Black Panther Appreciation: Wakanda Forever!

[XPac]

Not based on the way Coates set the history. He didn't say Bast and company descended from gods. They were just normal humans who were heroes of their civilization. Based on that, the collective power should have gone to Tchalla and Shuri.

They weren't exactly clear on the details of the whole process and we know nothing specific about the people who were transformed into the gods, but I don't it's just a matter of the person being a hero to the Wakandans. If it were, T'Challa and probably other BPs before him probably would have been transformed into gods long before this.

[KOSLOX]

Not based on the way Coates set the history. He didn't say Bast and company descended from gods. They were just normal humans who were heroes of their civilization. Based on that, the collective power should have gone to Tchalla and Shuri.

Taken in whole, his progression of Shuri clearly should have resulted in her becoming ascended. Avengers of the New Age was a horribly muddled mess. It's pretty obvious based on the first conversation about Godhood, that he had a crumb of a story idea about having Storm ascend, but had no plan to actually get her there (or at least not one that made any narrative sense or involved story cohesion.)

This dude is such a bad comic writer. It's a good thing his new series' artist is doing better carrying the book so far, I'm betting it is relying much more on the traditional "Marvel Method".

[MindofShadow]

Well, that's really disappointing.



At least with Coates, there's an attempt at Wakandan world building, which is why I prefer this arc over the first two. At least there's an attempt to explore what Wakanda is.



I suspect he can't do three books at once. I know some people were hoping that would mean he would drop Black Panther, but it certainly doesn't make sense to stop a guaranteed book for something that will struggle to make 12 issues.

Black Panther Vol. 1 #10 - This World Shall Die!



The opening of this issue reminds me way too much of the Avengers opening:



I'm a big fan of the Baxter Building podcast, which reviews old Fantastic Four issues. One of the things one of the hosts likes to do is, whenever there is an intro like that, he treats the whole thing as the title of the issue. Anyway, last issue ended with T'Challa surrendering. This issue opens with him punching out some Sudanese dudes. He then steals their plane and flies to Wakanda.

Meanwhile, the Wakandan security are complaining that they didn't disobey the royal family because J'Karra has escaped. Then they're fighting him, trying to slow him down, but he's unfortunately invulnerable. Up top, N'Gassi is scolding Joshua M'Tobo, I mean Itobo, I mean Kirby forgot what the guy's name was. Itobo says, as a doctor, he couldn't have killed him. However, if J'Karra reaches the mound, it'll cause a chain reaction that cracks the Earth like an egg. Luckily, Itobo has come up with a cure. Like I said, I like this guy. He's good at what he does. In fact, he almost succeeds. Luckily, T'Challa jumps in to save the day. It's actually drawn comically as he jumps over them, grabs the injector for the cure, and sprints ahead. There's a struggle, T'Challa falls, gets back up, and then saves the day at the last second.

This issue felt very rushed - particularly the ending. In some ways, the fact that T'Challa won so easily helps him stand out, but it really wasn't that dramatic considering how dramatic everything had been before. I also wonder if there's any follow up or if we all move on and ignore the contributions of the Musketeers.

Yeah, weird arc really. Still better than the first one.

I am looking forward to the kiber the cruel arc, because I literally have no recollection of it at all. I think i skimmed it once but usually whne I get this far into Kirby's run, I check out due to extreme boredom.

[MindofShadow]

They weren't exactly clear on the details of the whole process and we know nothing specific about the people who were transformed into the gods, but I don't it's just a matter of the person being a hero to the Wakandans. If it were, T'Challa and probably other BPs before him probably would have been transformed into gods long before this.

"We know nothing specific" just about sums up Coates whole entire run. It is vague ideas that he himself doesn't know the answer too. He asks questions with no answers.

We know nothing specific about the new government.

We know nothing specific about Mother or the Djalia or why Shuri was chosen (unless I missed it in the mumbo jumbo, which is possible)

We really don't know anything specific about Shuri's skill set and it just seems to change and evolve based on what the story needs.

We know nothing specific about the deal between T'challa and Aneka.

We know nothing specific about where the Orisha are.

We know nothing specific about how Bast and the others came into existence.

We know nothing specific on why a country that generally disliked and didn't trust Storm when magically start worshiping here as a god and then magically the prayers give her a power up. If they were miffed and pissed at Bast and the royals for what happened over the years in Wakanda... why didn't that extend to Storm? Her "team" flooded Wakanda. She never once defended Wakanda from anything that wasn't personally connected to her.

It would have actually been a much better story, for a black panther book, for the Wakandans to turn to the Lion God, White Gorilla God, Crocodile God, ect resulting in their emergence (hell even all of the, have the tribes go back to the roots)... and there faith is T'challa is what allows him to defeat them and rescue Bast. Proving that he is her most favored son and the true protector of Wakanda.

But instead, we have storm, in a story with a narrative dead end as constructed.

[XPac]

"We know nothing specific" just about sums up Coates whole entire run. It is vague ideas that he himself doesn't know the answer too. He asks questions with no answers.

We know nothing specific about the new government.

We know nothing specific about Mother or the Djalia or why Shuri was chosen (unless I missed it in the mumbo jumbo, which is possible)

We really don't know anything specific about Shuri's skill set and it just seems to change and evolve based on what the story needs.

We know nothing specific about the deal between T'challa and Aneka.

We know nothing specific about where the Orisha are.

We know nothing specific about how Bast and the others came into existence.

We know nothing specific on why a country that generally disliked and didn't trust Storm when magically start worshiping here as a god and then magically the prayers give her a power up. If they were miffed and pissed at Bast and the royals for what happened over the years in Wakanda... why didn't that extend to Storm? Her "team" flooded Wakanda. She never once defended Wakanda from anything that wasn't personally connected to her.

It would have actually been a much better story, for a black panther book, for the Wakandans to turn to the Lion God, White Gorilla God, Crocodile God, ect resulting in their emergence (hell even all of the, have the tribes go back to the roots)... and there faith is T'challa is what allows him to defeat them and rescue Bast. Proving that he is her most favored son and the true protector of Wakanda.

But instead, we have storm, in a story with a narrative dead end as constructed.

As far as the government goes, I'm not sure we need to know anything more than what we're told. People can now vote for leadership but T'Challa is still king. It's still a comic book, not Cspan.

But certainly there are a lot of questions around the mother and the Wakandan gods that have yet to be answered. If they are uncovered overtime cool. If they are never addressed again by the end of the run I'll agree he needed to handle that better.

But as far as Storm specifically goes ... Wakanda has an interesting history of running hot and cold with her. Her being an outsider may have something to do with it. But in the general sense, the masses are pretty fickle to the super hero community. Avengers will get parades one day and protests the next. Might simply be a sort of "what have you done for me lately" thing. The masses like super heroes when it suits the story. Hopefully this will be handled more consistently going forward.

[MindofShadow]

As far as the government goes, I'm not sure we need to know anything more than what we're told. People can now vote for leadership but T'Challa is still king. It's still a comic book, not Cspan.

Where was it shown people can vote? All we got was Chang sitting in a room with his buddies while T'challa blew them off. So, the exact same government as before?

ANd you are right, this isn't Cpan, so the entire season 1 shouldn't have been a story anyway right

[Marvell2100]

As far as the government goes, I'm not sure we need to know anything more than what we're told. People can now vote for leadership but T'Challa is still king. It's still a comic book, not Cspan.

Coates built his whole season 1 storyline around changing the status quo of the Wakandan gov't. He portrayed T'Challa as ineffective and Wakanda as misogynistic due to Wakanda being a male dominated monarchy.

And now none of that matters because Coates moved on from a mess of his own creation?

No wonder he's so eager to tell his space empire story. But he's going to fall into the same trap.

[Ezyo1000]

Not based on the way Coates set the history. He didn't say Bast and company descended from gods. They were just normal humans who were heroes of their civilization. Based on that, the collective power should have gone to Tchalla and Shuri.

Funny how people will spin this however way they please to try and make sense of it. What your said here is true, regular Wakandans turned into gods according to Coates retcon. Then he ignores that and makes it so anyone apparently can ascend to godhood if enough people have faith in them. Being BP is King and protector, HE is the obvious choice

[XPac]

Coates built his whole season 1 storyline around changing the status quo of the Wakandan gov't. He portrayed T'Challa as ineffective and Wakanda as misogynistic due to Wakanda being a male dominated monarchy.

And now none of that matters because Coates moved on from a mess of his own creation?

No wonder he's so eager to tell his space empire story. But he's going to fall into the same trap.

T'Calla was,less effective at the start of the reason because he was dealing with the loss of his sister, and to a lesser degree the loss of his wife. Getting his sister and wife back go a long ways towards fixing that.

And yes, there were some msogynistic people in Wakanda ... the MA killed them. So that was pretty much fixed too.

He moved on from those issues after they resolved. The people who wanted a greater voice in government got it, the DM got their freedom like they wanted, and T'Challa himself got his sister and wife back. Everything was resolved, and they moved on.

[Ezyo1000]

"We know nothing specific" just about sums up Coates whole entire run. It is vague ideas that he himself doesn't know the answer too. He asks questions with no answers.

We know nothing specific about the new government.

We know nothing specific about Mother or the Djalia or why Shuri was chosen (unless I missed it in the mumbo jumbo, which is possible)

We really don't know anything specific about Shuri's skill set and it just seems to change and evolve based on what the story needs.

We know nothing specific about the deal between T'challa and Aneka.

We know nothing specific about where the Orisha are.

We know nothing specific about how Bast and the others came into existence.

We know nothing specific on why a country that generally disliked and didn't trust Storm when magically start worshiping here as a god and then magically the prayers give her a power up. If they were miffed and pissed at Bast and the royals for what happened over the years in Wakanda... why didn't that extend to Storm? Her "team" flooded Wakanda. She never once defended Wakanda from anything that wasn't personally connected to her.

It would have actually been a much better story, for a black panther book, for the Wakandans to turn to the Lion God, White Gorilla God, Crocodile God, ect resulting in their emergence (hell even all of the, have the tribes go back to the roots)... and there faith is T'challa is what allows him to defeat them and rescue Bast. Proving that he is her most favored son and the true protector of Wakanda.

But instead, we have storm, in a story with a narrative dead end as constructed.

I would of much rather bought "Wakandans were there first then the originators came, they lived in peace till the originators good jealous and attacked, they had the advantage until suddenly, due to faith (and the desperate situation), Wakandan heroes started to transform into gods. Lion god, Gorilla god, croc god, and bast, the most powerful of then all. They drove back the originators and banished them (not in chains) to a different realm.

After the battle, in order to keep their power, the gods left and went to a different plane of existence to allow the mystery and awe of their power hold strong, rather then it potential being reduced due to their actions on earth. As such the people started worshipping each god but bast had the most followers. Fast track to the present the other gods are jealous as their power has waned and basts held more power then ever...

Until SW, bast was at her weakest and the combined might of the other 3 were able to capture her, she reaches out to Tchalla, he gets power from his people, rescues her and saves the day."

Storm can hurl a lightning bolt and be the distraction asboer Tchallas plan

[KOSLOX]

Funny how people will spin this however way they please to try and make sense of it. What your said here is true, regular Wakandans turned into gods according to Coates retcon. Then he ignores that and makes it so anyone apparently can ascend to godhood if enough people have faith in them. Being BP is King and protector, HE is the obvious choice

Even Shuri would have made sense though. We literally saw her taking steps towards ascension all throughout "season one". Her Griot persona is basically being a demigod anyway.

[Marvell2100]

T'Calla was,less effective at the start of the reason because he was dealing with the loss of his sister, and to a lesser degree the loss of his wife. Getting his sister and wife back go a long ways towards fixing that.

And yes, there were some msogynistic people in Wakanda ... the MA killed them. So that was pretty much fixed too.

He moved on from those issues after they resolved. The people who wanted a greater voice in government got it, the DM got their freedom like they wanted, and T'Challa himself got his sister and wife back. Everything was resolved, and they moved on.

No, there wasn't just "some" misogynistic people in Wakanda according to the way Coates portrayed them. Wakanda was built on it.

And we have a "democratic" gov't in Wakanda that no one in Wakanda seems to know about.

T'Challa was ineffective the whole arc, from beginning to end.

[XPac]

Where was it shown people can vote? All we got was Chang sitting in a room with his buddies while T'challa blew them off. So, the exact same government as before?

ANd you are right, this isn't Cpan, so the entire season 1 shouldn't have been a story anyway right

Issue 13 and 14 establish that it's a constitutional monarchy with an elected congress. Even the bad guys mention western democracy making its way into Wakanda.

And the reason we got the story we got right away is because it made sense to get it when we got it. T'Challa just comes into power after Wakanda has been destroyed multiple times in a row, several of those instances arguably being the direct result of some if the decisions he made. The time was ripe for a coup story.

[XPac]

No, there wasn't just "some" misogynistic people in Wakanda according to the way Coates portrayed them. Wakanda was built on it

And we have a "democratic" gov't in Wakanda that no one in Wakanda seems to know about.

The people actually acting misogynistic were killed. The guy false accused of being misogynistic were cleared, as T'Challa proved the DM wrong about him when he gave them their freedom.

And presumably some people know about the government if people on government are being elected. It's just no longer important to the story. People got the voice in government they wanted, and now the story is moving on. Again, it's not Cspan. The changes were made to make everyone happy, and now they are moving into the next time. Yes, TChalla can be a political character but not everything has to be about that.

[Marvell2100]

Funny how people will spin this however way they please to try and make sense of it. What your said here is true, regular Wakandans turned into gods according to Coates retcon. Then he ignores that and makes it so anyone apparently can ascend to godhood if enough people have faith in them. Being BP is King and protector, HE is the obvious choice

I guess it's not T'Challa's story even though it's his own book.

The only good thing is that none of this will be followed up. We've already gone to Evil Empire Wakanda in space.