Coal Tiger: Son of the Black Panther

 

Having recently watched Black Panther: Wakanda Forever I felt inspired to keep writing posts in that vein. So, today let us take a look at Prince T’Chaka aka Coal Tiger, the son of the Black Panther.

 

The moniker of Coal Tiger was originally one considered during the creation of the Black Panther, and it seems Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz elected to pay tribute to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby when they introduced T’Chaka’s alias in A-Next #4. While visiting America for a trade agreement, T'Chaka was attacked by the hate group Soldiers of the Serpent. It is at this point we learn that T'Chaka has the ability to transform into a humanoid cat-like being resembling a Black Panther.

 

Alongside the Avengers original line-up, Coal Tiger rescues N’Kano (aka the Wakandan ambassador and super hero Vibraxas) and notes the new team of heroes seem more like a family. N’Kano tells T’Chaka his father would be proud. T’Chaka tells the Avengers he will tell his father about all of them and that he considers them friends.

 

T’Chaka next appears when, upon returning from an alternate reality ruled by Doctor Doom, the entire Avengers team are captured by the Red Queen aka Hope Pym and her Revengers. With Mainframe’s consciousness transmitted to another body, he recruits Earth Senty, Argo, Blacklight and Coal Tiger to rescue the Avengers (A-Next #12).

 

At some point, Coal Tiger is pulled into the massive Destiny War alongside the Avengers’ American Dream and Freebooter and the Fantastic Five’sd Kristoff Vernard (Avengers Forever #12).

 

Coal Tiger is not seen again until a large assembly of the MC2’s super heroes gather at Avengers Headquarters in preparation for battle with Seth the Serpent God of Death. Despite this, the assembled heroes end up trapped within an impenetrable barrier until Spider-Girl weakens Seth enough to free them (Spider-Girl #58).

 

Alongside fellow reserve Avengers members Spider-Girl, Blacklight and Earth Sentry, Coal Tiger was called upon to join the Avengers team due to a large number of team members being sidelined for various reasons following the events of Last Hero Standing. This line-up of Avengers is briefed about someone posing as the mutant master of magnetism; Magneto. Spider-Girl and trainee member of the X-People known as Push would ultimately apprehend the poser (Spider-Girl #92).

 

In his last appearance to date, Coal Tiger again joins a large assembly of super heroes who show up to help Spider-Girl when she is captured by the Hobgoblin aka Roderick Kingsley (Amazing Spider-Girl #15).

 

It’s a great missed opportunity that T’Chaka as the Coal Tiger never got more than a few brief appearances after his debut, as there is a huge amount of potential left unexplored and stories left untold.

 

Until I develop the ability to transform into a Wakandan werecat, I remain

 

frogoat

A-Next Ages: Bluestreak

I thought it might be fun to work out the approximate ages of the various members of the MC2’s Avengers. Keep in mind this isn’t definitive unless it’s spelt out on the page and is merely a rough estimate based on in-universe information or where necessary statements from the creative teams involved in the characters creation and development.

For today’s inaugural post, I thought why not continue the Bluestreak love? So, let’s see what we can deduce about the mutant speedster Blue Kelso’s age from references in the comics.

Starting with her first appearances in A-Next, there isn’t a whole lot of specific information given about Blue that we could use to work out how old she is, but what we do get suggests she is a youthful and…*ahem*… exuberant young woman.  

Note she is significantly shorter than all other members of the Dream Team which could suggest she is still young in years and has some growing to do (A-Next #4).

In A-Next #6, the seemingly teen aged hero Argo the Almighty (son of Hercules) notes to himself that Thunderstrike, American Dream and Bluestreak are ‘all around my age’.

Blue also makes a passing reference to current school curriculum in A-Next #10, which could imply she either currently attends or recently attended school. Given her power set and personality, it's very likely Blue finished her schooling rather quickly. Perhaps while still training with the X-People?  

Perhaps the biggest indication for Blue’s actual age also comes from Argo, this time in the pages of Last Hero Standing amid a battle with the Incredible Hulk in issue #4, when the Almighty states ‘Bluestreak’s only a teenager.’

The most prominent character thread for Blue throughout A-Next, J2, Wild Thing and even Avengers Next is her unrequited crush on her fellow Avenger J2 aka Zane Yama. While at first, we only see Miss Kelso show interest in the massively muscular super heroic J2 alter ego, she does appear to later learn of his secret identity as scrawny teenager Zane Yama and still retains her feelings for him (Avengers Next #1-5). Zane will surely be the subject of a later entry in this series at some point, but for now, that point should be kept in mind!  

I’d be remiss not to mention the American Dream mini-series which heavily features flashbacks to the titular character’s origin, including her time training under mentor (and former Avenger Hawkeye) Clint Barton alongside Brandon Cross, Aerika Harkness and, of course, Blue Kelso. What these scenes tell us is that the four members of the Dream Team are roughly around the same age, even if we don’t learn specifics.

Now let’s move onto information not present in the comics. We have a response to a fan-question about both Freebooter and Bluestreak by Tom Defalco from the Alvaro’s Comicboards Spider-Girl Message Board. Here’s the question and response:

‘James Hunter: This one is where the clarification is needed, in your mind, how old are Bluestreak and Freebooter? I ask because a friend and I were discussing how mature Freebooter seems at times (in the end we decided that Freebooter must be about 19 and Bluestreak in the early teens, maybe 15 or so, would that be about right?)

Tom Defalco: Sounds about right.’

Skipping ahead to the recent wonderfully in-depth interview with Ron Frenz on Adam Chapman’s Comic Shenanigans podcast, we have this comment regarding the relationships between the members of the Dream Team:

‘I liked the way they interacted, I liked the way Brandon and Blue came across as brother and sister, harping at each other. And Shannon kind of came across as the oldest sister who was constantly going ‘Bluestreak!’ and telling her to mind herself and all that kind of stuff.’

That’s about all we have, folks. So, in conclusion, I’d be willing to guess that Bluestreak is the youngest of the Dream Team. She’s roughly around the age of Zane Yama, whom she maintains a crush on despite knowing in his youthful civilian form. She’s younger than Freebooter but not significantly so. If I had to be specific, I’d say Blue Kelso is 14-16 years old throughout the publishing history of the MC2.

Until I get a life, I remain

frogoat  

Comic Shenanigans: A Conversation with Ron Frenz and Tom Defalco

Occasionally I stumble upon a real treat when looking for podcasts to listen to and having recently discovered Adam Chapman’s Comic Shenanigans, I’ve found a wonderful pair of interviews with long-time comic co-conspirators Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz discussing their work on the MC2 series A-Next.

I think any MC2 fan owes it to themselves to give these podcast episodes a listen. Not only are they nice and long, they are loaded with new insight, commentary and behind the scenes information, they reveal just how much Tom and Ron share the creative process while working together.

The first part is a conversation with Ron Frenz, discussing A-Next #1-6 and can be found here:

https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-zqu4n-d003c7

The second part brought in Tom Defalco to join Ron in the conversation to talk about A-Next #7-12 and can be found here:

https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-626c9-d1dc38

Once again, this was a phenomenal listen and, in my opinion, the best and most in-depth and informative look behind the scenes of the MC2’s A-Next. I can’t thank Adam Chapman enough for this. I know I’ll be revisiting this podcast again in the future and I look forward to sifting through all the new information and unused concepts in upcoming posts.

Until I step up my game, I remain

frogoat