BLACK PANTHER MEDIA - BP's "Black" Creatives *ARTIST * Denys Cowan

[Battle]

During his stint at college, Dwayne Turner was freelancing for Marvel. His work at that time included 'Transformers' and 'The Hulk'. Dwayne also worked for the Distinguish Competition doing a mini-series called 'Power of the Atom. He alongside Neal Adams worked on 'Ms Mystic' and Dwayne Turner also illustrated trading cards for Continuity. He did the artwork for 1992's  'Cage' and worked on DC's 'Sovereign Seven'. Dwayne Turner also worked on 'Curse of the Spawn' and 'Spawn: the Undead'. Why Mr Turner is on this list of course is for his lending his talents to Marvel for the mini-series 'Black Panther: Panther's Prey' written by Don McGregor in 1991.

Used to read 'Ms. Mystic' back-in-th'-day. 

Those books are extremely difficult to find, however, if you are fortunate enough to find 'em…

--- watch out! 

[Ture]

During his stint at college, Dwayne Turner was freelancing for Marvel. His work at that time included 'Transformers' and 'The Hulk'. Dwayne also worked for the Distinguish Competition doing a mini-series called 'Power of the Atom. He alongside Neal Adams worked on 'Ms Mystic' and Dwayne Turner also illustrated trading cards for Continuity. He did the artwork for 1992's  'Cage' and worked on DC's 'Sovereign Seven'. Dwayne Turner also worked on 'Curse of the Spawn' and 'Spawn: the Undead'. Why Mr Turner is on this list of course is for his lending his talents to Marvel for the mini-series 'Black Panther: Panther's Prey' written by Don McGregor in 1991.

Used to read 'Ms. Mystic' back-in-th'-day. 

Those books are extremely difficult to find, however, if you are fortunate enough to find 'em…

--- watch out! 

I never took the opportunity to read Ms. Mystic. Was that out around the time that Image Comics, Wildstorm, Top Cow and  America's Best Comic were the it comics? If so I was reading WildC.A.T.S, Stormwatch, Gen¹³, Wetworks, and The Authority. Cyberforce, Wetworks. Backlash, Grifter and Voodoo. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Spawn, Witchblade and The Darkness. All along side reading the big two and whatever Black Panther I could find. Comic books what a life.

[Ture]

Dwayne Turner's art gave us our then latest BP villain Solomon Prey.





Prey for my taste would evolve into something more along Afrakan mythological lines and come from a remote region of Wakanda or a different country all together. The latter sets up a potential BP horror story.

[Ture]

Finally Dwayne turner gave us the most sexually charged comic book of the Black Panther era.
















Next up Denys Cowan

[Battle]

I never took the opportunity to read Ms. Mystic. Was that out around the time that Image Comics, Wildstorm, Top Cow and  America's Best Comic were the it comics? If so I was reading WildC.A.T.S, Stormwatch, Gen¹³, Wetworks, and The Authority. Cyberforce, Wetworks. Backlash, Grifter and Voodoo. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Spawn, Witchblade and The Darkness. All along side reading the big two and whatever Black Panther I could find. Comic books what a life.

'Ms. Mystic' was an acquired taste; wasn't the kind of title you could rely on every month.   

Stumbled across 'Ms. Mystic' at Forbidden Planet, a popular comicbook shop in downtown Manhattan back in '85.  Only picked the book up because Neal Adams was the creative force behind the title.

Would you believe it took over 22 years just to find issue #2 for a mere buck at a comicbook shop in Florence, South Carolina just 10 years ago? 

[Ture]

I never took the opportunity to read Ms. Mystic. Was that out around the time that Image Comics, Wildstorm, Top Cow and  America's Best Comic were the it comics? If so I was reading WildC.A.T.S, Stormwatch, Gen¹³, Wetworks, and The Authority. Cyberforce, Wetworks. Backlash, Grifter and Voodoo. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Spawn, Witchblade and The Darkness. All along side reading the big two and whatever Black Panther I could find. Comic books what a life.

'Ms. Mystic' was an acquired taste; wasn't the kind of title you could rely on every month.   

Stumbled across 'Ms. Mystic' at Forbidden Planet, a popular comicbook shop in downtown Manhattan back in '85.  Only picked the book up because Neal Adams was the creative force behind the title.

Would you believe it took over 22 years just to find issue #2 for a mere buck at a comicbook shop in Florence, South Carolina just 10 years ago? 

Whoa, small multiverse. I was introduced to Forbidden Planet around 1990. Got into Midtown too. My fav SC comic shop was Silver City in Columbia. Shout out to SC Heroes and Dragons. Philly still holds the title for the greatest comic store of all time Fatjack's Comic Crypt. Can't forget to mention Amalgam (da future of comic shops), Atomic City and Brave New Worlds.

[Ture]

It was the summer of '88 if memory serves and aside from an obscure guest appearance or two the Black Panther was ghost prior to.  The previous year hit hard with Batman Year One and I was in desperate want of some BP. Then in July this dropped.



Ladies and gentlemen... Mr. Denys Cowan.


https://www.denyscowanart.com/

Denys Cowan is an accomplished and celebrated comic and animation creator and illustrator. Founder of Milestone Media, which sold over 10 million copies of ground breaking comic books, Cowan has numerous credits to his name, including: Black Racer, Deathstroke, Black Lightning & Hong Kong Phooey, Batman: Lovers &  Madmen, Blind Justice, Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers, The Question, Hardware, and Static.
 
Static became one of the most beloved characters in the Milestone Universe, spawning a hugely successful animated series, Static Shock. During its run, the series was the only animated show not produced by Nickelodeon to dominate ratings. Denys directed and produced the series, which was nominated for an Emmy. 

As Senior Vice President of Animation at BET, Cowan was responsible for the creation, development and production of animated programming for the network. This included the development and production of the Black Panther animated series.  Prior to his time at BET, Denys was instrumental in developing and Producing the first season of the prime time animated series, The Boondocks.

Serving as Senior Vice President of Motown Animation and Filmworks, he created and developed a number of shows with Fox, ABC, Disney and Nickelodeon. Cowan also co-created the character of Henri Ducard, as played by Liam Neeson in Batman Begins.

Cowan drew the cover art of the GZA/Genius of the Wu-Tang Clan's platinum selling hip-hop album Liquid Swords. Denys illustrated the successful run of You Can’t Handle the Truth, a monthly full-page comic strip for Ebony magazine. More recently, Denys Cowan illustrated the Django Unchained graphic novel, which was inspired by the Oscar-winning film by Quentin Tarantino.  Denys also created illustrated posters for Marvel’s Black Panther and  John Wick 2.
For more info visit https://www.denyscowanart.com/about

Denys Cowan's work is expansive but as this is all things Black Panther I shall focus on such. This is also very timely as January 30 will be his birthday.

Cowan's artwork hit me hard.

First off was his reworking of T'Challa's cowl. It looked more panther like and clearly distinguished the Black Panther's countenance from Batman.



The majesty of T'Challa's Afrakan attire and his overall regal bearing.






The Majestic Black Panther gets a much needed boost to his rogues gallery.





I was really diggin' these covers.





Malaika, a new love interest for T'Challa.



Denys Cowan always came off to me as serious and intense.





And so did his artwork.



Cowan delivered the first appearance of the Panther Spirit





And maybe proof of the vibranium laced habit?



I repeat, I'm diggin' these covers.



The Black Panther wreckin' shop and breakin' heads. Nuff said.





Next Up... Flags of Our Fathers!

[Gessela]

That 1st cover and subsequently, the complete run, is what pulled me into the Black Panther mythos.

Cowan’s art jumped off the shelf.