Having fun with Black Panther and International Relations / Black Panther vs ¿George W Bush?

Today I'm going to change things up instead on working on a traditional book about history or international politics, I'm going to have some fun,  I'm going to review and Analyze the first six issues of Black Panther written by Reginald Hudlin (I must note  that to my surprise this writer has very impressive curriculum outside of comics check him out) and is illustrated by the legendary John Romita Jr.

Now I must say before I start, even though comic book movies are exploding establishing record box office sales and finding certain critical respect on  occasions,  I still get this feeling that people still look down on comic books themselves  and very few people are picking them up, and this is a shame because reading comics  really opens up your imagination and helps you think outside of  the box and every once in awhile they make you question stuff, at least this is my personal opinion.

 

 So let get back to Black Panther who has always been a fantastic character, and I want to take advantage of the buzz he'll get in Captain Americas Civil War that has come out this week, and try to get people hooked on this character, becuase his comic are always a great read. 

Now  we are going to work on the   first six issues of Panther's 2005, that  presents the reader with two  very interesting topics: international politics and race relations, and  even though the author bring up some  pretty heavy concepts, the story of the comic never is bogged down or tries to be more than it is, it's a gripping story from front to back. Another thing that I most mention is that the author is no expert in international politics, but it's cool to see him try to get into to these issues.

Core Issues and Ideas in this story arc:

·         We a presented with Wakanda that is a central African country that has incredible resources, has a strong government, that is technological super advanced, depends on no other nation, it  has no alliances with  no other nations, never has been invaded... and there is a big problem the US government  wants to access the untapped petroleum and Vidranium ( a comic book metal that is super valuable) thats in it territory, but T'Challa/Black Panther the country's ruler has no interest in establishing  any type of commercial or economic ties with the United States of America. So the Bush administration (note not mention directly but you can tell it's them) analyzes other options to destabilize the country so they would ask for them for help to save their country, and they know thanks to their intelligence that a villain called the Klaw is out to kill Panther

and they will take advantage of the situation .

·         The Villains that are contracted to take down Panther represent countries that really complicate things for the people of Africa in general  during the colonial era of the continent and after during the post colonial phase:

§  Ulysses Klaw:  Is from Belgium a country that did it's fair share of atrocities on the continent. Now this character is actually Dutch but I guess they changed his nationality because of it historical significance.

§   Rhino: Represents the United State, and we see a character that just running in head first like a freight train, without thinking about his actions.

§  Bartoc the Leaper: This character comes from France another colonial power that  played a major role in Africa.

§  Black Knight: I guess marvel couldn't find any English Villains, (maybe Parnival Plunder) or Catholic Villains, so they made  this odd new Black Knight that is from Great Britain, that is a Catholic zealot/hitman for the Vatican, out to kill pagans. I'm not on the same page of the idea of this character and his characterization of Catholic view but I'll let it slide.

§  Radioactive Man:  Now this character is originally Chinese, but for this story line this is a new Radioactive Man from Russia, and this country played a major role in post colonial Africa.

§  Deathlok's: Zombie killer robots made by the US army, that represent the  Industrial Military complex, always ready to give a helping hand to nations in trouble but indirectly they are occupying it territory.

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·         Since Wakanda isn't willing to negotiate with the United States on any issue, the Bush administration analyses the possibility to classify the country as a Rogue Nation, but another official  jumps in  and advises not to add this country to the Axis of Evil. Now these two concepts  very interesting political classifications, because they were used by the Clinton administration ( Rogue States)  and latter the Bush administration (Axis of Evil) to establish  enemies of the US.  But the transition from Rogue's to Evil States, shows an evolution of in US policy to validate preemptive strikes, the time of the Reluctant Sheriff had ended policy that characterized US policy during the late 90's early 2000's.

·         The Comic also mentions Regime change which was a political concept that the Bush administration used to justify the war on Iraq, a change of police from the Clinton era, Nation Building that characterized the 90's.

·         Wakandans think that western culture is decadent and backward, in a way the comic doesn't focus on being anti-American, but trying to be less ethnocentric trying to explore the concept of a country that is geographicly in the "Third World" but is superior to any of the world's major powers. There is a part in one of the issues when the leader of another nation tries to make a deal with T'Challa's father appealing  to the fact that he is corruptible like all third world leaders, and he reacts just establishing that his nation need nothing from the rest of the world and that they must be respect his country , because he will not bend to the will of outside interest, and what I've learned from studying international relation for more than 15 years is that autonomy scares the powers that be, because they can become game changers. .

·         The issue explores the racism of the white establishment when administration can't understand how a African black  leader and his country have reached such a level of development, ¿How can they be better than us?, and inclusively panther kicked Captain America's butt once for violating his countries territory, and this make a US general flip out.

So guys I hope you like this brief post if you have any questions post them below that I'll answer them in a jiffy.