In the midst of a trash 2016, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Marvel Comics brought us a gem in the new Black Panther run, A Nation Under Our Feet. But as you might know, it didn't stop there. He gave prolific writer Roxane Gay, and poet Yona Harvey, the alley-oop, and Marvel hired the first black women to ever lead a comic book story arc at the company. The two of them collaborated together on the Black Panther spinoff, World of Wakanda, which is literally a must-read for any comic book fan, or a beginner looking to get into the genre.
Well, it seems as though Coates and Marvel's team-ups won't stop there. The Black Panther expanded universe will continue to grow as well. Black Panther & The Crew, a comic book series first introduced by the legendary Christopher Priest, Marvel's first black editor, and the man widely held as the writer with the best Black Panther comic book run of all time. He's literally the Michael Jordan of Marvel Comics. There is no top 5 without him in it. And, it only gets better from here. Ta-Nehisi Coates' version, although a revival of the original series, will feature a whole new set of characters, which will create a fresh new dynamic for fans that are familiar with the book and spark an entirely new experience that will allow new fans to go back and read Priest's original run, too. Yona Harvey will collaborate with Coates on this book as well.
The team will consist of Black Panther, Storm, Luke Cage, Misty Knight and Manifold. And even better, the setting is in Harlem. Fam, it doesn't get much blacker than this. This is literally the pantheon of GOAT Marvel black characters on an Avengers-like team up, saving the world from all kinds of evil and foolishness. This is a book that a 7 year-old-blerd-boy-me would have dreamt of in his sleep. But now, it's real life.
In an interview with TIME, talking about why he decided to make this reboot move, Coates said, "Christopher Priest wrote a mini-series that I just adored called The Crew…It was a unique book because the majority of the characters were black. So, when I came back to write Black Panther, I read a bunch of Christopher Preist's stuff and I wanted to bring it back."
The horizon on 2017 just got a little brighter. There isn't a release date for Black Panther & The Crew yet, but best believe that we'll be here to give you the updates.
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