In an essay for The Atlantic, acclaimed author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates announced that he will writing the Marvel comic book Captain America starting in July.
Coates dived into the Marcel comic book universe with a Black Panther series entitled, A Nation Under Our Feet. He has also co-written Black Panther: World of Wakanda, Black Panther and the Crew and Rise of the Black Panther.
Coates said that after all of that, he is ready for his next challenge: "For two years I’ve lived in the world of Wakanda, writing the title Black Panther," Coates mused. "I’ll continue working in that world. This summer, I’m entering a new one — the world of Captain America."
According to Coates, Marvel's former editor-in-chief Axel Alonso initially approached him with the idea of writing for the patriotic hero.
And in the essay, Coates touches on why he's drawn to writing a series of a character who he describes as someone who is, "not so much tied to America as it is, but to an America of the imagined past."
"I confess to having a conflicted history with this kind of proclamation — which is precisely why I am so excited to take on Captain America," Coates writes. "I have my share of strong opinions about the world. But one reason why I chose the practice of opinion journalism — which is to say a mix of reporting and opinion — is because understanding how those opinions fit in with the perspectives of others has always been more interesting to me than repeatedly restating my own."
He added, "Writing is about questions for me — not answers. And Captain America, the embodiment of a kind of Lincolnesque optimism, poses a direct question for me: Why would anyone believe in The Dream? What is exciting here is not some didactic act of putting my words in Captain America’s head, but attempting to put Captain America’s words in my head. What is exciting is the possibility of exploration, of avoiding the repetition of a voice I’ve tired of."
Naturally, Coates' Captain America #1 will be released on July 4th, Independence Day.
