One of America’s most popular writers on race is now concentrating on the life of the superhero king of a mythical African country.
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ lifelong love of comic books made him jump at the chance to write the Black Panther, one of the first comic books heroes of color for Marvel. While it may seem like a diversion from his serious commentary on race, Coates says it still allows him to talk about issues that he feels deeply about — through a good superhero story.
“Can this promise of rights — human rights and civil rights — be expanded equally to everybody?” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. “That is very much alive in Black Panther, even though it’s not a ‘race’ story. The spirit of it is very much there.”
A national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine, Coates’ 2015 book “Between the World and Me” won the National Book Award for Nonfiction and has been on The New York Times bestseller list for 37 weeks and counting. He also was a recipient of a McArthur Foundation “genius” grant last year.
Now living in Paris, Coates is taking on a character with a long comic book history and a rising public profile. The Black Panther was introduced as a supporting character in Fantastic Four in 1966, and will be featured in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War movie in May. There is also a 2018 movie scheduled to be helmed by Fruitvale Station and Creed director Ryan Coogler.