Even as Ta-Nehisi Coates was bringing Black Panther to great new heights, he was being given a free hand on other titles as well, including the sadly short-lived Black Panther and the Crew, whose entire run is contained in a collection subtitled We Are the Streets. Leaving behind Wakanda for Harlem, We Are the Streets follows Misty Knight, a New York police officer, as she looks into the mysterious death of a civil rights activist in police custody. As the series goes on, the Crew - made up of Luke Cage, Storm, Black Panther, and Manifold - begin to come together and look into what happened here, trying to quell the tensions and unrest that are rapidly arising in Harlem.
Now, make no mistake: this is still a Marvel story, one with big comic book trappings. There are battles aplenty, a Big Bad that’s iconic to even casual Marvel fans (or those who only know the MCU), and so forth. At the same time, though, there’s no denying that Coates uses We Are the Streets to take on contemporary issues in a head-on fashion. This is an all-Black superhero team dealing with police militarization and brutality, racial unease and tension, and more - not exactly neutral fare. Coates handles it perfectly, though, turning it into the text of the story while never letting We Are the Streets become a polemic. Is this a political comic? Undoubtedly and unabashedly. But it’s also a superhero comic, and Coates never forgets that as his plot develops and his mystery twists and turns.
I really loved Black Panther and the Crew, and it’s sad to me that it couldn’t find an audience; what Coates has done here is even more interesting and thoughtful than what he did in A Nation Under Our Feet, and his ability to mix insight with action makes this a complex, satisfying story that reminded me what comics could do. Here’s hoping the Crew can find more adventures somehow in the pages of Black Panther, but more importantly, that Coates gets the chance to bring his Harlem back to comic pages again sometime soon.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
Add a debit or credit card to save time when you check out
Convenient and secure with 2 clicks. Add your card
More like Black Panther And The Crew: We Are The Streets (Black Panther And The Crew (2017))
Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1
Loading...
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2018
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2017
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2022
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2017
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2020
Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2018
