He loved ‘Black Panther’ comics as a kid. Then Marvel asked him to write a novel for the movie.

Source: Washington Post

Jesse Holland grew up devouring Marvel comic books about Black Panther King T’Challa, who ruled the mythical African kingdom of Wakanda.

So when Marvel called the 46-year-old Washington journalist and author to write the companion novel to the studio’s blockbuster movie “Black Panther,” Holland was thrilled.

“It was the culmination of a lifelong dream for me,” Holland said. “I’ve always wanted a chance to help mold some of the great Marvel superheroes, and to do that with the Black Panther, one of the first comic book characters I ever read, was incredible.”

Holland, who works by day as a reporter covering race and ethnicity for the Associated Press, wrote the novel, “Who is the Black Panther?,” at night in the basement of his house in Bowie, Md., where he lives with his wife, Carol, his 9-year-old son, Jamie, 11-year-old daughter, Rita, and their dog, Woodson Oblivious.

Holland wrote at a superhero’s pace. During the six months he worked on the book, he also commuted to Fayetteville, Ark., where he was the distinguished visiting professor of ethics in journalism at the University of Arkansas for one semester.

“I wrote part of it in my apartment in Fayetteville,” he said. “And part of it in my basement in Bowie. Family time is important to me. I get home at 7. From 7 to 10 is family time. So, I write from 10 p.m. to 2 a.

m., just me and the dog, Woody.”

The “Black Panther” characters, whom Holland knew so well, seemed to write themselves. “The characters would speak,” Holland recalled. “ ‘I’d say, ‘I’m putting you in the scene. What would you say? What would you do?’ ”

The book was released in September, just as publicity for the movie was ramping up. The book, which is an adaptation of a 2005 Black Panther graphic novel by Reginald Hudlin and John Romita Jr., sold out fast on Amazon. The paperback is due on book shelves in April.

The original Black Panther character T’Challa, a black superhero with super intelligence, super strength, super wealth and super technology, was created in 1966, at the height…

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