Marvel Comics is making history again. It has just hired the first Black woman to author a “Black Panther” series under its official franchise. This is a huge milestone for both women and men in the African diaspora.
To put this in perspective, according to Shine my Crown, 30 years ago Black people were not allowed to have anything to do with the storyline construction of the first Black comic book hero that made his debut appearance in the Fantastic Four No. 52 in July 1966.
The infamous Jack Kirby came up with the character, originally naming T’Challa the “Coal Tiger.”
But today, under the name we have all come to love, the Black Panther’s next storyline will be penned by Eve L. Ewing is a writer, scholar, and cultural organizer from Chicago.
Regarding the opportunity, Ewing said, “I’ve actually been thinking about it less in terms of those qualifiers, just because the Wakandan space is an arena where there have been several Black women writers – from Yona Harvey to Roxane Gay to Nnedi Okorafor – and also because I’m so excited that some awesome Black women, Black non-binary writers, and just dope people of color, in general, have come on board at Marvel even since I was first writing ‘Ironheart’ in 2018.”
“Virtually everything in this arc will be about T’Challa, and Wakanda, as you’ve never seen them before,” she added. “New friends, new foes, but all with the goal of doing some worldbuilding in Wakanda and filling out the fabric of the nation in what I believe are some pretty cool new ways.”
What makes Ewing even doper… she is someone’s teacher, serving as an associate professor in the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity at the University of Chicago, where she teaches courses on education and racial inequality.
The new Black Panther is expected to drop this upcoming June.