Ta-Nehisi Coates Is Writing a Black Panther Marvel Comic Series

Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of the most famous journalists in America right now. His feature in The Atlantic, "The Case For Reparations," won the George Polk Award for Commentary last year. His new memoir Between the World and Me had its publication date bumped up significantly due to its timeliness in the wake of so many conflicts between citizens and police forces, and has now been long-listed for the National Book Award. And his latest Atlantic cover story, "The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration," is making similar significant cultural waves. But now the renowned author will venture into another genre entirely: comics.

Starting in 2016, Coates will pen a new yearlong Black Panther series for Marvel titled "A Nation Under Our Feet." Coates' story, drawn by Brian Stelfreeze, takes its inspiration from the 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning history book by Steven Hahn and will begin its run in the spring. According to the New York Times announcement of the project, his new gig came about as the result of an interview about diversity in comics that Coates did in May with Marvel editor Sana Amanat, who helped create Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel.

Justifiably, this sort of announcement received rapturous reactions on Twitter:

There’s no word on an official release date yet, but it’s already safe to say that with Coates’ series and Marvel’s plans for a Black Panther movie in 2017 as a part of Phase Three, the character will have a much higher profile very soon.