Doesn’t Matter if You’re Black or White

“It don’t matter if you’re Black or White,” Michael Jackson brazenly crooned as a whimsical romanticized integrationist fantasy. A hallucinogenic melody that imagines a world where “color blindness” is the panacea for racial disharmony by simply minimizing “race”.   An ironic notion sung by a man who suffered from vitiligo, a skin condition contributing to the erasure of his Blackness and making him, in effect, “white” skinned and more socially acceptable in pigment.

Why is this preamble pertinent? Because race is a major undertone of the contentious The World to Come Marvel Knights issue one. Race in this issue is quiet on arrival but loud on impact, like a bullet hitting the skull from a silencer — it lands when you least expect it.   Writer Christopher Priest eloquently sets the reader up for the kill. By the end of the issue, Black comic fans and “Blerds” alike are dismayed by an inconceivable cliffhanger—the type of cliffhanger where Scar tossed Mufasa off the cliff with a grin. Priest had to have that Michael Jackson smile at the end of the “Thriller” video, when he pulled the pen on this, knowing a White “Black” Panther would blow up in the reader’s face.

I’m The Pappy

T’Challa’s “son” is White, like Ralph Lauren Ivy League nepotism white—a bona-fide blonde-haired, blue-eyed white devil, a blasphemous reveal that shook the Black comic book world. Fans are incredulous, T’challa said, “I’m the pappy” like Jangle Leg from the movie Life, and didn’t bat an eye. How? Why? These are a series of unanswered inquiries, yet Priest is no stranger to using race as a trigger to bust a cap through fans’ expectations.

In his Black Panther run, Priest introduced Hunter, a.k.a. “White Wolf,” in Black Panther (Vol. 3) #4 in 1999. Hunter was a white child who survived a plane crash in Wakanda in which his parents were killed, and T’Challa’s father, King T’Chaka, chose to adopt him into the royal family. This was Priest’s first racial socio-political willingness to invite whiteness into what is supposed to be an isolationist African country. White Wolf becomes T’Challa’s adoptive brother and ascends the ranks as appointed leader of Wakandan Hatut Zeraze(Dogs of War)secret police. An outsider given inexplicable accessibility to the royal family, i.e., White privilege, even in Wakanda. This “invite to the cookout” set a precedent for the infiltration of white interlopers to set up shop in Wakanda.

As time progresses, Priest again demonstrates a willingness to allow the role of Black Panther to be assumed by an outsider with direct lineage to white ancestry. This time, it’s Kasper Cole, a biracial Jewish/African-American cop who first appeared in Black Panther (vol. 3) #50 in 2002. Kasper stole the suit and used it for his exploits as a member of the NYPD. While his position as Black Panther was truncated, Priest unabashedly displayed a willingness for someone of white heritage to carry the mantle. If you drop enough crumbs, after a while a trail begins to form, and if you’ve followed Priest’s style of storytelling, then the appearance of Ketema should be understood as an inevitability rather than an “irregularity”.

Priest has routinely made space for whiteness to be present in the Wakanda enclave, e.g., CIA Everett Ross. Giving Ross the power of narration in his 1998 Black Panther run is a peculiar decision that centers on white curiosity and commentary, which offers Ross a level of importance and an unlikely “ally” engagement with T’Challa—again, making racially socio-political exemptions for whiteness, no less in the form of a CIA agent to be viewed as “trustworthy”. This is evidenced by Priest having T’Challa name Ross as “regent ruler” of Wakanda during his absence, acting as liaison and interim leader. At this point, there are enough bread crumbs to make a loaf, so it’s a foregone conclusion that the natural progression of Priest’s integrationist politics in Wakanda would culminate with a White “Black” Panther.

An additional inclusion of whiteness is a young, unnamed Dora Milaje who looks as Black as Rachel Dolezal, yet she’s not focused on as of now. However, her racial ancestry is admixed with a significant influence of white heritage, as her features are predominantly white. What is crystal clear more than ever is Priest’s perverse proclivity for D.E.I. within the borders of Wakanda for whiteness. Ultimately, much of Priest’s storytelling is layered with a “White gaze” perspective through Ross’ narration, as Ross whitesplains his etic perspective, which is at best an approximation and at worst a misinterpretation.

Rhetorical Shots Fired

Priest also includes subversive rhetoric in The World To Come, suggesting that Black Panther’s decision to marry Storm was a “bad idea” and “big mistake.” A seemingly subliminal diss to the idea that Reginald Hudlin pioneered, Priest uses what seems to be Everett Ross’ character to sully the marriage between Black Panther and Storm. A bold move given how celebrated the union was in Hudlin’s run, it appears that Priest summarily redresses it as a short-sighted decision on T’Challa’s behalf. Even Coates caught a stray, with Priest suggesting self-government was absurd. As a key pillar of Coates’ run, the story explored Wakanda’s transition to a democratic nation.

T’Challa also refers to Ketema as his “son,” specifically his “only son.” Even going as far as saying he gave life to Ketema, I guess DNA testing doesn’t exist in Wakanda. In any case, Ketema implies that he’s more of a “tool” rather than a “son,” making for an interesting socio-political subplot about how T’Challa came to accept a white boy as his self-proclaimed “only son.” Generally speaking, much of T’Challa’s decision-making is broadly painted as imprudent, thus creating a wave of decisions with tsunami consequences, known as The World to Come event.

A duality is arising politically and culturally. While T’Challa’s internecine battle with Ketema represents a grinding of the axe between the two, concurrently, T’Challa is seeking to cut ties with the relic that is tribalism and its propaganda. So, punches aren’t just an expression of power for T’Challa but a political reformation of Wakanda’s government into a democracy. Yet, Ketema professes loyalty to the “cleric” as being raised by them and acts out of an extremist indignation to protect tradition. Ironically, Ketema attributes his ascension to T’Challa’s errant decision-making. Again, framing T’Challa as a poor leader whose folly has engendered chaos, manifested in Ketema’s fury. Ultimately, Wakanda’s future is mortgaged in deference to T’Challa’s fondness for a white boy he proclaims as his own. While ironically Ketema shows the highest forms of insolence to him in return, a picture-esque reflection of race relations between Black and white people, particularly in America.

Resentment in the Black Comic Book World

Priest poured the gasoline, struck a match, and watched the Black comic book world set ablaze in a fury of resentment. Black Panther, while a white owned IP of Marvel, has reflected a cultural longing for representation of “Black power” in a way that is enriching and deeply rooted in the strength of a fictional African nation. For many, Black Panther is a vicarious symbol of an incorruptible Black power fantasy, a ruler of the most technologically advanced nation that was “never” (well, sort of) colonized. So understandably, Blerds were big mad and cutting up all over social media. Basically calling for Priest to stand before the congregation and confess his sins for making Brad Pitt Jr. the next Black Panther.

Black Panther’s folklore being tainted by a potential White Panther is sacrilegious in the hearts of many Black comic book fans, as the image of African royalty is being colonized and corrupted. Like most stories, when you don’t understand the “end game,” the method feels like madness rather than strategy. What is the purpose of Priest ruthlessly pulling on the heart strings of the Blerd-verse? In the meantime, many are despondent and feel led astray, as some may feel that Priest has forsaken his “Black card” in service of raisins in the potato salad at the Wakandan cookout.

While the combination of ingredients for this story seems odd now, let’s hope for Priest’s sake that he can turn what feels like chaos into a delectable dish that keeps fans coming back for seconds. Because, as any Black person knows, if someone asks who made something at a cookout, more times than not, it wasn’t “good”.  However, when the food is bussin’, folks are too busy enjoying the dish to be concerned with “who” made it. If Priest is the “G.O.A.T.” we believe him to be, by the time the story ends, we’ll be too busy enjoying it to ask any questions.

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