Black Panther has proven himself to be an iconic tent pole of Marvel Comics, and the hero's main comic book will be authored by a Black woman for the first time ever. Notably, Black writers have only had the ability to direct the flagship Black Panther title for less than thirty years. Even still, it is shocking to see that 2023 marks the first time a Black woman gets to take the reins of this franchise. The current Black Panther title will reach its conclusion after its next couple of issues, and the future of Wakanda's protector remained completely blank until earlier this week.

An exclusive report from ComicBook.com on Wednesday confirmed that the Black Panther ongoing title will relaunch this June. Alongside some promotional art from Razzah, the article also detailed the new creative team working on the book. Known for her work on Ironheart and the ongoing Monica Rambeau: Photon limited series, Eve L. Ewing will pen the series. Chris Allen will partner with Ewing and serve as the series' artist. Allen has made his mark at Marvel while working on Miles Morales: Spider-Man as well as being part of Marvel's 2023 class of Stormbreakers, and pairing him with Ewing also means that the two dominant voices in storytelling around one of Marvel's most famous Black superheroes are themselves Black creators.

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Ironheart Writer Eve L. Ewing Will Write Black Panther's Flagship Title.

Black Panther Promo Art by Razzah

Eve L. Ewing also sat down with ComicBook.com for a brief interview to accompany the exclusive announcement. Although her new role is a historic moment, Ewing took the time to note some important Black non-men who have contributed to the world of Marvel and Black Panther. Ewing reflected, "I've actually been thinking about it less in terms of those qualifiers, just because the Wakandan space is an arena where there have been several Black women writers – from Yona Harvey to Roxane Gay to Nnedi Okorafor – and also because I'm so excited that some awesome Black women, Black non-binary writers, and just dope people of color, in general, have come on board at Marvel even since I was first writing Ironheart in 2018." This places Ewing in a lineage of Black women writers who've been essential to enriching the story of Wakanda and the Black Panther, and hopefully, she is only the first of many Black women and Black non-men to get this opportunity.

In all the celebration, there is a tinge of sadness that it has taken this long for a Black woman to write the flagship book of one of Marvel's most prominent Black superheroes. Similarly, despite Storm potentially being Marvel's most famous Black character ever, she is only now getting a solo title written by a woman, and at that, the legendary Ann Nocenti is still a white woman. In this context, Ewing taking over Black Panther is a historic win, even if it is a long time coming. And it should be noted how excited Ewing is to bring her point of view to this marquee franchise. Towards the end of the interview, Ewing teased that, "virtually everything in this arc will be about T'Challa, and Wakanda, as you've never seen them before. New friends, new foes, but all with the goal of doing some worldbuilding in Wakanda and filling out the fabric of the nation in what I believe are some pretty cool new ways."

Black Panther has become a mainstay in pop culture due to his MCU adaptation. At the same time, his comics counterpart and the rest of Wakanda have been fleshed out in ways that make them an irreplaceable part of the Marvel Universe. In that time it's been revolutionary to see how Black women creators have been able to contribute to Wakanda and the history of Black Panther. Even more exciting now though, for the first time ever, Eve L. Ewing has become the first Black woman ever to have control over the direction of the entire franchise as the writer for Marvel's flagship Black Panther title.

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Eve L. Ewing and Chris Allen's Black Panther #1 will be available from Marvel Comics in June 2023.

Source: ComicBook.com