BP OP - Marvel Is Rewriting Black Panther's Origin Story

[Ture]

As I continue to research all things Black Panther I came across some interesting articles. I thought not only would they make interesting reading but needed archival preservation here at the HEF.



EDITS and EXERTS taken from

The Black Panther: A Comic Book History
By Vernon Mitchell, Jr., Curator of Popular American Arts on 23 May 2018 in Dowd Modern Graphic History Library, Special Collections, What's New

The late 1960s was a tumultuous time for America both domestically and abroad. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965, which banned discriminating voting policies, just five days later, riots broke out in Watts, a section of Los Angeles, centered around police brutality toward African Americans. Times were indeed tense, and the issues of race were at the forefront. The fires that burned in Southern California were not solely about one incident per se, but a response to continued systematic oppression.

The larger implications of socio-economic inequality were now part of a larger critique of what America was and was not. This was the backdrop that Marvel Comics’ Stan Lee and Jack Kirby used to create their new character, Black Panther. The character’s alter ego, King T’Challa, was ruler of the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda. He was the first black superhero to debut in American comic books.

Originally conceived of as the “Coal Tiger,” Black Panther cannot be separated from the times in which he burst onto the comic book scene in Fantastic Four #52 in July of 1966.  Prior to the release of the comic, Lee and Kirby, according to writer Sean Howe, were very much aware and influenced by an article in The New York Times that discussed the formation of the Lowndes Country Freedom Organization (LCFO), which had as their emblem a black panther. Howe attributed that article as the impetus for changing the name of the character that Lee and Kirby had been working on for months.

The media referred to the LCFO as “The Black Panther Party,” after its formation in 1965 under the direction of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) field secretary, Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture).  Carmichael believed that African Americans’ political power resided in the will and political self determination of local people.

full article
https://library.wustl.edu/the-black-panther-a-comic-book-history/


First Serial: Marvel Comics, The Untold Story
Drugs, feminism, and blaxploitation superheroes — the moment when Marvel changed forever

by SEAN HOWE ON OCTOBER 4, 2012

In the issue of The Fantastic Four #119, Marvel briefly tried to put distance between the Black Panther and his politically charged namesakes by renaming him Black Leopard. “I neither condemn nor condone those who have taken up the name,” T’Challa told the Thing, in a carefully measured bit of expository dialogue.

full article
https://grantland.com/features/an-excerpt-sean-howe-marvel-comics-untold-story/



EDITS and EXERTS taken from

How ‘Coal Tiger’ Became ‘Black Panther’
The newest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe has always been tied to Black Arts Movement.
BY JONITA DAVIS / FEBRUARY 12, 2018

The energy and imagery of the mid-1960s saturated the creative minds looking for inspiration, including Marvel artist and art editor Jack Kirby.

Sean Howe’s book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story details that time leading up to Black Panther’s creation. Stan Lee was managing the team of artists and writers, who were actively competing with DC comics for comics sales. According to Howe, Stan Lee heard of the upcoming release of a line of comics that was a gamechanger for DC. Marvel had nothing new to compete. Howe quoted Kirby, “I came in one day,” said Kirby, “and Stan said, ‘Martin says we have to add more books.’ They were afraid Al Harvey, who had pretty good distribution, was going to crowd them off the stands.” Kirby and the rest of the team went to work looking for new lines and characters.

They tapped a little history by researching ancient cultures of Mexico and Africa. They also dug deeper into the sci-fi lore that was becoming popular at the time. The atmosphere of the time greatly influenced the Marvel creatives as well. The result of their hard work was a few new characters are still famous today—The Inhumans—and a black superhero, who lead an uncolonized African nation, and used the cutting edge of futuristic weaponry was born. His name was…Coal Tiger.

Kirby presented the character to Lee, and Lee decided not to push the black hero or the Inhumans at that time. They waited to introduce their new black character with an already popular line of white characters, the Fantastic Four, in issue #52, which hit stands July 1966. The renamed the Coal Tiger, Black Panther, and gave him a makeover for the gig. It would be another 8 years before Lee launched a solo Black Panther comic series Jungle Action.

Meanwhile, the Black Arts Movement, which was started in 1965 by poet Imamu Amiri Baraka, was creating a national interest in black culture. BAM also stimulated a pride in the black community that was manifest in hair (afros and braids), clothing (dashikis and Afrocentric prints), beauty. James Brown’s “Say It Loud—I’m Black and I’m Proud” was like an anthem. This pride carried the community forward.

By 1973, the movement was in full swing and black culture was dominating pop culture, and even film. Blaxploitation movies that centered black characters with black problems were available. Despite their campiness and stereotyping fails, the films were the first time the nation saw black people onscreen and in the forefront of the narrative.

The celebration of black culture that the Black Panther character’s solo comic debuted it did not last, but it didn’t fade away either. The door was open just a bit for black creatives, who would push it open in the decades to come, leading to the Black Panther film.

the movie about Black Panther went through some false starts just as the comic did. In addition, both character debuts were attempted using the popular Marvel characters at the time. The solo release came later, after the “soft launch” of the black superhero standing alongside his beloved white counterparts. Also, like his debut timeline, the film version launches amidst a mainstream appreciation of black culture, with an underlying struggle with racism. That struggle is fueling activism and feeding the Black community’s resurgence of Black pride.

The soft launch before the solo debut is one curiosity to note. Although the elapsed time differed, they did occur. The black superhero had to be introduced by beloved white characters before he could come out alone. There may have been causing for such a thing in the 1960s when there had been little to no marketing of blackness to the public. Then, a black character was a significant risk, especially one that shares the name of a group that media and government were characterizing as militant and anti-White. Lee may not have wanted to gamble. This reason only holds until you considered the list of the many superheroes that Lee debuted solo without a soft launch. Even the Marvel film franchise released Spiderman, Hulk, and a few other superheroes in solo films without a soft launch. Both times, they took a gamble on the white superhero, but not Black Panther.

These and other curiosities lead to the conclusion that the Lee and Marvel, and also the Marvel studios today were priming the public for the black hero. They saw that the possibilities when Black culture started seeping into the mainstream. A soft launch would “test the waters” and see if the public could handle such a character. This seems plausible until you consider that prior to the solo debut of the character both times, the black community was calling for representation in pop culture. In the past few decades, the outcry for more representation in the film has been a topic of discussion and studies. They started well before the current film iteration was conceived.

In fact, when Black Panther’s solo comic appeared in 1973, it was so popular that Luke Cage followed. Similarly, the soft launch of Black Panther was followed by a Luke Cage series on the small screen that was a hit for Netflix streaming service. Once the public was given the Black Superhero, they eagerly sought out more, making the next one a hit out of the gate.

It’s obvious that the problem is not the public. It’s the industries. Both Marvel Comics back then and the MCU now are run by white men who do not want to gamble on blackness until they are sure that they can profit. They wait until the movement is starting, the pride is forming, and the creativity is arising in other areas before “dipping a toe in” for a soft launch. Once that happens, once the profitability of the character is recognized, then they ride in like abolitionists with bolt cutters to open the gates to creative works and opportunities. Everyone is too swept up in the chaos to see that the ones holding the bolt cutters were also the ones holding the gates closed before.

[supreme illuminati]

" Once that happens, once the profitability of the character is recognized, then they ride in like abolitionists with bolt cutters to open the gates to creative works and opportunities. Everyone is too swept up in the chaos to see that the ones holding the bolt cutters were also the ones holding the gates closed before."

EXXXXACTLY!!!

Before the return of The Black Panther? We had Spawn, we had BLADE who launched Marvel Superhero movies...even without an MCU. We had Black action heroes leading Hollywood: Will Smith, Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington. We had Barack Obama, for Chrissakes. We had R to the H's Black Panther comic book setting records. We had Milestone and Static Shock. We had John Stewart as Green Lantern.

Until Afrikan creatives control our own studios...props, Tyler Perry...we won't be able to build our own heroes. Can you imagine what amounts to an indie Milestone Movies Universe? OmLAWD, we'd do to heroics and comics what we've done to music, sports, fashion, culture and storytelling.

[Gessela]

I'm happy to see writers acknowledging LCFO and Kwame Ture, while so many were incorrectly crediting Marvel with influencing The Black Panther Party. The only time I respond to it is on here because I know you brothers are serious about your fandom.

A shortened version of the symbol's American origin: 1Clark College emblem-2Kwame Ture-3Huey P. Newton/Bobby Seale.

[supreme illuminati]

I'm happy to see writers acknowledging LCFO and Kwame Ture, while so many were incorrectly crediting Marvel with influencing The Black Panther Party. The only time I respond to it is on here because I know you brothers are serious about your fandom.

A shortened version of the symbol's American origin: 1Clark College emblem-2Kwame Ture-3Huey P. Newton/Bobby Seale.

Beautiful sistah Gessela, thank you for Illuminating me, The Supreme Illuminati. I didn't know of the Clark College emblem connection. Would you be kind enough to expound upon this?

[Gessela]

I'm a brother.
Here's some additional info-

December 1965: Lowndes County Freedom Organization

     Black voters in Lowndes County, Alabama, using a provision in state law, form an independent political party: the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (also known as the Black Panther Party). The party fields a slate of 7 candidates for county offices in the November 1966 general election.
     Until 1965, not one black person was registered to vote in Lowndes, though blacks made up 80% of the county's population. By October 1965 -- following a series of voter registration drives and the enactment of the Voting Rights Act in August -- nearly half the black population had registered to vote.
     -- Image from LCFO pamphlet: @
    -- Note: The LCFO based its symbol on the Panther mascot of Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia. In turn, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (formed in October 1966), took its name and symbol from the LCFO.


http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/473.html
https://zinnedproject.org/materials/lowndes-county-and-the-voting-rights-act/

From Kwame Ture-
The 1965 Voting Rights Act passed in the wake of Selma dramatically began to boost the number of black registered voters. And a unique Alabama law encouraged creation of county-level political parties. The law stipulated you had to have a symbol because of the high rate of illiteracy, recalls Kwame. Well, the Democratic Party symbol was a white rooster, the white cock party we used to call it. A panther became the new party’s symbol...almost accidentally.

Courtland [Cox] came to Atlanta and asked me to design a business card with an emblem for the party, recalls Ruth Howard Chambers. I came up with a dove. Nobody thought that worked and someone said I should look at the Clark College emblem. It was a panther and that’s where the panther came from. Somebody up there traced it on a piece of paper for me. In Lowndes County that pouncing black panther gave instant visibility to the newly-formed Lowndes County Freedom Organization as the Black Panther Party. The new party’s slogan: Power for black people.

Almost immediately, the black panther leapt out of the state. When a volunteer from Oakland, California working in Lowndes county returned home, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale asked for permission to use the emblem for the Black Panther Party they had decided to form.

https://libraries.ucsd.edu/farmworkermovement/ufwarchives/sncc/13-June%201966.pdf

http://www.southerncourier.org/hi-res/Vol2_No20_1966_05_14.pdf

[supreme illuminati]

I'm a brother.
Here's some additional info-

December 1965: Lowndes County Freedom Organization

     Black voters in Lowndes County, Alabama, using a provision in state law, form an independent political party: the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (also known as the Black Panther Party). The party fields a slate of 7 candidates for county offices in the November 1966 general election.
     Until 1965, not one black person was registered to vote in Lowndes, though blacks made up 80% of the county's population. By October 1965 -- following a series of voter registration drives and the enactment of the Voting Rights Act in August -- nearly half the black population had registered to vote.
     -- Image from LCFO pamphlet: @
    -- Note: The LCFO based its symbol on the Panther mascot of Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia. In turn, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (formed in October 1966), took its name and symbol from the LCFO.


http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/473.html
https://zinnedproject.org/materials/lowndes-county-and-the-voting-rights-act/

From Kwame Ture-
The 1965 Voting Rights Act passed in the wake of Selma dramatically began to boost the number of black registered voters. And a unique Alabama law encouraged creation of county-level political parties. The law stipulated you had to have a symbol because of the high rate of illiteracy, recalls Kwame. Well, the Democratic Party symbol was a white rooster, the white cock party we used to call it. A panther became the new party’s symbol...almost accidentally.

Courtland [Cox] came to Atlanta and asked me to design a business card with an emblem for the party, recalls Ruth Howard Chambers. I came up with a dove. Nobody thought that worked and someone said I should look at the Clark College emblem. It was a panther and that’s where the panther came from. Somebody up there traced it on a piece of paper for me. In Lowndes County that pouncing black panther gave instant visibility to the newly-formed Lowndes County Freedom Organization as the Black Panther Party. The new party’s slogan: Power for black people.

Almost immediately, the black panther leapt out of the state. When a volunteer from Oakland, California working in Lowndes county returned home, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale asked for permission to use the emblem for the Black Panther Party they had decided to form.

https://libraries.ucsd.edu/farmworkermovement/ufwarchives/sncc/13-June%201966.pdf

http://www.southerncourier.org/hi-res/Vol2_No20_1966_05_14.pdf

Thank you for the correction and invaluable information, BROTHER Gessela!

[Gessela]

No problem, glad to help.

[Ture]

Minorities in Comics in a Segregated America: All-Negro Comics 1
Posted by KB at 10:24 PM
Wednesday, February 10, 2010



Prior to the integration of African American characters into comic book universes in the 1960s, African Americans rarely appeared in American comic books. When they did, it was usually in the form of a stereotyped caricature, examples being Whitewash in the Young Allies (Timely) and Will Eisner's The Spirit's sidekick Ebony White. Otherwise, if you were an archaeologist in the future trying to piece together what was going on in mid-20th century America and all you had as evidence was a pile of comic books, you could be forgiven for concluding that everybody in those days was light-skinned. All-Negro Comics 1 (1947) is itself a segregated comic, kind of a comic book version of FUBU clothes. Its stated intended audience is African American, and it is written, drawn, and published entirely by African Americans. Detailed information on the publisher, Orrin C. Evans, can be found here on Tom Christopher's website. It clearly wasn't a commercial success, and perhaps the 15c cover price had something to do with that. The book is extremely rare (the highest graded copy, a 7.5, sold at auction on March 13, 2009, for $10,600) and I don't own a copy (!), although I wish I did. The scan that's 'out there' is incomplete but at least offers a glimpse of this important comic. A more detailed description of the contents is located on Scott Shaw's Oddball Comics website: http://www.oddballcomics.com/article.php?story=2007-02-26 which is where the scans I have appear to have come from.





There are four strips within the book. Ace Harlem is a detective story, and I'll include a few pages here. Lion Man and Bubba is kind of an early version of the Black Panther and set in Africa. In fact there's a detectable similarity or two between this strip and Lee and Kirby's Black Panther concept, at least from the few pages I can see. Dew Dillies is kind of a Water Babies fairy story. But I'll start with the single page that is in the scan available, of Sugarfoot and Snakeoil, the page having the potential at least of being part of a romance story. There's also a gorgeous page of Hep Chicks On Parade, kind of like those one page features in romance comics that Jacque Nodell writes about on her Sequential Crush blog. I just wish the interior scans of this book were higher resolution. The male character anticipating a good meal is Sugarfoot.

Note the idea of Lion Man being a scientist, the treasures of his people's mountain, and the white guy coming to steal it. Besides being an obvious reference to European imperialism, there's a strong parallel with Lee/Kirby's T'Challa (Black Panther), his land Wakanda, and the valuable mineral Vibranium that the explorer Ulysses Klaw comes in search of (he becomes the villain Klaw), as told in the pages of the now legendary Fantastic Four 52-53 and 56. I haven't read the Black Panther predecessor, Waku, Prince of the Jungle, in Atlas's Jungle Tales of the 1950s, so I don't know if there's a parallel there also. I did come across what appears to be the first solo African American hero in comics beyond ANC#1, and that was the western hero Lobo (Dell, December 1965), so I swiped the image from the Wikipedia page it was on and put it here for reference. Lobo is also covered by Aaron in his series on black heroes in comics.

full article
https://kb-outofthisworld.blogspot.com/2010/02/minorities-in-comics-in-segregated.html

[Ture]

There has been a insistent strain of prejudice against the Black Panther from his very introduction. The need to obfuscate the inspiration derived from both Orrin C. Evans' Lion Man and the Lowndes Country Freedom Organization (Black Panther Party) speaks volumes.

[Ture]

A Call To Consciousness:     THE VIBRANIUM STREAM


You've heard AM, FM, XM Now experience the future with VM. The acoustic couture of Kimoyo streaming is now offered to the outside world and some close neighboring star systems. No place on earth does aural enticements like the vibranium modulations found only in Wakanda. Listen, intuit and share. Live life without fear and help make our world a better place in these most trying times.




Harvest For The World by The Isley Brothers
https://youtu.be/ysFBT63OfC0


Love to the World by L.T.D.
https://youtu.be/UIvQI_u3aH0


Open Our Eyes by Earth, Wind & Fire
https://youtu.be/gjp5-scAtYA


Lovely Day by Gil Scott Heron & Brian Jackson
https://youtu.be/jWy_C6QbCYI

[Ture]

Black Panther's Deleted Scene Makes the Movie Even Better, According to Fans
Greg Brian

Deleted scenes are a big part of the MCU and usually looked forward to when the Blu-Ray editions of their movies come out. Some of those deleted scenes also cause confusion since they frequently seem to help enhance the plot. One from Black Panther has taken notice in the last year as possibly being a missed opportunity.

The scene in question is W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya) and Okoye (Danai Gurira) arguing over whether T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is the best possible Wakanda leader. This scene has a lot of power to it and almost Shakespearean in quality.



Of all Black Panther deleted scenes available on the Blu-Ray, this one continues to spark debate on social media. When looking at it a little closer, it really does look like a scene that should have been retained.

Daniel Kaluuya and Danai Gurira are powerful in this deleted sequence
https://youtu.be/-MnKxVC7kEA

Both Kaluuya and Gurira are already known for being actors with fiery personalities. Kaluuya became a star in Get Out with always memorable big-screen performances. The same goes for Gurira who has spent a number of years on The Walking Dead until leaving this season.

Matching them up for Black Panther was clearly a casting coup, though presenting W’Kabi and Okoye as a couple was not seen as much as it should have been. Only in a deleted scene does their relationship become more apparent as husband and wife.

Those who bought the Black Panther Blu-Ray saw this deleted scene, but a user on Reddit recently posted it as a reminder of how visceral it is. When giving it a watch, it becomes a reminder of how great of actors Kaluuya and Gurira really are, if never working together prior.

Why Ryan Coogler decided not to have very many scenes with them together is a bit of a mystery. Both of them give everything they have in this scene with believable intensity.

The ‘Black Panther’ deleted scene could have been added to the movie


This 'Black Panther' deleted scene sheds new light on Okoye and W’Kabi's relationship

Considering this deleted scene is only a few minutes long, above Reddit users are starting to ask why this brilliant sequence was taken out. Adding it would have had no effect on the running time.

Besides, the scene adds more understanding of the relationship between W’Kabi and Okoye. It also helps everyone better understand the relationship W’Kabi has with T’Challa. Also at play here is major emotional conflict through the eyes of Okoye.

Her having to uphold her allegiance to T’Challa while still showing love for W’Kabi is where it starts to become Shakespearean. Gurira really shines here in projecting a tug-of-war between two sides.

In leadership roles like Okoye’s, this often happens. When helping to run a country, especially, trying to find balance in who to side in is why politics is often a double-edged sword.

Understanding why W’Kabi turned on T’Challa


Black Panther Deleted Scene Confirms Okoye & W'Kabi Are Married

More than anything, fans are saying this scene fleshes out why W’Kabi turns on T’Challa so it is not so abrupt later in the film. Here, the scene demonstrates the emotional reasons behind why W’Kabi wants Killmonger to be the leader instead.

Kaluuya really gets intense, exuding incredible emotion that seemed a waste to just place on the cutting room floor. As a result, it kind of raises more questions about why so many great scenes in the MCU are often taken out if at least presented for the public to see on the Blu-Ray editions.

Ryan Coogler has gone on record saying why he took the scene out. According to Mashable, he said: “I was incredibly proud of it as a director, but it didn’t work inside of the confines of our film.”

While a lot of fans think otherwise, it gives rise to other deleted scenes in the MCU and how they could have made certain movies better. For the sake of art, perhaps respecting the director’s vision is better to prevent artistic and fan discord.

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/black-panthers-deleted-scene-makes-the-movie-even-better-according-to-fans.html/

[Ture]

Remember when crossovers were cool? Post this COVID 19 induced absence of comics maybe a crossover would help jumpstart the industry.







WHAT IF T'Challa the Black Panther in using to Nowhere Room was accidentally transported the DCU. Realizing he has traveled to a parallel earth he uses his wearable Kimyo to detect the nearest data feed and information storage unit... the Bat Computer. Breaking into the Bat Cave and hacking the computers data banks provides the necessary info the Black Panther needs to construct an apparatus that can transport him back to the MU. Of course entering the Batcave uninvited comes with consequences. The most grievous of such is the realization that this is the secret base of...



In his quest to return home T'Challa must gather Thangorian Nth metal for containment which means he has to confront Blood Eagle; battle Power Ring for a power ring used for shielding; engage Superwoman to get her lasso for conductivity; outrace Johnny Quick to save the lives of innocents and obtain some Anti-Kryptonite from this man...



The final item required is a Motherbox to be in the possession of... 



Of course if this is all too much, Marvel could keep things in house and instead of a crossover with the Crime Syndicate of America launch the new Black Panther ongoing with a multi issue, well written, beautifully illustrated updated version of the Supremacists.

[supreme illuminati]

This is sooooo dope! I'm going to give this a go when I get a chance; maybe this weekend...

[Ture]

Marvel Studios



In recent years Marvel has taken steps towards better inclusivity in their projects. Marvel had their first film centered on a black superhero, Black Panther, in 2018, which went on to be nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture.

The former Queen of Wakanda knows what time it is.



courtesy of CBR'S Butterflykyss

[Ture]

BLACK HEROES MATTER

COURTESY OF CBR'S Klaue's Mixtape