Black Panther Concept Art From Ta-Nehisi Coates/Brian Stelfreeze Relaunch Revealed

Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates has revealed some of artist Brian Stelfreeze’s concept art for the creative team’s upcoming run on Marvel’s relaunched Black Panther

Coates writes at the Atlantic about how collaborating with an artist has been a new experience for him, and how it has helped shape the story in surprising ways, including a new power stemming from the properties of the T’Challa’s vibranium costume:

One thing I did not count on was the extent to which the art would shape the story. Brian’s thoughts on T’Challa, and his supporting cast, have been invaluable. You can see the fruits of collaboration in the image above. After talking back and forth we came up with some new ideas for how T’Challa’s famed Vibranium-weave suit might work—in this case, absorbing kinetic energy and allowing him to fire that energy back out in short energy bursts. “Energy bursts” almost gets it wrong—think “force-push” not “optic blast.” All the old powers are there—enhanced senses, agility, peak-human strength, etc. But this idea (and others) really came out of Brian’s thoughts—not just on the suit—but on the properties of Vibranium itself.

Check out the concept art below.

Black Panther is expected to launch in spring 2016.