If you’re a fan of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ take on Black Panther, you’re in luck! Marvel recently announced that they will be introducing a companion series, World of Wakanda, authored by feminist writer Roxane Gay and poet Yona Harvey.
This new narrative will be centered on the women of Wakanda—specifically Ayo and Aneka who are former members of Dora Milaje, the Black Panther’s female bodyguards, as well as lovers.
“The opportunity to write black women and queer black women into the Marvel universe, there’s no saying no to that,” Gay told the New York Times.
The main series was extremely successful following its introduction, selling 253,259 copies during its first month. Needless to say, there are plenty of fans out there who would become ecstatic over the opportunity to delve deeper into the world of Wakanda.
While Coates’ series focuses on T’Challa’s attempts to ward off conflict and disorder among the Wakandan people, both Coates and Ms. Gay revealed that this spin-off will spotlight how the civil war is affecting the people of Wakanda, personally, in a San Diego Comic-Con interview.
“I think Roxane’s book will be more intimate and give us some of the day to day stuff both between Ayo and Aneka in addition to Ayo and Aneka and the women of Wakanda,” Coates explained.
“As Ta-Nehisi said, my book is going to be pretty intimate,” she added. “There’s going to be all kinds of action, but I’m also really excited to show Ayo and Aneka’s relationship, build on that love story, and also introduce some other members of the Dora Milaje.”
According to Coates, you don’t need to read one to be able to follow the other; however, that shouldn’t necessarily be an issue considering the praise the first series has garnered. “Hopefully, the writing will be so compelling that people will be carried off into Wakanda and want to get as much of it as possible,” he said.
The fact that Marvel is choosing to highlight not only black but queer and women’s narratives is monumental. The shift toward more diverse examples of storytelling in comics has been ongoing. The New York Times’ coverage of Marvel’s announcement cites characters such as the Muslim Ms. Marvel, the black Captain America, the Korean-American Hulk and the female Hulk as proof. However, as journalist George Gene Gustines points out, the same can’t be said of the writers and artists of these series.
It seems Marvel is finally grasping some of their fans frustrations with regard to this by recruiting authors like Ta-Nehisi Coates and Roxane Gay to craft their stories.
