How Marvel convinced Ta-Nehisi Coates to write 'Black Panther'

Axel Alonso is the Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics. His editorial team recruited Ta-Nehisi Coates to write the latest Black Panther series.

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Photo Courtesy of Marvel Comics

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/Courtesy of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

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The Black Panther #1 cover by artist Brian Stelfreeze. The new series of Black Panther comics will be written by author Ta-Nehisi Coates.

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Courtesy of Marvel

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A first look at Marvel Comics's Black Panther written by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

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Axel Alonso talks about the importance of featuring characters of color and what it took to bring Ta-Nehisi Coates into the fold.

April 6 has been on some comic book fans' calendars for a while — it's the day Marvel Comics released the new "Black Panther" comic book.

"A Nation Under Our Feet" is a story arc written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, a journalist at the Atlantic who earned major recognition for his 2015 book "Between the World and Me."

"It just so happened that we were going through a process where we were putting together a bunch of new series, including the 'Black Panther,'" Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso tells A Martinez.

Alonso says that it was an easy pitch to Coates, an avid comic book reader.

"We asked him if he'd have any interest and of course he did. It was as simple as that," Alonso says.

The response to Coates's involvement with the project has been mostly but not totally positive, says Alonso.

"When you see Ta-Nehisi and his body of work and you see him attached to a book called 'Black Panther,' it goes without saying that it's going to create excitement, as well as controversy," he says. "But [Ta-Nehisi] wants this to be judged once people have read it. Until people have seen what's actually on the page, it's just an announcement."

Marvel has been making a broader push to feature more diverse superheroes.

"Marvel comics are always at their best when they reflect the world outside your window," Alonso said. "My editorial staff is incredibly diverse... and we yearn to see heroes for ourselves and our children that they can relate to. When Miles Morales [who is biracial] peels back that Spider-Man mask to reveal a different face, it's a huge invitation to a number of people to pick up comics and see themselves reflected there."

Issue number 1 of "Black Panther" is in stores now.

If your local comic shop is out of copies, you can download a digital version from Marvel.

To hear more about black characters throughout the history of comics, check out our interview with Frances Gateward, an associate professor at CSUN and a historian of black comic book characters.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Ta-Nehisi Coates' name. KPCC regrets the error.