Shuri Appreciation: Princess of Wakanda (2018)

[Redjack]

Nice clip!

She actually tried to kick away the bomb lol, my goodness.

Based on what I'm reading here, you will love our version of Shuri. We didn't have any influence from either the comics or the MCU while making this season. Zero. In fact we paid zero attention to how she's been depicted anywhere else. We made her up how we wanted her which seems to be in line with what you guys are talking about here.

[Realdealholy]

SHURI #4
NNEDI OKORAFOR (W) • LEONARDO ROMERO (A)
Cover by SAM SPRATT
WHEN THE POWER GOES OUT IN WAKANDA
Shuri’s returned from her space adventure with Rocket and Groot — but she’s brought something back with her. And now, centuries-old music and stories are disappearing across Africa. Something is stealing the continent’s cultural history — and its electrical power. Then, as if the heir to the throne didn’t have enough on her plate, a mysterious envoy arrives, and they’re looking for the Black Panther. Life as the princess of Wakanda just got a lot more complicated!
32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

[Realdealholy]

Did a quick read of Shuri #1.

-Art was okay. Far from the best, but it did the job, imho.

-Writing was okay as well. Read like more or less a set-up Issue.

-Overall execution...it’s pretty much like most of us alluded to in earlier posts. This is more or less MCU Shuri with 616 Shuri’s backstory. Doesn’t mesh well so far imho, but perhaps it may improve.

If your first impression of Shuri is from the BP movie and/or you prefer that version, this book should be a relatively easy transition and you may even enjoy it.

If your first impression of Shuri is from the comics and/or you prefer that version, this book will require a good amount of suspension of disbelief. 616 Shuri isn’t in this book. Your enjoyment of this book may not be high.

Marvel is banking on a good chunk of the MCU crowd to buy the book. Will it pay off? We’ll find out soon.

Will have more thoughts in the coming hours / days.

[Bunai]

Thanks for the review.

[MindofShadow]

Few thing stood out for me. I'll use spoiler tags just in case

spoilers:

- the "he is the right gender" and woman meet in secret stuff is beyond irritating at this point. We don't need subtle shade throwing and it shows a distinct lack of mythos knowledge. Shuri got the same training T'challa did. Studied abroad like T'challa. Had her shot during the annual competition and T'challa just beat her to the punch. She's been QUEEN and no one batted an eye in Wakanda. We've seen past woman panthers. That zuri scene acted like she was a tag along who wasn't given the same rights as T'challa because she was the second (well third) born and a woman. another example would be syan getting the same training has his older brother. Nnedi doesn't know her history or doesn't care and just went off Coateville stuff. it is irritating. anyway back to the issue - other "wakanda" stuff... confirming okoye is still a true Dora continues the movie stuff. Wish they explained where the hell she has been for a decade lol. or why she wasn't in season 1. Just something. The MCU stuff is just so lazy in this franchise so far. - more "wakanda" stuff... so T'challa is basically the queen of england with no power. Yet in season 2, seemed to still have power. This is really confusing and dumb at this point. back to shuri - It seems they may be limiting the griot stuff by having her... forget? It seems that is the way they are teasing to go. The voices being "outside" her head now seems weird as hell and totally unneccesary. Maybe it plays a point later on but... it is just odd. - The mechanical wings are totally unneccesary. Judging by the cover of #4, ti doesn't seem like this was just thrown in to show her genius but it might be somethign she uses consistently. Which is dumb because... she can fly with her griot powers. So again, are they going to fade the powers away like they faded the voices and hair? - they literally de aged her and completely changed her to her MCU self. This might be the most lazy conversion yet. Marvel has frequently matched comics to MCU but it is usually superficial stuff on in story reasons. They didn't even try that here, they just went all in. As a "hardcore" comic person, it is incredibly jarring and really tells me they dont' care if Black Panther comic fans buy this series or not. They only care about trade sells at Amazon for casuals. Which is of course fine... but those types of books typically don't last longer than 1-2 trades ala World of Wakanda. This is 100% a mini. - The only real interesting thing to me is... who is the person on the computer?

end of spoilers

This, like the rest of Nnedi BP work, was an incredibly average issue. Nothing horrible that makes you "mad." And nothing great to make you excited for #2. It just exists. The solicits and preview basically told the whole story here.

[butterflykyss]

Shuri was really good first issue! I was pleasantly surprised at how well written it was, especially in comparison to the Dora Mini (which I didn't really like). I was happy to see that with embracing a more MCU version of Shuri, the characteristics that Coates gave her wasn't abandoned and it was explained why she was acting more like MCU Shuri. Overall, I thought it was a good issue and looking forward to number 2.

[Cville]

Few thing stood out for me. I'll use spoiler tags just in case

spoilers:

- the "he is the right gender" and woman meet in secret stuff is beyond irritating at this point. We don't need subtle shade throwing and it shows a distinct lack of mythos knowledge. Shuri got the same training T'challa did. Studied abroad like T'challa. Had her shot during the annual competition and T'challa just beat her to the punch. She's been QUEEN and no one batted an eye in Wakanda. We've seen past woman panthers. That zuri scene acted like she was a tag along who wasn't given the same rights as T'challa because she was the second (well third) born and a woman. another example would be syan getting the same training has his older brother. Nnedi doesn't know her history or doesn't care and just went off Coateville stuff. it is irritating. anyway back to the issue - other "wakanda" stuff... confirming okoye is still a true Dora continues the movie stuff. Wish they explained where the hell she has been for a decade lol. or why she wasn't in season 1. Just something. The MCU stuff is just so lazy in this franchise so far. - more "wakanda" stuff... so T'challa is basically the queen of england with no power. Yet in season 2, seemed to still have power. This is really confusing and dumb at this point. back to shuri - It seems they may be limiting the griot stuff by having her... forget? It seems that is the way they are teasing to go. The voices being "outside" her head now seems weird as hell and totally unneccesary. Maybe it plays a point later on but... it is just odd. - The mechanical wings are totally unneccesary. Judging by the cover of #4, ti doesn't seem like this was just thrown in to show her genius but it might be somethign she uses consistently. Which is dumb because... she can fly with her griot powers. So again, are they going to fade the powers away like they faded the voices and hair? - they literally de aged her and completely changed her to her MCU self. This might be the most lazy conversion yet. Marvel has frequently matched comics to MCU but it is usually superficial stuff on in story reasons. They didn't even try that here, they just went all in. As a "hardcore" comic person, it is incredibly jarring and really tells me they dont' care if Black Panther comic fans buy this series or not. They only care about trade sells at Amazon for casuals. Which is of course fine... but those types of books typically don't last longer than 1-2 trades ala World of Wakanda. This is 100% a mini. - The only real interesting thing to me is... who is the person on the computer?

end of spoilers

This, like the rest of Nnedi BP work, was an incredibly average issue. Nothing horrible that makes you "mad." And nothing great to make you excited for #2. It just exists. The solicits and preview basically told the whole story here.

If the wings were issued to infantry soldiers or even Hatute, that would be a cool look for battles. Although it might be a bit too close to Archangel. Still would like to know if the rest of the Dora are on govt. payroll or are they vigilantes.

[XPac]

I'm reasonably okay with what we're getting here.

They are adding stuff (her tech skills like in the MCU) without really taking anything away (she still has all her powers). Overall, it's a net gain in a practical sense.

And the wings are kinda cool. Somewhat redundent giving her ability to turn into crows, but I suppose the wings give her more options as far as flight combat goes.

[Realdealholy]

Few thing stood out for me. I'll use spoiler tags just in case

spoilers:

- the "he is the right gender" and woman meet in secret stuff is beyond irritating at this point. We don't need subtle shade throwing and it shows a distinct lack of mythos knowledge. Shuri got the same training T'challa did. Studied abroad like T'challa. Had her shot during the annual competition and T'challa just beat her to the punch. She's been QUEEN and no one batted an eye in Wakanda. We've seen past woman panthers. That zuri scene acted like she was a tag along who wasn't given the same rights as T'challa because she was the second (well third) born and a woman. another example would be syan getting the same training has his older brother. Nnedi doesn't know her history or doesn't care and just went off Coateville stuff. it is irritating. anyway back to the issue - other "wakanda" stuff... confirming okoye is still a true Dora continues the movie stuff. Wish they explained where the hell she has been for a decade lol. or why she wasn't in season 1. Just something. The MCU stuff is just so lazy in this franchise so far. - more "wakanda" stuff... so T'challa is basically the queen of england with no power. Yet in season 2, seemed to still have power. This is really confusing and dumb at this point. back to shuri - It seems they may be limiting the griot stuff by having her... forget? It seems that is the way they are teasing to go. The voices being "outside" her head now seems weird as hell and totally unneccesary. Maybe it plays a point later on but... it is just odd. - The mechanical wings are totally unneccesary. Judging by the cover of #4, ti doesn't seem like this was just thrown in to show her genius but it might be somethign she uses consistently. Which is dumb because... she can fly with her griot powers. So again, are they going to fade the powers away like they faded the voices and hair? - they literally de aged her and completely changed her to her MCU self. This might be the most lazy conversion yet. Marvel has frequently matched comics to MCU but it is usually superficial stuff on in story reasons. They didn't even try that here, they just went all in. As a "hardcore" comic person, it is incredibly jarring and really tells me they dont' care if Black Panther comic fans buy this series or not. They only care about trade sells at Amazon for casuals. Which is of course fine... but those types of books typically don't last longer than 1-2 trades ala World of Wakanda. This is 100% a mini. - The only real interesting thing to me is... who is the person on the computer?

end of spoilers

This, like the rest of Nnedi BP work, was an incredibly average issue. Nothing horrible that makes you "mad." And nothing great to make you excited for #2. It just exists. The solicits and preview basically told the whole story here.

spoilers:

Gotta agree with the gender comment. It is inaccurate. If anything, Shuri’s number one issue has been that T’Challa was the firstborn, not her gender. Like you mentioned, she got the same training and education anyway, despite being the second-in-line. Also...how could T’Challa go to an unknown wormhole god knows where and they didn’t have a contingency plan for if anything happens to him, as far as the line-of-succession is concerned? Even if Wakanda is a officially a constitutional monarchy now (which is news to me, they were still in transition, last we saw), someone should’ve been a regeant while he’s away. And why isn’t Shuri more involved in the government being that T’Challa has been gone for two whole weeks? This might make sense for MCU Shuri, but 616 Shuri, the former BP? No way. The mech wings are indeed unnecessary. She can fly via her powers, so why have them? That’s like someone giving mech wings to a powered Storm. Could be a plot point in the future, perhaps. I do agree that, chances are, they are phasing out the Griot stuff and are turning her into MCU Shuri all the way, in time. After re-reading this issue, I have a tough time believing that this current Shuri is also the former BP that went through all the stuff she did back in the day. Very different character

end of spoilers

Not a horrible book by any means, but I def needed a lot of suspension of disbelief for this one.

EDIT: I guess my biggest issue with the book right now is that it isn’t a blend of both MCU and 616 Shuri. It’s leaning too much toward MCU Shuri, which doesn’t fit 616’s back story imho.

[XPac]

spoilers:

Gotta agree with the gender comment. It is inaccurate. If anything, Shuri’s number one issue has been that T’Challa was the firstborn, not her gender. Like you mentioned, she got the same training and education anyway, despite being the second-in-line. Also...how could T’Challa go to an unknown wormhole god knows where and they didn’t have a contingency plan for if anything happens to him, as far as the line-of-succession is concerned? Even if Wakanda is a officially a constitutional monarchy now (which is news to me, they were still in transition, last we saw), someone should’ve been a regeant while he’s away. And why isn’t Shuri more involved in the government being that T’Challa has been gone for two whole weeks? This might make sense for MCU Shuri, but 616 Shuri, the former BP? No way. The mech wings are indeed unnecessary. She can fly via her powers, so why have them? That’s like someone giving mech wings to a powered Storm. Could be a plot point in the future, perhaps. I do agree that, chances are, they are phasing out the Griot stuff and are turning her into MCU Shuri all the way, in time. After re-reading this issue, I have a tough time believing that this current Shuri is also the former BP that went through all the stuff she did back in the day. Very different character

end of spoilers

Not a horrible book by any means, but I def needed a lot of suspension of disbelief for this one.

I sort of mentioned this earlier, but I think the wings might actually be a plus in combat.

I'm not certain when she's in crow form she can mix and match that with her other abilities, like turning into stone. Nor am I sure she can fly while she's in stone form. I think she might have to pick one or the other. Probably difficult for stone crows to fly.

But if the wings have enough thrust she might be able to fly while still being in stone form (presumably she weights more). So I think the tech and magic potentiall combo in a way where the magic alone might not.

Though I'm sort of speculating here. We'll see how the wings work out.

[Daniel22]

I like it. It strikes a nice balance between being accessible to new readers while touching on what has come before. Playing up and increasing the similarities to the MCU version makes all the sense in the world imo. It did a good job of getting a lot of backstory out while not feeling overly exposition heavy. I love the idea of the brain trust of Wakandan woman from all corners of the country.

I'm hoping for a lot more Okoye and Manifold going forward, and little to no T'Challa. I really would like Shuri to develop a circle of characters and a purpose separate from T'Challa. Their relationship is important and I don't want it to go away, but for the first arc or two I would like to see her define herself independently of him, the crown and the Black Panther mantle. (Although based on solicits it looks like the last part isn't going to happen). I know that those factors play a large part in her character, but there is also so much more that can be added to her overall makeup outside of those things.

[XPac]

I like it. It strikes a nice balance between being accessible to new readers while touching on what has come before. Playing up and increasing the similarities to the MCU version makes all the sense in the world imo. It did a good job of getting a lot of backstory out while not feeling overly exposition heavy. I love the idea of the brain trust of Wakandan woman from all corners of the country.

I'm hoping for a lot more Okoye and Manifold going forward, and little to no T'Challa. I really would like Shuri to develop a circle of characters and a purpose separate from T'Challa. Their relationship is important and I don't want it to go away, but for the first arc or two I would like to see her define herself independently of him, the crown and the Black Panther mantle. (Although based on solicits it looks like the last part isn't going to happen). I know that those factors play a large part in her character, but there is also so much more that can be added to her overall makeup outside of those things.

That's one thing I actually liked about Maeberrys Power arc back in the day. When Shuri became Black Panther, she had her own support crew seperate from T'Challa. I thought it was a nice addition which allowed her to step a bit out of his shadown. Shame they sort of vanished into limbo after Maeberry left the book.

[MindofShadow]

characteristics that Coates gave her wasn't abandoned and it was explained why she was acting more like MCU Shuri.

Other than turning into crows, they completely abandoned Coates take on Shuri.

The wise, deep knowledge, extremely confident, (borderline boring lol), warrior who coates used was replaced by a tech kid.

They kept some power stuff while giving an out to get rid of it.

This was pure sassy little sister genius MCU shuri with a dose of crows.

[MindofShadow]

That's one thing I actually liked about Maeberrys Power arc back in the day. When Shuri became Black Panther, she had her own support crew seperate from T'Challa. I thought it was a nice addition which allowed her to step a bit out of his shadown. Shame they sort of vanished into limbo after Maeberry left the book.

TBF, Shuri vanished into limbo. She had no book to get into a supporting cast.

[MindofShadow]

Rise of the Black Panther and the Cartoon have done a better job merging MCU and comic shuri together (even if cartoon did it on accident)