Ran to the comicstore Wednesday, as per geek ritual. (I won’t do a shameful plug for Liberty Books And Comics [formerly Closet of Comics] in College Park, Md., because that would be rude. :)) Had to pick up the last issue of the Storm miniseries and the current issue of Black Panther, No. 18. The former is written by novelist Eric Jerome Dickey and the latter by BET Entertainment President Reginald Hudlin.

Both Marvel books are helmed by writers who have loved comics their whole lives but are “new” voices invading the cloistered world of a small group of mostly 30-year-old to 50-year-old white male scribes who write for, as the public perception goes, 20-year-old to 40-year-old mostly white male geeks. If Central Casting holds true, both groups are guys who are stereotypically just two or three steps away from Comic Book Guy of “The Simpsons” fame—at least in their own minds. 🙂 (I can’t even watch “The Simpsons” because I AM CBG. :)) Both brothers are doing something relatively new for comics—presenting strong Afrocentric perspectives for mainstream (read: white) and new (read: young and “urban”) audiences.

These two books are the most prominent Black comics that have existed since, well, the previous volume of the Black Panther, written by grandmaster (comicbook) writer Christopher J. Priest, was cancelled. For those of us who miss Milestone Comics, these two books and that great “Static Shock” cartoon, currently in reruns on Cartoon Network, are the best of what’s left of that Black Power vibe.

I was, and remain, a huge fan of Priest’s very smartly written, post-modern, layered version of Black Panther. It took me a LONG time to get used to Hudlin’s pop-culture version, particularly when Hudlin chose to substantially re-create the character’s 40-year-old history, jettisoning or changing whatever he didn’t like. Those of us fanboys who liked the previous portrayals, seeing all of it as, say, different chapters of a REALLY long novel without an end, have had to get used to, well, essentially a new character with a “new” backstory. Before Hudlin came along, King T’Challa had been written by Priest, and Don McGregor before him, as if he was a character worthy of joining the African mythological canon—a distant, brooding, hard-to-understand warrior-king. Now he gives brothers a pound and smiles sometimes in between kicking the asses of ninjas and vampires. “Lord of The African Rings” morphing into “Rush Hour 2” With Superheroes. I REALLY LIKE “Rush Hour 2,” but still……

Dickey’s dialogue was often uneven, but his story of Ororo’s journey into womanhood was a feast of plot. The author attempted real (if not overly repetitive) symbolism through overly repetitive refrains. This is my first reading of any of Dickey’s work. He clearly takes his craft seriously and cares about Storm more than, say, Bryan Singer did.

Hudlin’s first nine BP issues ranged from bad to terrible, but he has really hit his stride with his last two storyarcs, “Two The Hard Way” (re-named “Black Mutha” in trade) and “Bride Of The Panther.”

This month’s issue—with Storm marrying T’Challa, solidifying a love affair that began in Dickey’s miniseries—ended the latter arc.

I like the view of one poster on the Black Panther Message Board (where I use the tag “takufan4”) about Hudlin’s Panther—that Hudlin, a filmmaker by trade, is doing an adaptation of the character, using its 40-year history only on a selected basis.

Anyway, the wedding issue was, like Hudlin’s other issues of late, (only) pretty good. The idea of having Bast—“The Panther God”—sanctify the wedding was a GREAT one, although the execution of it, like much of this series, left a little to be desired.

Any nitpicking to the side, both Dickey and Hudlin have ELEVATED regal, powerful, loving and introspective African and African-American fictional characters to their proper place in the realm of American comicbooks. For just doing that well, both brothers deserve great credit. They should both share a full page in the history of early 21st century African-American popular culture.