Crack in Wakanda

[KIP LEWIS]

This board has shown a extreme distaste for the "crack in Wakanda" storyline.  Never read it myself, but I was wondering is the problem with the specific drug Crack or is it a problem with any and all addictions?

[Vic Vega]

The idea of the members of a xenophobic, hidden isolationist African nation developing a sudden
yen for "beaming up" strains the credibilty quite a bit.

Furthermore it was kind of sterotypical on the part of the writer.

Like he couldn't think of anything else to plague the Wakandans with
besides the sh*t he saw on the evening news during that time(this was the early 90's IRRC).

Its not like you saw the Inhumans develop a problem with whiskey or anything like.

[KIP LEWIS]

To me, that's key.  Inhumans aren't human.  Humans fall to addiction.  Money, wealth, education, family, strong bonds, religion; national pride, doesn't matter; humans fall into addictive habits.  If they're human, part of the population will be in addictive behaviors.  (Type of addiction varies.)

[FLEX HECTIC]

If the crack was laced with vibranium would that make it more or less potent?


 

[DJfunkyPuddle]

If the crack was laced with vibranium would that make it more or less potent?


 

maybe more, because you couldn't "shake" the addiction!!!! ha ha, get it? shake---vibrate----vibranium cancels those propeties!?!?!!??!......ok i'll stop now

[Hypestyle]

the "Panther's Prey" arc had excellent painted artwork from Dwayne Turner (warning for little ones, some nudity).. and it dealt with the drug-epidemic allegory, a 'contemporary' issue for sure.. still, IMO, by the end of the series, it couldn't escape author Don McGregor's weakness of having the Panther 'survive' his climactic fights more than he 'won' them.. and the epilogue with the girl hiding behind a statue and lighting up a pipe was not just a glaring highlight of a breakdown in Wakandan security (let alone moral weakness for succumbing to 'western debauchery'); it was, really a body blow to any fan (especially black fans), who felt that "hey, even in this fictional world, there's a (black) leader who fully protects his people from this scourge.."  powdered coke or heroin would be bad enough.. but straight-up crack, where you cut it with baby powder, measure it on a triple-beam scale, then boil it, then strain it, then let it dry, then chop it up, then hide the vials in soccer balls while you stand on the village corner listening to Fela Kuti.. = epic fail on the part of T'Challa, regardless of any bad guys put in the dirt..

[Kimoyo]

Hype is 100% correct!  Introducing Crack was egregious!  I think Reg may have best illustrated why in BP #3 from "Who is the Black Panther" when T'Chaka put representatives of the assembled nations at the Bildenburgh conference in check and on notice about what Wakanda was and what it was not.  McGregor is an impressive, albeit somewhat verbose, writer but I think he would have done better to more deeply explore the emotional fallout experienced by the young boy who saved T'Challa from Killmonger as he deals with attention, celebrity and the subsequent waning of such.

I also love how Hype characterizes McGregors frustrating penchant for having T'Challa "survive his  climacticfights more than he won them."

Peace,

Mont

[KIP LEWIS]

One thing to keep in mind with that story; at that time Wakanda was less of an isolationist nation.  They were sending kids to college abroad (more than just T'challa.). They had factories in the US staffed by Wakandan Nationals.   

Reggie restored the original isolationist idea, but in the years before that, Wakandans lived in and among the West.  Influences are unavoidable.

Plus even with Reggie's run, some of us have wanted to see the Wakandan version of the Kingpin.  That implies crime and crime brings drugs (including alchol in this mix.). 

[FLEX HECTIC]

Storm: "OOOH daddy give your Storm Goddess what she needs."

Black Panther: "Ororo... you OK?"

Storm: "I need my fix!"

Black Panther: "I told you to put that pipe down woman!"

Storm: "Just one more hit T!"

Black Panther: "Look at your teeth! They're rotted out. And where is my vibranium utility belt?"

Storm: "I smoked the dayum belt OK!"

Black Panther: "You smoked my... that's it. You're going into rehab."

Storm: "REHAB!"

(Awkward rotating funnel clouds form with sporadic lightning strikes every which awhere!)

Black Panther: "Look at you. You can't even form storm clouds evenly anymore."

Storm: "I'm fine DAMMIT!"

Black Panther: "No you are not."

Storm: "Just one more hit and I quit. I promise."

Black Panther: "That's what you said the last time."



A public service announcement from Flex Hectic!


Super heroes don't let other super heroes do drugs!



JUST SAY NO TO DRUGS!


(that means you HEFAS)

[briancolding]

The notion of crack getting in Wakanda would 1st have to be backed by cocaine in Wakanda and for a country that is written as 'the most secure' on Earth 616 and said to have a plan for GALACTUS, they should obviosly have an airtight safeguard against drug trafficking.

It's just a classic case of bad writing.

[KIP LEWIS]

<<The notion of crack getting in Wakanda would 1st have to be backed by cocaine in Wakanda and for a country that is written as 'the most secure' on Earth 616 and said to have a plan for GALACTUS, they should obviosly have an airtight safeguard against drug trafficking.It's just a classic case of bad writing. >>

When that story was written, BP didn't have a plan against Galactus, or anything else and they weren't the most secure nation on earth.   
At that time, Wakandans were sending kids to American colleges.