The comics that I have decided to read for this week is Black Panther World of Wakanda and some pages from the Christopher Priest collection of Black Panther. To be upfront the comics were definitely not very much like the movie, at least in tone. Christopher Priests run had some bitingly funny moments (like the very first page, with Ross on the toilet). The stories themselves tended to be darker, and in the case of the World of Wakanda issue that I read, Black Panther hadn’t shown up (instead, focusing on the side characters and world building). There is a deeper understanding of the character when the world is fleshed out and the people writing the scripts know what they are writing about which gives a more authentic representation that didn’t exist at the beginning.
Comics like Black Panther are important to the continuation of comics and the continuation of making comics that can appeal to anyone other than the white heterosexual man. It expands readership, content, and inspires others to tell their stories. For that, reconsidering the superhero, especially in our time, is essential both for new stories and as a step towards cultural/social representation in media. Superheroes should reflect our current days, and, in my opinion, should offer a hope towards a brighter future. This isn’t always the case, and with Alan Moore’s work, the characters are more human than super, virtues and vices and all. Which, with the right characters, is a fantastic way to delve into the psychology and deeper societal themes.
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