How Do You Like It So Far? Podcast: Comics, Race, and Black Panther

Ramzi Fawaz, assistant professor of English at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Rebecca Wanzo, associate professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, represent two important and emerging voices in comic studies. I have been lucky to work with both of them as part of the Postmillenial Pop book series that Karen Tongson and I co-dit for New York University Press. Fawaz's book, The New Mutants, represents a rich account of popular fantasy and progressive politics primarily focused on Marvel comics of the 1960s and 1970s, and Wanzo is completing a groundbreaking book on race and caricature which ranges across American comics in all of their various permutations. We wanted to hear their thoughts on the Black Panther phenomenon. Colin and i sat back as flies on the wall this week and listened to their perspectives, which move back and forth between the film and its comics roots.