Black Panther #30: "The Story Thus Far"

[superboyprime]

"T’Chaka was not fat. Or short. Wakandan security forces are *elite* and could take on the AV’s themselves. The Dora Milaje would both need to be dead–twice–before they allowed any harm to come to their king. This was a gross violation of the T’Chaka character (and by extension, BP). T’Chaka was incredibly wily and would *never* have been caught off-guard like this guy. Assassinating the Wakandan king would be considered an act of war–not even mentioned. An old fat guy got whacked. On to the next plot point." - Christopher Priest on Captain America: Civil War

Comments

[locuatico]

Okay, I don't want to be pedantic (and depending on the timeline, the South-East Asian theatre probably hadn't even started and he may not have been aware of the North African campaign yet) but while there IS a tendency to focus on Europe (and the US), WWII was actually bigger than that.

[filthysize]

T'Chaka was aware of it. When he said "Rommel occupies the North" he was referring to Germany's Afrika Corps (led by Rommel) occupying North Africa.

Wakanda's just so isolationist back then that other African regions may as well be Australia as far as they're concerned.

[locuatico]

Corrected on him not necessarily being aware. I still stand on the "it is not a "world" war" line.

[cyberghostface]

Is the actor’s weight really relevant?

[bradygirl_12]

I thought that was odd, too. An overweight guy can't be king?

[locuatico]

I think his point is that he sees Black Panther as a tall slender man (which compliments their fighting style) and that you don't get that from T'Chaka, not helped by the fact T'Chaka was caught off-guard and the Dora Milaje failed so miserably to save him.

I do think Priest is doing a serious missreading of Civil War T'Chaka, however. Movie!T'Chaka had at least 20 years of difference from THIS T'chaka, and he had long pass the mantle of Black Panther to his son. And, as it would be expected, one can change a lot in that much time. even the mightiest warrior would lose their edge.

I would like to think that, since the BP movie showed T'Chaka in his prime, that Priest may have warmed up to older T'Chaka somewhat.

[joetuss]

This was super disrespectful. I think John Kani did a awesome job as T'Chaka, and I hope we get more from him in future films.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

I love Priest, but dam he sounds more like John Byrne than himself when discussing Civil War.

Among other things, how is 'Bucky' killing the King an act of war? It was a terrorist act (first by the wanted Winter Soldier, then Zemo) by people with no national backing whatsoever.

[locuatico]

I can actually kinda see he has a point...sorta: Wakanda would presumably want to take the murderer to Wakanda so they can face Wakandan Justice, but the US would refuse to give in the prisoner because of their own interests. which WOULD create a not-very-pretty political situation...
I wouldn't call it an "act of war" but I DO think it would create a political situation that would lead to war if not dealt with properly.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

How, though?

When they thought it was the Winter Soldier that killed T'Chaka, Bucky hadn't been a US soldier for decades. As the Winter Soldier he was always a terrorist, and during the movie he never once touched US soil. And when he was caught, he was surrendered to the UN.

Earlier statements imply by Priest that Wakanda should have declared war against the US, but given that none of the suspects were state actors, that seems an overreaction, at best.

[thanekos]

The paragraph following that statement made it just seem like a criticism of plot and character mechanics: " T’Challa should have–would have been compelled–to threaten massive retaliation.. The tension is ratcheted way up because we raise the stakes: if they don’t turn the Winter Soldier over to T’Challa, he’s going to hold ALL of America accountable.

Monday morning quarterbacking, of course, but this is what I’m saying: the above would not have taken a lot of extra screen time but it would have been truer to this character–not *my* take on him, but the character. "

[thezmage]

So we can assume that Priest supported the Iraq war then? After all, there was a terrorists attacking on America and Iraq never once offered to turn over Bin Laden. Sure, Iraq didn’t have Bin Laden but America never had the winter soldier either.

[lieut_kettch]

This is the MCU: Wakanda had yet to reveal itself as a world power. They didn’t make any demands because they COULDN’T. Not without exposing their secret to the world.

[laughing_tree]

If you read his whole review, he's actually overall quite positive about the film. So no, nowhere near the territory of John Byrne, living avatar of fanboy rage on this good Earth.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Well, at least there's that.

[mesmiranda]

"T’Chaka was not fat. Or short. [...] This was a gross violation of the T’Chaka character (and by extension, BP). T’Chaka was incredibly wily and would *never* have been caught off-guard like this guy. [...] An old fat guy got whacked. On to the next plot point." - Christopher Priest on Captain America: Civil War

There is a scans_daily rule in place, about trash-talking creators, and I am so, so very close to breaking it right now.

[commodus]

Is there a single issue of this comic where a character doesn't wag their finger and lecture someone about racism? Seeing the scans of this series, it feels like being beaten repeatedly over the head with the same points again and again.

[lieut_kettch]

I hope the portrayal of 90’s T’Chaka by Atandwa Kani helped mollify Christopher Priest’s doubts.