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Publication: The Pitt News, University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus, Pittsburgh PA.
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Poetry and comics have more in common than you think.
Yona Harvey, a Pitt English professor, recently accepted a deal to write a 10-page story for the upcoming Marvel "Black Panther" spin-off comic series. Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer for The Atlantic and author of "Between the World and Me," pens the current "Black Panther" run, with the bulk of the upcoming spin-off, "World of Wakanda," written by Coates and feminist author Roxane Gay.
The announcement came soon after Marvel found itself in hot water in early July, when readers complained on social media that no Marvel property had ever been helmed by a female, black writer. Information that an upcoming series about a black, female Iron Man would be written by a white man helped to kick things off. In addition to Gay and Harvey, Marvel also hired two black, female artists, Alitha Martinez and Afua Richardson, to draw the art for the comic's art and cover, respectively.
The series will mostly deal with Aneka and Ayo, two former Wakandan government warriors who are now on the run and deep in love. Harvey's 10-page feature will focus on Zenzi, a revolutionary figure who can isolate and extrapolate a person's deepest feelings. This makes her a natural revolution leader and more than a thorn in Black Panther's vibranium suit. Harvey says she is very excited and that she "couldn't have picked a better character to write for."
"It's really exciting writing about a villain," Harvey said. "Especially for me, because I feel so clamped down ... in my normal life, so well-behaved," she finishes with a laugh.
Harvey wasn't able to disclose whether the Zenzi story will be a prequel or a sequel to Coates' issues -- "I don't know if I should say," she said. "I don't know if I'm allowed to say!" -- but she assured that it...