The Black Panther
MarvelThe cover of the first issue of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther.
The Black Panther, first created by Stan Lee in 1966, was the first African-American superhero in mainstream American comics.
This year, Marvel revamped The Black Panther and put it in the hands of Ta-Nehisi Coates, an African-American journalist and writer known for his memoir about racism in America, Between The World and Me. Coates’ Black Panther sold 250,000 copies in its first month and received much critical praise.
Coates told the Guardian that the comic “pulls from the archives of Marvel and the character’s own long history. But it also pulls from the very real history of society – from the pre-colonial era of Africa, the peasant rebellions that wracked Europe toward the end of the middle ages, the American civil war, the Arab spring, and the rise of Isis.”
Government Surveillance
Marvel
Civil War was a 2006–2007 Marvel Comics storyline (and recent movie) built around a seven-issue limited series that spilled out into several other comic books in the Marvel universe. The plot centers on the U.S. government’s decision to pass a Superhero Registration Act they claim will regulate super-powered individuals, similar to the regulation of law enforcement. Superheroes opposed to the act, led by Captain America, end up fighting those supporting it, led by Iron Man.
The pro-registration superheroes become increasingly controlling, and Captain America in particular becomes increasingly unhinged. Ultimately, he surrenders out of angst at the bloodshed unleashed by the conflict and Iron Man’s side wins, with some dissenting superheroes the going underground or moving to Canada.
The clear subtext of this storyline was the Patriot Act and the increasing surveillance of US citizens by their own government — so much so that said subtext inspired at least one academic paper on the matter. More broadly, writer Mark Millar has stated that the series’ theme is the perennial tension between freedom and security.
Next, check out which two Marvel heroes are set to appear on official NASA insignia very soon. Then, have a look at the best (worst) comic book of all time.
