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« on: July 25, 2022, 11:21:59 pm »
Damn, damn, damn! Quoting the great Florida Evans in case anyone wants to label me misogynist!?!
Totally sympathize with Gessela! Never expected such a stinging betrayal from Marvel, but I suppose it was foolish of me to invest so much hope and time and money into something I have absolutely no control over, something I can’t influence in any way? I think back to “Stan’s Soapbox” and wonder if even in those simpler times it was all just a mirage? I actually had given up comics for a while, finished undergrad, got married, had a kid, worked 3 sometimes 4 jobs when Quesada’s Marvel Knights caught my attention and Christopher Preist turned me completely around with “The Client!” I was out and they pulled me back in! It was a glorious time with Avery Brooks’ Benjamin Sisko kicking ass in space and T’Challa taking names here on Earth my head was firmly somewhere in between.
As is the way with all things Sisko’s adventures ended and CJP moved on, but in Marvel at least I’ve been clinging to the hope that another inspired artist/creator would expound upon the T’Challa I’d come to admire and create more adventures I’d look forward to consuming. A decade or more of frustrating ups and downs was met with the promise of the MCU and the real possibility of seeing T’Challa on the silver screen. Assuredly we’d get the best version for “BP the Movie” likely to the chagrin of many a fanboy who couldn’t abide by an Uber competent, powerful and genius, A-list, super Black Panther, moved to the front of the Avengers class photo and helming his own celluloid franchise.
The gift of Chadwick Boseman was too good to be true and Marvel seemed to surround him with a near perfect compliment of talents. The creative team recognized the genius of CJP’s Panther and employed a heavy dose for the character’s mix, the excitement was palpable. Nation building concessions, Shuri, MBJ an elevated Ross aside, the future looked bright until the star burned out and Chadwick passed on. With his passing, the only barrier between the T’Challa centered Wakanda I loved and the revisionist, newly “Coated,” progressive Wakanda, surpassing years of tried and true Black Panther content, was gone. What was to come, anyone’s guess?
The overly sentimental, self-serving, audience dismissive and bone-headed decision to kill off T’Challa, a third death in four MCU appearances, perhaps was one that should have been expected given Marvel’s editorial disregard for their groundbreaking, iconic character and testament to diversity in a medium grossly lacking appropriate representation. The ease at which they have committed to assassinating their most tactically brilliant, wealthiest, scientifically ingenious, martially dangerous and sovereign Black superhero, the first in mainstream comics, with hardly any of his stories told, should be universally alarming. But Marvel maintains the guise of tribute and respect as if eliminating powerful Black male icons wasn’t part of an age old global agenda.
I’m with Gessela! And I will not support BP2WF despite my regard for Queen Bassett, Danai, Lupita and Duke. Marvel doesn’t give a sh*t about what I think or want and their perverse take on “the show must go on,” reliving the trauma of Chadwick’s death through T’Challa instead of sharing the same settings, costumes and action with a new talent vetted to honor he who came before, makes absolutely no sense other than in the context of the replacement of positive Black male icons who cow tow to no one and inspire generations. I’m out, again.
No peace,
Mont