Black Panther

The World of Wakanda, a rather short-lived spin-off of the Tani Hasi Coates Black Panther series. While this collection of shorts was not an instant love for me, the more I mull over it the more I can appreciate it.

Before we go any further, however, I would like to review Wikipedia's definition of the term Glass Cliff. Similar to but less well known then the glass ceiling, the glass cliff is when a woman (or other minority person) is likelier than a man to achieve leadership roles during periods of crisis or downturn, when the chance of failure is highest. In other words, diverse creators suddenly have access to books at Marvel as their sales figures continue to fall.

Unlike the first volume of Coates' Black Panther, I had previously read Roxane Gay's book Bad Feminist and actually had a bit of a passing knowledge of her as a person. I certainly would love to get my hands on some more of her work, but I didn't necessarily feel as blind sided by this story as I was for Black Panther. And while I can't remember specific people, although I suspect Black Girl Nerds was involved, I had heard some people VERY EXCITED about this title and their reasons why. Namely a romance between two black lesbians.

Such is the supposed to be the stuff of any good SJW's wet dream! So my initial instinct when I finished the story entirely unexcited was to say it was Gay's fault. Flipping back through the story I had to question myself though, was I being entirely fair and objective?

To take yet another very short aside, I also happened to watch the Last Jedi between the reading of WOW and writing this review. Much like those who were super excited about World of Wakanda, I was entranced by the ways in which the Last Jedi subverts the toxic beliefs of the Jedi Order and the way that Kylo Ren is so completely unattractive.

And while I apparently am not friends with any snowflakes who decided The Last Jedi was some kind of political hill they wanted to die on, I must admit that almost no one else I've talked to in person since has felt nearly as excited about this movie as me. I am first to admit that the second act dragged on far too long, but it would seem a small price to pay for such progressive ideas. Again, not many of my friends or family see it that way.

So was Gay's stint on World of Wakanda the most awesome thing ever. I don't think so, but I do think it's pushing us all forward in important ways. It might have felt more acceptable as a fanfic then as a stand-alone comic, but as a spin-off, that's kind of exactly what it's meant to be, and I certainly think that's what Gay was going for.

Art-wise, Gay's story felt pretty standard Marvel fare. Not exactly my favorite thing ever, but understandable considering the turn over time these artists are given. One note that I certainly have the privilege to be ignorant of was the fact that each of the Dora Milaje has distinctly different hair and fairly detailed hairstyles. A+

As I've alluded to already, this trade is made up of more than just Gay's story, although her title "Dawn of the Midnight Angels" is by far the longest. The People for the People by Yona Harvey and Ta-Nehisi Coates and Death of the White Tiger by Rembert Brown are both much shorter, but also much tighter and to the point. The artwork for The People for the People was also pretty stand out compared to the other two, with much more expressiveness feeding energy into the short.