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Black Panther series for the win or epic fail
Marvel Knights Animation Present Black Panther
When I heard the early rumors of Marvel producing a Black Panther series I was excited. Marvel has a rich history of ethnic diversity, and while there are many black heroes in their comics none have the epic nature of the Panther. Created in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Black Panther is ground breaking character. In this point of time people of color were at best exploitation caricatures, side kicks, or two bit hustlers. The Black Panther is a king of Africa, and not only a king, but king to a prosperous vibrant nation that has never been defeated in combat.
To be totally honest I am not fan of BET, and when the rumors were confirmed that Marvel would be teaming up with BET to air the Black Panther cartoon I was more then a little disappointed with the whole affair. BET has done more harm propagating black stereotypes then providing good thought invoking programing. Catch Aaron McGruder's editorials in the Boondocks to get my exact feelings towards that channel.
Its unfair to call the Black Panther series a cartoon it is actually a motion comic. Marvel has had some success with them, and even created Marvel Knight Studies to produce motion comics. I find this quite fitting, Marvel produces more adult theme comics under this brand. The action in these comics and motion comics can be quite graphic and might not be suited for younger viewers.
I had the pleasure to see Marvels earlier motion comics and I must say the animation isn't as good as Black Panther. When your watching Astonishing Xmen or Iron Man Extremis you know your watching a motion comic, you can tell the images are stills with a few frames movement added. There were moments in Black Panther that I felt like was watching a full fledge cartoon. I don't how Marvel Knights Studio did it, but I think they really hit their stride with this series. The artwork is beautiful and the integration of animation is flawless.
Marvel brought in the A talent with voice acting, casting; Dijmon Honsou as Black Panther, Stan Lee as General Wallace, Alfre Woodard as Dondi Reese, Queen Mother, and Jill Scott as Storm. Jill Scott portrayal was way more believable then Halle Berry's awful work in the Xmen live action movies.
All in all I liked the series, coming in with low expectations helped, but Marvel did a good job putting this all together. The episodes are short 10-12 mins, in actuality about 6 mins when you cut out the theme and the previous episode catch up. But at the end of an episode had me wanting more. I was lucky enough to watch the whole thing in one sitting. I could not imagine the torture of waiting week to week, to find out what happens.
This turned out to be a real winner for me and I hope it gets the attention it deserves. I would like to see Panther get a 30 minute cartoon series, or even his own full length animated movie. The character has the depth and history to pull it off, Marvel has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to diversity. They proved that a black hero is not just a gimmick, something to draw in niche crowd. Thanks to the vision of Lee and Kirby us black kids had a role model, who wasn't a pimp a gangster, or lab experiment, no slight to you Luke Cage, T'challa is a king.
Comment
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Comment by Rider Kabuto on May 21, 2011 at 7:54am -
Once again D you so eloquently write what I feel. WTF! why would you get rid of vibranium, its been the basis of their technology. Hopefully they fix this with a reboot or retcon. At first the art style was not my cup of tea, but the action was superb. I dug the hell out of that theme music.
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Comment by Mario on May 21, 2011 at 7:44am -
@Dr. Detfink
I wouldn't blame the whole entire mess on Maberry--he is a very good writer-- I would put the blame on the Editors.Who knows what they wanted him to do. Maberry was probably order to put Black Panther in that position.You should try his novels, which are pretty good. Is it just me, but it seems that Marvel is bringing all of their international superheroes to America to their problems?
Yeah, that is what I thought as well! Then they are going to make an American Panther? Another reason why I stopped reading Marvel.
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Comment by Dr. Detfink on May 21, 2011 at 1:00am -
Psst...the first appearance of the Black Panther was 1966 (not 1996) in Fantastic Four 52. I know it was a typo. ;)
I remember when BET president Reginald Hudlin was hired to reboot the Black Panther comic book, I was a little irate because I thought, New York City's own Christopher Priest aka James Owlsey the first Black editor in comics did a fantastic job in updating the character and creating a perfect vehicle for playing with themes some of which were revolutionary when Marvel Knights began. It'd be a different story if it was a continuation, it was a complete reboot.
However, Hudlin did a nice job streamlining the character and developing Wakanda. It was also important the Black Panther married Storm. However, I think things started to slip when Hudlin did his tribute to the 70s and the Black Panther became a talk show with guest star du jour. Finally, I didn't like the obligatory female Black Panther switch out. It's not that I was against T'Challa's sister taking up the mantle but it was the exact same time Marvel was promoting X-22 (aka female Wolverine), Lady Bullseye, etc.
Not the first time, T'Challa abandoned the role. This is where I preferred to Priest's introduction of Kasper Cole who was a NY cop that was Black and Jewish. I wondered if this character was derived from some of Priest's life growing up in NYC. He took over for T'Challa for a while...
But maybe the biggest mistake by Marvel was Doom War where Vibranium was discovered to be the 5th element. Course, Doom was going to try and do what Klaw couldn't...and succeeded! But the irritation came from the pretentious ending by Jonathan Maberry who shouldn't ever write comics again. T'Challa dumps the ENTIRE vibranium supply out in space. The final page ends "He's FREEING us..." (obviously the writer forgot Wakanda was surrounded by rival African states during its entire existence).
If that wasn't enough of an insult, in the pages of Daredevil...T'Challa abandons the throne right after Daredevil to be a night manager of a NY diner under the guise of a Nigerian man so he can mop up DD's mess. Seriously? I nearly wanted to take a baseball bat to the editors in Marvel.
I'll live with the fact that T'Challa apparently thought it was a good idea to plunge his country into poverty by shelling out its most precious resource. I'll even buy him giving up the mantle to his sister. But wouldn't the logical decision be declaring Wakanda as a true neutral nation like the Swiss and electing to become an ambassador of the U.N. where he could watch DD's turf seeing as the U.N.'s HQ is literally blocks from Hell's Kitchen? The Black Panther, one of my favorite characters deserved better...
I digress, I looooved the intro of the Black Panther animatic. while I don't think JRJR's art was the ideal choice but I think he nailed some of the classic imagery and the way the Panther moves.
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