into a make believe world!

agree 100%

[FLEX HECTIC]

I still remember at Comic-con at The Antidote Trust booth when this late great gentleman right here debated my son back and forth on Ben 10 and I leaned over and told my son that he writes the show... Wise ahead of his time and a comic book scholar on every level I especially love what he says around the 3:00 mark about Black Panther!


http://blacksuperherodoc.com/?p=500

[MouserGrey]

If a writer were really BOSS he or she would study African linguistics so well that they invented a Wakandan language as if other languages came from Wakanda first!


Like the Navi in Avatar or the various languages used in Star Wars... If you have a 10,000 year head start everyone else would be playing catch up to you not the other way around!


What is missing from the world building of Wakanda is that extra special something you see added to the likes of Lord of The Rings or World of Warcraft!


My wife speaks about 8 different dialects from the South African region although I think she might be stretching the truth on that... Lol!


But when she speaks to family back home over the phone she switches up the flow depending upon if she is talking to one of her brothers, her sisters or her mom!


I hear words from Afrikaans to Sotho to English mangled up there between laughs and strange glances at me from time to time... When I learn to translate that I'm gonna check that ish she aint slick!


The Black Panther as a character should demand that you have at least some basic understandings of Africa beyond the basic Egyptian coffee table books!

So which is it Flex? Do you want a Wakanda world built with language and history that has to be referenced and googled or not? I'm confused. As a huge fan of Lord of the Rings I know philology was Tokien's passion and Middle Earth was built around languages. It took him decades and he never stopped filling it in. If he is the kind of point man you a recommending, I agree. I just think it should have begun with issue #9 of Hudlin's run is all.

[Mr MajestiK]

I still remember at Comic-con at The Antidote Trust booth when this late great gentleman right here debated my son back and forth on Ben 10 and I leaned over and told my son that he writes the show... Wise ahead of his time and a comic book scholar on every level I especially love what he says around the 3:00 mark about Black Panther!


http://blacksuperherodoc.com/?p=500

Dwayne McDuffie's death was a major blow to the comic book industry on so many different levels.

[Smoov-E]

I like how for the last couple of pages Flex has just been, "Hudlin is king! I ignore everything else"

To quote the late great McDuffie, "you need to take those five dollar words and make some change son"

[Zuri]

what McDuffie said is the truth and it even extends to Wakanda... for years it has been established that the Wakandan military has tech superior to even the U.S government but once Wakanda attack Atlantis and left it in ruins people started saying Atlantis got jobbed... Apparently the Wakandas did not have the right complexion to defeat Atlantis... that's the sort of thing that needs to get eliminated from comics fandom.

[Danvidar]

what McDuffie said is the truth and it even extends to Wakanda... for years it has been established that the Wakandan military has tech superior to even the U.S government but once Wakanda attack Atlantis and left it in ruins people started saying Atlantis got jobbed... Apparently the Wakandas did not have the right complexion to defeat Atlantis... that's the sort of thing that needs to get eliminated from comics fandom.

I don't mean to start anything but Atlantis was jobbed, ironicly in the same way Wakanda sometimes is. Atlantis has advanced tech and military cabability. A surprise attack by the equally advanced Wakandans could do alot of damage, but to completly destroy the whole city? The atleanteans were presented as a walkover nonthreat, which diminishes what should have been a victory over a worthy foe to a one sided curbstomp. Which is more satisfying a hardwon victory over a equaly matched foe or an eady victory over an apparently helpless opponent?

[FLEX HECTIC]

Thanks Genki... OOPS I mean Smoov-E for the acknowledgment!


MouserGray here is what I will do once I'm hired as the "Point Man" for Black Panther...


1. Christopher Priest's version with that Mary Sue swagger that a lot of people hate because Black Panther is supposed to be hated on for his questionable tactics that only a few super heroes would get why he is the way that he is!

2. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby opened up a can of worms with Black Panther testing himself against the Fantastic Four out of the blue which lead into the spy games he plays with the Avengers in later updates... He should do something like this regularly just to piss off other heroes off at random like the X-men Danger Room tests!

3. Hudlin used his cinematic appeal as a director to introduce Black Panther in a way that he thought was best to film the movie which did become a hit cartoon but the beginning showed invaders getting welcomed Wakandan style... A 23 page comic could never do this justice but if the actual vibranium meteor was shown striking the land of Wakanda and picked up from there it would be epic by default as it roamed through the passing years kicking butt and taking names!

4. The heart shape herb has Popeye's spinach written all over it and could endear Black Panther to soccer moms worldwide and at Disneyland's strategically located merchandise shops who need a ready made enticement to get their children to eat their leafy greens... Mom: "If you eat your heart shaped herb cereal you will grow up to be as big and peak human as the Black Panther!" (Cereal... Salad... Whatever)

5. In the Neal Degrasse Tyson era where black scientists are coming out of the woodwork Shadow Physics is ripe for further exploration even if the original story arc Doomwar did not go so well in Black Panther's favor... If ever there was a Mary Sue plot rescuing device this was it because out could be whatever a writer wanted to pull out of their @$$ at a moments notice... Dark matter, dark energy, closet space sized black holes, etc. etc!

6. 10,000 years is really nothing in outer space time but on planet earth it is everything so when you place the history of a warrior nation beyond the reach of colonization it in and of itself speaks volumes towards the hero that they would produce in the Black Panther... We are ready for whoever, whenever, however or whatever they want to bring because we have been doing this for like ever and adapt readily on the fly!

7. The Doras are a great idea that in this day and age could be misinterpreted as sexist if not careful how you present them but in my fan fiction way back when on the pre-rebooted forum I had them earn a high rank in society by their warrior like actions and gave them the unusual option to pick their next queen for themselves among their ranks... This means that the acting king of Wakanda had to marry the best warrior among them regardless of his own preferences and opens up the political ramifications for choosing outside spouses... If they are a warrior nation with ideals and concepts before every other known civilization why not have the women by right of combat chose the last girl standing instead of the king choosing the cutest trophy wife spoiling the bloodline with a mother who could not teach the next king how to fight nor pass on the genes to do so... Oprah and them would love this part by default!

8. Bast poses a problem in the Marvel universe because it is like having coffee literally with Jesus so it is best to not have him there like Obi Wan talking to Luke Skywalker as a jedi ghost sitting on a rock sucking all the air out of what could be a great story... Religion is such a touchy issue that it's best to have it as a backdrop rather than in the foreground I mean if you can text your god from your Kimoyo Card you are way too deep in silly territory... Not to mention that you rob Wakanda of it's glorious mythology and make it an Egyptian side grade full of hidden knowledge that they did not earn by true study... Don't do your own homework kids just wait for a fugitive god to rub heart blood on your face and then BOOM you are genius level intellect as the moist blood dries on your forehead like some sacrificial occult practice that parents would love their consumer in training child to adopt for years to come!

9. In my fan fiction I originally killed off Shuri very early because deep in my heart I knew she posed a problem to the Black Panther mythos like Prince Harry or Prince William trying to poison each other for dibs on the throne... A younger sibling run monarchy comes off bad because it was an attempt to free up Black Panther from kingly duties so that he could play super hero and then his sister who is queen still plays super hero herself DUH... In the world of comic book escapism this scenario has run it's course so I played with more fan fiction by having Shuri enlist as a Dora in training not to marry her brother but to earn her place as something more than just a retcon... She was best friends with Nakia and Okoye which gives the opportunity to flesh out all the characters and give them each a better purpose inside of Wakanda than having writers show T'challa disobeying his kid sister as if she doe not exist... If she was his older sister then by birthright okay but kid sister queen's is so lame let it go... See #8 because she still has never earned her rank among the Dora sisterhood by any trials that they have dished out for her to do!

10. The rogues gallery of Black Panther is much like the marriage to Storm where the writers have literally quit on them and have not worked them well enough to make them plug and play characters as other A-list super heroes have done... Erik Killmonger should be King of The Dead just by his name alone (Kill + Monger) and characters like Reverend Achebe, Moses Magnum, Malice, Dr. Solomon Prey, Nightshade and Princess Zonda should be regular foils like Doom or Doctor Octopus are in other heroes books... How can you play as a child in the sandbox with a character that does not have his own set of villains to play against... Man Ape in the video game just stop it before someone gets their feelings hurt Donald Sterling style!

[MouserGrey]

1. Good

2. okay

3. Explain more, please. Not sure what you mean.

4. Once upon a time T'Challa only had to ingest the herb once. I don't want a power up out of nowhere cuz T'Challa has to eat some herbs quick to defeat....

5. Don't forget the mystic mumbo jumbo that is the other third of shadow physics. (vibranium, physics, and....wait for it......magic.)

6. 1000 years would have been sufficient.

7. Dora are frakken cool

8. And yet Obi wan was part of the story. One of the reasons Star Wars was so popular is because of the Force. I believe you know the tag line "may the force be with you." Huge.

9. Shuri is f*%&$%g cool....now.

10. Rogues gallery, rogues gallery, rogues gallery. Is Namor one of his rogues now?

11. Nano vibranium whiskers and tail to further enhance both BP's already considerable balance and agility. Nano sized so that they cannot be seen and fetishized.

12. Reactive energy shield plates so they no longer need bulky armor hampering their moves. Kinda like the abrams tank but as force fields.

13. Another tour of Wakanda. Much of it hasn't been seen or referenced since the 70's.

14. A mutant elephant with telepathy that acts a shepherd to the other pachyderms. Just made this one up on the fly.

!5. A quest for the source of the vibranium.

16. More conversations with the old BPs KotD style.

17. An water color illustrated coffee table book on the philology of the Wakandan language as well as one on the unique flora and fauna of the region.