Black To The Future: Black Panther #14 Review

Writer: Ta-Nehisi Coates / Artist: Daniel Acuña / Marvel Comics “Welcome back to the stage of history.” I mean, is it history if it’s afro-future? Is it afro-future if it’s in the present? Either way, Black Panther #14 is on the shelves and giving you that ‘Black To The Future’ realness. Issue #14 picks up seconds after the events of the last book with T’Challa succeeding in making a Wi-Fi call to Wakanda Prime on Earth looking for help. After pleasantries, Queen Ramonda lets T’Challa know that the nation is thriving in his absence and questions if they can spare the resources to help. She definitely responds to her son the way most folks would reply to an ex asking for a favor. It’s a pretty savage mom-type move, actually. Nakia keeps it one-hundred and replies with the only matter of importance; N’Jadaka has taken over entire galaxies – and Earth is his next target for conquest. The moment of long-distance connection is short-lived as the Maroons come under attack by N’Jadaka’s fleet way ahead of schedule!

[Reminder: N’Jadaka has no idea that his daughter is housing the panther god Bast, or that Bast is on the side of the Maroons, or that she was instrumental in restoring T’Challa’s memories, or that T’Challa’s memories have returned at all. So, yeah…] Black Panther #14 is an issue focused primarily on the cost of things. Coates provides a layered approach to great effect. Ramonda and Shuri engage T’Challa in conversation about the cost of disrupting Wakanda’s hard-fough…