NEW BLACK PANTHER COMIC BOOK - John Ridley's Inverse interview

[Emperorjones]

I picked up issue 1. My first BP related comic in a few years. I had to stop after Marvel decided to "roll back" some of the gains to the character's place in the Marvel U that Reggie established in his series. First the art in this issue was amazing. I think the new design of Wakanda and the new Tech is amazing. Black Panther used to have one of the most simple but bad ass costumes in comics. I think it would be great to go back to something like that. Coates vision for the Black Panther I am ok with overall. There were however some issues with the writing. The dialog between characters often felt disjointed except for the communication between the Lesbian Dora Milaj. On the politics of the issue. Um guys reading some of your comments it is almost like a catch 22 where some of your criticisms uphold some of the points made about sexism and the black man. Reggie was pretty political in his run. I don't think doing that again will work for Coates. That kind of is what is expected with his reparations article. I will make a subscription to the series to how it plays out.

I have to agree with this...it's particularly disturbing to read comments by two of the posters on here regarding approaching feminist, sexist, and homosexual issues in this comic.  Your comments largely underscores WHY Coates probably feels the need to address this as it also underscores the particular sexism and attitudes towards black people who are homosexual.  And why many black women in academia and the arts in particular are largely disappointed with black men due to black on black misogyny. 

It's LARGELY disturbing to see one poster "hope" that the two lesbian Dora Milaje are killed off early...simply because of the "ish" of them being gay.  Imagine how a lesbian comics fan might feel reading that.  You're pretty much telling her she shouldn't exist or belong in African fantasy or sci-if and at worst, she should die.  Hopefully your daughter won't turn out to be gay with such an attitude.

Coates while being fully outspoken on black issues has always been a liberally minded academic who is quite sensitive to other issues regarding other people as well and like it or not, there will probably be many black women comic fans straight and gay who will appreciate his efforts.  And I seriously doubt he'd kill them off because of that.

I might be one of the people you are referring to. It was not my intention to disturb you. I do have an issue with the promotion of homosexuality ahead of racism and colonialism in a Black Panther comic. Why did Coates delay discussing racism yet puts homosexuality front and center? I think he did so because in a way homosexuality is more acceptable to discuss and it endears him more to liberals, etc. It's a safer topic, relatively speaking. And I do think of the financial incentive as well. You don't want to be controversial, or too controversial because that might affect the bottom line.

Black misogyny is also something that's discussed and used as a charge against black men quite a bit, but what about black misandry? (Misandry=hatred or dislike of men). Misogyny is something that should be pointed out and condemned, but it is okay to portray and accuse black men of being dogs, lazy, shiftless, trifling, abusive, criminal, and stuff in popular culture, etc. and that's seen as okay. Further there is a larger issue of showing black men as ineffectual and sexless (unless it is interracial sex, homosexual sex, or dysfunctional heterosexual sex). I'm not saying that there aren't black men who aren't abusive or sexist, but at the same time black men are painted with a broad brush and seen as unworthy for a variety of reasons.

I do want this Black Panther series to be about T'Challa. He should be front and center. He shouldn't be a side character to two totally new characters and their romance. Personally I would rather see the promotion of more intraracial, heterosexual relationships in comics and across the media, more so than any other kind of romantic/sexual relationship where black characters are concerned.

I did not advocate for the death of those two characters. It's not something I promote or cheer when I see it, but I also understand that homosexuality is being promoted hard in the media right now, along with interracial relationships, and for me its an issue of just rolling with it...to an extent.

And I do have concerns that black people have to be for 'everyone' far too much. When for one, not everyone is for black people. And two, that means that often I feel black people have to put their concerns on the back burner to mollify our so-called allies or fold them into a "universal" coalition that still leaves blacks at the bottom. I am concerned that Coates might wind up doing that with T'Challa, leaving him in no better a spot than where he found him. If at the end of his run we know more about these two characters than we do about him or haven't seen him kick major ass then I think that troubling pattern will hold.

[CKW]

Coates if you are reading this..tone down that voice in your head that says that this is enough. Let your imagination run wild. We have all seen and read all the sci fi advance cultures in the mainstream except for the African one. This is fresh territory and I feel like you are holding back.

Wakanda is a mysterious place and T’Challa is the Boogey Man of the Marvel Universe- villains and heroes know the price of crossing his path.

I like that Shuri is the literally the light of Wakanda, that Ramonda is both a mother and a general and the Kanye hint ‘no one man should have all that power’ but it’s not enough.

Reactionary T’Challa in Wakanda is a stretch. When the character is outside with the Ultimates I can buy him not knowing what’s happening during the course of a mission but not in his own backyard after all that has transpired.

That border country is an old foe- spies should be in its power structure so there are no surprises.

Nevertheless I wish you all the best on your stint as BP writer.

[Kimoyo]

Provocative!  Look at the discussion Coates has inspired/instigated with his very first issue!?!  Blue, it's nice to see you back in the fray!  Like you I found some of the responses on this thread disturbing.  That is not to claim any moral superiority. While not personally faced with issues of homosexuality, it is an undeniable reality and what is inconceivable to me is that it would not exist in Wakanda.  Coates, while perhaps bravely broaching the issue, cannot even claim to be the first as MacGregor's Taku was outed by the writer in the J.A. Masterworks collection for his relationship with Venomm.  This is not the ill conceived crack in Wakanda.  The greater concern to me is whether this is a sincere exposition of a truly diverse and nuanced Wakanda or a device to attract new markets?  This is only the first issue, I think we will find out?  I'm inclined to give Coates the benefit of the doubt.  I did not have problems with the dialogue.  Ramonda seemed strong and resolute, T'Challa suitably distracted.  I think this may be a tale of reclamation.  After all that has happened to Wakanda T'Challa must reclaim his country, his authority, his sister and his people, especially the Doras.  What better champion could Aneka and Ayo have right now than the King of the Dead?  They are not crack in Wakanda.  IMO, there should be a place for them in a Golden City.  My two cents.

Peace,

Mont

[Ture]

I might be one of the people you are referring to. It was not my intention to disturb you. I do have an issue with the promotion of homosexuality ahead of racism and colonialism in a Black Panther comic. Why did Coates delay discussing racism yet puts homosexuality front and center? I think he did so because in a way homosexuality is more acceptable to discuss and it endears him more to liberals, etc. It's a safer topic, relatively speaking. And I do think of the financial incentive as well. You don't want to be controversial, or too controversial because that might affect the bottom line.

Black misogyny is also something that's discussed and used as a charge against black men quite a bit, but what about black misandry? (Misandry=hatred or dislike of men). Misogyny is something that should be pointed out and condemned, but it is okay to portray and accuse black men of being dogs, lazy, shiftless, trifling, abusive, criminal, and stuff in popular culture, etc. and that's seen as okay. Further there is a larger issue of showing black men as ineffectual and sexless (unless it is interracial sex, homosexual sex, or dysfunctional heterosexual sex). I'm not saying that there aren't black men who aren't abusive or sexist, but at the same time black men are painted with a broad brush and seen as unworthy for a variety of reasons.

I do want this Black Panther series to be about T'Challa. He should be front and center. He shouldn't be a side character to two totally new characters and their romance. Personally I would rather see the promotion of more intraracial, heterosexual relationships in comics and across the media, more so than any other kind of romantic/sexual relationship where black characters are concerned.

I did not advocate for the death of those two characters. It's not something I promote or cheer when I see it, but I also understand that homosexuality is being promoted hard in the media right now, along with interracial relationships, and for me its an issue of just rolling with it...to an extent.

And I do have concerns that black people have to be for 'everyone' far too much. When for one, not everyone is for black people. And two, that means that often I feel black people have to put their concerns on the back burner to mollify our so-called allies or fold them into a "universal" coalition that still leaves blacks at the bottom. I am concerned that Coates might wind up doing that with T'Challa, leaving him in no better a spot than where he found him. If at the end of his run we know more about these two characters than we do about him or haven't seen him kick major ass then I think that troubling pattern will hold.

Post of the week!!!
Emperorjones, your clarity on these matters is letter perfect.

[Ezyo]

Courtesy of Dboi654 over at CBR

[Emperorjones]

Thanks for posting the panels. My concern is growing. This is just an impression, but not a final judgment since the issue hasn't come out. But what are we presented with here? T'Challa in discussion (similar to his endless bull sessions in DoomWar), and maybe about to do something, but not actually in action. However we see images of black women being roughed up by black men, until they are saved by the likely two lesbian heroes.

I'm starting to suspect that Coates's "Black Panther" series might be a Trojan Horse to really write about two black lesbian heroes. If that is the case, it will be celebrated and seen as 'bold' and 'progressive'. It will certainly make Coates even more toasted among the intelligentsia, but T'Challa will not be elevated by it. We might still be left with a series where the greatness we know that T'Challa possesses is not displayed to its fullest, if at all, so whatever success this book might achieve won't be based on fans, old and new, gaining an appreciation for Panther and his world, but perhaps more so for the two Dora Milaje lovers or whatever other vetted liberal causes that Coates will feel compelled to write about, as long as it isn't racism, colonialism, or imperialism.

As I looked at these panels, if they are preview panels, this doesn't do anything to promote T'Challa. He's talking. The Dora Milage are acting. What makes a non-Panther fan, a casual reader want to read this book? Admittedly the art remains good. 

It makes me think that perhaps there is some kind of twisted, inverted logic that happens where black characters are concerned. That all the things that are acceptable to do to them in the name of making them supposedly relevant or A-list are not done for white characters who get that push, or would not even be considered. How is making your supposedly main character a side character a good thing for that supposedly main character? This happened in DoomWar as well, and I suspect that it might be the case during Coates' run?

How is a constant state of deconstruction, with the hero losing all the time a good thing for them? I don't have a problem with characters losing sometime, but I want them to come back and be better than before. But if you're losing all the time, why would a reader want to read that? Where is the power fantasy aspect? And I think that is part of the issue too with black superheroes. It might be hard, heck, damn near impossible for white creators, white editors, etc. to imagine themselves as these characters, to empathize with them in that way, to see them as aspirational not to black people, but to them. If they were aspirational to them then maybe they would treat these characters better and let them be badasses, just like these white creators might imagine they would be or hope to be and so so with white characters. There is likely no vicarious living through black characters. Black skin and features, the black experience is too alien, too threatening. The fears of black anger, black violence, of black vengeance might be too unsettling.

So they shackle these black characters yet call it progress. Perhaps in their minds it is progress. But to me its a sign of disconnection. Where the black writers are concerned, you have those that accomodate or resist (within limits). I saw Priest as trying to accomodate but still do his own thing whereas I didn't see Hudlin accomodating (and I wonder if that was really the reason his series drew such ire). From just what little I've seen of Coates, he's right now in the accomodationist camp. That might change. The jury is still out, but right now, that's where I see him.

[Emperorjones]

I might be one of the people you are referring to. It was not my intention to disturb you. I do have an issue with the promotion of homosexuality ahead of racism and colonialism in a Black Panther comic. Why did Coates delay discussing racism yet puts homosexuality front and center? I think he did so because in a way homosexuality is more acceptable to discuss and it endears him more to liberals, etc. It's a safer topic, relatively speaking. And I do think of the financial incentive as well. You don't want to be controversial, or too controversial because that might affect the bottom line.

Black misogyny is also something that's discussed and used as a charge against black men quite a bit, but what about black misandry? (Misandry=hatred or dislike of men). Misogyny is something that should be pointed out and condemned, but it is okay to portray and accuse black men of being dogs, lazy, shiftless, trifling, abusive, criminal, and stuff in popular culture, etc. and that's seen as okay. Further there is a larger issue of showing black men as ineffectual and sexless (unless it is interracial sex, homosexual sex, or dysfunctional heterosexual sex). I'm not saying that there aren't black men who aren't abusive or sexist, but at the same time black men are painted with a broad brush and seen as unworthy for a variety of reasons.

I do want this Black Panther series to be about T'Challa. He should be front and center. He shouldn't be a side character to two totally new characters and their romance. Personally I would rather see the promotion of more intraracial, heterosexual relationships in comics and across the media, more so than any other kind of romantic/sexual relationship where black characters are concerned.

I did not advocate for the death of those two characters. It's not something I promote or cheer when I see it, but I also understand that homosexuality is being promoted hard in the media right now, along with interracial relationships, and for me its an issue of just rolling with it...to an extent.

And I do have concerns that black people have to be for 'everyone' far too much. When for one, not everyone is for black people. And two, that means that often I feel black people have to put their concerns on the back burner to mollify our so-called allies or fold them into a "universal" coalition that still leaves blacks at the bottom. I am concerned that Coates might wind up doing that with T'Challa, leaving him in no better a spot than where he found him. If at the end of his run we know more about these two characters than we do about him or haven't seen him kick major ass then I think that troubling pattern will hold.

Post of the week!!!
Emperorjones, your clarity on these matters is letter perfect.

Thanks Brother Ture,

I've just started to think more about black misandry recently. I mean black misogyny is brought up quite a bit especially when it comes to hip hop, and with mainstream gangsta rap I don't disagree that it is misogynist. But it is also misandrist. It dehumanizes both males and females, but the misandry is not as noticeable because I don't think the concept is one that a lot of people know about or perhaps even believe, and it's not something that is really talked about. Plus its male rappers primarily who are the ones who are spouting misogynist and misandrist lyrics and promoting those negative images. I also believe that mainstream rap is anti-black as well. But once again the color of a majority of rappers obfuscates seeing how anti-black mainstream rap, like the gender of many rappers hides the misandry.

We have come to accept as truisms some very negative things about black men. We nod our heads and laugh at them when we hear the litanies. But there are some black men who speak up or encourage and chastise black men to do better in terms of their treatment of women, but there aren't really any prominent black females or black males for that matter who speak out about misandry. Now I don't necessarily blame black women for misandry, they are the front line soldiers, like many men are for misogyny. I think we've both drunk from a poisoned chalice and are taking out our pain on each other. And that pain is deep, its immediate, and its stoked by external forces as well, so its hard to look beyond the pain and see the bigger picture, to understand context. Its far easier to lash out at the people closest to you or to react to them, rejecting them because either one of them did it or looks like the people who did hurt you.

And while hip hop and other media have created a sexist portrait of black women, they have also created a misandrist one for black men. As I alluded to before, the idea of black men being worthless is accepted, its a joke we all laugh at now because we know it's 'true'. 

[Salustrade]

Thanks for posting the panels. My concern is growing. This is just an impression, but not a final judgment since the issue hasn't come out. But what are we presented with here? T'Challa in discussion (similar to his endless bull sessions in DoomWar), and maybe about to do something, but not actually in action. However we see images of black women being roughed up by black men, until they are saved by the likely two lesbian heroes.

I'm starting to suspect that Coates's "Black Panther" series might be a Trojan Horse to really write about two black lesbian heroes. If that is the case, it will be celebrated and seen as 'bold' and 'progressive'. It will certainly make Coates even more toasted among the intelligentsia, but T'Challa will not be elevated by it. We might still be left with a series where the greatness we know that T'Challa possesses is not displayed to its fullest, if at all, so whatever success this book might achieve won't be based on fans, old and new, gaining an appreciation for Panther and his world, but perhaps more so for the two Dora Milaje lovers or whatever other vetted liberal causes that Coates will feel compelled to write about, as long as it isn't racism, colonialism, or imperialism.

As I looked at these panels, if they are preview panels, this doesn't do anything to promote T'Challa. He's talking. The Dora Milage are acting. What makes a non-Panther fan, a casual reader want to read this book? Admittedly the art remains good. 

It makes me think that perhaps there is some kind of twisted, inverted logic that happens where black characters are concerned. That all the things that are acceptable to do to them in the name of making them supposedly relevant or A-list are not done for white characters who get that push, or would not even be considered. How is making your supposedly main character a side character a good thing for that supposedly main character? This happened in DoomWar as well, and I suspect that it might be the case during Coates' run?

How is a constant state of deconstruction, with the hero losing all the time a good thing for them? I don't have a problem with characters losing sometime, but I want them to come back and be better than before. But if you're losing all the time, why would a reader want to read that? Where is the power fantasy aspect? And I think that is part of the issue too with black superheroes. It might be hard, heck, damn near impossible for white creators, white editors, etc. to imagine themselves as these characters, to empathize with them in that way, to see them as aspirational not to black people, but to them. If they were aspirational to them then maybe they would treat these characters better and let them be badasses, just like these white creators might imagine they would be or hope to be and so so with white characters. There is likely no vicarious living through black characters. Black skin and features, the black experience is too alien, too threatening. The fears of black anger, black violence, of black vengeance might be too unsettling.

So they shackle these black characters yet call it progress. Perhaps in their minds it is progress. But to me its a sign of disconnection. Where the black writers are concerned, you have those that accomodate or resist (within limits). I saw Priest as trying to accomodate but still do his own thing whereas I didn't see Hudlin accomodating (and I wonder if that was really the reason his series drew such ire). From just what little I've seen of Coates, he's right now in the accomodationist camp. That might change. The jury is still out, but right now, that's where I see him.

Coates is on that Trojan Horse Dick agenda.

BP mythos about to get frak'd up with no vaseline.

[Ezyo]

I understand what your saying and truth be told. I don't want this to be a story were Ayo and Aneka are being propped up at the cost of T'Challa and Wakandan males being thrown under the bus. I think it's good to have the them doing things. But now the stories from now on should be 75% focus on T'Challa and 25% on the DM, the villains and whatever else. The first issue did a good job setting the tone. And in Priest's run it made sense for T'Challa to feel like a guest because it was to add to the mysterious feeling of no one, not ever the readers knowing what T'Challa is thinking, and readers and villains alike were surprised when he started closing trap door's. In this case we see T'Challas inner thought's and so we need to have a bigger focus, and I think we will. I don't think Ayo and Aneka are gonna become the stars of this story because it's a Black Panther story, not Wakanda or Dora Milaje. But it's still only the first issue so we will find out by issue 4 what kinda story it Is

[Ture]

Some Wakandan Eye Candy

[Ture]

This Better Not Be Wakanda!



Coates and/or Stelfreeze said they were going to give us a Wakanda that we would want to live in and I'll go so far as to say this kind imagery makes their comment all the more incredulous. Obvious attempt at invoking some Boko Haram ish.



Concerning the lesbian couple, Coates isn't addressing LGBT concerns, he's touting his comic book by exploiting the it victim group of the moment. McGregor paralleled this when he bought crack into Wakanda as did Gillis with the Supremacist. The LGBT community isn't the only disenfranchised group.

Far be it for one to tell a story of the Black Panther hunting and capturing the many police officers that killed innocent Afrakan youths. Why not demonstrate the superiority of a socialized medical care where all citizens receive such quality healthcare that the Wakandan life expectancy is more than double that of the world's average.

Coates could have reversed Maberry's nonsense of making the Dora Milaje into an army and have them be the two potential wives of T'Challa. After a failed marriage with an outsider the Black Panther looks inward. It is here that Coates could have explored the internal workings of polygamy and the family dynamic.

Coates could have taken on the social ills of child soldiers and highlighted that although Wakandan children are trained in the craft of war and the martial sciences they are not utilized in the same manner. He could have centered the story on two Wakandan youth trying to debrief child soldiers from a neighboring nation.

There are many social issues and their victims that can be addressed. Where are the ones that deal with the physically handicapped and mentally challenged. As it stands at the moment, Coates' Damisa-Sarki flirts with an irrelevancy that denies both T'challa and Wakanda.

Of course this is only the first issue and some previews but in the immortal words of Kieth Sweat "There's a good and a bad way to love somebody." Show the love for the Damisa-Sarki.

[Emperorjones]

I understand what your saying and truth be told. I don't want this to be a story were Ayo and Aneka are being propped up at the cost of T'Challa and Wakandan males being thrown under the bus. I think it's good to have the them doing things. But now the stories from now on should be 75% focus on T'Challa and 25% on the DM, the villains and whatever else. The first issue did a good job setting the tone. And in Priest's run it made sense for T'Challa to feel like a guest because it was to add to the mysterious feeling of no one, not ever the readers knowing what T'Challa is thinking, and readers and villains alike were surprised when he started closing trap door's. In this case we see T'Challas inner thought's and so we need to have a bigger focus, and I think we will. I don't think Ayo and Aneka are gonna become the stars of this story because it's a Black Panther story, not Wakanda or Dora Milaje. But it's still only the first issue so we will find out by issue 4 what kinda story it Is

I'm not as optimistic as you are. While reading your post the Blade television series from Spike came to mind. It was ostensibly a Blade series, that was supposed to be about Blade, I mean he was in every episode (if I recall), right? However the series was really about a brand new, and white character, Krista Starr.  All the personal stakes were for her. Avenging a lost brother, becoming a vampire, her romance with her brother's vamp killer. Blade became a co-star (at best), but really a supporting character in the series that bore his name. Blade was the wrapper, the branding for story about Krista.

This could very well be the case with T'Challa. I don't mind a bigger focus on the Dora Milaje as a whole, but I don't think we need a certain percentage of time given to them. I think it should be organic. And though I am concerned about how homosexuality has to be in everything now like its an edict from on high, it's not a deal breaker to me because I watch shows with homosexual characters, I've read comics with homosexual characters. So having a lesbian couple in Black Panther, among the Dora Milaje, does make sense to me like one of the above posts said. I was reading recently that Grant Morrison's Wonder Woman: Earth One book will have Wonder Woman in a lesbian relationship and possibly an interracial relationship, and those two things alone will not stop me from purchasing that book.

But as I said before, and let me restate, I wish that more heterosexual, intraracial and positive, healthy romantic and sexual black relationships were portrayed in the media. Portraying otherwise seems to me to be saying that black men and black women can't get along, that black heterosexual love is impossible, that it encourages other kinds of relationships. Basically black men and women can't work and live together in peace and harmony, that we can't build together. So that kind of thinking weakens us as a whole.

I also don't assume that we will get an active T'Challa in this series. Maberry kept promising big things for Storm and T'Challa in DoomWar and it never materialized. So I don't assume, I'll just see what happens.

As for Priest's take on Black Panther, I see it differently. To me Priest was attempting to appeal to white readers by using Everett K. Ross as a point of view character, an audience surrogate, a white audience surrogate. If this white character could validate Panther (with some racial humor on the side), then maybe it would make white readers see the value in the character. So as others have pointed out, Panther has a white surrogate in Ross, he has an white ex-girlfriend, he has a white brother. Now as things went on I feel that Priest flipped it on them and did put T'Challa more front and center. For the most part I had no problem with his run. I did have some issues with his writing style, especially at first. I thought it was not a good way to get new readers involved, it was too non-sequential from what I recall. Hudlin eschewed that and gave you T'Challa directly, right from jump. I don't think everything worked in Hudlin's run, but I do appreciate that he did that and that he was determined to make T'Challa be seen as respected and relevant in the Marvel universe. Not all those attempts were as smoothly inserted as they could be, but still T'Challa was a player in big events. And I liked him as a character a whole lot more than what came after him.

Something I've been thinking about, regarding A. Curry's post. When Curry said that Coates book might draw in more female readership or at least appreciate his efforts. Does Curry feel that didn't happen with Shuri? I mean Shuri was the Black Panther for quite a time. And I actually thought handled well in Maberry's initial run, the "Power" arc. Why is the promotion of a lesbian couple more inviting than the elevation of Shuri to headline a Black Panther series, and even heading the "Klaws of the Panther" miniseries?

[Emperorjones]

Speak on it Ture,

Though I do take issue. I don't see the LGBT community as a whole disenfranchised. They do have the right to vote and they are wielding political power a whole lot more effectively than black people are these days. But I agree wholeheartedly about how you say that Coates is using the It group of the moment.

And you had some really good ideas that Coates could've taken with the series instead of this trendy, and faux controversial move. It's not controversial at all if almost every celebrity in Hollywood supports LGBT rights, the President supports LGBT rights, LGBT reality stars and characters are on television. Also more LGBT characters are in comics, with at least two heading series at DC, Batwoman and Midnighter. Also Catwoman was revealed to be bisexual. Heck, Empire, the most popular show on television, has a gay character as the main character, or at least the main hero character. So there is nothing revolutionary about having a lesbian couple in a comic book. And gender bending has become celebrated, such as Jaden Smith becoming the face of a women's clothing line. There were some griping about that around the margins, but nothing major. It's almost at a point where we don't wonder who is gay, but who isn't gay.

It's not bold at all, to be honest it feels like a sucker move. He won't take on racism (at least at first, according to him), despite having a little beef just this year over Bernie Sanders's lack of support for reparations, but yet he will go with an issue that has wide support among liberals. He isn't taking a hard road, he's just going with the flow.

[Hypestyle]

I haven't read it yet.  Please tell me that crack/dope was not reintroduced to the country.

[Ezyo]

I understand the concern. But again it's only the first issue and previews, it was said on the CBR forums and I'll say it here, Coates said he didn't want to just show the light side of things. Wakanda isn't immune from human corruption, they should definitely be above it to a certain extent as they are kinda the beacon of hope for human advancement. To be honest yes j don't want this to be a promo and prop up for Ayo and Aneka, not because of their sexual orientation, but simply because this is the Black Panther mythos and they are supporting characters and as such should take the back seat to T'Challa as he is the title character.

I know why Priest did what he did as well. He was ahead if the times and had to do what he had to do to get Panther popular. Yes I had issues with his story as well as Hudlin's but both of those writers have written the best BPs to date and will always be the OGs that set the tone for how T'Challa should be and what the movie will be depicting