Ta-Nehisi Coates Writes Eulogy For Chadwick Boseman In Marvel Comics

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Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote a touching tribute to Chadwick Boseman in Wednesday’s Marvel Comics.

He began the eulogy with a quote from T’Challa from 2015’s Secret Wars #7, writing, “Death is just a different kind of journey…to the land that I am king of.”

“In the Black Panther mythos, T’Challa often retreats to his City of the Dead, where all the previous kings and queens of Wakanda have been buried. There, T’Challa finds wisdom and counsel from his ancestors who have gone before,” Coates continued, going on to explain how he and Boseman crossed paths when they were students at Howard University in Washington, DC.

“I got to watch him through the years — advancing out of student theater, on to TV and film, and then finally cast as T’Challa. He was perfect,” he wrote. “He had T’Challa’s royal spirit, the sense that he did not represent merely himself, but a nation. And this is how I am understanding his death. It is personally sad to lose him at such a young age. But for those of us who so needed him right now, in these dark times, those of us who went to war with him, the loss is unthinkable. We simply cannot afford to be without Chad. … Chad once walked into the City of the Dead and harnessed the energy of those who’d gone before him, so he too may be harnessed, by all those warriors to come.”