WATCH C2E2: Black Panther roundtable

Just a few years ago, Black Panther wasn't considered one of Marvel's A-list superheroes. But after his debut in Captain America: Civil War and his blockbuster solo film, T'Challa has finally taken his place among Marvel's elite characters.

On the final day of C2E2 2019, artist Afua Richardson and writer Daniel Kibblesmith took part in a Black Panther roundtable discussion on the Live Stage. Richardson has provided illustrations for Black Panther and the World of Wakanda spinoff. Kibblesmith is the writer of Quantum and Woody, as well as the Black Panther vs. Deadpool miniseries.

To kick off the discussion, the panel looked back at the work of Don McGregor, the first writer to give Black Panther his own solo adventures. 

"[McGregor] actually got a lot of resistance for some of his ideas," recalled Richardson. "He kind of wanted to make Black Panther Marvel's Batman. Just a little ruthless, you know. And people that go 'oh, that's never going to go anywhere. No one wants to see that.'"

Christopher Priest actually did just that in his Black Panther run. However, as noted by the panel, Priest told the story from the perspective of Everett K. Ross, a white man, to make it more palatable for comic readers in the '90s. Priest's run was fantastic by any measure, but the panel agreed that the Ross convention wasn't needed anymore.

Kibblesmith said that he had a lot of freedom when writing the Black Panther vs. Deadpool miniseries, but he also felt it was important to use their respective movies as a jumping on point.

"I knew that these characters had such a big year that most of the people who pick this up would be coming to the characters from the movies," noted Kibblesmith. "I just tried to use everybody that I loved from the Black Panther movie. Most of the series is set in Wakanda, except the last issue, which is in Jersey."

For more Black Panther details, check out the entire video!