For the first time in Marvel Comics history, its epochal tent pole character Black Panther will be authored by a Black woman. Even more notably, the watershed moment comes less than 30 years after Black writers were not allowed to direct the flagship comic.
Eve L. Ewing is a writer, scholar, and cultural organizer from Chicago who has authored the award-winning books Electric Arches, Ghosts in the Schoolyard, 1919, and Maya and the Robot. Her rise to fame came after penning the comic book Ironheart. She also serves as an associate professor in the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity at the University of Chicago, where she teaches courses on education and racial inequality.
In an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com, Ewing gave props to other people of color from a wide array of genders who helped pave the way for her to land the coveted role.
“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, she said.”
She further added that she is excited to bring new perspectives to Marvel’s franchise and she looks forward to uncovering new layers of the comic’s main character.
“Virtually everything in this arc will be about T’Challa, and Wakanda, as you’ve never seen them before,” she noted. “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.”
ComicBook.com first confirmed Black Panther’s 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,” according to Screen Rant. “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.”
