The comic book, titled \u201cWakanda Forever #1,\u201d is a collection of stories, all written and illustrated by Black creators, in commemoration of Black History Month. Sheena Howard, a professor of communications, journalism, and media at Rider University, wrote one of the stories in the new \u201cWakanda Forever\u201d volume.<\/p>\n
Honoring Black History: Mind, Body, Soul
\n\u201cFor me, it feels like a natural progression to finally write for Marvel,\u201d Dr. Howard said about her contribution to the new book.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the latest installment in a long and growing list of publications by the specialist in pop media. She\u2019s written various academic books about Blacks in comics literature, including her 2014 book \u201cBlack Comics: Politics of Race and Representation,\u201d which won the Eisner Prize, an award considered by many to be the Academy Award of the comics world. She was the first African-American woman ever to win the prize.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s also written a Wonder Woman comic, as well as \u201cSuperb,\u201d one of the first comic books ever to feature a superhero with Down syndrome. So her contribution to the \u201cWakanda Forever #1\u201d volume is part of a lengthening bibliography.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been writing comics since 2017,\u201d Howard said in an interview in her campus office.<\/p>\n
Having written for the other major U.S. comics label, D.C., before, she said that she wanted to expand her range of publication.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did reach out to Marvel like, a year ago,\u201d she said, \u201cand then they finally hit me up and [it] was like, \u2018Hey, we have this anthology. We want you to write the story,\u2019 and here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her story in the \u201cWakanda Forever #1\u201d anthology is titled \u201cThe Illusion of Fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s about an aspiring member of the dora milaje, the all-female warrior protector force of Wakanda, the fictitious African nation from which Black Panther hails.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe young dora milaje [trainee] has locs, like me,\u201d Dr. Howard said, referring to her hairstyle of long, twisted strands. \u201cAnd she\u2019s dark skinned,\u201d she said, describing the protagonist of her story, a young warrior named Chante.<\/p>\n
\u2018Wakanda Forever\u2019 scores 12 NAACP Image Award nominations
\nHaving a main character who looks like her, Howard said, is an important aspect of storytelling.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo sometimes I do get to contribute to the aesthetic,\u201d said the professor, \u201cso that we can get more diversity around even what these female superheroes look like.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s part of how Howard uses the comic medium to bring more aspects of African heritage to a wide audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe feedback that I\u2019ve been getting over the years from the African-American community,\u201d she said, \u201cis like, \u2018Hey, we want to see some African mythology in these comic stories, since it\u2019s all about Greek mythology, historically.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Both in response to demand, and because of her own priorities, said Howard, she added another important character to her \u201cWakanda Forever\u201d story: Anansi, the spider figure of West African folklore.<\/p>\n
Anansi is known for using brainpower to overcome enormous challenges, much the same way, in Howard\u2019s story, that Chante must.<\/p>\n
\u201c[She\u2019s] learning that her fighting ability is not always going to win the fight, but she also has to use her intellect,\u201d Prof. Howard said. \u201cSo I use the telling of the Anansi spider story to bring the point home for this young dora milaje trainee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Howard is a Black female academic who, at least in her comics-writing career, works in a medium that has very few people like herself. Being unique, she said, helps to make her work stand out.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when I go to write my stories, I\u2019m always thinking about, \u2018What can I add that\u2019s going to be different? What can I add to Marvel and DC that hasn\u2019t been done before?’\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not trapped by the confines of what a comic book story is supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cBlack Panther\u201d is, of course, a Marvel comic and film franchise. It currently has a five-time Oscar-nominated feature length film, \u201cWakanda Forever,\u201d in theaters as part of that franchise, which expanded further on Feb. 15 with a special edition comic book volume to which a professor at a New Jersey university is a major contributor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":26184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,12],"tags":[7,30,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-26187","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-entertainment","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-culture","11":"tag-entertainment"},"yoast_head":"\n