Marvel’s Black Panther is one of those movies that has changed how the world has viewed superheroes of color. Never has such fanfare for a character has been expressed by legions of fans expecting a glimmer of hope, but what they got instead was a ray of sun. For longtime fans, we knew of the character’s importance and what it means, especially for comic book fans of color. What most of the media has failed to realize is just how this has been years in the making and not a one-time phenomenon, which is why Todd Steven Burroughs’ outstanding investigation of the character in Marvel’s Black Panther: A Comic Biography, seeks to give the character and his fans their just due.

In the Foreword, Makani Themba recounts how they first met the character between the pages of Fantastic Four in the summer of 1966 and how it impacted their upbringing. The book follows a chronological biography of the character, one that would fail under any other author, but unfolds like riveting epic within the words of Burroughs. In “From Patrice Lumumba to Sidney Poitier” he unpacks how the character was conceived and used in its early years. In “The Jungle Book”, we found out how Don MacGregor first started to shape the character’s narrative, veering away from the racist images and stereotypes and towards a technologically superior vision of Africa.

In “The Finished Man,”MacGregor was able to retcon much of the narrative that Kirby had laid initially and tell a story that was relevant to the time involving apartheid South Africa. In “Return of The Kings,” Burroughs digs into the problems that Kirby’s depiction of the character brought and how a good portion of it was the way Marvel treated Kirby before he left the company and after he returned. “The Client Was A Man of Remarkable Focus,” the amazing run of Christopher Priest on the character showed a different side of the character, something another website called “The an who Made Black Panther Cool,” which is an accurate description of his time on the titular character’s book. In “The Spy King.”  Where Priest revealed the real reason T’Challa joined the Avengers, one that would shake the superhero team to its core.

In “Hudlin’s Un-Compromised Royal (Black) Super-Man,” Burroughs examines Reginald Hudlin’s run on the character, often espousing the anti-colonialism stance many fans often wished the character would show, and he did this instantly with the character’s dominance over Captain America. In “Side-Swipes,” he explores the replacements to the throne and the mantle, Kevin “Kasper” Cole, a NYC cop, who was half Jewish and half African and T’Challa’s sister, Shuri, whose dealings with Dr. Doom brought many troubles to the sitting sovereign. In “The Black(Man) Without Fear,” T’Challa’s run as the protector of Hell’s Kitchen, a rather satisfying story, but one that would disempower the character, a step back in many ways for the character. In “Between the World and Him,” Ta-Nehisi Coates’s significant run on the character is explored, where he takes into consideration the significance and impact on the canon by the only two black writers prior to his run.

In “The Conclusion,” Burroughs digs into the character’s first big screen appearance in Captain America: Civil War, where he promotes both the fierce independence of the character and the proud Wakandan resistance to colonialism.” In the “Afterword,” Greg Carr, the chair for Africana Studies at Howard University, discusses the reality of the character’s impact, it being purely aspirational for members of the African Diaspora. Overall, the book serves two purposes, to educate and entertain, giving this character its proper place in history and popular culture.

Story: Todd Steven Burroughs
Prose: 10 Research: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy