Discover The Almost Forgotten Southeast Queens Native That 1st Lit Up The Black Panther Comic Franchise!

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Learn How A Young Southeast Queens Writer Pens
 Organic Swagger Into The Black Panther Comic Series

By Kamau Austin

Courtesy The Vulture.com

The Black Panther is springboarding towards a worldwide revenue windfall that's been reported over 400 million dollars in 4 days over the President's Day Holiday Weekend by some media outlets.  It has broken many records especially for a movie opening in February.  But how did we get here celebrating such a royal depiction of Black culture?

It didn't happen overnight.  I remember reading the very 1st Black Panther Comic book way back in 1966 as a pre-teen.  And actually I remember feeling a sense of pride about reading of a fictitious African King in an technologically advanced nation.  It fired my imagination on the possibilities on Black people being technologically advanced and filled me with pride like the movie also did for countless people over the weekend.

The original Black Panther comic, which I read as a child, was more like an Africanized version of other Marvel Comics like Iron Man for instance.  Iron Man, was really a billionaire, Tony Stark, with a technologically advanced company and super gizmo suit.  Likewise, The Black Panther, T'Challa, was a wealthy African King with a highly technologically advanced nation and other resources.  This was a groundbreaking concept back in comics in the mid-60s.

The Black Panther was conceived and illustrated by the iconic leaders of Marvel at the time the legendary Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby.  In fact, I was always lagging in my reading ability when younger until I started reading Marvel Comics with the science and nerdy scenarios.  So I am in a way really indebted to Marvel comics. 

Black Panther, was the "first Black superhero in mainstream comics" according to Wikipedia.  I remember me and other guys on the block in Southeast Queens, talking back then about the latest Black Panther comics and other Marvel characters we loved - with high energy excitement!

So I know what I'm saying when I state - what we witnessed on the big screen this weekend was not the original version of the Black Panther of over 50 years ago.  That took input from Black writers over the years to get us to the cultural insights of the current Black Panther movie today.

Take Advantage Of This High School to Art School Opportunity - Deadline: Friday, February 23rd

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Queens Council on the Arts’ High School to Art School offers free portfolio development to high school juniors and seniors every year. Sophomores are also considered on a case-by-case basis.

Encourage Men To Avoid Prostate Cancer At Dad's Boy Stage Play

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Nationwide - Building on its success in prostate cancer education, awareness and advocacy, the Prostate Health Education Network (PHEN) is enhancing its efforts with a Broadway-style stage play.

 Daddy's Boys tells the story of a widowed father and his sons, whose relationships are fractured, coming together when faced with prostate cancer. This highly entertaining play imparts real-life messages and information to the audience which raises prostate cancer awareness.

Checkout This Tribute That Took Place For Hip Hop Icons.

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Los Angeles, CA MojaMoja celebrated its 10th Anniversary of music discovery on February 10th at the Avalon Hollywood.

The brunch benefit concert was attended by more than 250 cultural and musical tastemakers who came together to celebrate the stellar achievements of Hip Hop icons will.i.am, The Beat Junkies, a legendary West Coast DJ crew, and Prince’s band The Revolution.

 The concert featured performances from breakout artists Jungle Fire with their highly explosive psychedelic afro/latin funk sound; The Steoples, a genre-fusion alternative R&B duo; Wajatta, the collaborative between comedian-musician Reggie Watts and electronic musician, DJ and producer John Tejada; along with the drumming prodigy Elise Trouw, a gifted modern indie pop multi-instrumentalist who has a viral-mashup of "Everlong" by Foo Fighters and "What You Won't Do for Love" by Bobby Caldwell with more than 7 million views on Facebook. All artists donated their performances to benefit the MojaMoja Innovation Fund and House of Blues Music Forward Foundation.

Include Us In The #MeToo Movement

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Riverside, CA Marine Corps veteran and long-time university adjunct professor, Dr. Shirley Ann Johnson, who stands in support of the worldwide call to action for the #MeToo Movement, seeks to include in the conversation another women’s issue. She has coined it "Us" Too - a movement which will focus on the mistreatment of African American women in the workplace.

"Some African American women may have been spared from the carnage of sexual harassment in the workplace, but many are being brutally assaulted by workforce discrimination," she said. She went on to argue that "African American women who are courageous enough to speak up are either fired or become targets of ongoing harassment. Scores of women reported filing complaints to their Human Resources Department only to have their complaints fall on deaf ears. The discrimination continued."

Discover Important Family Resources For Children With Disabilities And Challenges At This Parent Support Group

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Free Workshop, Meeting and Seminar On The Fundamentals of Federal Taxes For Small Businesses

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This FREE workshop will benefit existing and start-up small businesses. 

It focuses on the fundamentals of federal taxes for small businesses, including entity choice, recordkeeping, business income and expenses and estimated tax. 

The seminar also references the basics of tax forms that small businesses use. Attendees will learn how money spent on growing small businesses can be deducted from business income to reduce both taxable income and taxes. This Small Business Tax Workshop provides an opportunity to get answers to a wide range of tax questions on launching and growing a small business. 

IRS small business products will be distributed to attendees.