Black Panther: The Animated Series

BET announced today that they have partnered with Marvel Comics to create an animated series for the Black Panther. I have so many problems with this.

Yes, I know another comic legend is getting his own animated series, which is always cool. Then again, I also believe that this is a character that is not as widely popular as he should be and may not have that much of a huge following to have an animated series, but clearly BET believes it should be one.

It’s also pretty obvious why BET picked this character, because it ain’t about popularity. Reginald Hudlin is the Head of Entertainment at BET and he’s also the current writer for the Black Panther. Not hard to figure out. It may have changed my original thought that he was picked because of his color. It’s not shocking since it is BET and all, but I still feel that in the back of my mind.

And really, an animated series on BET? Are you kidding me? They’ve been struggling for years with bad programming and it's so horrible. Remember the BET broadcast premiere of State Property 2 a few months back? A large majority of their current programming is a mirror image of what’s out on MTV – just black. (i.e., The Hills and it’s BET counterpart Baldwin Hills, TRL and 106th & Park, etc.) This includes reruns of older shows that are now off the air. I think an animated series that’s not urban, may fail.

BET is aimed totally at younger, black audiences. It might be a hard sell to get 13-20 year olds, who may not be into comic books to get into this. Since it’s in primetime, it would have to be gritty and dark, not a G/PG version of it. And since he’s not everywhere like Wolverine, who will really know him besides the ones who read the book or people that deep into comic books? I think it might get lost on this channel. If it were on FOX, I can see it happening or even the Cartoon Network, considering they always do comic related cartoons. But BET is ghetto!

Based on their audience, my fear is that they will “thug out” or urbanize the character, transporting him from his African kingdom of Wakanda and placing him to fight evil doers in some urban city a la Batman. It has been done before and I don’t see why it won’t be done again. They’ll do anything to make him more relevant, including holding two guns and somehow incorporating massive amounts of gold into his costume. It’s what I am afraid of given what BET is, however who’s to say that won’t happen. It may not. I’m hoping it won’t. Let's pray to every comic book god we have.