Black Panther: Long Live the King by Nnedi Okorafor, André Lima Araújo, et al.

Long Live the King is another miniseries that ran alongside Ta-Nehisi Coates's main Black Panther ongoing; similar to World of Wakanda, it tells smaller stories, though T'Challa is the protagonist in most of these, unlike the ones in World. I had actually read it before, as it was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story back in 2019.

from Black Panther: Long Live the King #2

There are three stories here; the first, by Nnedi Okorafor and André Lima Araújo, appears in issues #1, 2, and, oddly, 5, and is about T'Challa investigating a monster that's causing earthquakes in Wakanda. It didn't really hang together for me; everyone acts like T'Challa is crazy when he says he can see a monster but no one else can. Like, c'mon, you guys live in the Marvel universe, stuff like this happens all the time! The story tries to explore a subgroups of Wakandans who live without technology, but doesn't really go anywhere interesting with that, and I found making a new character an old childhood friend of T'Challa was not actually an effective way to get me to care. I also don't care for how recent Black Panther comics have watered down Christopher Priest's Hatute Zeraze from feared Wakandan secret police to generic guards. (I feel like the rough edges of his conception of Wakanda are being sanded off.) I often find Okorador's dialogue stilted in her novels, and that's true of her comics as well. Araújo's artwork is technically competent but rarely interesting to look at.

from Black Panther: Long Live the King #3

The second story, by Aaron Covington and Mario Del Pennino, appears in issues #3-4. I just reread my notes on it and I still don't remember what it's about, except it once again depends on a previously unmentioned childhood friend of T'Challa's to generate drama, so... 

The last story, by Nnedi Okorafor and Tana Ford, I remember confused me when I read it originally because it takes place in an alternate universe, but the trade paperback it was collected in completely failed to mention that. Thankfully, reading in single issues, you get an explanatory text page that does give some context for why the Black Panther is suddenly a wheelchair-using Nigerian woman bonded to the Venom symbiote... but not why anyone might think this worth telling stories about. 

Back when I read these for the Hugos, I ranked them below No Award. I stand by that. This is generic superhero stuff, not the best of the genre or the character. Presumably churned out to make sure there was lots of Black Panther content on the shelves when the film was released.

from Black Panther: The Sound and the Fury #1

That's probably also true of Black Panther: The Sound and the Fury, a one-shot about T'Challa battling Klaw. It's written by Ralph Macchio, who previously wrote Black Panther way back in 1982... and if you told me this was an inventory script hanging out in his drawer since 1982, I would believe you. Macchio was a prolific comics writer back in the 1980s, and his style doesn't seem to have moved on since then. Overly wordy, very simple characterization. Actually, that's not fair to the actual comics of the 1980s, which were usually better than this. If this was a new story put out to tie into the film, I'm not sure what anyone involved was thinking.

Black Panther: Long Live the King originally appeared in six issues (Feb.-Apr. 2018). The stories were written by Nnedi Okorafor (#1-2, 5-6) and Aaron Covington (#3-4); illustrated by André Lima Araújo (#1-2, 5), Mario Del Pennino (#3-4), and Tana Ford (#6); inked by Terry Pallot & Scott Hanna (#6); colored by Chris O'Halloran (#1-5) and Ian Herring & Irma Kniivila (#6); lettered by Richard Starkings (#4) and Jimmy Betancourt (#1-6); and edited by Devin Lewis.

"The Sound and the Fury!" originally appeared in issue #1 of Black Panther: The Sound and the Fury (Apr. 2018). The story was written by Ralph Macchio, illustrated by Andrea Di Vito, colored by Laura Villari, lettered by Travis Lanham, and edited by Mark Basso.

ACCESS AN INDEX OF ALL POSTS IN THIS SERIES HERE