Ta-Nehisi Coates’ second Black Panther outing

I was highly intrigued by Ta-Nehisi Coates’ take on the Black Panther comics, and now that the first volume is done, he can get to work. I was interested in seeing how Wakanda would get developed as a world and how T’Challa would face the challenges ahead. I believe there is plenty of room to expand and many, many stories to tell from this series, and I hope that Coates continues to write more comics. I think he’s found a groove with the comic genre, and we can see some seriously productive and interesting stories come out from this telling.

T’Challa is in serious trouble now. Wakanda is quickly being torn apart, and the old ways of ruling are just not sufficient any longer. To add to his problems, he has lost the favor of the people, and they have turned on him. Ayo and Anneka are following their own path. Thankfully, T’Challa has some Avenger and Marvel friends (including Luke Cage!) who are willing to come to his aid. But only he can save his sister Shuri who is trapped inside Wakandan memory. This is an interesting examination of how countries function, changes that shift the power dynamic, and the problems of collective memory—or, possibly in this case, collective forgetting.

This is a sharp and finely drawn comic volume. Coates has found a storyline that really, really works, and I am looking forward to following all the threads that he has laid out. I’d like to see more of Shuri and more of the Midnight Angels plot point with Ayo and Anneka. I think Book 3 is supposed to come out later this year. And this definitely has me curious about the Black Panther film that’s supposed to come out later (is it this year or 2018? I can never follow MCU movie releases anymore, as there’s just too many of them).

Cross-posted to my blog.